• Home
• Blog
• Events
• Newsletter
• FAQ
• Contact Us
• View Cart

Ethiopia Reads

You are here: Home | About Us | Board

Board Biographies

Ann Porter

Ann grew up in the Kansas City area and received a BS in education from the University of Kansas.  She is a passionate Jayhawker!  Ann has a Master’s and doctoral degree in educational leadership from the University of North Dakota. Before retiring in 2004, she was an elementary teacher and principal in the Grand Forks Public Schools.  Ann met Jane Kurtz when her children attended Lincoln Elementary School where she was the principal.  Ann and Jane have shared their love of books, reading and service ever since.   Lewis & Clark—where Ann was principal—was one of the first schools to collect books for Shola Library.  Upon her retirement, Ann was asked by a member of the EBCEF board to serve on the board, which was made up primarily of First Presbyterian Church members in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Ann has found board membership rewarding as well as challenging.  Ann lives with her husband, Mike, in Grand Forks, and they have two, grown daughters together and recently became new grandparents.

Chris Kurtz 

Program Chair
Portland, OR

A seasoned educator, Chris grew up in Ethiopia and co-wrote the book “Only a Pigeon” with Jane Kurtz, his sister. Through his experience teaching in Ethiopia, Chris attained fluency in Amharic. He is an effective grassroots fundraiser and organizer of Ethiopia Reads’ Teacher-to-Teacher Training Project.

Frew Tibebu

Board Member
Tracy, CA

Frew was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  He was a high school senior at the time Emperor Haile Selassie was dethroned and replaced by a military junta.  Frew then joined a youth resistance group against the military regime and was subsequently arrested for his involvement.  After his release from prison, he fled to neighboring Djibouti wherein he was granted political asylum.  In September of 1980 (with the help from the UNHCR), he came to the United States as a refugee.  He settled in Washington, DC, and obtained his bachelor’s degree in Business Management in 1986.  In 1989, he moved to Fremont, CA, and later married Debbie, whom he shares two boys and a girl.  He has been living in Tracy, CA for the past 12 years and currently works as a real estate professional.  After almost 30 years since he had left Ethiopia, he traveled back to his country for an extensive visit.  He discovered that the country had shown very little change overall, and that a majority of the children had only a slight, if any, chance of receiving quality education.  It was here that he also learned about "Ethiopia Reads", and felt that being part of it would be one way to make a difference.  As a result, in early 2009 Frew became an active board member all the while increasing awareness level as well as donor and volunteer participation in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Jane Kurtz

Board President
Lawrence, KS

Jane is an award-winning author who has published 29 books, most of them for young readers.  She spent most of her childhood in Ethiopia and has written many books about that beautiful land and people. In addition, she is on the faculty of a low residency MFA program out of Vermont College and speaks nationally and internationally. Her books about Ethiopia caught the attention of Yohannes Gebregeorgis in the early days of EBCEF’s inception.  After Yohannes wrote “Silly Mammo”—the first English/Amharic book—Jane recruited a designer and raised the needed funds for its printing.  Together, they were able to generate enough support for Ethiopia Reads to become an organization that has had an impact on bringing literacy to Ethiopia’s children.  Jane currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas with her husband, Leonard Goering, where her son Jonathan and daughter-in-law Hiwot--parents of a four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son are in college at KU.

Malcolm Clark

Board Member
San Francisco, CA

Malcolm Clark is Managing Director of Glendevon Advisors, a firm advising private equity investment firms on developing strategic partnerships and relationships in Asian markets.  He previously worked as an investment banker in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok and London and as an economist.  Malcolm grew up in Scotland and studied law at Edinburgh University.  His real interest in Ethiopia is through his wife, Azeb Gessesse, with whom he has regularly visited Ethiopia, and his love of books through many hours spent as a child at the first Carnegie Library in Dunfermline.  Malcolm and Azeb live in San Francisco with their two young daughters and the whole family has been involved in Ethiopia Reads ever since they met Yohannes in 2002 when he was a children’s librarian at the San Francisco Public Library.

Matt Andrea

Board Member
Washington, DC

Matt Andrea is an investment banker who lives and works in Washington, DC. During the day, he does financing for hospital construction projects. He is also an amateur photographer. In his free time, he has become very involved in volunteer work for Ethiopia Reads and other non-profit organizations dedicated to the improvement of education and health in Ethiopia. Matt has been to Ethiopia twice – in December 2006 and September 2007 – and has been involved with Ethiopia Reads for almost a year. He took extensive pictures of the old Shola Children’s Library, which can be seen on Ethiopia Reads’ web site and promotional materials. Matt is currently doing photography for Smile at a Girl, one of our newest book projects. Matt has been involved in awareness building and fundraising activities for Ethiopia Reads in the Washington, DC area, and recently helped staff our booth at the Ethiopian Soccer Tournament.

