Our Board of Directors
Dr. Sarah Stiles is a Professor of sociology with specialty in social entrepreneurship at Georgetown University, where she also teaches Law & Society. Prior to 2007, Dr. Stiles was director of the Leadership Program in the School of Public Affairs at American University where she developed the curriculum and institutionalized community-based learning. For her efforts she was awarded the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Greek Organizations Award for Outstanding Faculty and the Career Services Office Award for Outstanding Internship Faculty. She helped found DC Youth & Government in 2002 where she served as the program director. Dr. Stiles holds a PhD (and MA) in Political Science from Boston University with a concentration in international relations. She also earned a JD from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, MA where she focused on international law.
Tom Raffa is the President and founder of Raffa, P.C., a consulting, accounting, and technology firm started in 1984 with over 150 professionals dedicated to serving the nonprofit community. Raffa, P.C. provides services including audits, tax, consulting, technology, and outsourcing to over 500 nonprofit clients. In 1999, Tom founded Raffa Financial Services, Inc. to provide insurance and investment products and services to the nonprofit community, and in 2005, Raffa Wealth Management to provide investment consulting and financial planning to nonprofit organizations, private foundations, and high-wealth individuals that support the nonprofit sector. Tom has received the Volunteer Achievement Award from the Accountants for the Public Interest, the Smart CPA from the Washington Smart CEO magazine, and was a finalist for the 2007 Community Service Award. He has written articles for various national publications including The Nonprofit Quarterly, The Nonprofit Times, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy covering various topics that affect the nonprofit sector.
William Finnerty is a Senior Vice President of Investments at UBS. As a private wealth manager, he focuses on long-term market strategy and has gained industry recognition for his work in the wealth management field. In addition to being featured in Washingtonian magazine as a leader in wealth management, William was also interviewed by Southeast Wealth Management Business in April 2008 for a series on industry leaders. An accredited IMCA CPWASM, William has earned the professional designations of Investment Management Strategist and Certified Investment Management Analyst as well as the wealth management and alternative investment certificates. He is currently a Level 1 candidate for the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. William was the top finance graduate of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in 1994. William dedicates much of his spare time to Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where he is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship.
Our Board of Advisors
Zach Warren is a dual MPP/PhD candidate at Georgetown in Public Policy and Psychology, focused on psychometrics for creativity and entrepreneurial thinking. In Afghanistan, he has written or co-written reconstruction grants totaling more than $300 million, supporting farmers, youth, public and private leaders and helped develop Aga Khan University’s liberal arts college in Karachi. Zach spends his summers teaching circus arts at the Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children (MMCC), a Kabul-based social enterprise and child project that uses circus to educate 300,000 children annually. His work has been featured on CNN, MTV, ESPN, and NPR. He holds a Masters in Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, and is featured in the 2008 Guinness Book of World Records.
Aaron Maniam is the Deputy Director of Strategic Initiatives for Singapore. He volunteers on Singapore’s National Youth Council (the apex policymaking body for youth issues); is President of Mendaki Club, a group of young Muslim professionals in Singapore; and chairs the Youth committee of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). He is also a trained facilitator of inter-faith dialogues. He was identified by the Asia Society as one of 200 “Asia 21 Young Leaders” in 2006, and one of 25 “Asia 21 Fellows” from across the Asia Pacific in 2008. In 2010, the Society named him one of its first two Next Generation Policy Leaders in a new initiative to promote emerging Asian and American foreign policy voices.
Charles DeSantis serves as Associate Vice President and Chief Benefits Officer for Georgetown University. He also is the Manager for the 10-year campus plan and the co-convener of the Georgetown Africa Interest Network (GAIN). Previously DeSantis was Chief Operating Officer at PacAdvantage, Associate Director of Benefits services at Stanford University and Senior Director of People Services at Gap Inc. DeSantis serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors for Stepping Stones Growth Center, a San Francisco-based organization serving the developmentally disabled. His work has extended to Kenya where he has developed an arts education program for university-bound high school aged AIDS orphans in the heart of the Kibera Slum. DeSantis is a member of the board of directors of Nyumbani, the first Kenyan orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS in Kenya, serving 60,000 kids in Kenya.
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