Leadership & Staff

Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins serves as president and CEO of PAI. For close to 60 years, PAI has been championing sexual and reproductive health and rights as essential to development progress, including the achievement of health equity, gender equality and economic achievement.

In addition to PAI’s advocacy and accountability efforts targeting the US government and international institutions, PAI provides funding and support to community-based organizations in over 35 countries that are working to advance SRHR priorities in their own countries and further fuel a global movement grounded in the agency, autonomy and human rights of women, youth and at-risk communities around the world.

Nabeeha brings more than 25 years of movement building, policy advocacy, and community engagement experience in HIV/AIDS, food and nutrition security, maternal, newborn and child health, and conservation. She has dedicated her career to supporting equitable health, social and development outcomes across Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Nabeeha is the founder of Humanitas Global, an international development organization that advances programs in agricultural development, food and nutrition security, maternal and child health, and youth empowerment. She also served as Executive Director of No Wasted Lives, a multi-lateral coalition to combat acute malnutrition in children, and was Partner and Senior Vice President at FleishmanHillard, one of the world’s biggest public relations firms. Nabeeha also served in leadership roles with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (now CHAI) and KABOOM! and communications roles with the EastWest Institute and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico.

Born in Pakistan and raised in Mexico, Nabeeha holds bachelor’s degrees in political science, and journalism and mass communications from Kansas State University and dual master’s degrees in international affairs and public health from Columbia University. Nabeeha is based in Washington, D.C., where she resides with her family.

Helen serves as the Senior Executive Administrator, Office of the CEO at PAI. Previously, Helen served as Chief of Staff for lobbyist Tony Podesta at Podesta.com, managing clients in the healthcare, mining, energy and finance sectors. Before joining Podesta.com, Helen was the Chief Operating Officer at the lobbying firm Roberti Global, LLC.

Prior to her lobbying work, Helen was the Assistant Director of the Little Folks School, where she gained much of her administrative experience. Her position covered HR, compliance, licensing, communications and fundraising.

Before returning to the work force, Helen was a passionate advocate for DC Public Schools and Parks. While her children attended DC Public Schools, Helen was aware of the need to advocate for Public Schools and DC Parks and Recreation facilities, to ensure school budgets remained intact and renovations were fully funded and completed. Working with DC government agencies, Helen facilitated funding and renovations of two DC Parks, as well as the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

Helen received her bachelor’s degree in Russian and Soviet Studies from New York University.

Mustafa Kudrati is an international health and development executive with over 30 years of experience managing integrated health programs, leading human rights policy and advocacy initiatives, overseeing strategy development and developing processes to foster organizational growth.

Mustafa has held senior executive roles at JSI, Plan International, EngenderHealth, and Pathfinder International, managing health, development, and SRHR service delivery and advocacy programs worldwide. He currently heads the Program and Strategy Committee of the board of FP2030 – the world’s largest partnership of donors, governments, civil society, private sector actors, and individual activists to advance access to quality family planning services and information around the world and serves as a strategic advisor to Touch Health, an organization dedicated to building health systems of the future for sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to joining international organizations, Mustafa had an active organizational development consultancy practice and was a co-founder of Kuleana – Center for Children’s Rights – which received high acclaim for its child rights advocacy and its model practices for working with at-risk children.

Mustafa Kudrati was born and raised in Tanzania, where he attended government primary and secondary schools. Later he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Inter-Disciplinary Development Studies at Hamilton College and his Master’s in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Kadeem Brown is a Finance professional with 11 years of experience working at Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company. He has diverse experience in finance, including leadership roles in cost accounting for the largest Nescafé plant in North America, trade management for sales finance, and SG&A for both Nestlé USA and Nestlé Health Science. During his tenure at Nestlé, Brown led teams through strategic transformation, including several significant acquisitions and divestitures in the highly disruptive CPG industry. He is best known for his collaborative approach across all functions. As a strategic business partner, he has focused on using technology to deliver dynamic financial reporting for more efficient decision-making. Brown holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Skidmore College.

Christine Meehan serves as the Senior Director of Individual Giving at PAI. She was previously the Director of Development at Vital Voices Global Partnership, a woman’s empowerment organization where she led the individual giving and operations functions for the department. In that role, she led the growth of five regional councils made up of supporters in key U.S. markets, oversaw digital and grassroots fundraising efforts and managed a portfolio of individual donors. Prior to that, she was the Director of Donor Engagement at The Washington Center, and also spent over a decade at Americans for the Arts where she managed leadership programs and events for key high-level supporters. Christine graduated from The George Washington University where she studied political science and criminal justice.

