Who We Are

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

James Rude, Board Chairperson: Jim Rude is a Senior Consultant at Graham-Pelton Consulting, specializing in non-profit management, fundraising, non-profit executive leadership, marketing, and volunteer management.

Prior to joining Graham-Pelton Consulting, Jim was the Director of Development and Communications for Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO) and led the fundraising efforts for FXB International, where he forged relationships with many national and international foundations and began an individual donor cultivation program.

Jim has an MBA in Management from Monmouth University and a BA in Business from Muhlenberg College.

Jim was looking to “make a difference in the world,” which lead him to StrongMinds and Sean.   He believes strongly in the mission of StrongMinds and feels that mental health is far too often a forgotten need.

Andrea Agathoklis Murino, Secretary: Andrea Murino is a partner at Goodwin Procter LLP in Washington, D.C., where she co-chairs the Antitrust and Competition practice.  Her practice focuses on assisting companies pursuing clearance for proposed transactions from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), state attorneys general, and international competition law enforcement agencies.  Andrea has considerable and diverse legal experience having served as an Attorney Advisor to the Chairman and Commissioner of the FTC and as counsel to two Assistant Attorney Generals at the DOJ.

Andrea’s legal expertise adds substantial value to StrongMinds’ Board of Trustees, reducing our reliance on pro bono legal support and greatly strengthening our internal legal capabilities.  She was drawn to StrongMinds because of the tangible assistance it provides to women in need and the attendant opportunity to improve the lives of their children and families.

John Drain, Treasurer: John Drain is a business professor at Portland Community College, as well as a global business manager and entrepreneur. Prior to joining the Board of Trustees, John worked as the Chief Operating Officer for StrongMinds.

He has over 20 years of corporate and small business experience, including working for the Intel Corporation. John has an MBA from the University of Oregon.

John believes that mental health is the cornerstone of individual health and individual health is the cornerstone to thriving societies.  As John puts it, “My passion for StrongMinds is borne out of simple compassion for those suffering from the insidiousness of depression and stopping the inter-generational cycle.”

Stephanie Dodson, Director: Stephanie Dodson is a Managing Director at the Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation. DRK is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises and believes that with early funding and rigorous support, exceptional leaders, tackling some of society’s most complex problems, can make the world a better place.  Stephanie is responsible for identifying and supporting DRK Entrepreneurs.

Prior to joining DRK, Stephanie co-founded three social ventures: Strategic Grant Partners, a coalition of families that combines philanthropic investing and pro bono consulting to address issues for Massachusetts children in poverty; Project Healthy Children, which designs and implements food fortification programs in developing countries; and the Maranyundo Initiative, a boarding school for girls and teacher enrichment program in Rwanda.

She completed the Harvard Advanced Leadership fellowship and has been an advisor and board member for several nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. Stephanie holds a BA in English and Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and an MBA from Stanford University.

Stephanie’s interest in StrongMinds grew from her understanding that “the capacity for people to gain control over their own lives when they are given the tools for good mental health and the strength in community supporting each other in this.”

Dr. Misha Galperin, Director: Misha Galperin is the President of ZANDAFI Philanthropy Advisors. Before starting his philanthropic advisory firm in 2015, Dr. Galperin held several senior nongovernmental organization leadership roles including President and CEO of the Jewish Agency for Israel, the CEO and Executive Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, DC, the Chief Operating Officer of UJA-Federation of New York and the Executive Director of the Educational Alliance (NY).

In addition to this vast experience spanning 20 years, Dr. Galperin is a clinical psychologist with a Ph.D. from New York University in Psychology, serving in a number of roles pertaining to case management, counseling, mental health evaluations, therapist oversight, program development, administration and fundraising, Furthermore, he has over a decade of experience in private practice.

Kim Keller, Director: Kim Keller is the Executive Director of the David & Anita Keller Foundation. She is a former Social Science researcher with experience working in HIV/AIDS policy in addition to drug and alcohol prevention studies for organizations including the Prevention Research Center, San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Palo Alto Institute for Research and Education, the research arm of the VA Palo Alto Health Care system.

Kim’s academic career focused on medical sociology, HIV/AIDS, and inequalities in health with focus on developing and transitioning countries. She has experience in all aspects of large NIH funded studies: budget management, data collection, analysis, manuscript production.  She is proficient in SPSS Statistics, and is interested in socially responsible organizations and health-related research.

Kim is passionate about StrongMinds’ mission to treat depression at scale in Africa because she feels, “Everyone has been touched by someone with mental illness. Regardless, the stigma is still pervasive and mental illness often goes undiagnosed and untreated.”

Sean Mayberry, Director: Sean Mayberry, Executive Director and Founder of StrongMinds, is a former diplomat and social marketer who believes there are simple and cost-effective interventions which can improve mental health, an area that is often overlooked when addressing poverty in the developing world. For years Sean implemented successful HIV/AIDS and malaria programs in Africa and saw firsthand the struggles of the mentally ill. In 2013, he founded StrongMinds with a goal of ending the depression epidemic on the subcontinent.

