Tina Sciabica, Executive Director
As Executive Director, Tina leads READ Global’s strategy, partnerships and fundraising. She has spent the past decade working toward a more just and sustainable world, and brings a wealth of non-profit and social sector experience to the organization.
Prior to READ, Tina was Deputy Director of Social Venture Network (SVN), a peer-to-peer network of more than 500 social entrepreneurs working together to solve critical global issues. While at SVN, Tina created and managed the SVN Innovation Awards, a program recognizing social entrepreneurs and emerging enterprises that are changing the shape of business. Tina was also one of the first Chapter Leaders for Room to Read, an international nonprofit providing educational opportunities for children in the developing world. During her five years serving the organization, Tina managed the Chicago and San Francisco chapters and helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of education programs in Asia. Previously, Tina was also a commercial litigation attorney in Chicago and subsequently founded and managed a legal recruitment firm.
Today, Tina brings her expertise and passion to leading READ Global. She was instrumental in creating READ’s 2010 Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action: its Women’s Empowerment Centers Initiative. Tina received a bachelor of science in investment finance from the University of Illinois and a juris doctor from Indiana University School of Law.
Robert Reno, Asia Managing Director
Bob joined READ Global in July 2008 and manages all three READ affiliates from Bangkok. Bob has worked alongside our Country Directors to set up a formal reporting and communications strategy, standardize policies and operations, facilitate program partnerships and expand READ's work into new countries. Bob successfully set up READ Bhutan in late 2008, has helped READ India expand staff and their scope of work and has been instrumental in advocating and organizing READ Nepal's monitoring and evaluation efforts. He has over ten years experience in the international development and education arena and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in one of the first groups to serve in Ukraine. He has been the director of regional offices for the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) in Belarus, Moldova & Ukraine, as well as their Central Asian offices, managing programs in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Mr. Reno has a B.S. in Marketing and an MBA from Drexel University.
Rukmin Ramsuchit, Director of Development and Communications
Rukmin oversees READ Global’s fundraising and marketing initiatives. She brings 13 years of experience combining strategic planning, branding, marketing and public relations. Prior to READ, Rukmin was a manager with Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm, representing HP Enterprise Business. Rukmin also served as Development Director for World of Good: Development Organization, a nonprofit focused on creating fair wage standards and promoting fair trade practices on the developing world. She holds a bachelor of science in communications from Boston University.
Nathan Joblin, Director of Finance and Administration
Nathan currently serves as the Director of Finance & Administration for two nonprofit organizations: READ Global and Social Venture Network. In this role, he oversees the organizations' finance, technology, Human Resource and administrative functions. Previously, he has served as Director of Operations at the Presidio Graduate School as well as Operations Manager at International Development Exchange (IDEX), with additional experience in the publishing, environmental consulting, transportation and construction industries. He earned his BA from Amherst College and his MS in Environmental Management from the University of San Francisco.
Sara Litke, Marketing and Development Associate
Sara joined READ Global in 2011 as Marketing and Development Associate. She manages the organization's online presence and social media strategy. Sara also supports fundraising, marketing and PR initiatives. She joined the READ team after two years of service as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Mali, West Africa, where she worked with a local village in natural resource management and health. During her time there, she worked with the community to establish a village-level, grain bank cooperative, create a community garden and partner with an NGO to do outreach in maternal health and family planning. Prior to the Peace Corps, Sara interned with human rights advocacy organizations Global Exchange and Mercy Corps, and lived with a permaculture community in Oregon called Aprovecho. She has lived in France and Senegal, and holds a B.A. in International Affairs and French from Lewis & Clark College.
Dr. Antonia Neubauer, Founder
Dr. Neubauer has been traveling to Nepal since 1983. Twenty years ago, she asked a casual question of a Nepalese guide: "What is the one thing you would like to see in your village?” When she got the answer "a library,” Neubauer sprang into action. A former language teacher and education researcher, she had directed major studies on literacy and school-business partnerships in the US and served as a consultant to the Pew Foundation, Lilly Endowment and the U.S. Department of Education. Founding READ Global was what she had to do. Today dozens of self-sustaining, community-chosen, READ Community Library and Resource Centers dot the landscapes of 3 countries, thanks to her energy and forward-thinking take on rural needs and village abilities.
