Kathleen Colson, Co-Founder and CEO: Kathleen has more than 20 years in nonprofit fundraising for African causes. She has been in the safari business in Africa for 25-plus years and worked with refugee groups in London for four. Kathleen oversees fundraising and donor cultivation for BOMA, as well as program development. She undertakes several extended trips to Kenya each year to meet with staff and evaluate programs. Kathleen graduated from St. Lawrence University with a B.A. in government; as a SLU student, she participated in the Kenya Semester program.

Margaret (Meg) Harris, Executive Director: Meg has 20 years of experience in project management, fundraising and evaluation for international organizations. She previously served as director of philanthropic partnerships at the Salzburg Global Seminar, where she was responsible for donor cultivation, researching new revenue streams, and developing proposals and reports for foundation, government and corporate support. Before joining the Seminar in 1999, Meg worked with Associates in Rural Development (ARD), Partners for International Education and Training (PIET), and the Overseas Development Network. She spent her formative years in Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya and earned a B.A. from Carleton University and a M.A. in Adult Education from the University of Toronto, Canada. Meg is responsible for BOMA’s day-to-day operations.

Kathleen James, Director of Communications and Foundations: Kathleen has worked as an editor and writer for various newspapers, magazines and nonprofits since graduating from Northwestern University with a master’s degree in journalism in 1989.

Stephanie Sheldon-Watrous, Financial Manager: Stephanie has more than 15 years of accounting experience, mainly with nonprofits. She previously served as U.S. Finance Director & Associate CFO at the Salzburg Global Seminar; where she was responsible for all aspects of the finance department, including cash management, grant tracking, budgeting, reporting and the coordination of the annual audit and tax returns. Stephanie graduated from the College of St. Joseph with a B.S. in Accounting & Business Management.

Ansally Kuria, Database Manager and Operations Assistant: graduated from Middlebury College in May 2012 with a double major in Neuroscience and Women and Gender Studies. During her undergraduate career at Middlebury, she completed a fellowship at the Sierra Club’s Global Population and Environment Program (March 2012) and attended the Development Project Management Institute at Middlebury’s Monterey Institute of International Studies (May and June 2012). She also co-chaired the Senior Class Gift Committee. Ansally is from Kenya and graduated with an IB high-school diploma from the United World College of the Adriatic in Duino, Italy.