Meet the Board

  • For over twenty-five years Shelly has been both a practitioner and advisor to nonprofit and philanthropic organizations nationally, as well as nongovernmental organizations globally. She has deep experience in strategy, business planning, organizational and leadership development and program planning and assessment, as well as being a trained facilitator.

    From 2000-2013, Shelly was a Partner with TCC Group, a national management consulting firm. She headed the nonprofit strategy practice, as well as being the Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining TCC Group, Shelly spent six years as Deputy Executive Director of the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN). She came to INCLEN after eleven years with the international relief and development organization CARE. In the course of her work, Shelly has worked and lived in Africa and Asia for extended periods of time.

    Since 2013, as principal of SK Consultants, Shelly has offered strategic planning and organizational development services to a wide array of nonprofits. She has also helped get a variety of new nonprofits off the ground as Executive Director for Playful Learning Landscapes Action Network and currently for the Active Playful Learning multi-site research study.

    Board Affiliations:
    Ultimate Block Party

    Education:
    - Bachelor’s in History, Brown University
    - Master’s in International Relations, Johns Hopkins University

Shelly Kessler

  • - Harpswell Leadership Resident (BT & TT DORM, 2016)
    - Bachelor’s in Political Science, University of California Berkeley

    “The highlight of my trip came near the end of my program when a fellow leadership resident and I cooked up a soccer tournament for the students. On the day of the event, the Harpswell women descended upon soccer fields normally reserved for men and boys. The women became fierce competitors despite the fact that many had never played soccer before. Afterward, the women proudly posted photos on Facebook, asserting to their peers a woman’s right to play sports—a small but telling indicator that something had shifted that day. Before I came to Cambodia, I took for granted the experience I gained from being an alumna of Gamma Phi Beta. Now I see that all along I was getting prepared for the mission I am on today: to build young women leaders all over the world.”

    Excerpt from Spring 2016 edition of Gamma Phi Beta Magazine

Jojo Lam

Renay Loper

  • Renay is driven by empowering underrepresented populations, facilitating change and creating sustainable impact in individual lives and communities. Through her commitment to education, corporate responsibility and sustainability, she has successfully bridged gaps globally, between the public, private and social sectors, and has over 20 years of leadership experience in doing so.

    Ms. Loper has lived and worked in Japan and Greece, and has facilitated partnerships and social impact programs in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Germany, India, Ghana, Nigeria and the US. She has facilitated sessions at the UN and the US Department of State, and her topics of experience have included marine debris and circular economy, food access, youth skills, tri-sector partnerships and working in underserved communities.

    Ms. Loper has worked at Big Brothers Big Sisters, Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Japan Center for Global Partnerships, Pfizer Animal Health and PYXERA Global. Ms. Loper is an avid speaker and writer, and has authored and edited numerous publications, including a resource journal, Student Affairs Professionals Cultivating Campus Climates Inclusive of International Students.

    Ms. Loper has received numerous awards, including The Network Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award.

    Board Affiliations:
    - BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Network
    - Girl Rising
    - Global Pro Bono Network

    Education:
    - Bachelor’s in Business Management and International Business, West Chester University
    - Master’s in Higher Education and Post-Secondary Counseling, West Chester University

Navin Moul

  • Navin has extensive experience in the fields of philanthropy, immigration, human and civil rights. Prior to joining ZFF, Navin led the immigration grantmaking strategy at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. She also worked as a program officer at American Jewish World Service, managing grant-making portfolios in Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

    Navin is Cambodian-American and helped found the Devata Giving Circle, the first and only Cambodian-American women giving circle in the country to support services and activities such as a wellness retreat for traumatized women, cultural preservation through Khmer classical dance, organizing and political education trainings for teens and promoting safe and healthy sexual behaviors with at risk youth.

    Education:
    - Bachelor’s in American Cultural Studies, Western Washington University
    - Master’s in Comparative Ethnic Studies, University of California Berkeley

  • In a career spanning the business, government and nonprofit sectors, Penny Burtt has held leadership positions in the Asia-Pacific with global multinationals including Visa Inc and McKinsey&Company. Most recently, she was Group CEO of Australia’s leading center for Asia engagement, Asialink, at the University of Melbourne. A former senior diplomat, Penny represented Australia in Asia (including in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia), and the United Nations in Geneva and New York. She previously served as a senior Asia advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Assistant Secretary for Southeast Asia.

    Penny has been an executive board member with key business associations and nonprofits in Singapore, Australia and the United States including the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Singapore, the U.S. National Centre for APEC, and the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. She is an Adjunct Fellow with Gateway House, India’s Council on Global Relations and a Fellow of the Australia-India Institute.

    Penny is a passionate advocate for women’s leadership. She was a leader of McKinsey’s women’s initiative in Asia, and co-authored the firm’s inaugural “Women Matter” Asia report. A frequent public speaker on women’s leadership, she has delivered leadership and diversity and inclusion training for a range of multinational and local companies in Asia. Penny was on the Executive Committee of Singapore’s women’s board advocacy group, BoardAgender, and an advisor and mentor with the Singapore Young Women Leaders Network. She supports Harpswell’s ASEAN Women’s Leadership Summit as a mentor and teacher.

    Board Affiliations:


    - Asian Business Trade Association- Columbia Journal of Transnational Law

    - U.S.-ASEAN Business Council

    - Melbourne School of Government

    Education:


    - Bachelor’s in Economics, University of Sydney

    - Post Grad in Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian National University

    - Executive Leadership Program, Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley

Penny Burtt

Kara Lightman Anthony

  • Kara has worked on women’s issues in Cambodia and helped write the Shadow Report on the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which was presented to the United Nations in Geneva in October 2013.

