Our charity remains managed and governed in the US by an active volunteer Board of Directors. We hire only local (in-country) staff to execute our work. All paid staff are deployed to the field, which allows us to direct all donor funds towards program services.
Amit Kapadia (Founder and Executive Director)
Amit Kapadia is the Founder and Executive Director of The Unforgotten. Since 2007, The Unforgotten has been providing life-saving humanitarian relief in Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Food Security, Health and Shelter. Longer- term projects empower refugees with education and income generation skills. Amit holds a MA in International Relations and a MS in Environmental Engineering and has over fifteen years of experience in international relief and development. Amit also chairs the Humanitarian Relief Committee of the Council of Organizations – an initiative of United Nations Association of the United States of America. Amit performs this work as a volunteer, and all funds are directed towards the field.
Please feel free to contact Amit Kapadia at:
: 443-668-2648
: amit.kapadia@unforgotten.org
Michelle La Duca (Country Director, Djibouti)
Michelle La Duca is our Country Director for Djibouti.
Michelle has over 20 years of experience as an executive leader in facilities management, and is serving as a Captain/Vice Commander in the US Navy. Michelle holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering.
: michelle.laduca@unforgotten.org
Ramé Hemstreet (Director – Capital Projects)
Ramé Hemstreet is a retired U.S. Navy officer who now lives in San Francisco and works for the healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente.
: rame.hemstreet@unforgotten.org
Aaisha Bhuiyan (Country Director, Bangladesh)
Aaisha Bhuiyan is a Bangladeshi-American joining the board as Country Director for Bangladesh in 2019.
Aaisha holds a bachelors in Marketing from Penn State University, presently works as an Account Executive at Amazon and is a city ambassador for the United State of Women, an organization that amplifies the work of leaders on the forefront of gender equity and community development.
Nahiyan Naser (Country Director, Bangladesh)
Nahiyan Naser is a computer science graduate with a passion for entrepreneurship. He has been involved in the development sector since high-school and has conducted projects dealing with Water, Sanitation, Womens Empowerment, MHM and Mental Health in Bangladesh.
Shalini Puri (Country Director, Nepal/India)
Shalini Puri is associated with our program in Northern India, in the Shimla region of the Himalayas, where she is originally from.
Shalini has a passion for helping vulnerable children, especially orphans. Having lost her father as a teenager, she is sympathetic to their plight. She is currently working to raise funds for gifts for orphans which she delivers personally. She last did so in February 2018. To support her GoFundMe campaign directly, please visit this link.
Shalini holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, is a Certified Cost Estimator/Analyst (CCEA) and works as a Financial and Budget Analyst for the US Navy.
![Shailaja [Sally] Brady](http://unforgotten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sally-brady.jpg)
Shailaja [Sally] Brady (Country Director, Nepal)
Shailaja [Sally] Brady is working on a new project to provide aid to wastepicker children in Nepal. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1970 from Kathmandu, Nepal with her parents and sister, and currently resides in Northern, Virginia. Sally is interested in helping women and children from developing nations to gain education and skills to lift them from poverty and become self-sufficient. She raised funds and co-organized the “Walk for Nepal” walk-a-thon for earthquake victims impacted by the devastating 2015 Nepal Earthquake that killed more than 9,000 people. Sally has also raised money for cancer research and other charitable organizations.
Sally holds a M.S. in Geology/Geophysics from the University of Iowa and has worked for the U.S. Geological Survey for more than 30 years.
Aaron Skalka (Orphanage Project Director, Nepal)
Aaron Skalka is the very proud father of two children adopted from Nepal. Since 2010, he has worked diligently to support unparented children in the Kathmandu Valley and beyond through various projects. Aaron has worked in the film and television business for 30 years and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.
: aaron.skalka@unforgotten.org
Ronald Quejas-Risdon (Director, East Africa)
Ronald started off his career in the Peace Corps in Colombia. He completed graduate studies in Social Anthropology and Labor Relations and lectured at various colleges and universities. Ronald served as a Labor Negotiator, Human Resource Director and Court Appointed Mediator from 1980-1993. He joined the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations in 1993, and served as a Senior Administrative Officer and Head-of-Office in high profile and frequently hazardous assignments including Somalia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. Although officially retired from fulltime work at the UN in 2009, Ronald continues with special assignments to East Timor, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan. He recently published a second book on peacekeeping, and maintains a blog viewing the global community through the eyes of a Peacekeeper (www.quejas-risdon.com). Ronald is active in the United Nations Association belonging to chapters in the US and the UK.
