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.

Cydney brings over 25 years of public and private sector experience in operations, human resources and organizational effectiveness. Her track record includes optimizing operational processes, adept human resource management, and ensuring rigorous compliance management and risk assessment and mitigation.

As the Chief Operating Officer at PAI, Cydney assumes responsibility for overseeing the organization’s operational efficacy and efficiency. Collaborating closely with PAI’s President and CEO, Cydney plays a pivotal role in achieving PAI’s annual goals and strategic objectives and developing and implementing policies, programs and systems for effective execution of PAI’s mandate.

Deeply committed to fostering a culture of learning, exchange and growth, Cydney champions cross-functional collaboration and efforts to ensure an agile, equitable and dynamic organization that meets the needs of our sector, donors and staff.

Cydney earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland. She actively participates in various professional organizations, demonstrating her dedication to staying abreast of industry trends and best practices, further enhancing her contributions to PAI’s success.

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.

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.

Christina Wegs serves as vice president of global programs and advocacy at PAI.

Christina is a seasoned and passionate social justice advocate, public health expert and nonprofit leader. Her 20-year career has focused on advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to contraception, comprehensive sexuality education, safe abortion and post-abortion care, respectful maternity care and gender-based violence prevention and care. She has also worked to promote rights-based approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment. She brings deep expertise in gender justice, coalition-building, civil society strengthening, policy advocacy and people-driven accountability.

Christina has worked with a wide range of governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including working with Ipas, Pact, FHI 360 and serving in leadership roles with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Botswana (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Vietnam (U.S. Agency for International Development). Prior to joining PAI, she was the global advocacy director for health equity and rights at CARE, where she led confederation-wide advocacy for health rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, health equity in humanitarian crises and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Christina also brings extensive experience partnering with diverse government, U.N. agencies and civil society networks in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Christina holds dual master’s degrees in public health and social work from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She also studied social justice storytelling, documentary photography and oral history at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, and was awarded the competitive Lewis Hine Documentary Fellowship.

Prior to her career in public health, Christina worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana.

Sunshine Bayor is from Chad, Africa, bringing a wealth of experience in international development covering both for-profit and non-profit sectors. Sunshine boasts over a decade of expertise in marketing and sales, acquired during her tenure in the telecom and banking industry and eight years in the United States as a financial and administrative coordinator.

She is a courageous survivor of Female Genital Mutilation and actively engaged as a member of the US EndFGM Network. Her commitment to advocacy is highlighted in her book, “L’obscurité sous le Soleil” (Edilivre, 2016 France); “Darkness under the Sun” (Amazon, 2023) – shedding light on the issue of FGM. In her book, she provides details on how FGM is child abuse, harmful to women and a crime. She offers an approach to end the practice and protect those at risk as 92% of victims are cut before age 15. She also collaborated on the song “No Cutting but Yes to Education”, strengthening the message against FGM in Chad.

Sunshine holds a Bachelor of Arts and is currently completing her master’s degree in Human Rights at the Catholic University of America.

With a proven track record as a dynamic leader, she excels in spearheading growth initiatives and effectively establishes and nurtures finance and marketing functions from inception.

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.

Fernando is a former Mexican diplomat with over 12 years of experience in community outreach programs, government/public relations, public health and advocacy efforts in Latin America, North America and Asia. He has extensive experience establishing and strengthening partnerships with government entities, businesses and civil society organizations, navigating complex multicultural contexts, and designing and implementing programs for vulnerable communities, such as migrants, women, youth and Indigenous populations.

Throughout his career, he has served in Las Vegas and Miami in the United States; New Delhi, India; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Mexico City. His expertise includes political, public health, economic, educational, cultural and community outreach affairs and leading and managing high-profile projects and initiatives. As a Program Manager in Nevada representing the Institute of Mexicans Abroad, he organized the Binational Health Week, mobilizing dozens of community organizations, state agencies, and volunteers. Moreover, he negotiated an agreement with the University of Nevada Las Vegas to open a Health Window at the Mexican Consulate, contributing to the health of thousands of Latinos. In Miami, he was appointed to lead a task force to provide humanitarian assistance to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which reached over 5,000 people in need.

Fernando has a BA in International Relations from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México ITAM and a Master’s Degree in Global Public Policy from the School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS from the University of London.

He is a Native Spanish speaker and fluent in Portuguese.

Gerardo Lara is an international development leader who specializes in the creation and management of high-performing teams. He currently serves as the Senior Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health Access and Equity at PAI. With 20 years of experience, he previously managed and monitored programs for different donors and international organizations, including at Plan International and the Global Fund Project in El Salvador for HIV prevention in high-risk communities. As a country director, he influenced public policy and led complex programs to achieve high-impact results in a variety of social justice topics, including combating stigma and discrimination against people vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, contributing to the reduction of gender-based violence, empowering youth and promoting the sexual and reproductive health andrights of women and girls in Central America.

