Our Team
Our team of experts is committed to overcoming the obstacles of providing safe water to those in need. With backgrounds in engineering, operations, finance, health, policy and social development, we are focused on achieving lasting impact on human development.
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New York Headquarters
Kurt Soderlund, Chief Executive Officer
Kurt is the founding CEO of Safe Water Network. He previously co-founded NorthStar Partners and an internet start-up funded by leading technology firms. He was also special assistant to the president at the New School in New York City, where he supported new initiatives, international projects and the president’s work as Chairman of Human Rights Watch. Kurt has degrees from Cornell University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Pieter Ruig, Chief Financial Officer
Pieter joined Safe Water Network in December 2012. He previously served as President of Ruig Capital Management, LLC, an investment advisory and capital management services business geared to high net worth individuals. Prior to forming RCM, Pieter was President of The BOC Group’s Specialty Products Division. In this capacity, he had complete P&L responsibility for three global medical equipment businesses. Pieter received his MBA from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. Immediately following his undergraduate studies, he served two years in the U.S. Army as an officer and was stationed in Germany and Vietnam.
Amanda Gimble, Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
Amanda was first vice president and co-head of corporate strategy at Merrill Lynch. She was previously a senior consultant at KPMG Peat Marwick as well as a nonprofit consultant. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Hunter College and a Master's degree in management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She is a member of the Microfinance Committee of the Financial Women’s Association.
Hew Crooks, Senior Vice President, Operations
Hew has nearly 20 years of successful private equity and project development experience, focused mainly on transportation infrastructure, energy and logistics in emerging markets. Previously he was a founding partner and managing director of Great Circle Capital, focused on the former Soviet Union, Central Asia and Turkey. He has also worked at Stanton Capital, a Lima, Peru-based private equity investment firm, Investcorp International and Lehman Brothers. He is a graduate of Amherst College.
Nat Paynter, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships
Nat joined Safe Water Network in May 2013. He has spent nearly a dozen years in international development, entirely in the water sector. Nat started his career at the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) at the World Bank, both in Washington, DC and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. While at WSP, he helped with donor relations, business planning, and managed a public-private partnership, as well as launching and running WSP's office in Tanzania for three years. More recently, Nat worked at charity: water, a New York-based non-profit, where he headed up their Water Programs department. Nat holds a BA in English Literature from Brown University and a Masters in Engineering from MIT.
Dave Colner, Development & Communications Associate
Dave joined Safe Water Network in July 2011 after receiving his Master of Public Administration in International Nonprofit Management from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. Prior to this, Dave worked as a Development Assistant at the Center for Global Development, a leading international development think tank in Washington, DC. Dave’s previous work and studies have sent him to South Africa, Nicaragua and the Philippines.
Ryan Hebert, Program Associate
Ryan joined Safe Water Network as a Program Associate in August 2011. In 2010 he completed an Master of Philosophy in International Development at Oxford University, with a focus in global public health. He has conducted independent field research in Ghana and Bolivia, and served as a consultant to the World Health Organization on water and electricity access at health facilities.
Stacy Johnson, Special Projects,
Stacy Johnson joined Safe Water Network in March 2013. She oversees special projects and manages a variety of activities including program integration, events and fundraising. Her previous position was at ClearWater Initiative, where she was the program and development director for the organization's Uganda-based water projects. Stacy has a master's degree in public administration from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and has extensive experience in program, logistics and events management.
Back to Top Charles Nimako, Director, Africa Initiatives
Charles was the CEO of PepsiCo Bottler in Ghana and franchise operations manager for East Africa. He was previously a consultant with McKinsey & Company in South Africa. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and has lived and worked in the United States, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Angola, and Ghana.
Charles Yeboah, Coordinator, Monitoring & Evaluation, Health and Hygiene
Charles was the programs coordinator for Health Foundation of Ghana. He has also worked for the Ghana Health Service’s National Buruli Ulcer Control Program. Mr. Yeboah received his BSc in Zoology and Master of Philosophy Degree in Zoology from the University of Ghana.
Joseph Ampadu-Boakye, Market Development
Joseph was most recently at the MAPLE Consult, where he was a key member of the team involved with in developing sector policies including the Ghana Water Sector Strategic Development Plan and The National Rural Sanitation Model. Joseph has a Master of Science in Development Planning and Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
Back to Top Ravindra Sewak, India Director
Ravi brings extensive management and engineering experience to our activities in India. Previously he held several operational roles at PepsiCo and developed their decentralized-service network. Most recently he was PepsiCo’s resource sustainability director. Ravi is a mechanical engineer and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Dr. Somnath Bandyopadhyay, Chief of Strategy
Somnath brings 17 years of experience in environmental management and rural development. He previously was a senior program officer at the Aga Khan Foundation and holds a Ph.D. in environmental science from JNU; he also attended Harvard University and the Springfield Centre, UK.
Subhash Chand Jain, Program Leader
Subhash brings 25 years of experience from AFPRO, a leading national socio-technical development organization. He has a Master of Technology in applied geology from Sagar University, India and a degree from Galilee College, Israel.
Poonam Sewak, Institutional Development Manager
Poonam is a health professional with a Master of Pharmacy and was a lecturer at Delhi University. As consultant, she has in the last fifteen years handled communication program for a range of products encompassing consumers across varied economic class and health challenges in print and electronic media throughout India.
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