Katie Unthank brings over 10 years of experience as a communications specialist working to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Her passion is bringing about impact by developing and designing high-quality campaigns that amplify women’s and girls’ stories and experiences in unique and creative ways.

Katie comes to PAI from the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), where she served as the communications manager and played a critical role in developing and executing communications strategies to secure and protect SRHR by shaping U.S. foreign policy. Prior to CHANGE, she held the role of communications and knowledge management coordinator within the Population Council’s SRHR program.

Katie earned a bachelor’s degree in public communications from American University in Washington, D.C., and completed a minor in women’s, gender and sexuality studies

Elsa Bekele has an extensive background in finance and accounting including non-profit and for-profit organizations. She has held leadership roles in various non-profit organizations including, The American College of Cardiology, American Hospital Association, The Rotary International and Erikson Institute. Elsa also has consulting and public accounting audit experience.

Elsa enjoys to travel across the world, running or walking, & watching movies or Tv shows.

Elsa earned Bachelor of Commerce from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. She is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Senta Boardley brings over 25 years of experience as an operations and human resources professional, specializing in mission-driven nonprofit organizations. She brings expertise, skills, and a drive to create efficiency and impact through effective policies and processes.

Senta joins PAI after a nonprofit career with EDF, the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, where she played key roles in operations and human resources, creating foundational policies and advancing team efficiency to support the critical missions of these organizations.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Penn State University and a SHRM-CP certification.

Eve Brecker manages engagement and strategic support of PAI civil society partners, expanding the civic space and sustaining global investments for sexual and reproductive health and rights advocacy across Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to joining PAI, Eve served as a policy advisor at the Population Reference Bureau, managing a contraceptive use dynamics portfolio funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and leading organizational monitoring, learning and evaluation activities. She has worked in federal health both via management consulting and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is a returned Peace Corps volunteer, serving in Morocco where she led reproductive health programming with nomadic communities. Eve holds a master’s degree in global reproductive health from Emory University and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from James Madison University.

Rachel is the Senior Director of U.S. Government Strategy, where she advances PAI’s goals of universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and works to ensure that perspectives from a diversity of voices from low- and middle-income countries are centered in decision-making processes in Congress and the administration.

A trusted foreign policy leader with bipartisan results in legislation, appropriations, and U.S. policy and strategy documents, Rachel is an accomplished consensus builder, adept at collaborating with civil society and government stakeholders to drive impactful change. Her body of work includes journal articles, op-eds, blogs, keynote speeches, panel discussions, and TV appearances.  She has dedicated her career to supporting the most marginalized and centering the voices of women, adolescent girls, children and youth in policy advocacy. She brings more than a decade of experience in U.S. policy advocacy with proven results representing organizations as diverse as ChildFund International, the American Red Cross, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the U.S. Department of State.

She received her master’s degree in International Development Studies from the George Washington University and her bachelor’s in Sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She serves on the Board of Directors at For Love of Children (FLOC), a non-profit that provides out-of-classroom educational services to D.C.’s under-resourced youth. Rachel lives in Washington, D.C., where she and her husband are proud to be foster parents.

Kelly Cousins serves as PAI’s Associate Director of Foundation Relations. Her career has been focused on helping progressive advocacy organizations build relationships with foundation funders to drive impactful philanthropic initiatives. Before joining PAI, Kelly served as the Senior Manager of Foundation Relations at Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), which organizes and mobilizes its members to fight for access to abortion, birth control, paid parental leave and protections from pregnancy discrimination. In that role, Kelly stewarded a portfolio of foundation donors and managed the team’s development communications program.

Kelly also worked as the Development Associate at Family Support Services, a Bay Area nonprofit focused on nurturing children, youth, and caregivers to keep families healthy and intact. And she spent two years working as an English teacher while living in Changzhou and Nanjing, China.

Kelly has a Masters in Nonprofit Management from the University of San Francisco, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Peace Studies from Manhattan College.

Smita Gaith brings 15 years of experience in strategic communications, public affairs and policy communications, and research translation. At PAI, Smita develops and implements strategic communications planning and messaging, including content strategy, campaigns, and media relations.

