Who we are

Our People
• Staff
◦ Alex Counts, President
    ◦ Salvatore Pappalardo, COO
    ◦ Partner Services and Geogr
    ◦ Capital Mgmt & Advisory
    ◦ Grameen Technology Center
    ◦ Social Performance
    ◦ Partner Technology Support
    ◦ Monitoring and Evaluation
    ◦ Development
    ◦ Finance
    ◦ Marketing
    ◦ Operations
    ◦ Strategic Planning Center
    ◦ Si White, Acting CFO
    ◦ Human Capital Center
    ◦ Human Resources
• Board Members
• Committees and Councils
• GF Advisory Council

Our Supporters

Our Grameen Heritage

Values

Awards and Recognition

Partnerships

Contact information

Grameen Foundation : Who we are : Our People : Staff : Operations

Operations Staff

Julia Soyars, General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary

Vladimir Petrov, Senior Computer Systems Officer
Stuart Smith, User Support Specialist
Greta Kauffman, Network Administrator
Christie Roberts, Staff Attorney
Preeti Wali, Administrative Assistant
Sabrina Quaraishi, Executive Assistant
Denise Ziegler, Receptionist

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Julia Soyars
General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary

Julia Soyars joined Grameen Foundation in March 2005. She graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse College of Law in 1989 and joined the then named law firm of Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro in Washington, D.C. In 1994, she joined the legal department at The American National Red Cross, where she spent eleven years handling domestic and international transactions. Julia is a founding member of the Microfinance Council of Counsels and serves as an advisor to the American Bar Association Business Law Pro Bono Project on Microfinance. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Christie Roberts
Staff Attorney

Christie joined Grameen Foundation in December 2006. She graduated from Vermont Law School in May of 2006 with both a juris doctor and a masters degree in Studies of Environmental Law. She has done internships at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C. and the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic at Vermont Law School. She received dual degrees in political science and history from the Pennsylvania State University. She is admitted to practice law in the state of Maryland.

Preeti Wali
Administrative Assistant

Preeti Wali currently works at the Grameen Foundation with Deborah Burand as an Administrative Assistant for the Strategic Services Division. Prior to joining the Grameen Foundation she worked on Social Performance projects at Alternative Credit Technologies (ACT). Preeti developed an interest in microfinance after witnessing its successful application in South Asia – specifically, instances in which impoverished women were enabled to provide education for their children and earned greater social capital within their communities.

Before ACT, Preeti worked for MSHC Partners, Inc., a Democratic political consulting firm and spent three years working on campaigns such as Wal-Mart Watch, the Kerry-Edwards 2004 Presidential campaign, and Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. She received her B.A. in International Affairs, Economics, and Political Science from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Originally from Kashmir, India and raised in Syracuse, NY, Preeti speaks Hindi, Kashmiri, and French.

Sabrina Quaraishi
Executive Assistant

Sabrina Quaraishi, a Bangladeshi national, joined Grameen Foundation in September 2007 as the Executive Assistant to the COO and Legal Counsel. Sabrina holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from The New School in New York and her B.A. in management and economics from Hood College in Maryland.

Sabrina’s interest in microfinance began in 2000 at the Grameen Bank where she worked and studied women empowerment through the cellular phone business. Sabrina later interned in the MENA division of ACCION International and helped with the rewriting of marketing material used by the Economic Opportunities group at Save the Children. To raise awareness on microfinance, she frequently spoke to students and at churches. Sabrina previously worked at Merrill Lynch for a private wealth management team that ranked 1st in the Mid-Atlantic region and managed a portfolio that exceeded $200 million. She is fluent in English, French, Bengali and Arabic.

Grameen Foundation : Who we are : Our People : Staff : Operations