John Oldfield – CEO, WASH Advocates
John Oldfield’s previous experience with safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene comes from founding two implementing nonprofits in the sector, and his tenure as Executive Vice President with Water Advocates, an advocacy group in Washington, DC dedicated to increasing financial and political support for worldwide access to safe, affordable and sustainable supplies of drinking water and adequate sanitation.
Prior to Water Advocates John was a Vice President at a New York private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts and corporate divestitures. John has also been with The Conference Board, a New York-based economic research firm which produces the well-known Leading Economic Indicators and Consumer Confidence Index. While there he launched and managed two innovative online services, including a corporate training business.
Prior to The Conference Board, John was with the National Academy of Sciences, where he researched science, technology, and economic policy issues. He also has extensive international management experience with USAID and U.S. Department of State contracts, including training programs for election officials, civil society, and foreign media, as well as civil/military communication projects in post-conflict countries.
John Oldfield leads the efforts of WASH Advocates to increase awareness of the global WASH challenge and solutions, and to increase the amount and effectiveness of resources devoted to those solutions throughout the developing world. He believes strongly that the global safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene crisis is more solvable than it is difficult. Contact: joldfield@WASHadvocates.org
Rebecca Fishman – Operations and Special Projects Director
Prior to joining WASH Advocates, Rebecca worked at the United Nations Foundation, where she managed a variety of health-related initiatives and played a key role in implementing innovative public-private partnerships. With her focus on improving access and services for individuals in resource-poor settings over the past ten years, Rebecca has become a leader in the non-profit sector. She honed her project management and operations skills in the fast-paced world of academic medicine (Mount Sinai and NYU Medical Centers) and field placements with nongovernmental organizations in developing countries. In India, she provided operational and strategic consulting to a group serving marginalized communities of girls, domestic workers, and single women in Chennai’s slums through education, organization, and advocacy. She also volunteered with a leading social aid organization in Argentina teaching English and caring for underprivileged children. Rebecca received Masters and Bachelors degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Contact: rfishman@WASHadvocates.org.
Ben Mann – Global Partnerships Director
Ben has been a leader in the nonprofit community for more than 10 years, with the last 5 years in assignments at the American Lung Association and Arthritis Foundation. A well-recognized expert in volunteer management, Ben has a talent for connecting people with their passions and turning that connection into new opportunities for leadership. His interest is to build diverse and dynamic funding and resource opportunities within the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector, including work with corporate, governmental, or other partners, not excluding various faith communities and private foundations. Ben is a former chair of the diaconate at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC. He was appointed to the Governor’s Arthritis Advisory Council by Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland in 2010. Ben received his Master of Public Administration from the University of Missouri – Kansas City and his Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Baylor University. Contact: bmann@WASHAdvocates.org
Jennifer Platt – WASH Sustainability Director
Jennifer has twenty years of experience in domestic and international water, sanitation, and health. She thrives on using evidence-based research to develop programs that facilitate inter-sectoral collaborations and sustainable paradigms. Throughout her career, Jennifer has focused on developing stakeholder coalitions, and on creating consensus-based policy solutions to complex environmental problems. She has applied her skills through positions at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, WaterPartners International; Town of Cary, North Carolina; North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service; North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Coastal Management; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region III office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Health Services. Contact: jplatt@WASHadvocates.org
Jackie Powell – Research Associate
Prior to working with WASH Advocates, Jackie worked in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Nepal, and most recently Guatemala. From 2010 to 2012 Jackie acted as the Operations Manager at Agua para la Salud in the Guatemalan Highlands. As a part of her position she collaborated with rural, indigenous schools, and communities in the Guatemalan highlands on a variety of WASH projects. She also played an integral role expanding partnerships in order to reach those most in need. Jackie first became interested in international development as an undergraduate student at Gettysburg College where she combined field experience and her interest in water issues to triple major in Environmental Studies, Globalization Studies, Latin American Studies, and Spanish. Contact: jpowell@WASHadvocates.org
Cecilia Snyder – Communications Director
Cecilia Snyder has worked for twenty years in the field of international health focusing on education and outreach through new technologies. She was executive editor of several global health news services for journalists, and has used online tools as well as traditional print media to disseminate information while working at Bread for the World Institute, the Panos Institute, CEDPA, the Population Council, and the Communications Consortium Media Center. Within the U.S. government sector, Cecilia has provided information management and strategic communications solutions to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Cecilia has also designed several print publications and scientific posters for hard copy and electronic distribution. She received a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University (focusing on image ethics of nonprofit advocacy organizations) and a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Virginia Tech. Contact: csnyder@WASHadvocates.org
Elynn Walter – WASH in Schools Director
Elynn Walter previously worked as the Program Director of Global Water, Health and Schools at Water Advocates. At Water Advocates, Elynn focused on the linkages between WASH, health and education. Elynn has worked both in private industry as well as for the Department of State. She was a George Washington University Global Health Service Fellow at the Kazakhstan School of Public Health in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Her interest in water, sanitation, and hygiene stems from her experience as a Community Health Educator for the Peace Corps in Turkmenistan. Elynn has worked with several non-profits on water, sanitation and health on ways to incorporate hygiene education into water and sanitation infrastructure projects. Elynn received her Master of Public Health from George Washington University and her Bachelor of Arts from James Madison University. Contact: ewalter@WASHadvocates.org
Steering Committee
- Ned Breslin – CEO, Water For People
- Monica Ellis – CEO, Global Water Challenge
- Peter Lochery – Senior Advisor for Water, Sanitation, and Environmental Health, CARE
- Steve Werner – Consultant, and former Executive Director, Water For People
- Gary White, Chairman – Executive Director, Water.org