John Dalton (Chief Financial Officer & Country Director for Ukraine/Moldova)
John Dalton currently serves as the Regional Representative and National Council Member of the United Nations Association. He is the former Chairman and current Vice-Chairman of the Human Relations Commission of the City of Tucson in the State of Arizona and previously served as Human Relations Commissioner of the City of Livonia in the State of Michigan. In 2019, Mr. Dalton spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva regarding the rights of the child and global access to education. In March of 2020, he was nominated and commissioned a Kentucky Colonel for his contributions to global cooperation and human rights by the Commonwealth’s Governor and on September 28, 2020, Mr. Dalton was appointed by the President of the United States to the U.S. Selective Service Board. He is an active member of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, Tucson Committee on Foreign Relations, and is on the Board of Advisors of the Consular Corps of Arizona. He attended Schoolcraft College and The University of Arizona where he completed his studies in Alternative Dispute Resolution with a specialization in Mediation.
Bipin Patel (Fundraising Chair)
Bipin Patel is a recently retired Federal Employee (U. S. Navy) with 31 years of Federal Government service as an Civil/Environmental Engineer. Bipin serves as our Fundraising Chair, and loves to help people in need, wherever they may be.
Amanda Ward (Director of Public Relations)
Amanda is a new board member and will be serving as our Director of Public Relations. Amanda is rejoining the organization after having spent some time as an intern for The Unforgotten working on our projects in Sierra Leone during the Summer of 2014. Amanda is passionate about providing business opportunities and education for women and underserved communities. Currently working as a Senior Program Manager for Amazon she previously served as the Senior Advisor for Policy and Programs within the Division of Minority and Women’s Business Development for New York State; and worked as a project manager for New York City’s Department of Small Business Services as part of Mayor De Blasio’s Small Business First Initiative. Amanda received her MBA from Cornell Johnson in 2021 with a focus in Emerging Markets and Sustainable Global Enterprises, and her MPA from Cornell University in 2015 with a concentration in International Development.
: amanda.k.ward@unforgotten.org
Sepo Imakando Musokotwane
Sepo Imakando Musokotwane, Ph.D., has been with the Unforgotten Board for 5 years, working to design and implement sustainable impact projects. She is passionate about empowering women through entrepreneurship projects across Africa. Based in Lusaka, she is the Co-founder and COO of Explorer Education to revolutionize education in emerging economies. She leads the operations of Thebe Investment Management’s education investment vehicle. She has previously worked with the United Nations at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Washington D.C. She has previously also worked as an Assistant Dean at the University of Lusaka (UNILUS) in the School of Business, and designed and taught in the Health Science department as well. Sepo is responsible for our Impact frameworks development and assessment. Sepo is helping farmers become the breadbasket of the region, given the fertile soils and favorable climate. At The Unforgotten, we consider her to be our Impact Specialist.
: sepo.musokotwane@unforgotten.org
Khaled Almawri
Khaled helps to oversee and raise resources for our work in Yemen, where he is originally from. He holds a Doctor of Medicine and is currently working as a research coordinator in The Henry Ford Health System’s Hematology/Oncology Research Department. He immigrated to the US at the age of 12 and is a cancer survivor, which inspired him to pursue a career in healthcare. Khaled is passionate about helping innocent Yemeni civilians in dire need of support.
Summer Hassan (Country Director, Sierra Leone)
Summer Hassan has extensive resources and experience in public health, and she is committed to creating meaningful change in healthcare, particularly for underserved populations. As a grants manager, she serves the American Indian and Alaskan populations in Arizona to help increase health literacy. Summer holds a degree in Global Health and a certificate in cross-sector leadership, which equips her with the skills and knowledge to address complex healthcare challenges.
Summer’s passion for improving healthcare was exemplified during the COVID-19 pandemic when she led one of the largest vaccine sites in the country. Her cross-sector leadership allowed her to collaborate effectively with non-profit organizations and the public and private sectors to ensure a smooth vaccine rollout. She is poised to significantly impact healthcare on a global scale.
Fadia Al-Bahr (Country Director, Yemen)
Fadia’s entire professional life has been dedicated to the development of Yemen and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Her objectives are to join efforts for post-war reconstruction and development in Yemen, to help rebuild Yemen’s economy and alleviate poverty. Fadia has extensive expertise managing projects and initiatives aimed at alleviating poverty and facilitating economic growth for the most vulnerable members of the community – women and children; and she is involved in several community service projects that help those in need. Fadia serves as The Unforgotten’s Country Director in Yemen.
Fadia is also the Assistant to the General Manager for Quality Control Affairs at the General Corporation for Social Security. She is also the director of the Yemen Chapter of Arab Women in Computing, where she leads the planning, development, and fundraising for chapter programs and activities.
