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| Home >> About ECODIT >> Key Staff |
Key Staff
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ECODIT’s staff have extensive experience in designing, implementing, managing and/or evaluating environmental, water, energy and tourism development projects around the globe. We have solid training and proven expertise in areas ranging from waste management, natural resource management, and air quality, to environmental economics, public policy, and finance, to engineering and construction management. All of our staff speak two or more languages fluently (e.g., English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Dari, Danish) and move comfortably between countries, languages, and cultures of the world. Together, they make up the core of the ECODIT family, which is dynamic, entrepreneurial, and committed to sustainable development locally and globally.
In addition to the long-term employees listed below, ECODIT has access to hundreds of international professionals with training and expertise in: economics and finance; chemical, civil, and environmental engineering; natural resource management; biodiversity conservation; rural tourism development; hydro-geological modeling; communication and outreach; regulatory and policy analysis, etc.
Building on this vast network of consultants, and on their own cultural sensitivity and language skills, our staff help clients around the globe design and implement innovative and cost-effective solutions that are adapted to their specific needs and to local conditions. We encourage the exchange of know-how and lessons learned among our offices and staff by taking advantage of modern information technology and knowledge management tools.
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| Bob Mowbray
| Forest Ecologist and Natural Resource Management Specialist | |
| Deputy Program Director | |
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Bob Mowbray is a forest ecologist and natural resource management specialist with over 40 years of experience in the conservation of forests and associated natural resources (biodiversity, soils, and water). He has participated in the implementation, design, management, monitoring, and evaluation of international development programs in sustainable agriculture, watershed management, soil conservation, natural resource management, forest management, development of the economic potential of protected areas ant their buffer zones, and carbon sequestration. As the Deputy Program Director since 2006 of the PLACE IQC held by ECODIT, Mr. Mowbray oversees the development of task order proposals (teaming, staffing, technical approaches) and the implementation of task orders awarded to ECODIT.
Mr. Mowbray has led or participated in the design and implementation of some of USAID’s most successful NRM projects: NRM project in Costa Rica, Hillside Agricultural Development project in Jamaica, Development Strategies for Fragile Lands (DESFIL) project in Latin America, and Sustainable Uses for Biological Resources (SUBIR) project in Ecuador. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Dartmouth College, a Master of Forestry from Yale University, and completed all work except his dissertation toward a PhD in forest ecology at Duke University. He is fluent in English and Spanish.
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| Capricia Chabarekh
| Air Quality Specialist and Chemist | |
| Associate, ECODIT Liban | |
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Capricia Chabarekh is a chemist and air quality specialist with two years of professional experience. She has worked on several assignments in France and Lebanon, including air monitoring and analysis, and water and wastewater sampling, in addition to providing recommendations for best treatment processes. Ms. Chabarekh implemented extensive air quality sampling and testing protocols, as well as data analysis and reporting, on the subway environment and atmosphere in Paris (2007-2008). Ms. Chabarekh is very familiar with Green Building standards (she is currently completing her training to become a LEED accredited professional); she participated in evaluating the construction of a number of sustainable buildings in Abu Dhabi. She is fluent in French, English and Arabic.
Ms. Chabarekh holds a License in Chemistry from Saint Joseph University in Lebanon and a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering, specializing in Atmosphere and Air Quality, from Paris 7 Universities in France. She joined ECODIT Liban SARL in July 2010 and is currently the Air Quality Expert for the 2010 Lebanon State of the Environment Report project.
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| Cassie Hoffman
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| Senior Associate, ECODIT LLC | |
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Cassie Ann Hoffman joined ECODIT LLC as Associate in September 2009. She is a social scientist with expertise in environmental economics, international development policy, and payments for environmental services. Ms. Hoffman has provided research support and backstopping for ECODIT’s field teams, including the Jordan Public Action for Water, Energy and Environment project, the Evaluation of Conservation and Development Strategies with Lowland Indigenous Groups for USAID/Ecuador, the Bangladesh Environment Sector Assessment and Strategic Analysis and the Georgia and Azerbaijan Biodiversity Analyses Updates.
Prior to joining ECODIT, Ms. Hoffman conducted research for Ecosystem Marketplace’s first “State of Biodiversity Markets” report and evaluated the social and economic implications of a “payments for hydrological services” scheme for Fundación Natura Bolivia. She has lead civic engagement programs and service trips for college age youth in Guatemala City and Portland, Oregon, and has volunteered in community gardens and as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher for many years. Ms. Hoffman graduated with a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment, where she also earned a Certificate in International Development Policy. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is fluent in English and proficient in Spanish and Portuguese.
