Anne is Executive Director of Girls Education Collaborative. Public affairs and education have always been at the heart of her career.  While earning an Executive Masters of Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, she was inspired to take a deliberate ‘pivot’ into the newly emerging field of global girls education. She served as Executive Director of the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a girls school in Kenya, before founding Girls Education Collaborative in 2012.

Previously, Anne served as the President of the Board for the East Aurora School District and helped launch Enterprise Charter School in Buffalo, New York.  She has lobbied on Capitol Hill for public education and has served as a Trustee for the Buffalo Seminary, an all-girls secondary school. She was also Campaign Director for Alice Kryzan for Congress in 2008.

Anne has a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College and describes herself as “a Buffalo gal who is passionate about things that happen both here and beyond”. She has three grown children and a delightful grandson.  She enjoys canoe tripping (except during thunder storms), kayaking, hiking, reading, doing new things and dancing with her husband.

Erin Klass is Director of Development for the Girls Education Collaborative. Erin and her two sisters (Catherine and Ann) were raised with the opportunity to and priority towards receiving a high quality education – and with values that reinforced that “there is nothing a girl can’t do”.

A graduate of Buffalo Seminary, girls education, leadership, and gender equality has continued to play an important role in Erin’s life. After completing her Bachelors and MBA at Canisius College in Buffalo, Erin had a long career in health care marketing and administration that centered around women & children at risk.

Finally, Erin is a (very) proud Buffalonian that lives in the city with her two children Griffin and Gigi. Please feel free to reach out to her at anytime.

Guillemette has been involved with GEC since her first visit to Kitenga in 2015. She has supported GEC’s online communications and media production; and also used her language tutoring experience conducting language programs with the Kitenga students and young Sisters from IHSA.

Guillemette is the co-founder and COO of Chatterbox – an online language learning service for professionals, where tutors are trained refugees. Following an honours degree in International Development from McGill University, Canada, and experience in the NGO and public sector in Australia, she founded two technology companies. Combining her social work and entrepreneurial background, Guillemette leads Chatterbox’s product development, tutor training program, and impact measurement on refugee integration worldwide.

Bob Berger, Board Chair, is an Emeritus Professor at the University at Buffalo Law School. His research and teaching interests for the past 20 years have been in the area of environment and development, focusing most recently on renewable energy and climate change. Bob also directed the environment and development legal clinic at UB in which he and students worked with non-profits and local governments on a number of projects in the domestic and international context. He has been an active participant or board member for many local and regional organizations focusing on renewable energy and climate change concerns.

Bob has a BA degree from Kenyon College and a JD from the University of Chicago. He has traveled throughout the world, and has been fortunate to visit Tanzania and the Kitenga school three times.

Joseph T. Beecher is Senior Investment Advisor with Dopkins Wealth Management LLC, where he provides wealth management services to high net worth individuals, businesses and not-for-profit entities. He routinely provides guidance to clients with respect to pension plans, 401(k) plans and executive benefit plans. His prior experience includes leadership roles at Prudential Financial, Inc. and Wilmington Trust Corporation.

Joe received his B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance, from the State University of New York University at Buffalo.  In addition to serving on the GEC board, he is also a member of the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County Endowment and Planned Giving Committee. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Buffalo, the Canisius High School Alumni Board, and as a Steering committee member for the Algonquin Campership Fund, a non-profit providing scholarships to young people to attend a traditional canoe camp in Algonquin Park, ON. 

Board Secretary Dr. Christine Brown is a Buffalo native and board certified Pediatrician, currently at Delaware Pediatrics in Buffalo, NY.  After completing her residency at the Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, she served as Chief Resident, taking an active role in pediatric medical education. She earned her Doctorate from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and her Bachelor’s degree from Miami University of Ohio. 

Crediting a strong and empowering all-girls high school education to Buffalo’s Nardin Academy, she supports GEC’s mission to further girls education globally. She provides input and guidance to GEC on medical and health related issues pertinent to the Kitenga project.  Dr. Brown has personal and professional interest in learning about and promoting child development from a holistic point of view. 

