Leadership Team
Fiona Macaulay
Founder and CEO
Ms. Macaulay is dedicated to equipping youth and adults with the vision, confidence, and skills to find quality employment or to create and grow their own businesses. She has fifteen years of experience in microenterprise development, experiential learning curriculum design, facilitation, and organizational capacity building in more than 20 countries across North America, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central Europe. (read full bio...)
Under her leadership, Making Cents International has established itself as a world class social enterprise known for finding practical, yet innovative, solutions to problems and for working closely and respectfully with local partners on the ground. Making Cents has also emerged as a leader in the development of the youth economic opportunities sector by working in a highly collaborative manner to create unique learning opportunities and networks to more effectively share and develop programs, policies, and partnerships that positively impact economic opportunities for youth.
Ms. Macaulay was honored as a D.C. "40 under 40" Leader in International Development, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, AOL smallbusiness.com, and MTV Latin America. Ms. Macaulay is currently on the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF)'s first Advisory Council for the XIV Foromic (Inter-American Forum on Microenterprise), and is the past Chair and Board Member for the Campaign for Female Education USA Foundation (CAMFED). She has been an adjunct faculty member at the annual Microenterprise Development Institute at Southern New Hampshire University, and a guest lecturer at Columbia University's School of International Public Affairs (SIPA) and Johns Hopkins' School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Ms. Macaulay is regularly invited to speak at international training seminars, conferences, and other events that focus on women and youth economic opportunities.
Tim Nourse
President
Timothy Nourse has been implementing and supporting microfinance and enterprise development programs for more than fifteen years in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. As President, Tim manages Making Cents' overall operations and implements the company-wide strategic plan. He also leads the company's financial services portfolio. (read full bio...)
Tim began his career with Catholic Relief Services, working directly to build the capacity of microfinance institutions in stable and conflict-affected countries. From 2002-2006, Tim led American Refugee Committee’s Microenterprise Development programs and pioneered approaches to providing cross-border microfinance services and market-led livelihoods programs as part of reconstruction efforts. In 2006, Tim began working with the Academy for Educational Development (now FHI360) as a HQ-based project director of rural finance, financial sector strengthening and enterprise development programs, and advised programs in Afghanistan, Palestine, and other fragile states. Tim then served as Chief of Party of the USAID-funded Expanded and Sustained Access to Finance Program, a $36 million financial sector development program in the West Bank and Gaza. Tim serves as the Chair of the SEEP Network board, has taught courses on post-conflict microfinance at the Microenterprise Development Institute of Southern New Hampshire University, and published papers on microfinance and market development with USAID, UNCDF, Enterprise Development & Microfinance, Humanitarian Practice Network - Humanitarian Exchange, and Forced Migration Review.
Patricia Langan
Vice President, Economic Opportunities
Patricia has more than 20 years of experience in strategy and organizational development, capacity building, program design and management and grant making with leading NGOs, foundations, corporations, and the World Bank.(read full bio...)
Her work, in nearly every region of the world, has helped improve the employability, learning, leadership and health of young people and women as well as government transparency and accountability. She began her career on Wall Street at international banks in project finance. Patricia is an active volunteer in the Washington, DC community, serving on the boards of Americans for Informed Democracy and 9/11 Unity Walk and providing pro bono strategic business consulting for CompassDC.org. Patricia holds an MA in Public Policy & International Development from Harvard University's Kennedy School.
Whitney Harrelson Ortiz
Director, Knowledge Exchange & Partnerships
Whitney is committed to developing innovative learning initiatives and multi-sectoral partnerships that advance the field of youth enterprise, employment, and livelihoods development. Her ten years of experience in youth development, communications, partnership building, and knowledge management have supported the development of Making Cents' Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conferences and resulting publications. (read full bio...)
Whitney collaborates with organizations around the world to document and ensure that lessons learned, promising practices, and innovative ideas are shared with the global community; working to increase and improve economic opportunities for young people. Prior to joining Making Cents, Whitney served as a youth development consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank; the Organization of American States; and Fundación Paraguaya.
David Feige
Director, Economic Growth and New Business
David Feige is Director of Economic Growth and New Business at Making Cents International. He brings to the position 12 years of experience in technical, business development and project management roles for a wide range of donor and non-donor clients. His expertise includes value chain development; competitiveness analysis; MSME development; entrepreneurship; local economic development; and livelihoods interventions.
(read full bio...)
David comes to Making Cents from J.E. Austin Associates, a specialized economic development consultancy, where he spent nearly five years conducting technical work in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Prior to joining J.E. Austin, David was an Economic Development Officer at International Relief and Development, where he backstopped projects in Serbia and Montenegro and Lebanon. Before coming to Washington, D.C., David devoted most of his time to field work, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador and later on the USAID-funded Central Asia Enterprise Development Project, where he was based in Kazakhstan. He also worked for a small, Seattle-based nonprofit that provided technical assistance to social enterprises in the developing world. David received his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and his BS in Business Administration from Miami University of Ohio.
David James-Wilson
Senior Advisor, Youth Economic Opportunities
David is an experienced youth work professional, with a 25-year track-record in the design and delivery of innovative livelihood and non-formal education services for at risk youth in over 40 countries. David has managed multi-disciplinary work readiness, education, and enterprise development teams in government and non-government settings; and is well versed in the interplay between government policy, the development and funding of new services, and building the capacity of lead institutions to take innovative youth programs to scale. (read full bio...)
David has extensive experience in the fields of youth inclusive microfinance and value chain supports, workforce development programming for marginalized populations, relevance and access in basic education for out of school youth, drop-out prevention and academic recovery programming, along with school and community based counseling and health services. David is frequently drawn upon as an external specialist in the articulation of new policy directions and funding parameters by government and non-government funders. He is also an experienced trainer and author of curriculums for youth and youth workers. In addition, David has facilitated a range of "co-creation" style program design processes that have brought together a wide range of stakeholders, and supported their co-development of locally-owned, scalable, and sustainable services or market-oriented products.