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| Jhay Bufi
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| Contracts and Grants Manager | |
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Jhay Bufi joined ECODIT LLC in August 2011 as Contracts and Grants Manager. He has more than nine (9) years of extensive work experience in US Government Contracts and Grants Management. He has worked on and managed over 25 projects funded by international development agencies (e.g. USAID, ADB, and World Bank) and National Governments (e.g. USEPA and GSA). Mr. Bufi has proven experience in managing compliance of federal contracts and the company contracts functions; commodity procurement, service procurement, grants agreement, subcontract management, consultant agreement, and other contractual correspondence communicated with the client contract management staff.
For USAID-sponsored and other US Government projects, Mr. Bufi manages the home office coordination of project activities and project field offices under large contract IQCs and other Time and Material, Cost Reimbursement and Fixed Price US Government contracts. Mr. Bufi is the manager for the home office contracts and support team, including management of cost proposal preparation, contract reporting, procurement, pipeline budgets and administrative and logistical support.
Mr. Bufi is also dedicated to manage the field office operations, including: field office set-up, where he coordinates compliance of local employment and tax laws, establishes local office policies and procedures, ensures field office is set-up in accordance with USAID and company policy, local laws and US Government requirements.
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| Joseph Karam
| Engineer and Economic and Policy Specialist | |
| President and Cofounder | |
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Joseph Karam, President and Cofounder of ECODIT LLC, is a civil/ environmental engineer and an economic and policy analyst with over 25 years of experience in providing consulting and technical assistance services to governments, communities and businesses in environmental protection, water management, and energy conservation. He has worked on projects funded by international development agencies (e.g., the World Bank, USAID, USTDA, European Commission, UNDP, UNESCO, and UNIDO), national governments (e.g., Governments of Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco, USEPA), and private industry in nearly 30 countries around the world, with a special focus on the Middle East and North Africa.
Mr. Karam directs all financial management, business development and project implementation aspects of ECODIT LLC’s growing practices in the environment, biodiversity and forests, water, waste, energy, rural tourism development, and climate change sectors. He has led the efforts to establish the Lebanon Mountain Trail project, a 440-km (275-mile) north-to-south long-distance hiking trail, and has committed the company to the long-term sustainability of the trail as part of its social entrepreneurship. Mr. Karam holds a Master of Science in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and two engineering degrees from France: one from the Ecole Polytechnique and one from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. He is fluent in Arabic, English, and French.
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| Karim El-Jisr
| Environmental Management Specialist | |
| Director | |
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Karim El-Jisr joined ECODIT Liban SARL in 2000, and has been its Director, managing ECODIT’s work in the Middle East and North Africa, since 2005. Mr. El-Jisr is an environmental management specialist with 12 years of experience in solid waste, water and wastewater management, protected areas, and responsible tourism, having worked in more than a dozen countries. He was the Deputy Chief of Party (Deputy Project Manager) on the 27-month Lebanon Mountain Trail project and Acting Team Leader for the Afghanistan Biodiversity Support Program, both funded by USAID.
Mr. El-Jisr assumed team leader positions on several projects with the Lebanese Ministry of Environment (State of the Environment Report, National Action Plan for Protected Areas, and National Implementation Plan for the Phase-Out of POPs) and was a lead consultant on the World Bank report “Cost of Environmental Degradation due to the Hostilities in Lebanon”. He has directed more than a dozen environmental assessments of road construction, solid waste management, wastewater treatment and water reuse, fish farming and tourism projects. Mr. El-Jisr holds a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Engineering in Agriculture, and a Master of Science in Environment, all from the American University of Beirut. He is fluent in English, French, Arabic, and Danish.
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| Meredith Francis
| Communications Specialist | |
| Associate, ECODIT LLC | |
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Meredith Francis joined ECODIT LLC as an Associate in October 2011. She brings seven years of experience in strategic and tactical marketing and communications in both private and non-profit sectors, with expertise in behavior change communications, communications toolkit design, information management, and leadership training. Past projects include sensitivity training for being a friend to a person with disabilities, behavior change communications for sexual and reproductive health, and planning for a road safety awareness campaign. Ms. Francis’ fieldwork experience includes service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Dominica and as a visiting trainer through an autonomous government agency in India. In both assignments, she was charged with developing curriculum for and delivering management and soft-skills training to indigenous, tribal, and other marginalized youth populations. Ms. Francis holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and a Master of Global Management from SIT Graduate Institute. She has native fluency in English and is proficient in Arabic and German.
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| Mohammad Qasem
| Construction Management Specialist | |
| Design Coordinator and Chief Supervising Engineer | |
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Mohammad Qasem is a senior construction management and supervision expert with extensive experience in assuring on-site quality and enforcing contract compliance. He joined ECODIT in 2006 as the full-time Design Coordinator and Chief Supervising Engineer for the USAID-funded Small Communities Project in Jordan, in which he leads all aspects of the engineering work related to the design, tendering and construction supervision of two wastewater treatment and reuse facilities in Shobak and North Shouneh.
