Katie Taylor
Executive Director
Katie Taylor is an international executive deeply devoted to global development and to bringing private sector thinking to complex development challenges. She has extensive experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors, and has led national and multi-million-dollar organizations, living and working across five continents.
Taylor learned management and leadership at General Electric – across healthcare, financial services, transportation and technology industries. She has founded and supported nonprofits and communities throughout her career, devoting the past 10 years to social and public service, most recently as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). At USAID, Taylor led efforts on child and maternal survival and health. She also served as the U.S. government’s representative on the boards of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and as co-chair of the Partnership on Maternal, Newborn, & Child Health (PMNCH).
Among other roles, Taylor was previously the General Manager of GE Healthcare in Mexico, led GE Capital’s satellite and mortgages business development across Latin America, and guided a sales and marketing team for GE Transportation Systems in Brazil. She is a Certified Master Black Belt in “Lean Six Sigma” quality improvement processes, and is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, a graduate Certificate of Political Studies from the Institute d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, and an M.S. in International Business Diplomacy from Georgetown University.
Dr. Elizabeth Fox, Ph.D.
Chief Program Officer
Dr. Elizabeth Fox is a senior leader in global health with 40 years’ experience making communications, behavior, and culture central to health programs around the world. She is the Chief Program Officer at PADF, overseeing program development, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
Dr. Fox spent 23 years at the United States Agency for International Development, including as Director of the Office of Health, Infectious Diseases, and Nutrition, where she built and managed large global health initiatives and led multi-disciplinary teams to achieve ambitious, measurable health goals. She was also the Manager of Strategic Planning at the International Bureau of Broadcasting and spent 10 years with the International Development Research Centre of Canada as Social Sciences Representative in Latin America.
Dr. Fox is featured in the newly released, “Pioneras en los estudios latinoamericanos de comunicación” by Santiago Gándara and Yamila Heram. Read her chapter here.
Nadia Cherrouk
Chief Administrative Officer
Nadia Cherrouk is a senior international leader with over 25 years of experience in international development. Cherrouk has extensive experience in multi-sectorial programming, financial management, and institutional growth. Within PADF, Cherrouk previously served as Finance Director and Country Director in Haiti, Regional Director for the Caribbean, and Chief of Staff.
Cherrouk has built partnerships with all sectors, including bilateral and multilateral donor agencies such as the World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development, American Red Cross, United Nations agencies, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, as well as corporate partners, local and national governments, civil society groups, and a range of local and international nongovernmental organization partners. Cherrouk holds a master’s in business administration, with a specialization in the not-for-profit sector, organizational development, and strategic planning.
Guillermo Florez
Chief Information Officer
Guillermo Florez is the Chief Information Officer at PADF. Guillermo has responsibility for all areas of technology at PADF across the hemisphere, including overall IT strategy, IT infrastructure and support, digital transformation, and the application of technology to programmatic work. Guillermo leads the Information Technology Team and reports to the Executive Director.
Prior to joining PADF, Guillermo developed a technology career that spans 25 years. He worked at the Organization of American States and in corporate settings across a diverse range of industries including urban real estate development, financial, software, and entertainment copyright protection. He has extensive expertise in managing technology teams and implementing enterprise computing and digital platforms, business intelligence, and cognitive computing.
Guillermo was born in Barranquilla, Colombia. He holds a B.S in Mathematics, an M.S. in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, and various certifications from Microsoft Corporation.
Gloria Nelly Acosta
Knowledge Leader
Gloria Nelly Acosta joined PADF in 2002 and is the Knowledge Leader. She leads the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of development programs that support vulnerable populations, working in partnership with the public and private sectors.
Acosta has more than 27 years of experience in the effective implementation of projects in rural and urban areas in Colombia. She spent a decade with the National Federation of Coffee Growers, where she managed rural programs that contributed to better livelihoods for the families of coffee farmers in Cundinamarca.
Acosta has a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica of Colombia and a master’s degree in Rural Development from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Cédrelle Alexis Jean Louis
Country Director – Haiti
Cédrelle Alexis Jean Louis joined PADF in October 2014. She is the Country Director in Haiti. She is a senior executive with over 25 years of financial, administrative management, and organizational development experience in NGOs and privately owned companies.
Her professional experience includes start-up operations; implementation of change management initiatives; development of financial and operating systems, policies, procedures, budgeting process, and controls; cash management; office and human resources management; security assessment and policy. Throughout her career, Jean Louis has held multiple leadership and management positions in finance and administration.
She holds an M.B.A. from Eastern University, Philadelphia and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Institute National d‘Administration de Gestion et des Hautes Études Internationales (INAGHEI), Haiti. She is a member of the Haitian Order of Chartered Accountants.