An important part of his career is  promoting women’s health and rights by increasing access and availability of key services and products for family planning. Gerardo prioritizes working with civil society and strengthening local organizations’ technical, administrative and financial capacities. He also brings a wealth of experience in the development of social marketing initiatives, including the development of brands and franchises that promote sustainable services.

Gerardo also led Plan Nicaragua’s emergency response to COVID-19 and disaster relief for hurricanes Eta and Iota. He has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Dr. José Matías Delgado University in El Salvador.

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 international advocacy associate supporting PAI’s health systems strengthening and accountability programs, including the UHC Engage and FP2030 Accountability projects. He has extensive experience advocating for health access in conflict and crisis settings around the world through his past work at humanitarian and human rights nongovernmental organizations.

Before joining PAI, Andrew worked at Physicians for Human Rights, documenting attacks against health infrastructure and personnel in Syria, as well as researching health disparities across northern Syria with an emphasis on women and girls. He began his work advocating for access to health care at MedGlobal, where he focused on health access for refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons in humanitarian crisis settings. 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.

Eric Onyango is an International Development Practitioner, consultant, SRHR Specialist and cultural relations enthusiast.

He has a wealth of experience managing multi-country projects across Africa, with a notable background in project management. He has managed complex service delivery projects in Burkina Faso, Dakar,  Senegal and Kenya while working at PPFA and IPPF. Eric focuses on innovative approaches to increase youth access to contraception through peer engagement. He has a strong record of facilitating knowledge sharing, youth-led programming and adapting projects to various cultural contexts.

Eric has consulted for PAI for the CSO/YLO GFF Project. He provided technical assistance and support to partners in Niger, Vietnam, Cameroon, Tanzania, Pakistan, Madagascar and Mauritania ensuring they successfully implemented the projects and documented lessons and impact stories.

Eric is a seasoned bilingual master of ceremonies, conference moderator, events manager, facilitator and published poet.

Vincent Villenueve is a solutions-oriented human rights, global health and international development professional advocating for activism towards achieving the sustainable development goals. Throughout his career, Vincent has gained industry expertise by partnering with a wide range of stakeholders active in advocacy and legislative affairs on gender equality, universal health coverage and economic empowerment in all regions of the world. Vincent holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Sciences Po Lille, a master’s in European public affairs from Maastricht University and is a Global STEM MBA candidate at the George Washington University School of Business.

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.

Kelly Cousins is PAI’s Associate Director of Foundation Relations. With over five years of experience as a fundraising professional, Kelly focuses on helping progressive advocacy organizations build relationships with foundation funders to drive impactful philanthropic initiatives. Before joining this team, 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.

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

Nimah Quadri is an experienced writer and storyteller. Her experience living abroad in Singapore and growing up in a completely different environment, allowed her to gain a fresh perspective of the world. Nimah is passionate about being a voice for others, meeting new people and exploring cultures with an open mind.

Nimah joins PAI with experience in journalism and social media. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Chicago and received her master’s degree from Georgetown University – both in Journalism. Nimah is passionate about advocating and raising awareness on issues that matter to the world.

As director of learning and exchange, Sarah M. Reidy works to advance learning and exchange priorities for PAI and civil society partners and supports research work in partnership with PAI’s director of research.

Sarah worked in information technology for over 30 years and loves the ever-changing nature of automation and the opportunities people can gain from creating and using technology. Sarah has a dual undergraduate degree in physical anthropology and biomedical science from Western Michigan University. She learned to love computers and technology while in Archeological Field School, where she built and programmed computers to make pottery seriation more efficient.

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.

Cecilia serves as the Staff 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.

Emmy Cameron comes to PAI with over 15 years of experience working in operations and administrative roles throughout her career, building professional expertise in several critical functions including accounting, expense reporting, contract management and event planning. Most recently, she worked at the Liaison Capitol Hill, a part of a large hotel chain, where she worked in accounting. Emmy’s professional experience also includes working in the nongovernmental organization sector as an accountant and grants administrator in her home of Nairobi, Kenya. Emmy holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Nairobi.

Alicia Frías serves as the office coordinator and receptionist at PAI. She is passionate about health equity, social justice and reproductive rights. Prior to joining PAI, Alicia worked in several administrative coordinator positions throughout her career. Of those experiences, she worked with a nonprofit clinic that specialized in providing health care and resources to those uninsured in the community; this position sparked her interest in public health and nonprofit organizations. Alicia holds a bachelor’s degree in health care management from Appalachian State University. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, taking dance classes and reading with her local book club!

Janay Hunter serves as the HR Specialist at PAI. She has over five years of experience in talent acquisition, employee relations, and performance management. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a specialization in leadership and management from the University of Baltimore. Janay is dedicated to fostering a positive work environment and ensuring the well-being and professional development of all employees. In her free time, she enjoys baking, playing cards, and working out.