    She has worked at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and in International Development at ACDI/VOCA in Washington, DC.

    Education:
    - Bachelor’s in Anthropology and Political Science, Union College
    - Master’s in International Affairs, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs

Marie Eckstein 

  • After 35+ years of global business experience, Marie now leads the growth of a social enterprise business she co-founded in 2012 with Alan Lightman and Hab Saly called Red Dirt Road, Inc. Red Dirt Road benefits impoverished women in the remote village of Tramung Chrum through the design, manufacture and marketing of handmade silk fashion accessories.

    Previously, Marie was Chief Operating Officer at EJ (formerly East Jordan Iron Works) and held a variety of executive leadership roles during her 30-year career with the Dow Corning Corporation, retiring in 2009 as Corporate Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer.

    Board Affiliations:
    - Irwin Seating Company
    - National Association of Corporate Directors

    Education:
    Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois

  • Alan Lightman is an American writer, scientist and social entrepreneur.

    Dr. Lightman has made fundamental contributions to astrophysics and served as the chair of the high-energy division of the American Astronomical Society. Lightman has been a professor at Harvard University and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

    He was the first person at MIT to receive a faculty appointment in both science and the humanities. He has lectured at nearly a hundred universities in the US on the relationship between the sciences and the humanities.

    Dr. Lightman’s essays, stories and articles have appeared in Harper’s, the Atlantic, the New Yorker, the New York Times and many other publications. He is the author of more than 15 books. His book Einstein’s Dreams is known worldwide and has been translated into more than 30 languages. More can be found at his website.

    Education:
    - Bachelor’s in Physics, Princeton University
    - PhD in Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology

Alan Lightman

  • Alison served as Harpswell Executive Director from 2016-2022 and came to Harpswell with more than 20 years of experience working in the non-profit, corporate and legal sectors.

    She was Executive Director of the Peter C. Alderman Foundation, a non-profit working in global mental health which trains indigenous health workers and establishes trauma treatment systems in post-conflict settings. Prior to joining PCAF in 2009, Ms. Pavia was the founding Executive Director of ReServe, and has worked as a consultant with Living Cities, the National Community Development Initiative.

    She began her career as an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and at Pavia & Harcourt, specializing in international corporate and banking law.

    Board Affiliations:


    - Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity of Hunter College 


    - Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 


    - ReServe


    - Riverdale Neighborhood House


    - S’Cool Sounds

    Education:


    - Bachelor’s in History and Chinese Language, Brown University 


    - JD, Columbia Law School

Alison Pavia

  • Jonathan is a founding partner and Senior Analyst at Crawford Fund Management (CFM), a Long/Short Hedge Fund Manager in Boston, MA. Before co-founding CFM, he was a Senior Analyst at Stark Investments, a $12 Billion multi-strategy Hedge Fund, where he was responsible for equity coverage in the Specialty Finance and REIT sectors. Prior to Stark Investments, he was the President and co-founder of Blue Wave Holdings Corp., a Private Equity firm focused on the Automotive and Retail Service sectors.

    Jonathan has invested in Harpswell’s outstanding students for over a decade and is a firm believer in their potential to change the world. He is also a long-time supporter of Respond, Inc., one of the first domestic violence shelters in Massachusetts and one of the few that accepts both female and male survivors. He has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Boston University.

    Education:
    - Bachelor’s in History, University of Pennsylvania
    - MBA, Boston University

Jonathan Saunders

  • David Roe’s long public interest career includes 25 years as a senior attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund, where he pioneered the first use of economics in support of environmental protection and wrote the country’s most successful law in reducing unnecessary exposures to toxic chemicals, among other strategy innovations.

    He has also worked in human rights, civil rights, medical reform and federal mediation. David taught at Harvard Law and wrote Dynamos and Virgins (Random House 1984) about some of his environmental work. More can be found at his website.

    Education:
    - Bachelor’s in English Literature, Yale University
    - Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University
    - JD, Yale Law School

David Roe

Clara Péron

  • Clara Péron’s 20 year career spans the public, private and social sectors. She began her career working in the Canadian foreign service as an immigration and refugee officer based in India, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

    It was then, in 2007, that she spent a summer as one of Harpswell’s first leadership residents in Cambodia and gained a deep appreciation of the program’s potential for impact on women. After graduating, Clara moved to Berlin to pursue a management consulting career with the Boston Consulting Group – advising the C Suites of Fortune 500 companies for four years.

    In 2014 she founded Value for Good, a specialized social impact consultancy focused on helping clients across the public, private and non-profit sectors address the world’s most pressing challenges. During her career, Clara has also been a Fulbright Scholar and BMW Foundation Responsible Leader.

    Board Affiliations:
    - Vice-President, Harvard Alumni Club of Berlin
    - Board Member, Value for Good Foundation

    Education:
    - Bachelor’s in International Relations and Affairs, McGill University
    - Master’s of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Ros Sopheap

  • Sopheap Ros is the founder of Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC), a gender-specialized non-governmental organization in Cambodia. Sopheap served as GADC’s Executive director for over 20 years. GADC has advocated gender mainstreaming into government policies, plans and programs, including engaging men and boys to end violence and discrimination against women. She previously held positions in Cambodia’s Ministry of Information and both international and national development agencies in Cambodia. She has now entered her retirement and is happy to share her skills and experiences to fulfill any role required for jobs that are focused on gender equality and leadership.

    Sopheap has brought the issues faced by Cambodian women to the attention of the international community, and has spoken on women’s rights issues in numerous regional and international forums. During the UN Sessions on CEDAW, Sopheap spoke to gain international support and drive action to address issues affecting women’s rights in Cambodia.

    Education:
    Bachelor’s in Education, Royal University of Phnom Penh