Board Directors

Prospectus is delighted to announce the appointments of eight new Board Directors at Mercy Corps’ Global, Europe and Netherlands Boards.

“We’re thrilled to welcome a roster of new Board Directors who bring a wealth of experience in areas of critical importance to Mercy Corps’ vision and mission. Our incoming Directors are leaders in their industries, and bring expertise spanning gender, diversity, and inclusion to social enterprise incubation to business ethics, health, and economics,” says Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps. “As COVID-19 and climate change worsen the numerous development challenges we face, we need an evolving Board of Directors whose passion, expertise and globally diverse perspectives will help us create the biggest impact we can.”

Joining Mercy Corps’ Global Board of Directors are:

  • Melanie Armstrong is a retired PwC partner with 18 years of experience at the partner and C-Suite level, and led PwC’s (now Guidehouse) U.S. International Development practice focused on social impact. She was also Chief Operating Officer of PwC’s Public Sector Practice. Melanie began her career as an auditor, is a CPA and holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
  • Emmanuel Lulin (will also serve on Mercy Corps’ Europe Board) is currently the Director of the Ethics and Compliance Initiative at the Ethics Resource Center and a UN Global Compact Expert. He previously served as Senior Vice President and Group Chief Ethics Officer of L’Oréal Group (2007-2020). Prior to this role, he served as L’Oréal’s General Counsel for human resources from 1999-2007. Emmanuel previously spent 10 years with Debevoise & Plimpton law firm after earning law degrees at The Sorbonne, in his native France, and University of Chicago Law School. 
  • Kristin Mannion founded Aura Leadership and Development in 2019, an independent consulting firm focused on identifying, recruiting, and developing global executive talent. Kristin has worked with hundreds of companies and organizations to recruit strategic leadership in CEO and Board roles, and she spent 14 years as Vice Chair of Korn Ferry’s CEO and Board Practice. Prior to Korn Ferry she built and led PaineWebber’s Government Relations and Public Affairs Department. She has advised political candidates, served in a presidential transition committee, and is a frequent speaker on gender, diversity, leadership, and talent development. 
  • Paul Song is a board-certified radiation oncologist and the co-founder and CEO of Fuse Biotherapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company focused on redirected immunotherapy in cancer. He last practiced full-time at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and currently volunteers at Dignity California Hospital. Dr. Song graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, where he also completed his residency, and received his M.D. degree from George Washington University. He was awarded an ASTRO research fellowship in 1995 for his research in radiation inducible gene therapy

Joining Mercy Corps’ Europe’s Board of Directors are:

  • Kendi Ntwiga  is the Country Leader at Microsoft Kenya and has over 16 years of experience crafting, leading and implementing business strategies for technology companies across Sub-Saharan Africa, including HP, Oracle, Intel and Check Point. She is the founder of She-Goes-Tech, an initiative that started in Kenya and encourages girls to pursue careers in STEM. Kendi has a degree in International Business Management from Africa Nazarene University, is a Santander African Women Foundation Fellow and studied entrepreneurial leadership at Babson College.
  • Lesley Ndlovu is the CEO of African Risk Capacity “ARC” Ltd., a specialist insurance company that provides insurance coverage to African countries for extreme weather events and natural disasters. Lesley has held senior management roles in insurance and asset management with the AXA Group in London, Paris and Singapore, including as CEO of a Lloyd’s of London insurance syndicate. He is a graduate of Christ Church, University of Oxford where he received an MSc in Taxation, and INSEAD, with a Master’s in Finance.
  • Ludovic Subran is the Chief Economist of Allianz and Euler Hermes, and previously worked for the World Bank, the United Nations World Food Program, and the French Ministry of Finance. He is a member of the Council of Economic Advisors to the French Prime Minister and an Adjunct Professor of economics at HEC Business School and Sciences Po Paris. He is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a Millennium Fellow of the Atlantic Council, and a David Rockefeller Fellow of the Trilateral Commission. Ludovic has been ranked by Richtopia among the Top 100 most influential economists, and by Institut Choiseul and Le Figaro as one of the Top 100 French leaders of tomorrow. Ludovic is a graduate of the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Économique and of Sciences Po Paris. 

Joining Mercy Corps’ Netherlands Board of Directors:

  • Pepijn van Dijk currently serves as the director of the Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and is on the Board of CarbonFix, supporting promising climate innovations. Pepijn has led projects and organizations focused on sustainability, international development, and tech for good, including previously serving as Executive Director of VSO in the Netherlands and director of De Publieke Zaak, establishing direct giving start-up LittleBitz, and launching the fact-checking platform The Fact Club. Pepijn is an alumnus of THNK, School of Creative Leadership, and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam.

For more information about the work and impact of Mercy Corps, please visit www.mercycorps.org