Anne Belt Hamman
Senior Manager, Projects & Operations
Annie brings more than ten years of experience managing and developing international development projects ranging from economic growth and trade to agricultural training. At Making Cents, Annie works with the technical team to develop curricula and capacity building activities related to youth enterprise and livelihood development. Annie speaks fluent Spanish and received her Master’s in International Education from George Washington University. Before Making Cents, Annie taught high school English in Thailand where she developed a love of street food and an appreciation for air conditioning.
Brian Van Hoven
Manager, Communications and Knowledge Exchange
Brian is responsible for the corporate communications and marketing as well as that of knowledge exchange initiatives such as the www.youtheconomicopportunities.org portal, Making Cents’ learning events and the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. Prior to joining Making Cents, Brian has worked with Telemundo Washington and the Capital Area Food Bank as well as serving as a volunteer in both the Americorps VISTA Program and Peace Corps, Ecuador. Brian holds a BS in Management from Providence College.
Joslin Malanka
Associate, Operations
Joslin Malanka holds the position of Associate, Operations. In this capacity she has administrative responsibilities in addition to providing support to the team in the areas of marketing, finance, projects and IT. Joslin is a recent Americorps Alum and graduate of the University of Delaware with a BA in Political Science. During her year of service in Americorps, Joslin advocated on behalf of residents of Chester, PA who were at an economic and social disadvantage, aiming towards creating better access to food and the means to rising above the poverty level especially through workforce development programs. She brings this enthusiasm to Making Cents International and is excited to help others on an international level, especially in programs geared towards increasing food security amongst youth.
Hillary Proctor
Associate, Operations
Hillary is experienced in developing rural livelihoods and focuses on building the capacity of project partners. At Making Cents, Hillary works with the technical team to provide assistance to agriculture, youth and microfinance projects through assessments, curriculum development and capacity building trainings. Previous to her joining the team, she worked on value chain, youth savings and lending and eco-tourism projects throughout West Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in conflict and post-conflict environments. Hillary has consulted with Making Cents’ projects since 2008. She served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia and has a Masters’ degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University.
Marcela Rubio
Administrative Assistant
Marcela is the executive assistant to Making Cents’ President. Marcela also provides project, marketing, communications, and administrative support to Making Cents’ technical and DC-based staff. Marcela graduated from American University in December 2010 receiving her B.S. in Business Administration with a double specialization in International Business and Finance. Before Making Cents, Marcela interned with the Organization of American States and Visions in Action. She is a native of El Salvador and enjoys collaborating with the Salvadorian community in the DC area.
Mariko Scavone
Specialist, Agriculture and Livelihoods
Mariko is dedicated to equipping vulnerable populations to earn a sustainable livelihood. At Making Cents, she is the primary contributing author on over 50 hours of learner centered curricula that blend life skills with entrepreneurship, and has facilitated training in a variety of settings. Mariko works with financial institutions to design and deliver youth-inclusive products that allow them to serve a growing youth segment. She enjoys using qualitative data to conduct evaluations and document lessons learned. Before joining Making Cents, she oversaw monitoring and evaluation for a Save the Children agribusiness project in Bolivia. Mariko holds an M.S. in International Development from Georgetown University. She speaks fluent Spanish and has worked in 14 countries around the world.
Alexi Taylor-Grosman
Specialist, Capacity Building and Projects
Alexi is the program coordinator for Making Cents’ Youth-Inclusive Financial Services Linkage (YFS-Link) Program, an innovative three-year capacity building program designed to help financial institutions develop and offer relevant, profitable, demand-driven financial products and services to youth. Alexi is responsible for project management, monitoring and evaluation, and content management for the yfslink.org online platform. Prior to joining Making Cents, Alexi worked with FINCA International as a research analyst on client assessment and new product development. Alexi also acts as the training director of AMIGOS de las Américas, Washington DC, where she facilitates community service programs for youth volunteers in Latin America. Alexi speaks Spanish and holds a B.A. in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Chelsea Babcock
Associate, Knowledge Exchange & Partnerships
Chelsea is devoted to making sure that all youths have access to the education and tools they need to succeed in life. Chelsea is responsible for supporting Making Cents’ knowledge exchange and partnerships building initiatives related to increasing economic opportunities for young people. For most of her life Chelsea has been committed to working with and giving back to the community. Past community service includes serving as an advisory council member for the Volunteen Program at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Chelsea recently graduated from American University with a B.A. in Psychology. As an undergrad, Chelsea served as the class president where she worked on programming and advocacy for students.
Wendell Pierre
Finance Manager
Wendell joined Making Cents International in 2012. Prior to joining, he worked over three years as the Accounting Manager for Uyghur American Association (UAA) and International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation located in Washington, DC. At UAA, he provided leadership, direction, and supervision to ensure timely completion and appropriate maintenance of all financial records. Wendell graduated with a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Maryland, Robert H. School of Business
View staff bios by clicking on their names.
- Chelsea Babcock
Associate, Knowledge Exchange & Partnerships - Anne Belt Hamman
Senior Manager, Projects & Operations - Joslin Malanka
Associate, Operations - Wendell Pierre
Finance Manager - Hillary Proctor
Specialist, Capacity Building and Rural Livelihoods - Mariko Scavone
Specialist, Agriculture and Livelihoods - Alexi Taylor-Grosman
Specialist, Capacity Building
and Projects - Brian Van Hoven
Manager, Communications and Knowledge Exchange