Dr. Neubauer has served on and chaired many boards including the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, White Williams Foundation, and the Northern Nevada World Affairs Council and International Visitor’s Center. She is recipient of numerous awards, including the Friend of Nepal award by the Association of Nepalis in the Americas, The International Visionary Award from the Northern Nevada World Affairs Council and International Visitor’s Center, and the 2006 Walk the Talk Global Citizen Award. She is also Founder and President of Myths and Mountains, Inc., a cultural adventure travel company rated among the Top 10 "Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth” by National Geographic Adventure.
Ms. Janice Bertozzi, Board Chair
Since retiring from the federal government where she was a government contracts litigator, Janice Bertozzi has traveled extensively internationally and domestically and come to appreciate the value of well-conceived and operated organizations that provide developmental assistance to communities all over the world. Jan believes that READ Global is a shining example of such an organization. Jan has been a major contributor to and Board member of American Assistance to Cambodia and Saint Anselm's Abbey School in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of MIT and Boston College Law School.
Dr. Dina Bangdel
Dr. Bangdel is Assistant Professor of Art History at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. A specialist in Indian and Himalayan art, she is the co-curator of "Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art," a 2003–2004 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Columbus Museum of Art. Dr. Bangdel is the daughter of writer and scholar Lain Bangdel, Nepal's leading modern artist who was a member of the READ Advisory Board in Nepal until his death in 2002.
Mr. Raphael Bemporad
Mr. Bemporad is founding partner and principal at BBMG, an innovative marketing agency aligned with forward thinking brands and conscious consumers. He has directed recent initiatives for clients such as Luna Bar, ShoreBank, UNICEF, Ocean Conservancy, Social Venture Network, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Center for a New American Dream. Prior to co-founding BBMG, Mr. Bemporad served as communications director at Do Something, where he oversaw marketing, media relations and cause-related partnerships with Levi Strauss & Co., SEARS, Kenneth Cole and Rolling Stone magazine.
Ms. Loretta Faye Cooper
Ms. Cooper has had a distinguished career in the arts including positions as the Vice President of Development for the Scottsdale Cultural Council and the Director of Development of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Ms. Cooper has also held the position of Associate Director for the Nevada Museum of Art (NMA), where she helped to raise over $20 million to build the new, architecturally significant NMA. While Chief of Development at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, she directed a $100 million capital campaign to restore and enhance its historic home. Ms. Cooper has also owned her own art gallery in Houston, Texas.
Mr. Adnan A. Durrani
Mr. Durrani is Chief Halal Officer for American Halal Co, Inc., a socially conscious food brand, and also President of Condor Ventures, Inc., a venture firm devoted to strategic investing in natural food companies. Most recently, he was also a Venture Partner of Blue Chip Venture Co., with $600 million in managed funds, and has been an investment professional for 26 years. Mr. Durrani is a serial entrepreneur. He served on the Board and was Finance Chairman of Social Venture Network, where he has been a pioneer in establishing quantitative proof that socially conscious and economically just business models can yield exponential triple bottom line profits for consumer product companies. He was the founder of Vermont Pure Holdings, the second largest bottled water company in the Northeast and the parent company of Crystal Rock Water Co. Mr. Durrani was also a financial partner of Stonyfield Farms Inc., the leading organic yogurt brand whose private sale he led to Dannone, SA in 2003. He was also a principal of Delicious Brands, Inc., a struggling regional brand whose growth he led, with the financial backing of Carl Icahn, through a strategic roll up strategy to become the fifth largest cookie brand in U.S.
Ms. Janet Morgan
Ms. Morgan is currently President at CSR Wire (Corporate Social Responsibility) along with President of Morgan Amadeo LLC, an international consulting firm focusing on strategic planning, brand development and project implementation for NGOs, nonprofit organizations, governments, start-up companies and social venture enterprises. Ms. Morgan was the Director of Not-for-Profit Consulting Services for RSM McGladrey in New York and developed a dedicated "social sector” consulting practice at American Express Tax & Business Services which was acquired by McGladrey in 2005. Ms. Morgan was Managing Director of Media Minds Group and a Founding Partner of Zink Communications in New York. Ms. Morgan studied in Europe, Latin America and China to receive a global executive MBA from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Antioch University and is a member of the Social Venture Network, the Women Donors Network and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.
Mr. Lawrence Neubauer
Mr. Neubauer is a private equity investor living in New York. He has served on a number of boards and committees and is currently a member of the advisory counsel for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the visiting committee for the University of Chicago Law School. His background includes work with public policy formation as well as nonprofit entrepreneurship activities.