Working in global health advocacy, think tank, and federal government settings, Smita has led campaigns and partnerships that drive policy change and elevate institutional visibility. Prior to joining PAI, at the U.S. Agency for International Development, she directed digital communications for the U.S. government’s $575 million investment in a global health program and supported public affairs and executive positioning for USAID leadership. At Population Reference Bureau, she directed a $24 million government contract on research translation and uptake; led multi-country advocacy and policy communications initiatives; and developed communications products and strategies that influenced policy changes in Kenya and Nigeria. She has also previously worked in various advocacy communications and research capacities with Women Deliver and Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya.

Craig monitors and analyzes foreign assistance legislation and advocates in support of international family planning and reproductive health programs to congressional offices, executive branch agencies, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations.

Named as Senior Fellow in 2015, he joined PAI in 1981 while completing his master’s degree in International Affairs at the American University School of International Service. He received his undergraduate degree in Government from Hamilton College. Craig was previously PAI’s Director of U.S. Government Relations between 2009 and 2014. He served on the board of directors of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, composed of over 500 businesses and NGOs promoting higher funding for international affairs programs, from 1998 to 2016. He has also been a member of the scorecard advisory committee of the League of Conservation Voters for over two decades.

Andrew J. Moran serves as the Senior Advocacy Associate at PAI, where he works closely with civil society and youth-led organizations around the world to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights. His technical project portfolio focuses on government accountability, health financing, youth leadership, and coalition building. Within his portfolio, Andrew provides end-to-end project management support to partners and his team from work plan development to implementation and monitoring to donor reporting. Andrew has represented PAI at various international conferences, workshops, and coalitions, including the International Conference on Family Planning, the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings, and the Civil Society Coordinating Group for the Global Financing Facility.

Andrew has extensive experience advocating for health access in conflict and crisis settings around the world. Most recently, this includes working at Physicians for Human Rights to document attacks against health infrastructure and personnel in Syria and research health disparities across northern Syria with an emphasis on challenges faced by women and girls. Andrew also advocated for access to health care for refugees, migrants, and internally displaced people in humanitarian crisis settings at MedGlobal. . Andrew holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University with a focus on conflict and the Middle East and North Africa. He is a native English speaker and is proficient in Arabic and conversational in Spanish.

Damon brings over 20 years of IT management, Microsoft Windows and networking expertise to PAI having worked with several DC Metropolitan area nonprofit, public health, and environmental organizations: Population Council, Futures Group, and Ocean Conservancy. He strives for inclusiveness and information sharing among stakeholders, working to encourage positive outcomes and to reduce the impact of negative ones for their projects and interests. He excels at delivering cost-effective solutions and providing high quality and reliable IT services.

Cecilia serves as the Senior Accountant and is responsible for accounts payables, receivables, financial reporting, reconciliation, tax and compliance. She is a financial professional and has 20 years of experience identifying organizational opportunities that drive down costs, enhance compliance and drive greater process efficiencies.

Prior to PAI, she worked with clients in financial services, management consulting and tax businesses. Cecilia holds a B.S. in accounting from George Mason University.

Cecilia is a native Spanish speaker.

Fatima Sabri serves as the Development Coordinator at PAI, where she supports efforts to advance women’s reproductive health and rights around the world. She is deeply passionate about women’s empowerment and dedicated to promoting health, education, and the prevention of domestic and gender-based violence. Her work is guided by a lifelong commitment to gender equality and social justice.

Before joining PAI, Fatima worked as the Asia Program Manager at Vital Voices Global Partnership, where she supported women leaders and advocates across the region. Her work focused on amplifying women’s voices, strengthening community-based leadership, addressing gender-based violence, and creating opportunities for women to thrive.

Fatima holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the School for International Training in Vermont, where she focused on advancing equitable development and social justice for women and communities worldwide.

Adama Seray-Wurie is the Office Coordinator, bringing a rich and diverse background in administration, customer service, and nonprofit work. Before joining the team, she served as the Student Coordinator at Amnesty International in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where she gained valuable experience in the nonprofit and global development sectors. Adama has collaborated with various NGOs in her home country, contributing to community-centered initiatives and advocacy efforts.

Her previous role as a Leasing Consultant allowed her to sharpen her skills in customer service, communication, and problem-solving—capabilities she brings to her current role with enthusiasm and professionalism.

Adama is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in human resources management at Western Governors University. She is fluent in French and Creole, which enhances her ability to connect with diverse communities and stakeholders. Outside of work, she enjoys reading and playing tennis.