Accordia International Council
Promoting Wider Recognition of Accordia’s Work
The Accordia International Council was established in late 2008 to generate greater appreciation of Accordia—and the important work we are doing in sub-Saharan Africa—among the world’s civic, cultural, and business leaders.
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Gary Bridge is a managing director of Horsley Bridge Partners (HBP), a private equity investment manager headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining HBP in 1985, Mr. Bridge was a partner at Cowen & Company in Boston, where he was a nationally-recognized security analyst for more than ten years. Prior to Cowen, he was a vice president with G. S. Grumman & Associates, an investment research firm that was acquired by Cowen and became its institutional research department. Mr. Bridge started his investment career with John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, where he held various positions including responsibility for investments made in the computer and aerospace industries. Mr. Bridge serves on numerous private equity firm advisory boards around the world. |
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Stuart C. Burden is a consultant for Monitor Institute, the social action division of the Monitor Group. His passion for justice, equality, and human rights fuels his pursuit of lasting solutions to complex social problems. Prior to joining Monitor, Stuart spent many years in private and corporate philanthropy. He developed and implemented funding strategies for Levi Strauss & Co., the Levi Strauss Foundation (where he created the Syringe Access Fund), and the MacArthur Foundation. In addition, he has managed both policy- and community-level initiatives at the Ford Foundation and the New York Foundation. From April 2000 to January 2003, Stuart Burden was invited to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, crossing both the Clinton and Bush administrations. Presently, he serves on the boards of the International Women's Health Coalition and the Stanford Alumni Association. Stuart travels between San Francisco's independent coffee houses and enjoys yoga, practicing Portuguese, and taking long bike rides. He earned his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and his master's degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. |
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Anne Collins is active in a number of volunteer and charitable organizations. She is a member of the board of governors of Opportunity International and has been involved in micro-financing efforts in Latin America and Africa. She has participated with Habitat for Humanity in numerous building projects inside and outside of the United States. Ms. Collins has also been involved with several arts organizations, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Bravo Music Festival in Vail, Colorado. She has a bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Catherine and a masters of arts in social work from the University of Minnesota. |
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Gillian Corken obtained the degree MPharm (cum laude) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 1989 majoring in clinical pharmacy. She also has a bachelors degree in Pharmacy from Rhodes University, South Africa and completed the INSEAD, International Executives Programme (IEP) in France and Singapore in 2003. Born in Zimbabwe Ms. Corken started her professional career in South Africa in 1985, with a French based pharmaceutical company, moving up within the company to hold various senior positions. Ms. Corken is a citizen of South Africa, the United Kingdom, and a permanent resident of Brazil. In 1990, she was a co-founder of Clindepharm International Pty Ltd, the first clinical contract research organization (CRO) in South Africa. This company was acquired by Quintiles Transnational Inc., she held various senior positions in this company in the US and Brazil. She was also a board member for the Quintiles Africa, Asia and Australia (AAA) region and the Quintiles Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. In 2012, Gillian retired from Quintiles as CEO for sub-Saharan Africa. After a brief period of consulting in Africa with two international financial institutions she then joined Cytespace Africa as Non Executive Chairman to increase the number of clinical trials in this region and to improve efficiencies and productivity at investigation sites in Sub Saharan Africa. Cytespace Africa is affiliated with Cytespace India and Asia. Apart from this she has also co-founded two natural therapy companies Phytotherapy Pty Ltd and Phytoderm cc. She has also initiated various community based programs in Brazil and South Africa which have enabled young disadvantaged youth to enter the workplace. |
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Aimee Falchuk is a global policy advisor at Genzyme, the world’s third largest biotechnology company. In this role, she provides public policy, public affairs, and advocacy counsel to global business units and serves as liaison between global business units and global policy networks. Previously, Aimee worked at Pfizer Inc, serving in several capacities. Aimee received her bachelor’s from Barnard College and a MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. |
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Lisa Foster has over 20 years experience in the corporate, foundation, and non-profit sectors, leading global health and political democratization programs across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. She currently serves as director of the Herren Group. Previously, Lisa was the Senior Director, Corporate Responsibility for Pfizer Inc., a $67.8 billion biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets medicines to prevent disease and promote better health across 150 countries. Lisa has led the development of partnerships across a range of social and commercial investments supporting HIV/AIDS, malaria, Neglected Tropical Diseases, disaster relief and oncology. In 2010, she received the Pfizer Award for Commercial Excellence and was recognized as top manager company-wide in the Pfizer Global Colleague Engagement Survey, outranking Fortune 500 Index for Managers. |