Maureen Evans

Board Member
Cheverly, MD

Maureen Evans served on the board of Ethiopia Reads some 10 years ago, when it was EBCEF, and then rejoined the organization in November 2008. She is the mom to four children, now young adults, including twin daughters from Ethiopia. Her professional experience has involved child welfare advocacy and urban education issues. She recently became the deputy executive director of Community Teachers Institute, whose mission is to transform public education through the recruitment and retention of highly qualified, community-connected teachers. She and her family live in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC.

Lindsay Moore

Lindsay Moore’s professional career is motivated by her sincere desire to help those in need whether it be in Sub-Saharan Africa or rural Colorado. Lindsay developed a passion for social justice and community development as an undergraduate student, which motivated her to serve as an Environmental Education and Community Development Agent with the U.S. Peace Corps in Senegal. This transformational experience led Lindsay to obtain a MA in International Development from the University of Denver and then return to Africa where she served as a Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Fellow in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After a successful experience in the DRC, Lindsay worked in Mali as the Program Quality Manager for CRS. Through her position in Mali, Lindsay was able to work with Malians to build local staff capacity. Lindsay strongly believes that sustainable and transformative development will transpire when Africans develop Africa. Her positions in Africa have afforded her the opportunity to see this philosophy in action. Upon her return to Colorado, Lindsay sought out a way to meet the needs of individuals closer to her home. Lindsay is currently working for the Community Resource Center as the Rural Philanthropy Days Program Manager. Through this position, Lindsay works with nonprofits and communities throughout Colorado to increase their access to skill building opportunities, financial resources, and relationships. Lindsay has extensive experience in volunteer management, grant writing, project design and management, and international community development. In her free time, Lindsay enjoys skiing and hiking in Colorado and traveling internationally whenever possible.

Amleset Desta

Amleset is a business professional that works in International Business combined with Finance and Cross-Cultural Management with substantial expertise in Asia, Europe and Africa. She has experience building relationships and leading teams of diverse nationalities. Amleset has an MBA with a focus on international business, international investments and portfolio management, organization change management, and corporate finance. Her knowledge of domestic and international economies, social and geopolitical systems coupled with academic and practical background in finance and international business enables her to assess, analyze and recommend suitable financial strategies. She is skilled at managing cultural complexity and its impact on business environment and processes. Amleset has worked and studied in seven countries and travelled to more than 25 countries and is an active member of the Institute for International Education (IIE) for the RockyMountain Region, Colorado/USA by hosting visitors for the international leadership development program (a State Department Program). She organizes and participates in discussions with prominent speakers on current and pressing issues such as human trafficking, Economic Crisis, Terrorism, Environment, religion and science etc. She is currently a member of the advisory board at IIE Young Professionals and a former board member at the Student Interfaith Peace Project at DU.

Tigist Selam

Born to an Ethiopian mother and a German father, Tigist Selam, enjoyed the diverse experience of growing up in Nigeria, Argentina and foremost Germany. At the tender age of three, she started her classical training in ballet, theater, voice, and later on in piano and the flute. Her distinct performances and multiple talents allowed her to attend the prestigious Christliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands, a school for the gifted in Germany. At the age of sixteen she left to pursue her passion for the performing arts and activism to California. She graduated in International Relations with an emphasis on International Organizations at San Francisco State University as the youngest to do so in the department's history. In addition to being a teacher assistant and active member of the International Relations Student Association and the International Relations Film Association, she also volunteered at the Red Cross International Services. She continued her studies at the world-leading Goldsmiths University of London and graduated with a Master's degree in Communications, Culture and Society, where she wrote about film, music and style. At Goldsmiths, she was the student representative of her Master’s program, acting as a mediator between students and teachers. She also played a vital role in coordinating students to protest against the war in Iraq and participate in UK’s largest peace rally of all times. With her Master’s degree at only twenty-two years of age, Tigist returned to performing arts and took classes in theater, dance and voice in New York City. While undertaking her rigorous training, she fundraised for more than a dozen non-profit organizations, including the notable Riverside Church. In 2009, she met award-winning filmmaker Nelson George, who asked her to write and act in her first feature film called Left Unsaid, which premiered at HBO’s American Black Film Festival. In 2010, she was officially selected as the face of Ethiopia's leading lifestyle magazine, Tadias and has interviewed prominent Ethiopians along with pioneering filmmaker Haile Gerima, Maya Gate Haile and Meklit Hadero. Tigist has appeared in numerous films, music videos, documentaries, books, magazines and commercials as an actor, writer and activist.