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Who We Are
Management
Katrin Fakiri, Founding 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. In 2008 Ms. Fakiri left Parwaz to became director of MISFA, a donor consortium of microfinance programs in Afghanistan. Although no longer a board member or employee, Katrin maintains an active interest in supporting the growth of Parwaz as part of the consortium.
Meagan Andrews, Acting Managing Director
Meagan Andrews, MBA, has temporarily replaced Katrin Fakiri as Managing Director. She is a microfinance professional and international development consultant from Vancouver, Canada, with years of microfinance experience in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq (Kurdistan), Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti, Mozambique, Tanzania, Taiwan, Cambodia, N. Ireland and Albania. From 2003 to 2007 she was Project Manager of Women for Women International in Kabul, where she secured funding for and developed its long term program for technical assistance. She received her MBA from McGill University and her B.S. in Economics (Honours) from the University of Victoria, where she was Canadian National Rowing Champion from 1989 to 1991.
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.
Local Board Members
- Katrin Fakiri (Ex Officio), Founding Managing Director, PARWAZ MicroFinance Institution
- Malalai Wassil, Attorney and Member, Afghanistan Bar
- Hayaullah Wahdat, President, Alcatel Afghanistan
International Board Members
Nicola Armacost
Nicola is the Managing Director and Co-founder of Arc Finance, which was formed in the spring of 2008 to link the fields of microfinance and energy, by promoting access to financing for clean energy, water and other basic security needs of poor people around the world. With over over 16 years' experience in microfinance throughout Africa, Asia, Latin American and Eastern Europe, prior to helping found Arc Finance, Nicola worked for Women's World Banking where, as Director of Linkages and Learning, she managed its global microfinance network's education and leadership training agenda's, as well a built strategic alliances between microfinance institutions and funders. She also serves as an advisor to Distributed Capital, a financial services firm based in New York City, and is on the Board of Global Exchange. She received her Bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Toronto, an LLB from Queen's University, Canada and an LLM from Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada
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. In 2007 he co-founded the Viet Nam Green Building Council (http://www.vsccan.org/vgbc/)
Tran Tuong Nhu
T.T. Nhu was a reporter, columnist and editorial writer at the San Jose Mercury News for many years where she covered the Afghan and other ethnic communities in California. She was press secretary for Jerry Brown when he was Mayor of Oakland, and is now a consultant for Atlantic Philanthropies in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. She completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in Anthropology, Asian Studies and Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.