Fatou Batta serves as Groundswell International’s Board Liaison for West Africa. Fatou is one of Groundswell’s co-founders and also the founder of Association Nourrir Sans Détruire (ANSD), Groundswell’s local partner in Burkina Faso. Until 2009, Fatou worked for over 15 years as the World Neighbors’ Area Representative for West Africa, overseeing all aspects of strategy, programs and management for the region. Prior to joining World Neighbors, she held several positions with the government of her native Burkina Faso, where she helped to develop family planning policy and planned and administered projects sponsored by international agencies. Fatou received her MPH from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. She completed her undergraduate work at School of Technical Education in Paris and holds a diploma in participatory development at the Coady International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University.
Board
Tim LaSalle
Tim LaSalle champions his science-based hope for a regenerative food system that will mitigate climate change by sequestering 100% of the current emissions and provide the most robust ecologically regenerative method to feeding a growing world population. Tim is currently the Co-founder and Co-director of the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative at Chico State University. LaSalle previously served as the first CEO of Rodale Institute, Executive Director of the Northwest Earth Institute, Executive Director of the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management, and he was consultant, advisor, and research coordinator for the Howard G. Buffett Foundation in Africa on soils and food security for smallholder farmers. While serving as a professor at California Polytechnic State University, he also started and operated his own dairy farm and became involved with the California Agricultural Leadership Program. As its CEO, he arranged educational leadership programs in more than 80 countries with heads of state, ministers, community leaders, and he personally became exposed to and a student of many of humanity’s global challenges.
Karen Keating Ansara
Karen Ansara is currently a 2023 Fellow in the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative. Karen and her husband Jim make grants (especially in Haiti) to address global health systems and the deep poverty that leads families to surrender their children. To inspire more international philanthropy, in 2008 Karen launched what is now the Network of Engaged International Donors (NEID Global), a learning and grantmaking community of 180+ philanthropists, foundations and impact investors. After the 2010 earthquake, Karen cofounded the Haiti Fund at the Boston Foundation, now the Haiti Development Institute (HDI). In addition to serving as Board Chair of NEID Global, Karen serves on the boards of MCE Social Capital, Women Moving Millions, Groundswell International, and Build Health International (founded by her husband), and as Board Emeritus for HDI. Karen is a graduate of Wellesley College (Pol. Sci.), Andover Newton Theological School (M.Div.), and the Non-Profit Management and Leadership Program at Boston University. Karen and Jim live in Essex, MA and have four young adult children.
Patricia Biermayr-Jenzano
Patricia Biermayr-Jenzano is a social scientist, specializing in the evaluation of gender studies, food security and food systems analysis. She has a Doctorate in Agriculture and Social Anthropology (PhD), and a Master of Science (MS) in Agricultural Extension both from Cornell University in New York, and an Agricultural Engineering degree from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her work has deep roots in participatory research, as well as incorporating a gender perspective into agriculture and environmental conservation efforts. She has served as the Gender Coordinator for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) projects in Latin America, also as the leader of the Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Program of the CGIAR at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia and has performed as a consultant to the World Bank, the United Nations Organization for Agriculture (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada and the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) among development and research organizations. She is currently Adjunct Professor of the Center for Latin America Studies and the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
Edwin Naylor
In Memoriam: Edwin Naylor, (Honorary Member), was Groundswell’s first Board Chair in 2009, and was instrumental in shaping our founding bylaws and governance structure based on principles of international partnership. He passed away in 2018 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Ed brought over 50 years of organizational management experience and passion for social justice and community development to Groundswell. His experience includes over 16 years serving as President/CEO of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, Washington, DC (1987-1995) and Executive Director/CEO of Lutheran Social Ministry of the Southwest, Phoenix, AZ (1978-1987). In 1995 Mr. Naylor retired to found The Naylor Group with his wife Sarah Naylor, offering consultation services to non-profit organizations from 18 states in the U.S. He helped to found the Verde Food Council, a collaboration of four food banks in the Verde Valley of Arizona. We are grateful to Ed for helping to plant the seeds of Groundswell International.
Gopal Kumar Nakarmi
Gopal Kumar Nakarmi serves as Groundswell’s Board Liaison for South Asia. Gopal has over 40 years’ experience working in Nepal and India to improve the wellbeing, food security, and livelihoods of marginalized populations, especially women and socially excluded people living in the remote areas. He holds a master degree in Public and Business Administration from Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu, the oldest university in Nepal, and a Certificate in Development Studies for Aid Administration from Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham, England.