Board of Directors
Malcolm Morris , Chairman
Malcolm Stewart Morris is Chairman of Stewart Title Company. He served as Chairman of the Deacons at First Baptist Church of Houston; He was a member of the Council on National Policy and Real Estate Roundtable’s President’s Council. He is the past Chairman and current Executive Vice President of Living Water International. Mr. Morris is also heavily involved in working with Africa for Schools, hospitals, orphanages, churches, and communities.
Peter Lochery , Vice Chairman
Peter Lochery is an environmental engineer with over 30 years of experience in the water sector. He has worked in the private sector, with the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program, and latterly with CARE. Since joining CARE in 1995, he has been responsible for providing leadership to CARE’s relief and development programming in water and sanitation and water resources.
Ned Breslin
Edward D. (Ned) Breslin joined Water For People as its Director of International Programs in January 2006, and was appointed Acting CEO in late 2008. The board hired him as Chief Executive Officer on May 13, 2009. Mr Breslin was first introduced to the challenges of water supply when living in the Chalbi Desert of northern Kenya in 1987, linked to a Lutheran World Relief program through St. Lawrence University. He subsequently worked for a range of local and international water and sanitation sector NGOs in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, including positions at the Mvula Trust and as Country Representative for WaterAid in Mozambique, before joining Water For People.
Cheryl Jereczek
Cheryl Jereczek is Vice President of the International Programs Group Private Funding (PF) team at World Vision US and is responsible for providing overall leadership, strategic direction and product management for World Vision US privately funded programs. She began this role in April 2012, and previously provided strategic and operational leadership to the Major Donor Ministries (MDM) Regional Development West Region Team and the broader National Regional Development Team at World Vision.
Michael Mantel
Dr. Michael J. Mantel is President & CEO of Living Water International, a global implementer of water solutions in 24 developing countries. Prior to joining Living Water International in 2008, Mike led World Vision’s regional, area and metro teams in the central United States for 17 years. Mike is a graduate of Calvin College with a BA in Business Economics and holds a Certification in Executive Training in Social Innovations and Global Change Management from Case Western.
Ryan Smedes
Ryan Smedes is the Director of Food Security and Livelihoods with Food for the Hungry in Washington DC. For the past 12 years he has held positions with Food for the Hungry and the Chalmers Center for Economic Development in Peru, Dominican Republic, and Bolivia, managing integrated community development programs in microfinance, food security, health and nutrition, WASH, and child protection projects. He holds a masters degree in public administration and international development policy and management from the University of Washington.
Rich Thorsten
Rich Thorsten is the Director of International Programs for Water.org. Mr. Thorsten oversees the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of Water.org’s water and sanitation programs. He also works closely with the Development and Communications teams on donor and special public relations projects.
Vanessa Tobin
Vanessa Tobin is the Senior Technical Adviser for Water Supply, Sanitation and Water Resources Development for Catholic Relief Services, based in Baltimore, Maryland. Until December 2011, Ms. Tobin led all the activities and functions of UNICEF in the Philippines which included planning and implementation of programs for children and women; advocacy and resource mobilization; and emergency response. Prior to that, she served as Chief of Water, Environment and Sanitation (WES) in UNICEF New York Headquarters, 2001 -2006. For nearly 30 years, Ms. Tobin served in various capacities with the UN. She has worked extensively in the field, including in South Sudan, Lesotho, Pakistan, and Egypt. From 1979 to 1981, she worked in Nepal for Voluntary Services Overseas, a UK-based organization. Ms. Tobin has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Birmingham (UK)University in 1978, and Master’s degrees in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1985, and in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in 1999.
David Winder
Dr. David Winder became CEO of WaterAid America in January 2010. Dr. Winder’s career has spanned the non-profit, foundation and academic spheres. He started his career in international development as a United Nations volunteer in Chile and then managed graduate programs, taught courses in public administration, social development planning and rural development policy and planning, and conducted research at the University of Manchester’s Institute for Development Policy and Management in England. For over a decade he served the Ford Foundation as Regional Representative for Mexico and Central America and as Regional Representative for Southeast Asia focusing on new programs in human rights and social justice, maternal and child health, and natural resource management.
Dennis Warner , Emeritus Board Member
Dr. Dennis B. Warner is a Senior Technical Advisor for water supply, sanitation and water resources development with Catholic Relief Services. He has over forty years experience in international development, working on problems of water supply, sanitation, environmental health and emergency relief assistance. Dr. Warner has lived in Tanzania, Uganda, Switzerland and France and has held positions with the Peace Corps, University of Dar es Salaam, Duke University, World Health Organization, several engineering consulting firms, World Bank and USAID. Dr. Warner is a Member of Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement, and in 2000 served as representative of Pax Christi International to the United Nations in Geneva.