David ("Dai") Ellis, Founder and co-Chair of Board
dai.ellis [at] orphansofrwanda.org
Dai Ellis serves as Director of the Drug Access Team for the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, leading the Foundation’s work to reduce the prices and expand the availability of antiretroviral drugs in developing countries. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Dai worked at McKinsey & Company for several years before joining the Columbia University’s Center for Global Health and Economic Development, led by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs. Dai’s work there took him to Rwanda, where he spent over a year as advisor to the Executive Director of the National AIDS Commission and helped launch a national HIV/AIDS prevention program.

Oliver Rothschild, Founder and co-Chair of Board
oliver [at] orphansofrwanda.org
Oliver is a student at the Yale University School of Medicine. Oliver previously worked in the health sector in Rwanda, first with Columbia University's Center for Global Health and Economic Development and subsequently with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. Before going to Rwanda, Oliver served as a scientific research assistant at Rockefeller University, and as program assistant with the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization. Oliver graduated from the University of Chicago where he studied economics and computer science.

Antoinette Habinshuti, Board Member
Antoinette, a native of Rwanda, recently received her MPA degree from the University of Vermont. She has worked on numerous development projects with leading NGOs;. most recently, as a manager on the USAID-funded program of support to the Rwandan Parliament. Before entering the MPA program, Antoinette helped launch ORI's activities on the ground in Rwanda. Antoinette is fluent in Kinyarwanda, French, English and Swahili and received her degree in Business Management and Administration from the Independent University of Kigali.

Desire Kamanzi, Board Member
Desire lives in Kigali where he is a founding partner at the law firm of Kamanzi, Ntaganira & Associates, which serves leading local and international business clients. Mr. Kamanzi is an experienced administrator with a sophisticated knowledge of the economic and structural problems that Rwanda continues to face. He is fluent in Kinyarwanda, French and English, has studied both abroad and in Rwanda, and has extensive experience working with the international community.

Eloise Austin, Board Member
Eloise is currently a student at Yale School of Medicine, where she is a Downs Fellow in International Health and a student coordinator of the Donald J. Cohen Fellowship in Child Psychiatry. Prior to medical school, she worked as a program assistant at a health policy-focused foundation and as a research assistant in psychiatry at Massachussetts General Hospital. Her work with ORI includes development and fundraising projects in the U.S., as well as building healthcare and counseling programs in Rwanda. She graduated from Harvard in 2002, where she studied American history and literature.

Peter Albers, Board Member
Currently studying for an MBA at London Business School, Peter spent 8 years working in business development and operations for internet software companies, most recently as Director of Operations at BEA Systems.  Peter also served with the Clinton Foundation's Malawi program and is a board member (and former President) of the Haight Ashbury Food Program, a San Francisco nonprofit.  Peter has a degree in Economics from Harvard University.

Cynthia Ellis, Secretary and Board Member
Cynthia Ellis is a classical musician and has served on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations in the Boston area. She is a graduate of Smith College and received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin.

Peter Ellis, Treasurer and Board Member
peter.ellis [at] orphansofrwanda.org
Peter Ellis recently retired as a senior litigation partner at Foley, Hoag LLP in Boston, Massachusetts, where he specialized in intellectual property law. Before joining Foley Hoag, Mr. Ellis spent several years working in international development in Latin America. Mr. Ellis is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Cassia van der Hoof Holstein, Board Member
Cassia is Director of Technology at the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), where she oversees technology projects and enables the virtual collaboration of CHAI's far-flung teams, which work in more than twenty-five countries around the globe. Previously, she was Executive Producer at E*TRADE Financial, part of the original team at ClearStation.com, and worked in technology consulting with clients including Microsoft, AT&T Wireless, and Match.com. Cassia studied French literature at Harvard College.

David Ross, Board Member
David is currently working in London as a Vice President at Bain Capital. David previously worked at Credit Suisse in Boston and has been involved with numerous charities and fundraisers, including Cambridge One-to-One, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Outward Bound. David graduated from Harvard in 2002, where he studied history and literature.

Ann Rothschild, Board Member
Ann is a clinical social worker working in private practice in New York City with an economically and racially diverse population. She is a former elementary school teacher and a professional classical guitarist. Ann has also served on the Boards of a number of charities. She holds a BA in Education, a BA in Music and an MSW in Social Work.

Polly Ruettgers, Board Member
Since 2000, Polly has worked in Rwanda in a number of capacities and sectors – health, education, technology, community and rural development. She is currently at Gilead Sciences on the Public Affairs team, where she manages Gilead's corporate philanthropy and communications strategy for the company's access initiatives in the developing world. Separately, she is helping to support the development of the Maranyundo Initiative, with the twofold goal of increasing the number of girls in Rwanda who successfully enroll in and complete secondary school and pursue higher education, and training teachers nationally through the launch of a Virtual Teacher Training Institute. In addition, she is helping to raise support for Rwanda's national rural health scale-up plan and the first public library in Kigali.

Prior to joining Gilead, Polly completed her MBA at the University of Michigan. There, she helped develop a capacity-building partnership between the University and Rwanda's Education, Finance and Public Service ministries and the School of Finance and Banking (SFB) in Kigali, as well as a joint project between the University and students at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

Prior to business school, Polly was the first Chief of Staff for the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, and held positions in communications and development for other companies and nonprofit organizations.

Dr. Josh Ruxin, Board Member
Josh is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and directs several major international programs at the Earth Institute’s Center for Global Health and Economic Development. In 2002, Josh founded the Access Project, which has provided technical expertise to several countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Nigeria. Since its formation the project has assembled grant requests that have yielded over $1 billion in funding commitments from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In Rwanda, the project focuses on improving health management in 32 health centers serving over one million people. Josh is also Country Director for the Millennium Village Project Rwanda which implements integrated programs in maternal and child health, nutrition, agriculture, microfinance, education, water and sanitation, and other sectors. Most recently, Josh founded and directs The Neglected Tropical Disease program in Rwanda which aims to control diseases such as soil-transmitted helminths throughout the country.

Josh served as co-chair of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on HIV/AIDS. He serves on the board of FilmAid International and is a frequent contributor to several magazines and newspapers.

Josh received a B.A. in the History of Science and Medicine from Yale University, where he was a Truman Scholar. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Bolivia, holds a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University, and a PhD in History from the University of London, where he was a Marshall Scholar.