Previously, Sean was the Chief Operating Officer at VisionSpring, where he helped lead the nonprofit’s partnership with BRAC, and a country director for Population Services International in the Democratic Republic of Congo and India. He holds a BS degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Emory University.  Sean is also a Rainer Arnhold Fellow.

Nina Okagbue, Director: Nina Okagbue is the Coordinator of the Pan African Masters Consortium of Interpretation and Translation (PAMCIT) at the United Nations office in Nairobi. She is also an experienced Interpreter and Visiting Scholar of the University of Ghana Legon.

Nina is a 23-year veteran of the African Development Bank where she was a Country Portfolio Officer specializing in social funding, women’s health and other health sector development across the continent. She has an MBA from Keele University and specialized in health, population and nutrition.

Nina’s daily interactions with women who have had to overcome tremendous challenges to survive and to guarantee the wellbeing of their families and communities has given her a great appreciation for StrongMinds’ mission. Her passion is to help women identify their stresses, gain awareness of solutions, and work with them to improve their quality of life.

Carol Squire, Director: Carol Squire is the Executive Director of Good Cheer, an innovative non profit integrating food bank services, organic farming, recycling of previously owned goods, and school and community outreach, which serves the population of southern Whidbey Island in Puget Sound in Washington state.

She has spent the last 10 years as a management consultant, focusing on creating strategies to strengthen organizations and teams. Prior to that she worked in the field for PSI, including as Country Director in India. Before working for PSI, she founded a professional development organization, ECOFORM, for corporations in Africa and grew the enterprise to 200 employees. The non-profit arm of this organization worked with bilateral and multilateral donors.

She joined the StrongMinds board because she feels mental health is a basic human right which is not available to most women in Africa.  As she explains, “Nothing else is possible for an individual or their family without good mental health.”

Dana Ward, Director: Dana Ward is an international public health and development expert with 27 years of experience, predominantly in Africa and Asia. He currently serves as the Chief of Party of the Sanitation Service Delivery Program and Country Representative for Ghana with Population Services International.

Dana studied at New York University, Stern School of Business and holds a Masters of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

One of his main areas of interest lies in finding ways to help the most people for the lowest cost.  He is impressed by StrongMinds’ unique, cost effective, scale-able approach that can treat millions of African women without resorting to pharmaceutical solutions.

ADVISORY BOARD

Harbert Bernard is an entrepreneur and a management consultant at Delaware Consulting in Atlanta, Georgia. Harbert served in the Peace Corps as an English Teacher and Community Development Volunteer in Gabon in West Africa.

Kathleen F. Clougherty, LCSW, is a senior Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) trainer and supervisor at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Instructor in Clinical Psychiatric Social Work (In Psychiatry) at Columbia University, an instructor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, and a private practitioner specializing in the treatment of depression in adolescents and adults. She is the co-author, along with Gregory Henrichsen, of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Older Adults.

Dr. Jordan Kassalow is the Founder and CEO of VisionSpring. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit improves the economic condition of families in the developing world by broadening the availability of reading glasses and other health products and services. Dr. Kassalow has more than 20 years of experience providing eye-care to the world’s poor.

Molly Knight-Raskin, Director – Molly is a journalist, producer, writer and special foreign correspondent for PBS NewsHour.  She was awarded the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism in 2007.

Dr. Lena Verdeli is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director, Global Mental Health Lab, both at Columbia University. She is also an adjunct Assistant Professor at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where she teaches psychotherapy to psychiatric residents, postdoctoral fellows and psychology interns.

Dr. Myrna Weissman is Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons and the School of Public Health at Columbia University and Chief of the Department of Clinical-Genetic Epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric institute. Dr. Weissman is one of the founders of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), one of only a few empirically validated (EV) and manualized forms of therapy designed for the treatment of depression.

MENTAL HEALTH ADVISORY PANEL

Dr. David Basangwa is the executive director of Butabika Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.

Rebecca Benghiat is Chief of Staff at Seleni, a nonprofit in New York City that provides clinical services, online information, professional training, and research funding for women’s reproductive and maternal mental health.

Dr. Marni Chanoff is particularly interested in understanding the relationship between biology and psychological processes in order to help her clients attend to their illness and lead satisfying and productive lives.

Dr. Misha Galperin has a Ph.D. in Psychology and served in a number of roles pertaining to case management, counseling, mental health evaluations, therapist oversight, program development, administration and fundraising, in addition to being in private practice for ten years.

Amy Herskovitz, LCSW-R is Managing Director of Fortitude Fund, a new vehicle for Bill and Karen Ackman’s philanthropic giving.

DeShaunta Johnson, PhD is a clinical psychologist practicing in New York and New Jersey. She is currently serving as StongMind’s Mental Health Advisor and serves as chair of the Mental Health Advisory Panel.

Giuseppe (Bepi) Raviola, M.D. is an assistant professor of psychiatry and of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Psychiatry Quality Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Children’s Hospital Boston (BCH).

Joan Sarnat, Ph.D., ABPP is a licensed psychologist in practice in Berkeley, California.

Dr. Lena Verdeli is Columbia University Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology & Director, Global Mental Health Lab.