About Rich Fromer

Rich Fromer, Managing Director, has 20 years of experience as an international entrepreneur, consultant and program manager. As an advisor to global, regional and local organizations, Rich has provided strategy consulting, training, program design and management support to community and economic development programs focusing on topics such as strategic planning, organizational management, social enterprise, and corporate social responsibility. He is fluent in Spanish and has worked in over 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Prior to his focus on development programs, Rich was co-founder and VP of Strategy of a marketing and management consulting firm with offices in the US and Europe. Rich has an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, a BS in Economics from Wharton Business School, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. 

About Degan Ali

A highly experienced executive director with a demonstrated ability to lead organizations to new levels of growth in highly competitive environments, Degan Ali is helping to change the way we see development and aid. In 2003, Degan designed and oversaw the delivery of the first large-scale cash aid distribution program in Africa implemented by an NGO rather than a government agency. Under Degan’s leadership, Adeso has since pioneered and championed market based and dignified solutions to aid that have resulted in cash transfers becoming a standard aid response. 

Degan is a regular contributor to the global dialogue on humanitarian action. Determined to speak her mind where lives are at stake, she has shared her informed views on issues as central to effective humanitarian and development responses as food and nutrition security information, famine, cash programing, and the importance of supporting private sector driven remittances. Degan has also been a Contributing Writer to articles for the Overseas Development Institute/Humanitarian Policy Group and the Global Food Security Journal. The Guardian an online media house, in one of their articles named Degan as one of the top ten humanitarians to follow on social media. 

Since 2014, Degan has been acting as a leading advocate for the empowerment of Southern NGOs; calling for a global network of NGOs ‘run by the south, for the south’, where the voices of local, national and regional southern actors can be heard. In 2016 she was nominated for the Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation. The program brings together diverse global leaders who come up with transformative solutions to problems that result in more resilient systems, communities, and people. 

About Gabriela Boyer

Gabriela Boyer is the IAF Representative for Nicaragua and for community asset mobilization initiatives in Mexico. She has also served as the Foundation Representative for Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Before she joined the IAF, Gabriela worked at the World Bank as a consultant on local and rural development, the environment, and community development for Central America. She has also worked as a fellow for the U.S. Forest Service and a researcher for Public Citizen and the Washington Center for Central American Studies. She holds a master’s degree in environmental policy from Tufts University and has published articles on public policy and local governance. During her nearly 10 years at the IAF, Gabriela’s work has supported a diverse group of grantees that includes many endeavoring to promote the responsible management of natural resources, environmentally-friendly agriculture, enterprise development, community philanthropy and the inclusion of women and indigenous people. Gabriela also leads IAF’s collaboration with the C.S. Mott Foundation and other donors to maximize the reach of grassroots development in Mexico.