During his 10 years of experience with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Saudi Arabia, he was a key engineer for the supervision of a 5,000-man mobilization camp, the construction of six 3,600-ton chiller units, and a main sewage treatment plant, as well as for a treatment plant designed to treat sewage effluents for use in cooling systems. Mr. Qasem then worked with the US Foreign Building Operations in the construction of the US Embassy in Amman before becoming a Partner in Charge at a private company that worked on various electro-mechanical supply contracts for the Government of Jordan. He holds a Bachelor and a Master of Civil Engineering from the University of Kansas and is fluent in English and Arabic.
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| Nathalie McNulty
| Financial Management Specialist | |
| Office Manager and Senior Staff Accountant, ECODIT LLC | |
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Nathalie McNulty has over 20 years of experience in a multitude of financial management support roles. As ECODIT’s Office Manager and Senior Staff Accountant since April 2008, she manages ECODIT’s accounts payable and receivable, prepares timely invoices for submission, and maintains all project accounts. She provides project management support to field offices around the world by backstopping project staff, supporting contract compliance, and maintaining ECODIT’s financial control systems. Ms. McNulty has played a lead role in streamlining ECODIT’s accounting and financial systems with the goal of improving efficiency between ECODIT field offices and the Home Office. For King and King, Chartered, she previously managed all accounts for a well-established legal firm for the past 10 years. Ms. McNulty supported a staff of 150 on the British-French Channel Tunnel project to guarantee compliance with company policy and applicable labor laws. She is fluent in English and French.
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| Osama Abu-Rayyan
| Resource Management Economist | |
| Chief of Party - Jordan Small Communities Project | |
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Osama Abu-Rayyan is a project management specialist with training in soil-water sciences and environmental economics. He joined ECODIT LLC in August 2004 as the in-country Technical Coordinator/ Environmental Economist for the $7 million USAID-funded Wastewater Treatment and Reuse for Small Communities project in Jordan, and became the project’s Chief of Party in April 2010. In this capacity, he is managing all technical and institutional strengthening aspects of building, operating and maintaining, and managing two wastewater treatment and reuse facilities in rural community clusters around the towns of Shobak and North Shouneh.
Mr. Abu-Rayyan has over 13 years of experience in resource management, water utilities, environmental policy and economics, and environmental and social assessments, including four years with Environmental Resources Management (UK). He has managed cost recovery projects in Scotland’s water sector, assessed socio-environmental costs and benefits in the Nile Delta, and provided financial inputs to over 20 water and sanitation investment proposals for the Danube and Black Sea Region. He helped coordinate a $5 million participatory rural water and sanitation investment project in the West Bank and led the valuation of natural resource damage claims for Jordan resulting from the first Gulf War. He holds a Master of Science in Environmental Economics from Imperial College in the UK and his Bachelor of Science in Resource Conservation from McGill University in Canada. He is fluent in Arabic and English.
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| Rita Stephan
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| Associate | |
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Rita Stephan joined ECODIT in November 2010 as a land management and GIS specialist. Mrs. Stephan holds a Masters in Environment & Land Management from Université Saint Joseph. She has six years of experience in the environmental consulting sector. She worked with multidisciplinary engineering firms on small and large scale projects. Mrs. Stephan is an expert using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as a tool for various environmental assessments as well as spatial studies. She was involved in the Integrated Solid Waste Management Project on the Supervision of Greater Beirut Sanitary Landfills and has worked on several projects in Lebanon, UAE and Qatar including Solid Waste Management & Design, Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainability Assessments. Mrs. Stephan has broad knowledge of Green Building Design specifically related to LEED & ESTIDAMA rating systems, requirements, and certification processes. For the 2010 Lebanon State of the Environment Report project, she was the lead author on the Land Resources chapter and a contributing author for the solid waste chapter. She has been involved with the Association Libanaise d’Etudes Speleologiques (ALES)since 2005 in the exploration and discovery of Lebanese caves; she acquired speleological skills that include cave survey & documentation, topography report, caving photography & descriptive report writing. She is fluent in English, French, Arabic.
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| Sarah Lowery
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| Senior Associate, ECODIT LLC | |
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Sarah Lowery joined ECODIT LLC as a Senior Associate in June 2010 after receiving her MBA from the Yale School of Management and a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She led the Yale Global Social Enterprise course in Thailand and completed market and financial analyses, designed and analyzed marketing surveys, and researched ecological impacts of forestry regimes for clients in Colombia, Spain, Kenya, and Montana. Ms. Lowery brings to ECODIT her strategy consulting experience at Booz Allen Hamilton, in which she helped clients improve their business processes and information management. She has international development fieldwork experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Belize, during which she developed small businesses and worked with the Belize Audubon Society on community conservation efforts. Ms. Lowery holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and is fluent in English and Spanish.
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