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Dr. Nicholas Hellmann serves as executive vice president of medical and scientific affairs at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. In this position, he provides strategic direction for programs and research initiatives, ensuring that children are at the forefront of medical and scientific breakthroughs. Prior to assuming his current position, Hellmann was the program leader of the HIV/AIDS program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he was responsible for strategy, research, program, and policies related to HIV/AIDS for the Foundation. He has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, having worked with industry leaders like Roche Molecular Systems, ViroLogic, Gilead Sciences, Genentech, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Hellmann received his MD degree from the University of Kentucky in 1982, and completed his internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship training at University of California San Francisco (USFC), where he later became an assistant professor in the internal medicine/infectious diseases division. While on staff at UCSF, Hellmann conducted research in Uganda to identify HIV risk factors and develop effective intervention strategies to reduce heterosexual HIV transmission. |
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Sheila C. Johnson is a successful entrepreneur and impassioned philanthropist. As Vice Chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Ms. Johnson is the only African-American woman to have ownership in three professional sports teams, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, currently serving as President and Managing Partner of the Mystics. As CEO of Salamander Hotels, a company she founded in 2005, Ms. Johnson oversees a growing portfolio of luxury properties. She as also long been a powerful influence in the entertainment industry as a founding partner of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and most recently as a film producer. |
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Elizabeth is a founding equity partner of Luzuriaga Mims, LLP with a litigation practice focusing on state and federal workers' compensation law. She is experienced in handling medically complex claims, as well as concurrent jurisdiction claims under the South Carolina workers' compensation Act and the Longshore and Harbor workers' compensation Act. She also serves as a mediator in state workers' compensation claims and in concurrent jurisdiction claims involving the Longshore Act and state workers' compensation acts of South Carolina, as well as surrounding states. Elizabeth has spoken at national and regional conferences on various topics under the heading of the South Carolina workers' compensation Act and the Longshore and Harbor workers' compensation Act. Elizabeth is a 1984 graduate of Georgetown University and has participated in the Georgetown University Alumni Admissions Program for the past 22 years. Elizabeth earned her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1987. She was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1987 and the Georgia Bar in 1992, and has been selected for inclusion in the Best Lawyers of America for 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was named Best Lawyers of America Workers’ Compensation Employer Defense attorney of the year. Locally, Elizabeth serves as an adjunct professor teaching South Carolina workers' compensation Law at the Charleston School of Law, and served 9 years on the Board of Trustees at Ashley Hall School. She is also a former member of the South Carolina Maritime Heritage Foundation Board of Directors. |
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Isabelle Luzuriaga is currently a freshman at Georgetown University in Washington DC. In 2011, as a senior at Ashley Hall in Charleston SC, Isabelle was selected to participate in Ashley Hall’s Senior Project Program to study the AIDS pandemic and learn about AIDS awareness. Through that project Isabelle began studying the AIDS pandemic in Uganda and promoting HIV/AIDS awareness throughout the Charleston area. Her goal is to eliminate or drastically reduce the common stigmas, especially among high school students, associated with HIV/AIDS. Isabelle has been sharing Accordia Global Health Foundation’s goals and mission with her peers and friends so that they can see what is being done abroad to fight the disease. She hopes to promote the importance of prevention rather than avoidance, emphasizing the need for discussion as an important part of prevention. She has also given talks to local high schools about the AIDS pandemic in Uganda and in the US to spread awareness to her peers. |
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Kay Mitzel, former director of medical relations at Pfizer, was an early champion for the Accordia concept and helped facilitate Dr. Merle Sande's initial efforts to launch the program. Inspired by his passion for golf, she converted the annual Bagger Vance (now Sande Bagger Vance) golf tournament into a fundraiser for Accordia. Kay is experienced in managing advisory boards, society meetings, and fellowships. After 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry and known worldwide as a liaison to the infectious diseases community and a passionate advocate for quality healthcare, she will continue to work on health issues. |
