The Board of Directors
Ubuntu Africa’s Board of Directors
Based in New York, United States
Theodore J. Gillman (Ted)
Chairman
Ted is an investment professional at a New York based investment advisory firm. He has over 20 years of experience in the asset management field having held positions as investment analyst, portfolio manager, and client service professional. Mr. Gillman is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a BA degree from Tufts University and a MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Administration.
Angie Zorotheos
Vice- Chairman
Angie Zorotheos is Senior Counsel at Quidsi, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon and owner of Diapers.com and Soap.com. She graduated from York University, summa cum laude, and received her JD and Masters in Economics from the University of Toronto before being admitted to the New York Bar. Upon graduation, Angie worked for the New York office of Shearman & Sterling LLP––a global law firm. She later joined the Investment Banking division of Goldman Sachs as Assistant General Counsel and Vice President. Angie is a dedicated contributor to non-profit organizations and a devoted activist in issues of human rights and third-world development.
Nancy Martin Gernert
Secretary
Nancy Martin Gernert worked in book publishing before leaving to raise her four children. She has served as president of the board of Katonah Playcare, editor of the newsletter at Katonah Elementary School, and co-chaired the Annual Fund at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York. During a trip to South Africa in 2008, Nancy and her family visited Ubuntu Africa Child Healthcare’s center and were inspired by the impact the HIV Care Program was having on the lives of the children in the community.
Mary Farley
Treasurer
Mary Farley is manager of business affairs Kunhardt McGee Productions as well as the chief financial officer of the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation. Between 1986 and 2001, Farley was an independent financial consultant providing financial management services to small businesses in Westchester and Fairfield Counties, including the Diebold Institute for Public Policy, MRC Ltd., a division of Lloyd’s of London, and International Marketing Strategies. From 1980 to 1986, Farley worked at International Paper Company in the treasury, and capital and operating budget areas, ultimately as manager of tax-exempt financing. Prior to 1980, she spent several years in university administration positions. Other board positions include the SPCA of Westchester, and serving as a public member on the board of the National Assocation of Schools of Theater. In addition, she is an active spokesperson for Womenheart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. Mary holds an A.B. in Religion from Middlebury College and an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University.
Doni Belau
Doni Belau has worked as fundraiser, activist, and a political and not-for-profit consultant for over ten years. She has worked on many political campaigns (from local to Presidential) and issue-based campaigns, and currently serves as a Democratic district leader in Bedford, NY. Doni taught at the Women’s Campaign School at Yale and is a former board member of Riverkeeper, a not-for-profit organization focused on environmental issues. She recently made a right turn in her career, giving up politics to start a website, Girls Guide to Paris, girlsguidetoparis.com.
Elizabeth S. Johnson
Elizabeth is a fiduciary accountant in the Private Clients Group at Cummings & Lockwood LLC. Her primary responsibilities include the preparation of court accountings and tax returns for individuals, trusts, estates, and foundations. She is based in the firm’s Greenwich, Connecticut office. Elizabeth has worked in the trusts and estates field for over two decades at law firms in New York City and Fairfield County. Elizabeth also has served as a board member of the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School and as the Chair of the Cobble Hill Tree Fund.
Leonard Gullan (Lennie)
Lennie is the CEO of Monark Global Limited, an international jewelry firm, specializing in marketing its brands through television, direct mail and online channels. Lennie is a graduate of the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business and holds a degree in Business Administration.
Miriam Hess
Miriam has bridged politics, public service, and law, and made her mark in all three. A graduate of The George Washington University and St. Louis University’s schools of Law and Public Health where she graduated with honors, Miriam began her career focusing on access to healthcare, working with NARAL/NY, Sisters of Mercy Health System, and, later, with the law firm of Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips. Currently, Miriam is a principle in Siegel Strategies, a political communications firm representing clients nationwide, and has advised elected officials and organizations throughout the country.
Whitney Johnson
Whitney Johnson, originally from New York, graduated from Colorado College in 2006 with a degree in Psychology. After founding Ubuntu Africa at the age of 21, Whitney moved to South Africa to launch the organization’s HIV Care Program in the township of Khayelitsha. As executive director and public speaker on HIV/AIDS, she engages young people to foster an empowered attitude towards HIV and inspire them to make a difference in the world.
Ubuntu Africa Child Healthcare’s Board of Directors
Based in Cape Town, South Africa
Lennie Gullan
Chairman
Lennie is the CEO of Monark Global Limited, an international jewelry firm, specializing in marketing its brands through television, direct mail and online channels. Lennie is a graduate of the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business and holds a degree in Business Administration.
Mendel Sass
Vice- chairman
Mendel Sass joined Bowman Gilfillan during 1999 and was admitted as an attorney during 2001. Mendel has worked at both the Cape Town and Sandton offices of Bowman Gilfillan. He also spent a couple of years in the United Kingdom, where he worked as a lawyer for the Central Confiscation Branch of the Crown Prosecution Services as well as an investigator/prosecutor at the Standards Board for England. Mendel obtained a BA (Law) from the University of Western Cape and a LLB from the University of Cape Town. He is also a member of the South African Society of Labour Lawyers (SASLAW) and has been on the board of UBA since 2010.
Jeanelize Maritz
Secretary
Jeanelize Maritz completed her BA LLB with the University of Stellenboch in 2000, and was admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa in 2003 after completing her articles of clerkship with Bowman Gilfillan Inc. During 2003, she worked as an attorney in the United Kingdom, after being admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. She returned to South Africa in 2005 and joined Themis Law Chambers in 2006. Jeanelize has been a member of Ubuntu Africa’s Board of Directors since 2009.