Laura Aragón
Director – Women and Gender
Laura Aragón Castro is an executive leader and a creative advocate for women’s rights and gender equality, with over 20 years of international experience. As PADF’s Director for Women and Gender, she challenges staff perspectives on international development and provides technical expertise to integrate women’s needs into gender-transformative programs. Her extensive career includes work with the Pan American Health Organization, the Organization of American States, UN Women, and various USAID-funded initiatives. She has also served as Chief of Party for U.N. and U.S. government-funded projects.
Laura founded Mukira, a UNESCO award-winning nonprofit focused on empowering women and youth in Mexico, which showcase her entrepreneurial drive. She has extensive experience working with grassroot human rights organizations in conflict affected regions. In the Mexican government, as Deputy Director for the National Commission to End Violence Against Women, she led the creation of Women’s Justice Centers, a landmark policy to combat gender-based violence. A published author, her work has appeared in respected journals and received awards from UN Women and the Mexican Supreme Court. Laura is also a skilled public speaker, and has lectured at international forums, Ivy League universities, and media outlets like CNN.
Laura holds three master’s degrees: i) Public Administration from l´École Nationale d’Administration (France), ii) Nonprofit Administration from the University of Notre Dame, and iii) Feminist Jurisprudence from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, and is currently pursuing a fourth master’s in the Energy Transition. She studied Political Science in Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico) and international relations in Sciences Po (Paris). She is fluent in English, French, and Spanish.
Carlo Arze
Country Representative – Paraguay
Carlo Antonio Arze is PADF’s Country Representative in Paraguay, where he leads efforts to develop the country programing portfolio as well as supporting youth-focused initiatives in the wider region. He has worked for PADF since 2013 and has been Chief of Party (COP) for youth development and juvenile justice programs in Suriname and Honduras as well as Deputy COP for the “Community Family and Youth Resilience Program” in St. Kitts, St. Lucia. and Guyana.
Prior to joining PADF, Arze was the COP for a youth work program based in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He also worked for 20 years at the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), where he was a Social Development Specialist focused on community development, education, youth, and disaster preparedness, as well as serving as IDB’s focal point for gender mainstreaming in Trinidad and Tobago, Paraguay, and Brazil.
Arze has received recognition for his contribution to development efforts from the municipal government in Ciudad Juarez as well as the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has a master’s degree in Public Administration from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs as well as a master’s in Latin American Development from the University of Texas.
Joseph (Joe) Blubaugh
Director of Grants and Contracts
Joe Blubaugh is PADF’s Director of Grants and Contracts. In this role, he is responsible for all issues related to grants, contracts, procurement, and compliance for PADF projects. His team reviews awards from donors and manages sub-awards to implementing partners to ensure compliance with donor requirements. Blubaugh also oversees internal policies and procedures that promote efficiency.
He has 20 years of experience working with grants and contracts’ compliance for both for- and non-profit organizations, spanning three continents. Prior to the career in grants and contracts, he worked in computer science.
Blubaugh has a B.S. in Computer Science from Ohio State University and an MBA and M.S. in Economics from the University of Texas. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, where he learned Spanish, which he continues to use in his role with PADF.
Marcela Bueno
Country Director – Ecuador
Marcela Bueno is PADF’s Country Director for Ecuador. Her areas of expertise include research tools, data analysis, monitoring and evaluation, and social and commercial strategy development. She has experience in international development, leadership training, democracy, communications, and corporate social responsibility.
Prior to PADF, Bueno was the local director for the Center for Electoral Support and Promotion, where she managed a United States Agency for International Development-funded project to strengthen election administration in Ecuador. She was also regional coordinator of an Andean Development Cooperation project on biocommerce in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Bueno has held various consulting roles since 2005, supporting local and international social development projects.
A lawyer and social researcher, she holds a postgraduate degree in Public Policy from Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina.
Alfonso Garcia Calderon
Director of Territorial Development and Governance
Environment and Disaster Resilience Director
Alfonso Garcia Calderon joined PADF in 2003. He is the Director of Territorial Development and Governance in Colombia and PADF’s Environment and Disaster Resilience Director. Garcia Calderon manages the cooperation agreements with the Colombian government focused on territorial development and governance. He also leads the implementation of standards for project management, following the best practices guidelines from the Project Manager Institute (PMI).
Prior to PADF, Garcia Calderon was an advisor to various development programs organized by the National Plan for Alternative Development and United Nations Office for Project Services in coordination with Colombian public entities.
He has a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Universidad del Tolima and is a candidate for a graduate degree in rural development from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia.