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Robert Norton retired as senior vice president for corporate human resources for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group in 2004, after having been appointed to that position in 2001. He joined Pfizer in 1969, working in the corporate personnel division. He held a number of international and domestic positions in human resources and from 1985 to 1997, served as Pfizer’s senior international human resources executive. Currently, Mr. Norton serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees for Fisk University and has demonstrated significant leadership in helping to raise funds for this historically black liberal arts college, which was struggling for survival. He is the former chairman of the Department of State Overseas Schools Advisory Council. |
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Hiromitsu Ogawa is the managing partner and founder of Quest Venture Partners. Mr. Ogawa has worked in the container leasing industry for over 30 years; 19 of which were with CAI International Inc, (NYSE: CAP), which he founded and still presides over as executive chairman of the board. Prior to founding CAI in 1989, he was with Itel Containers for 12 years as vice president of marketing for Japan and Korea. Earlier in his career, he also held the position of executive managing director of Heublein Japan Co., Ltd., and was brand management and sales promotion manager for Coca-Cola Japan Co., Ltd. Mr. Ogawa graduated from Kyoto University of Foreign Studies with a BA in English-economics management, followed by two years of post-graduate work at the University of Washington Business School. He is an active member of the community and sits on the Boards of the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter and the San Francisco Opera. He received the Ernst & Young Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Business Services in June 2008. |
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As the previous Executive Director of Accordia Global Health Foundation, Carol Spahn was responsible for implementing new strategies and forging new partnerships to expand the impact of Accordia’s healthcare capacity building efforts in Africa. Ms. Spahn previously served at Accordia as its director of finance and administration. Prior to joining Accordia Global Health Foundation, Ms. Spahn was vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer of Small Enterprise Assistance Funds, a non-profit private equity fund manager that invests in small and medium-sized companies in developing countries. Ms. Spahn served in the U.S. Peace Corps as a small business advisor in Romania shortly after the fall of communism and has held several positions with leading financial service institutions, including GE Capital and KPMG Peat Marwick. She holds an MA in international development from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. |
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Scott Spector is a principal and co-founder of Kodiak Properties, L.L.C., a firm specializing in the acquisition of retail centers for investment. Formerly, he served as principal and co-founder of PrimeCore Realty Advisors, Inc.; principal of Triad Partners; vice president of leasing, development and acquisitions and vice president of acquisitions for Demar, Inc.; and senior leasing representative for the Smithy Braedon Company. Mr. Spector’s 30-year professional career has included nearly every aspect of the commercial real estate business from acquisition and development to leasing, management, and disposition. He has also been extensively involved in a broad range of income-producing properties, including office buildings, industrial and R&D projects, retail centers, and multi-family developments. |
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Suzy serves on her family foundation, the Willow Springs charitable Trust Foundation, which supports education, the environment, health and the arts. She has been involved in philanthropy for the past 15 years supporting many organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
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John Wienold serves as council chair in Chicago. Mr. Wienold’s professional career spans over 30 years of law, and he has been active within the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization since 1990 as well as supporting other local charities. John’s professional career spans over 30 years of law within the Chicago area. He has a juris doctor degree from Southern Methodist University. His primary focus is on personal injury litigation. He has tried over 150 lawsuits to verdict and has had over 25 appellate decisions published. John has been active in truck safety and has represented numerous victims of heavy truck crashes throughout the country, which on many occasions have resulted in lasting positive change within the industry. He has been active with and supported grassroots safety organizations such as Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Parents against Tired Truckers, and the Coalition for Highway Safety. He has spoken frequently on highway safety and has worked with major experts in the field, both in the United States and in Europe. John has also represented women and their families victimized by breast cancer against the insurance industry when lifesaving benefits were unjustly denied. |
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Claudia Bonnist Winchell, co-owner of Fighting Bear Antiques and broker and owner of Private Realty Group, LLC, came to Jackson, Wyoming in 2005. Claudia is currently on the Council for Teton Literacy Group, a non-profit language teaching organization and involved in Jackson Hole’s “Center for the Arts.” She was originally from Larchmont and Mamaroneck, New York, and raised her two, now grown, children, in Greenwich, Connecticut. Claudia then moved to Sanibel Island, Florida where she resided for 17 years and was a broker-associate with Priscilla Murphy Realty, later ResortQuest International. Earlier in her career, Claudia was the assistant to the president of Donald Art Company, a family owned fine art publishing company, and worked with an advertising company for many years prior to her move to Florida. Claudia graduated from George Washington University with a bachelors degree in fine art and a minor in both math and French. |