Ms. Sara Lafrance
Ms. Lafrance is currently the President of Educational Pathways International, a education-focused charitable foundation she and her husband founded in 2005. Prior to this effort, Sara co-founded and served as President of Century Analysis, Inc., a software manufacturer that provided integration solutions to large commercial, industrial, and healthcare enterprises, from 1975 until its sale in 1998. Since moving to Nevada in 1998, Mrs. Lafrance has acted at an advisory level for several early stage businesses as well as served on and chaired many local boards, including the University of Nevada College of Engineering Advisor Board, the University of Nevada Foundation Board, KNPB Channel 5 Public Television, and the Reno Philharmonic. She is a member of Sierra Angels, a Northern Nevada investment group that focuses on promising early stage companies, and is also active at a committee or board level for several philanthropic and charitable organizations. Mrs. Lafrance holds a Bachelor of Arts in English/Journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a Masters of Arts in Organizational Change from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY.
Ms. Dorothy Adamson
Ms. Adamson was an instructor at The American School of The Hague in the Netherlands, where she lived for 20 years. There she developed and coordinated the Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) Program, designed to involve students in hands-on service activities. Several years ago, Dorothy’s students adopted READ as their project and regularly sponsor events to raise funds for Nepal libraries. Dorothy and her students have made several trips to Nepal, spending time at READ libraries and in the Kathmandu office.
Ms. Arlene Blum
Arlene Blum has played a groundbreaking role in women’s mountaineering and has played a leading role in more than 20 mountain expeditions worldwide. Blum holds a doctorate in biophysical chemistry, and has taught at Stanford University, Wellesley College, and U. C. Berkeley, where her research was instrumental in banning Tris and Fyrol, two cancer-causing chemicals that were used as a flame retardant on children's sleepwear as well as the pesticide DBCP. She plans to continue this research to facilitate the regulation of similar chemicals and help protect our health and environment. Blum currently designs and presents informative and inspiring keynote lectures, leadership workshops, and cross-cultural seminars. She has given highly acclaimed classes in Mongolia, Uganda, Nepal and India, as well as across the U.S.
Mr. Marvin A. Brustin
Mr. Brustin is president and owner of a Chicago law firm, Marvin A. Brustin, Ltd., which specializes in jury litigation (primarily catastrophic injuries, business-related matters). An Honorary Royal Consul General of Nepal, Brustin was also the recipient of an Outstanding Leadership Award from India for promoting closer relationships between India and Nepal. He is an ardent trekker and outdoors enthusiast, and a long-time member of the Adventurers Club in Chicago. For many years, he served as the chairman of the Chicago Transit Authority citizen’s advisory board.
Mr. Jeffrey P. Lindtner
Mr. Lindtner is the former director of government relations for Cigna Corporation and former executive director of the Cigna Foundation. He also is on the Board of Directors of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Economy League, and the Wilma Theater. Jeff kayaked the Trisuli River in Nepal in 1980, and returned seven years later, hiking to Everest Base Camp.
Dr. Uma Mysorekar
Dr. Mysorekar is the Founder and President of The Hindu Temple Society of North America, in Flushing, New York. She manages the daily operations and coordinates major Hindu celebrations and events, making her the voluntary equivalent of a CEO running an organization with annual revenues of $3 million and 30 full-time staff members that serves 20,000 devotees in the United States. She is the President of Heart and Hand for the Handicapped, an organization dedicated to raising funds for institutions caring for handicapped children in New York and India. Dr. Mysorekar is a gynecologist with a practice in Queens.
Mr. Utpal Kumar Sengupta
Mr. Sengupta is the CEO of Crossflow Nepal Trust, a charity organization working in Nepal and India. He was Vice President and General Manager of Shangri-la hotels in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. Mr. Sengupta also launched Kathmandu’s leading destination management company, Shangri-la Holidays, and Himalayan Exchange, a Franco-Nepali social services organization in Nepal.
Mr. Elliot Shelkrot
Mr. Elliot Shelkrot was President and Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia, where he launched a host of innovative programs to increase library services. Before joining the Free Library in 1987, Mr. Shelkrot served as State Librarian for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A leader in civic affairs in Philadelphia, he serves as a board member for the Allegheny West Foundation, the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Council and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. In 2003, Mr. Shelkrot was honored with a Special Achievement Award by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.