Board of Advisors
Dr. JOSEPHINE JARPA DAWUNI
J. Jarpa Dawuni is Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University, Washington D.C. She is a qualified Barrister-at-Law before the Ghana Superior Courts of Judicature. She holds a Doctorate in Political Science from Georgia State University. Her primary areas of research include law and development, judicial politics, women in the legal professions, gender and the law, international human rights, democratization, and women’s civil society organizing. Her two recent books are International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unveiled Narratives (Routledge, 2018) co-edited with Judge Akua Kuenyehia and Gender and the Judiciary in Africa: From Obscurity to Parity? (Routledge, 2016), co-edited with Gretchen Bauer. In 2018, she was the recipient of the Outstanding Assistant Professor Award at Howard University.
In 2018 she was a Fulbright Specialist Scholar to Ghana where she designed a Center for Research in African Union Law. In 2016, she was awarded the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship to undertake a project on graduate student mentoring and research at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana. In 2017 she was a Visiting Scholar at Queen’s University Faculty of Law in Kingston, ON, Canada, and in 2015 she was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law iCourts Center of Excellence for International Courts. Dawuni has held several Fellowships, including Gender and Power Fellow of the Center for Democratic Development in Ghana, and a Global Fellow under the Global Women’s Leadership Program at The Wilson Center, Washington, DC., and as a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow. She is the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Institute for African Women in Law (IAWL) which focuses on enhancing the capacity of women in the legal professions in Africa and the Diaspora. She is a Global Scholar at the Wilson Center Women in Public Service Project. She sits on board of the West Africa Research Association (WARA) and the African Research Academies for Women (ARA-W). In 2016, she received the President Obama White House Presidential Award for her service on the Board of ARA-W.
Dr. Leena Bakshi
Dr. Leena Bakshi intensively studies STEM education and how we can create access and opportunities for EACH and EVERY student regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or socioeconomic status. Leena feels that the more diverse our STEM workforce, the more diverse our solutions! Leena earned her B.A. degree in biology from UC Berkeley, M.A. in Education from Claremont Graduate University, and a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California. She has researched schools spanning all across the state of California and completed her dissertation on The Successful Implementation of STEM Initiatives in Lower Income Schools.
She taught middle school and high school mathematics and science as well as health sciences. She worked as a master teacher and instructional coach for teachers. She went on to manage continuation and independent study programs for at-risk teens. Leena worked at the county office of education as the science program director. She pattered with school districts to train administrators, teachers, and staff on the implementation of the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. After seeing the limited access that underrepresented students have in STEM subjects, she founded STEM 4 Real. In addition to quality professional learning, the company showcases real-life STEM stars that are breaking barriers and pioneering key breakthroughs in the STEM fields. Through literacy and STEM education, Leena hopes to increase the school to STEM career pipeline with a diversified STEM workforce that will continue to change the world.
Mr. Nuku Kwaku Attipoe
Nuku Kwaku Attipoe is a non-executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Orange Pension Trust Limited. He has had over 10 years career experience in Risk Management. Nuku Attipoe had previously worked in the erstwhile IBG in various capacities of Risk management including Head of Risk Management, Head of Credit Administration, Head of Credit Appraisals, Business Office Manager, Chairman of Enterprise Risk Management Committee. etc. He was also the Cluster Head of the Tema Region of Access Bank Ghana Limited. Nuku Attipoe also worked with Lehman Brothers (UK), He holds an MSC. in International Banking and Finance from University of Greenwich, London, and BSc. (Hon) in Agricultural Economics from University of Ghana, Legon.
MS. HANNAH QUARSHIE
Hannah is an equity partner in a US based Fintech specifically in charge of Strategy Growth and policy across Africa. Prior to this she has over 16 years experience in asset management, mergers and acquisition and financial advisory services. She joined Chapel Hill Denham from Nomura Asset Management UK (NAMUK) where she team led the Global Strategy for the UK office by streamlining portfolios under management with the other US, Hong Kong, and Tokyo offices into an effective asset management model. Before NAMUK, Hannah was with Credit Suisse Asset Management providing investment advisory and portfolio construct services to institutional clients.
Before, she worked in Open ended Investment Company (OEICS) specifically unit trusts at Jupiter Unit Trust Managers in London and Kent. She holds an LLB(Hons) from the University of Ghana, an MSc in International Business Management from the University of Surrey and is certified to provide investment advice in the UK by the Investment Management Certificate from the UK Society of Investment Professionals of which she is an associate member
Yaw Amoateng
Yaw Amoateng is ex director of NIIT Ghana a leading and IT training institute which has trained over 60,000 students mostly from West Africa in various technology fields. He started his IT career is a software engineering trainer and rose through management and ultimately became head of the institution. His experience in the technology education space spans 18 years. While at NIIT, Yaw Amoateng worked on multiple projects including the Digital house of chiefs initiative to train rural leaders to adapt to the use of modern technologies. He also initiated NIIT’s affiliation with Amazon’s AWS Educate, bringing in cutting edge cloud technologies to the door step of students in Ghana. Additionally, he established NIIT Ghana’s relationship with edX.org as an affiliate member tapping into the rich online education experience offered by edX. During his tenure, the institution received a number of recognitions including the year 2019 Innovative IT company of the Year by NiBS Ghana. Yaw Amoateng has a bachelors degree in Applied Computer Science from the Royale Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia and a Masters degree in IT Management from Coventry University, UK.