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Who We Are
Management
Katrin Fakiri, Managing Director
Ms. Fakiri has been an active member of the San Francisco Bay Area Afghan community for the past 10 years with involvement in several organizations and projects. Born in Kabul, Ms. Fakiri migrated with her family to the United States after the Soviet invasion at the age of 10. She completed her Bachelors degree in English Literature at San Jose State University and served as President of the Afghan Student Organization her senior year. Among her numerous involvements in the Afghan community is her tenure as producer and host of Fanous, a groundbreaking weekly Afghan radio program dealing with issues Afghans face as first generation immigrants. In addition, Ms. Fakiri is also a founding member and two time President of the Society of Afghan Professionals, one the most active Afghan organizations in the United States. In March of 2002, Ms. Fakiri traveled to Afghanistan to research the possibility of a Microlending organization in Afghanistan and in a follow up trip established the first Microlending organization for Afghans by Afghans. Ms. Fakiri has seven years of experience in corporate Human Resource management and Public Relations with Silicon Valley high tech companies.
Siddique Durrani, Finance and Administration Manager
Mr. Siddique Durrani joined PARWAZ in January of 2006. He comes with three years of solid finance experience working for Mercy Corp, an international NGO working in Afghanistan. He has a degree in English Literature, history and an Executive MBA and is currently enrolled in the ACCA certification program. He has been instrumental in setting up PARWAZ finance department at a standard international level and computerizing a previously outdated and inefficient manual accounting system. He has received training in financial analysis and internal control for MFIs. He has prepared a Finance department manual, hired and trained a Finance Officer and is instrumental in making sure that PARWAZ finance operations are accurate, timely, adheres to best practices and the finance manual. Mr. Durrani also head the Administration department.
Jamila Sahak, Program Manager
Ms. Jamila Sahak has been with PARWAZ since inception as a Promoter, Loan Officer, Area Supervisor and now Head of Loan Program. She has over 20 years of experience as a mathematics teacher and was recruited to work for PARWAZ in 2003 as a Promoter. In the past 4 and half years, she has demonstrated leadership, maturity, attention to accuracy, commitment to transparency, and a dedication to expanding the program and satisfaction from helping Afghan women achieve a level of empowerment. Ms. Sahak is currently managing the entire loan program and her responsibilities include management of Supervisors, Loan Officers and Promoters; daily and weekly MIS reports, achievement of target client goals, growth and expansion of microfinance program and implementation of loan and organizational policies.
Board of Directors
- Katrin Fakiri, Managing Director, PARWAZ MicroFinance Institution
- Ajmal Ghani, President, Afghan American Chamber of Commerce
- Hayaullah Wahdat, President, Alcatel Afghanistan
Supervisory Board
Nicola Armacost
Ms. Armacost has been with Women’s World Banking (www.swwb.org ) since 1993 where she is the Linkages and Learning Manager. WWB is a non-profit umbrella organization that supports over fifty Microfinance institutions worldwide. WWB provides services to its network members in the fields of institutional development, financing and policy. The organization was described by the New York Times in a 11/12/02 editorial as “a respected pioneer” in the field of micro banking. Ms. Armacost served as a key participant in WWB policy initiatives, and in supporting the creation of the Africa Microfinance Network and the Global Network for Banking Innovation in Microfinance. She has a bachelor’s degree in international relations (Toronto), an LLB (Queens), and an LLM (Osgoode). She resides in New York.
Thomas R. Miller
Thomas R. Miller is a senior partner in the law firm of Miller & Ngo, providing a broad array of legal services to corporations and individuals (www.millerngo.com). Mr. Miller holds a B.A. from Yale (1960), an L.L.B. from Stanford Law School (1965), where he founded its International Law Society, and an advanced Certificate in Foreign and Comparative Law from Columbia University. Mr. Miller’s experience with the non-profit world is highly distinguished. Prior to 1965, as a UC Berkeley faculty member, Mr. Miller helped establish the Peace Corps and its first program, in Ghana. In 1966, he set up in Viet Nam what was at the time the largest reconstructive surgery hospital in the world to treat war injured children. After the 1973 peace agreement he was a consultant to UNICEF for a $100 million aid program for the children of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Mr. Miller is pro bono General Counsel to Global Exchange, a people-to-people human rights organization; and is Board Chair of The Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development, an organization that researches environmental protection, the advancement of peace and the reduction of nuclear armaments.
Tran Tuong Nhu
Tran Tuong Nhu (known as Nhu) was the former Spokeswoman for Jerry Brown, former governor and Mayor of the City of Oakland, California. Originally a member of the Mercury News Editorial Board, she was a columnist and a reporter for 16 years. Before writing for the San Jose Mercury-News, she was an editor at Lancaster-Miller Publishers and resettled Southeast Asia refugees in the Bay Area. She has served on the boards and raised money for non-profit organizations including: Global Exchange,KPFA, Berkeley Citizens Action, Asian Women United, the Mentoring Center, and International Children's Fund.
Mrs. Nhu completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in Anthropology, Asian Studies and Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. She lives in Berkeley California and Ha noi Viet Nam where she is a consultant for Atlantic Philanthropies and the Museum of Ethnology.