Bernard (Bernie) Fructuoso
Senior Director – Finance and Risk
Bernie Fructuoso has been with PADF since 2008 and has served as Director of Finance for the organization since 2013, overseeing a period in the organization’s history that experienced significant growth, in both revenue and project expenditures. With over 20 years of international non-profit experience, he has been able to successfully interface with programs, partners, donors, and other stakeholders throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to provide sound stewardship of PADF’s financial resources.
Prior to PADF, Fructuoso held finance and grants positions in other organizations such as Global Rights, where human rights issues were addressed across the globe, and The Nature Conservancy, working on conservation projects for the Central America division. Assisting in the economic development of Latin America and the Caribbean is a passion of his and PADF is a hemispheric leader in this area.
Fructuoso has extensive international experience, is completely fluent in Spanish, and received a B.A. in Economics from George Mason University.
Sowmya Krishnamoorthy
Director – Partnerships and Sustainable Finance
Economic Opportunities Practice Area Leader
Sowmya Krishnamoorthy joined PADF in 2014 in our Port-au-Prince field office and is currently based in Washington D.C. She oversees private sector partnerships and sustainable finance investments. Previously, she managed the implementation of PADF’s programs in the Caribbean and has experience directing programs in entrepreneurship, workforce training, local governance, environmental sustainability, and disaster response. Krishnamoorthy is also a Practice Lead for Economic Opportunities, focusing on innovative financing, local enterprise development, public-private partnerships, supply and value-chain development, and promoting a market-based approach within PADF’s programming.
Prior to PADF, she worked for the Fortune Magazine Group supporting strategic development of the business brands at Time Inc. She also worked at the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund facilitating investments and enterprise development in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Krishnamoorthy has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hollins University and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.
Lance Leverenz
Senior Director – New Business Development
As Senior Director of Business Development, Lance Leverenz leads PADF’s public sector outreach to the United States Agency for International Development, State Department, and other bilateral and multilateral donors. He has successfully secured funding for a wide variety of relief and development activities including water and sanitation, emergency disaster response, human trafficking, migration, and media freedom for countries across the Western Hemisphere.
Prior to joining PADF, Leverenz worked for the American Red Cross, directing their Latin American programs, and as a government and private-sector international development consultant. His international experience includes overseas assignments in Latin America and Asia. He also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras and Nicaragua.
Leverenz holds a master’s degree in Economics and a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs, both from the American University in Washington, DC.
Josué Murillo
Country Director – Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador
Josué Murillo is the Country Director in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. He is a human rights and security expert specializing in topics such as human rights, violence prevention, alternative conflict resolution, integrated youth development, education for peace, participatory democracy, and peaceful coexistence. His professional experience includes extensive program and project management in the areas of human rights and peaceful coexistence as well as teaching and coordinating research within the academic sector. As a lawyer, he has also supported strategic litigation efforts to protect the region’s most vulnerable populations. His academic and professional career in Central America, and in Honduras specifically, has focused on building civil society capacity and supporting people with disabilities, LGBT populations, environmental activists, indigenous communities, migrants, internally displaced persons, children, and youth, among others.
Murillo holds a J.D. from the National Autonomous University of Honduras and a master’s degree in Human Rights and Peace Education from the Institute of Latin American Studies (IDELA), National University, Heredia, Costa Rica.
Roberto Obando
Country Director – Colombia
Roberto Obando is an international development specialist with 15 years of experience in citizen security and justice, rule of law, and government innovation. He serves as PADF’s Regional Director of the Caribbean, supervising program implementation in Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Belize, St. Lucia, and Guyana. Obando is also the Thematic Leader of the Peace, Justice, and Security practice, which covers a wide array of issues from crime prevention, justice sector reform, policing, forensics, transnational organized crime, and prison reform.
Prior to joining PADF, he was a consultant for several programs funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, and International Labour Organization across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Obando received his J.D. from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic and a master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University. He also completed post-graduate academic work at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University and Said School of Business at the University of Oxford.
Camila Payan
Thematic Senior Director – Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights
Camila Payan is PADF’s Thematic Senior Director for Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights, overseeing programs across thematic areas throughout the region. She has worked on programming in over 10 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. Since joining PADF in 2008, she has had a variety of roles including serving as a project director on civil society strengthening and human rights programs, as well as working with the new business development team.
Prior to joining PADF, she worked at Georgetown University and the Organization of American States in Washington, DC. She also spent part of her professional career living and working in Colombia on civil society strengthening, governance, citizen security, and small- and medium-sized enterprise development programs. Payan holds a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Sandra Perez
Director of Talent Engagement and External Relations
Sandra Perez has been a key member of the PADF family for over 16 years. In her current role as Director of Talent Engagement and External Relations she recruits and cultivates staff and Trustees and mobilizes new constituencies to support the organization.