Having travelled to Kitenga, Tanzania to the IHSA Kitenga Secondary School for Girls in 2018, Christine saw firsthand the immediate positive impact of GEC on the lives of the girls and also the families in the Kitenga Village.

Georgia Dachille, Vice Chair of the Board, is the Executive Vice President of Global Growth and Technology at Rich Products Corporation. In the 27 years Georgia has worked at Rich’s, she has held various positions across the business.  In her current role, she leads Rich’s innovation efforts including oversight of R&D, global marketing and strategic growth initiatives.  Prior to working at Rich’s, Georgia worked at Ernst & Young as a senior auditor.

She is a graduate of Canisius College where she received both a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and her Master of Business Administration degree.

Ryan Knowles is Board Treasurer and the Owner of Knowles Solutions, a firm he founded to provide accounting and consulting services to creative agencies. He has over 10 years of accounting experience, including work at not-for-profits. 

Ryan is a graduate of Boston University with a Bachelors degree in Accounting. He also has a Masters degree in Marine Biology from Northeastern University which he attained while taking a multi-year sabbatical from the accounting profession.

Ryan lives in Buffalo with his wife and two kids.

Jennifer Meka is the inaugural Director of the Medical Education and Educational Research Institute (MEERI), Assistant Dean for Medical Education, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. 

Jennifer earned her Bachelor’s degree in secondary education and a Master’s of science in teacher education from Canisius College. She received her doctorate from the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education. In her role as director of MEERI, Meka helps oversee the advancement of medical education at UB. A scholar in medical education with expertise in curriculum design and assessment, she is responsible for planning and implementing programs that enable faculty and instructional staff to develop their skills as educators. Additionally, she collaborates with the Office of Student and Academic Affairs and the Office of Medical Curriculum to enhance services for students in the areas of academic support, learning strategies, mentorship, and advising.

Jennifer was a member of the GEC Board in 2013 before moving to Pennsylvania for a position at Penn State College of Medicine. She is excited to be back in Buffalo and rejoin GEC as it continues to grow and achieve its mission. She is passionate about learning and committed to supporting others – primarily women – to have multiple and vast opportunities to learn.

Carole Smith Petro, Ph.D., is a founding member and Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors. Other current volunteer roles include service as a member of the Alison DesForges Memorial Committee, dedicated to promoting Alison’s human rights legacy; a representative of the Darwin D. Martin House Corporation on the Board of Directors of the Frank Lloyd Wright Fontana Boathouse; and a member of Buffalo Sunrise Rotary.

Carole’s career as a senior administrator at the University at Buffalo spanned more than 35 years before her recent retirement. Among her roles at UB were Chief of Staff to President Steven B. Sample, Associate Vice President for University Communications, General Manager of WBFO, and Associate Dean of the Collegiate System. She also taught in UB’s Graduate School of Education as an adjunct faculty member.

Carole holds a Certificate in Educational Management from Harvard University, a Ph. D. and M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from the University at Buffalo, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Chatham University. Her professional and personal travels have taken her to five continents, most recently to visit the partners of the Girls Education Collaborative in northwestern Tanzania. She is the mother of three daughters and a grandmother of nine.

Robynn McPartlan Rich is a Human Resources Consultant with RM Rich. She has more than three decades of Human Resources experience across numerous industries including manufacturing, banking and financial services, healthcare and technology. Her areas of expertise are organizational leadership, recruiting, salary planning, talent and performance management, coaching, succession planning, regulatory compliance, change management, team and organization development.

In her former role as Director of Human Resources at Mattel/Fisher-Price, Inc., Robynn was a strategic business partner for executives and associates. She has extensive experience in succession planning, employee development and facilitating organizational change initiatives to impact cultural change and building successful teams. 

Robynn earned her MBA from Canisius College and currently holds extensive training and creative problem solving certifications.

In addition to being a part of the GEC board, Robynn’s community activities include; Advisory Board Member, Canisius College, Wehle School of Business and a Board Member, United Church Manor.

Louise is originally from Rwanda but has found a new home in Buffalo – where she has become a community leader and mentor to many. Louise is the owner of Global Villages, a gift shop on Grant Street.