About Us

Staci M Alziebler-Perkins has more than twenty years of nongovernmental experience including advocacy and coalition building, fundraising, grant writing, special event planning, strategic planning and financial administration. Her expertise is in human rights, peace and security, and genocide prevention. Staci has represented various nongovernmental organizations at the United Nations in high level meetings with Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and at various briefings in New York, Geneva, and Vienna. She currently works for VGIF, a public foundation that gives small grants to women’s empowerment projects, as well as consults on a variety of nonprofit organization projects providing accounting, fundraising and event planning support. She holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations. Staci speaks English, French and Russian.

Lee Goss, MBA, CFP®, possesses over 16 years of experience in personal investment and finance with Charles Schwab & Co. She educates and guides high net worth clients through difficult markets and navigates complex regulations while maintaining internal and external compliance. Lee has managed a Tractor Supply Company (TSC) store where she developed and adhered to budgets and maintained inventory. She also has compiled guidelines for international agricultural aid for Volunteers in Overseas Co-operative Assistance’s (VOCA’s) Farmer to Farmer Program in Russia. She holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Language and Literature, with a certificate in Russian and East European Studies. Lee speaks English and Russian.

Richard Nsanzabaganwa, LL.L. LL.B., LL.M., holds a Masters in Law from Ottawa University, and a Baccalaureate in Civil Law and Common Law. He is a member of the Ontario Bar Association and has been a human rights activist, who has been on the frontline advocating for human rights and dignity since a young age. He served as the Permanent Secretary of Rwandese Human Rights Association where he documented human rights violations, conducted training on human rights instruments, and designed human rights training manuals. For his work in human rights protection, he was awarded the Rebook Human Rights Award in 1995. Richard is a survivor of the Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda and brings his passion to prevent genocide to all his work. He currently works as Cooperation Advisor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Richard speaks English, French, Kinyarwanda and Swahili.

Becky Ortiz is a freelance consultant and translator at her own firm, LINGUA FRANCA, focusing on Program Development and Project Management, as well as Corporate Responsibility. She recently collaborated as a translator in Memento Mori, a book published by artist Erika Diettes on her artwork depicting stories of mourning victims of violence in Colombia. Prior, she worked at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. Following that, she did post-graduate academic work on Environmental Risk Management and International Environmental Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, while working at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva. She has worked all over the world, including Colombia, Mozambique, Kenya, Italy, and Switzerland. Becky received her Bachelor degree from Universidad de Los Andes and her Master of Arts from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Becky speaks English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese.

Daw Salih is an evidence reviewer and lead developer in the Office of the Prosecuter at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He is the founding director of the International Crimes Monitor – Media Organization. He holds a Bachelor degree in Computer Services and Business Economics and a Bachelor degree in Computer Science in Multimedia from the University of Copenhagen. Daw speaks English, Fur, Arabic, Danish, German, French and Hebrew.

Edom Tsegaye is a digital financial services expert, who is passionate about entrepreneurship, Africa and youth empowerment. Edom represented VGIF as a United Nations representative in both New York and Addis Ababa, focusing on women’s empowerment and financing for development. She is currently based in Ethiopia where she focuses and contributes to breakthrough developments within the financial sector. Prior to moving to Ethiopia, she worked at an investment bank, Morgan Stanley, right after graduating with honors from Manhattanville College. Edom speaks English and Amharic.

Elizaveta Zeynalova’s expertise is capacity building, gender and development, public health, monitoring and evaluation, human rights and development, international law, conflict, and coexistence, and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. Liza was most recently working as a technical officer for the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in the tobacco control department, and prior to that she was in charge of monitoring and reporting on financial project flows, preparing contracts with local contractors, and developing a TB and HIV policy website and database with the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AID, Tuberculoses, and Malaria. Liza was a United States Fulbright scholar, where she consulted on the UN reform process, global governance, the Economic Crisis and its impact on development, and reform of various organs of the United Nations. Liza has experience in launching a nonprofit in the United States, has worked with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and was a business analyst at Finca International. She holds a Masters of Arts in Sustainable International Development, and a degree in International Relations. Liza speaks English, Russian, and French.

Zara Mohidin is passionate about creating innovative methods to ensure financial inclusion in emerging markets. Zara represented the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund as a United Nations representative in New York, focusing on women’s empowerment through economic development. She is currently based in New York and works as an Investment Analyst for Linklaters LLP. Prior to Linklaters, she graduated cum laude from NYU. Her Senior Honors Thesis on the reduction of urban violence through holistic and sustainable community development in Medellín, Colombia was awarded departmental honors. Zara speaks Urdu, Hindi, Spanish and English.