Our People
Our team is one of our strongest assets in driving and achieving the mission. Across all of our projects, we employ over 70 staff in South Sudan. Led by the Founder and CEO, our team consists of passionate and globally-informed men and women who are committed to empowering young South Sudanese through education.
Leadership Team
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Founder and CEO
Majak graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.S. in Science Pre-Professional (pre-med) and a minor in Education, Schooling, and Society. He was raised in South Sudan, until he left for Kenya in 2005. Majak received most of his education in Kakuma Refugee Camp and later at the African Leadership Academy in South Africa. Before founding Education Bridge, he helped to organize youth empowerment projects in Kakuma and worked with Build South Sudan, a youth-led initiative that teaches entrepreneurship. Majak is a former fellow of New Scholars and a current fellow of the Echoing Green Fellowship. He also received the 2018 John W. Gardner Student Leadership award from Notre Dame.
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Chief of Staff
Prior to joining Education Bridge, Kalliope worked at African Leadership Academy as Head of Programs for ALforEducation. During her time at ALA, she supported education entrepreneurs across Africa build high-impact schools, supported young people in building meaningful careers in education, and built a community engaging of over 1,000 education leaders across the continent. Kalliope completed her Bachelors in Social Anthropology and African Studies at SOAS, University of London and her Masters in Social Innovation at the University of Cambridge. Kalliope has lived in China, Germany, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
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Director of College Admissions
Paul Kut supports Greenbelt Academy students in both Bor and Juba with making a successful transition into university and career pathways. He is based in Bor, South Sudan.
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Managing Director, Greenbelt Academies
James was a child soldier of the Second Sudanese Civil War. In 1992, James traveled to Ethiopia and later to Kenya where he received most of his education. He later returned to South Sudan and served as a volunteer teacher in several primary schools before enrolling at the University of Bahr El-Ghazel, where he received a B.A. in Education in 2013. He then served as a senior teacher at Royal Junior Academy, accumulating more than ten years of experience in education. James oversees Education Bridge's programs in South Sudan and also serves as the Managing Director for Greenbelt Academy.
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Principal, Greenbelt Academy - Bor Campus
Deng Thomas is the Principal for Greenbelt Academy in Bor. Previously, has worked Director of Admissions for Greenbelt.
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CFO
John Nyok currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer. He is currently based in Bor, South Sudan.
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Program Director, Alpha Teacher Network
Akeui joined Education-Bridge in 2017 as the founding principal of Greenbelt Academy Bor. He now leads the Alpha Teacher Network, which trains Greenbelt Academy alumni to become high-impact primary school teachers in schools within the community.
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Head of Monitoring and Evaluation
Alex Wasswa Lusiba is an Organizational Development professional with extensive experience in strategic planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, project management, and community engagement.
Board of Directors
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Board Chair
Steve is the Executive Director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. At the Keough School, he is co-director of the Integration Lab (i-Lab). Before coming to Notre Dame in February 2010, he worked for nearly two decades on international education, negotiation and development issues at Harvard University. From 1996 to 2002, Steve served as the Executive Director of Harvard’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. Steve also served as the Director of the Edward S. Mason Program in Public Policy and Management, jointly administered by the Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Institute for International Development.
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Treasurer
Katie became involved in Education Bridge through her friendships with the African Leadership Academy students attending Notre Dame. Katie and her husband John are the founding owners of Anthony Travel, LLC, which specializes in travel for universities, athletic teams and events. As a MBA and CPA, much of her expertise is financial. Katie is also actively involved in many other good causes, including the St. Joseph County Community Foundation, the Riley Hospital Foundation, the Saint Joseph High School Board, the Congregation of Holy Cross Strategic Leadership Committee, the Center for the Homeless, and more.
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Board Member
Tom leads up the Innovation and Practice Division of Notre Dame's Pulte Institute for Global Development. In his role, Tom links faculty research to international development opportunities, increasing their impact within the practice and policy spheres. Some of his more recent projects include an evaluation of psychosocial support on education outcomes in South Sudan.
Tom comes to Notre Dame following a long career of working overseas with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and other organizations, including in South Sudan. Tom has an eclectic background, having worked as an advertising executive in New York City for three years, sub-director of an orphanage in Honduras, director of operations and business development for a small agriculture company in Florida, followed by ten years with CRS. His programming and project design experience encompass sectors such as peacebuilding and governance, education, disaster risk reduction, and water, sanitation and hygiene.
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Board Member
Esther Soma is an experienced policy and gender professional from South Sudan, currently serving as the Head of Programs at PAX for Peace South Sudan. Esther holds a Master of Public Policy (with Distinction) from the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and an undergraduate degree from Yale University. She worked for 4 years at UN Women South Sudan, as Program Specialist, Women, Peace and Security (WPS) where she supported South Sudanese women’s engagement in the 2018 peace process. She is the author of the research report “Our Search for Peace: Women in South Sudan’s National Peace Processes 2005-2018,” jointly published by Oxfam and UN Women in January 2021. Esther is passionate about pursuing good governance and gender equality.
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Board Secretary
Richard is an instructor at the University of Notre Dame, and is an adjunct faculty member with the Moreau College Initiative, offering college courses to inmates of Westville Correctional Facility. He holds a doctorate from the University of Notre Dame and a master's degree from Yale University, and has held academic fellowships at the Universitaet Eberhard-Karls in Tuebingen, Germany, and the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures at Notre Dame. His work in the non-profit sector has included direction of a school of English as a Second Language and service on the Board of Directors for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in Western Oregon.
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Board Member
Jenny graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Honors Political Science and a minor in Business and Economics. She is also the recipient of the Yenching Scholars Fellowship, and graduated with an MA in Economics from Peking University. Her past experiences include working at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and Deutsche Bank. Currently, Jenny is an MD candidate at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. At Education Bridge, Jenny supports partnerships, fundraising and program development.
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Board Member
T.J. is the Associate Director of ACE Haiti. Since 2010, he has helped lead a Notre Dame initiative to strengthen Catholic education in Haiti, supporting inquiry and practice in large-scale projects in Haitian education ranging from whole school improvement of rural schools to supporting design, implementation, and research in teacher training and literacy. He has interest in the early grade reading, rural school improvement, instructional technology, and the role of non-public networks in international development and education. He earned his B.A. and M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame and is pursuing a doctorate in K-12 Education Leadership and Policy through the Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University.