Board

Narcisa Cumpana, Bacau School Inspectorate. Born in 1978 to a Roma family in Bacau County, Cumpana was forced into an arranged marriage at 16. She quit school before completing the ninth grade and was the mother of two daughters before she reached 20. Through the Gata, Dispus si Capabil Mothers Program she began working as a teacher’s aid in 2001. In 2004 she became a Roma Health Mediator and co-founder of Asociatia Ovidiu Rom. In 2005 Narcisa graduated from the Global Students Leadership program at Manhattanville College in New York. In 2005 she received her high school diploma. Autumn 2009, Narcisa graduated from the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and is now a certified teacher. She teaches kindergarten in Bacau.

Maria Gheorghiu, Ovidiu Rom. Executive director Gheorghiu has 18 years teaching experience and a degree in Psychology from the University of Bucharest. She participated in professional trainings in progressive education techniques in the US and the UK through the Soros Foundation. She also participated in the first Step-by-Step alternative education program introduced to Romania through Soros in 1997. In 2008 she completed the Project Zero Classroom Program at Harvard Graduate School of Education and in 2009 she participated in the Poverty Action Lab’s J-PAL Executive Education Course at EBRD, London.

Leslie Hawke, The Alex Fund and Ovidiu Rom. Hawke is the president and founder of The Alex Fund, a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and co-founder of Asociatia Ovidiu Rom, Romania. She started Gata, Dispus si Capabil as a Peace Corps volunteer in 2001, in Bacau, Romania, with a grant from USAID . Before coming to Romania, Hawke had 25 years experience as an executive in educational & professional publishing and non-profit management. Formerly the Director of Development for The Princeton Center for Leadership Training and a trustee of The Doe Fund, NY (1998-2004) she founded The Alex Fund in 2001 to raise funds in the U.S. for programs to help Romania’s poorest citizens become self-sufficient. In January, 2005, she was the eighth recipient of USAID’s Outstanding Citizen Citation. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, she has done graduate work in public policy and elementary education.

Mihaela Masica, Bacau Health Department. Masica is a Roma woman who graduated from the second Gata, Dispus si Capabil training group for impoverished mothers in 2001. In 2003 she was trained as a health mediator and hired by the Bacau Health Department to help the people living in Colonia Bistritei, Buhusi to obtain the medical assistance to which they were entitled. In April 2004, Mihaela founded Asociatia Ovidiu Rom together with Narcisa Cumpana and Leslie Hawke.

Sandra Pralong, Synergy Group. Pralong currently directs Synergy Group International in Bucharest. Formerly Regional Communications Advisor with the United Nations Development Programme and a prior director of the Soros Foundation in Romania, Pralong was an advisor to the President of Romania from 1998-2002. She holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science, Columbia University, a Masters in Law and Diplomacy/International Relations from the Fletcher School, and a Ph.D from Sciences Po Paris.

Advisory Board

Maria Apostol, Pro TV

Bogdan Atanasiu, Dan International

Andrew Begg, Vivid Magazine

Paolo Chighine, Enel

Dana Deac, TVR

Daniel Daianu, SNSPA

Radu Florescu, Saatchi

Alexandra Gatej, Palatul Cotroceni

Frank Hajdinjak, E.ON

Anca Harasim, American Chamber of Commerce

Mike Holmes, Pepsi

Catalin Mardare, Romanian Senate

Oliver Meister, CME

Saduokhas Meraliyev, Rompetrol

Andreea Mihai, Carrefour

Sorin Mindrutescu, Oracle

Cristian Mungiu, Mobra Films

Valeriu Nicolae, Diplomacy center for Roma and Minorities

Friedrich Niemann, Athenee Palace Hilton

Tony Paduano, Consultant

Liliana Preoteasa, Ministry of Education

Gehrig Schultz, Prospectiuni

Dante Stein, AutoItalia

Camelia Sucu, Class Living

Alexandra Tinjala, Sister & Co.

Adela Vrinceanu, Oblique TV Magazin

Auditor:

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