She brings nearly 30 years of experience in public and private international affairs. Skilled in non-profit organizations, board relations, human resources, intercultural communications, and international protocol, Perez has used her leadership and problem-solving skills to bring staff and external stakeholders together to achieve operational results. Her deep commitment to contributing to the well-being of underprivileged people has been a hallmark of her career.
Perez holds a bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages and Sociocultural Studies from Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, an MBA in Leadership and Talent Management from Barcelona Executive Business School, and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University. She has completed extensive training in Human Resources and International Protocol.
Gloria Alicia Pinzón
Director of Socioeconomic Development Colombia
Economic Opportunities Practice Area Leader
Gloria Alicia Pinzón has a master’s degree in Microcredit and Social Development and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with over 30 years of experience working for international NGOs and the financial sector. She has managed development programs in support of vulnerable populations, including women, youth, and refugees in Colombia, Brazil, and El Salvador, coordinating partnerships with the private sector, Colombian government, and the international community.
Pinzón is an expert in managing and implementing policies for microcredit funds, socioeconomic development programs, and program assistance focused on institutional strengthening of entities of the national government, such as local and grassroots organizations. She has also managed high-level technical assistance programs for international cooperation with USAID, the Netherlands, State Department (PRM), and the Embassies of Ireland, Canada, Sweden, and the European Union.
Valeria Uribe
Country Director – Mexico
Valeria Uribe is a seasoned program director, with nearly 15 years of experience in project management, fundraising, and leadership. Since 2016, she has led PADF’s operations in Mexico, identifying and developing new business, grant, and partnership opportunities for the organization. She has designed, implemented, and managed several projects in human rights and democracy, post-disaster reconstruction, STEM education, and child labor prevention.
Prior to joining PADF, Uribe was the Mexico Country Coordinator for the Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED) at Georgetown University for more than 10 years. At CIED, she managed and administered scholarships sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development for indigenous public school teachers, designed exchange programs for executives and public servants to study in the United States, and organized high-profile fundraising endeavors, including a roundtable with former Secretary of State Clinton and a meeting with President Bush. She held various legal posts at the Secretaria de Desarrollo Social and was an advisor in the Auditoria Superior de la Federación, where she managed, planned, and coordinated all of the agency’s outreach programs, including those with indigenous populations.
Uribe has a law degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana. She holds certifications in Nonprofit Management, Human Rights, and Organizational Consulting and Change Leadership from Georgetown University.
Joaquín Vallejo
Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights Deputy Director
Anti-Corruption Lead
Joaquín Vallejo is a Deputy Director at PADF, where he designs and manages projects from their inception through their closing stages. He currently manages projects on issues such as transparency in extractive industries, judicial independence, accountability, and human rights throughout Latin America and Caribbean.
An Ecuadorian national, Vallejo is a PMP ® certified project manager with 10 years of experience managing international development projects on democracy, governance, human rights, and environment. In addition, he leads the practice area of Environment under PADF’s “Environment and Disaster Resilience” (EDR) thematic area. In this position, along with the EDR Thematic Director and the Disaster Resilience Practice Area Lead, he coordinates a community of practice of over 25 PADF staff members to share experiences from PADF’s projects under the EDR thematic area.
Prior to joining PADF, Vallejo worked as a consultant and Policy Fellow at the World Wildlife Fund, promoting protected areas as natural solutions to climate change in countries of the Amazon region. While still in Ecuador, he was the Political and Projects Officer at the British Embassy in Quito, overseeing projects implemented by civil society partners in the areas of democracy, freedom of expression, and climate change. Vallejo holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego, and a bachelor’s in International Relations from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.
Aaron Van Alstine
Senior Program Manager
Disaster Resilience Practice Area Leader
Aaron Van Alstine joined PADF in 2010 and leads our efforts to build climate and disaster resilience across Latin America and the Caribbean. He is an expert in sustained community engagement, cross-sector collaboration, and harnessing the power of technology to improve communities’ understanding of the risks they face and to reduce the negative impacts of climate change and disasters.
Van Alstine brings more than 15 years of experience building the connectivity and coordination of disadvantaged communities and key stakeholders in the region. He previously worked in Central America, where he introduced the use of innovative communication technologies to improve labor conditions for low-income workers. In Peru and Colombia, he supported post-conflict recovery efforts through the development of psychosocial services and reintegration programs for war-affected communities and former combatants.
He is a graduate of the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
