Chairman

Lowell Bryan led the effort to create the Touch Foundation and has served as President from inception in 2004 until 2020. As Touch’s President, and now Chairman of the Board, Lowell has worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the organization, thus changing the lives of many in Tanzania.

Lowell retired in January 2012 from McKinsey & Company after 36 years at the firm.  He served as a Director (i.e. senior partner) for 27 of those years.  Over those years he helped found, and lead, McKinsey’s financial institutions practice and its strategy practice.  He consulted to the top management and boards of directors of dozens of financial institutions, healthcare, and industrial clients primarily on issues of strategy and organization.  He has written six books on banking, capital markets, strategy and organizational topics including Race for the World  (about strategies for a global economy) and Mobilizing Minds: Creating Wealth From Talent in the 21st Century (organizing for the 21st Century).

He is a graduate and trustee of Davidson College, where he also established the Bryan Scholar program, a scholarship awarded to outstanding student-athletes. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and served on their board of visitors.

Lowell continues to serve as a Senior Partner Emeritus of the firm and continues to provide advice and counsel to the top management and the boards and directors of several large clients on a range of corporate strategy and organizational issues.  He is also a board member of Tresata, a private company, and HWC, a private company.

Vice Chair

Celia A. Felsher has been a member of Touch’s Board of Directors since 2007.

Celia retired from her position as Chief Operating Officer and Partner of Reservoir Capital Group, an investment management firm based in New York, at the beginning of 2018.  Ms. Felsher joined Reservoir in 1998 as General Counsel.  She became a Partner at Reservoir in 2005, and added the role of Chief Operating Officer in 2008.  From 1988 through 1997, Ms. Felsher was a Partner in the Corporate Department of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.  Prior to 1988 Ms. Felsher was an Associate at Milbank.  During her time at Milbank, Ms. Felsher represented both U.S. and non-U.S. clients in a wide variety of corporate matters, including the public and private issuance of debt and equity securities, stock and asset acquisitions, and in connection with the formation of REITs and private investment funds.

Ms. Felsher received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1976 and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 1979, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Celia also serves on the Board of Save the Sound, an environmental action organization that fights climate change and works to save endangered lands, protect Long Island Sound and restore ecosystems.

Kevin is a Partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP and the Founding Director of Stroock’s Public Service Project. His responsibilities include management of the program, leading cases, and advising and assisting associates and partners with their pro bono litigation and transactional work. Kevin has handled or supervised a broad range of matters within the Public Service Project, from special education hearings to family and housing court matters, as well as counseling non-profit entities and micro-entrepreneurs. During his tenure, Kevin and the Public Service Project have won dozens of awards from city, state, and national organizations, both public and private, including the American Bar Association and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association. Prior to his 2001 appointment as the Project’s director, Kevin spent more than five years handling a wide range of commercial litigation matters for Stroock. He has written and presented on a broad range of social justice topics and his work has been recognized by two of his alma maters, Dartmouth College (Martin Luther King Jr./Lester B. Granger Lifetime Achievement Award) and Fordham University School of Law (Champion of Justice Award and The Louis J. Lefkowitz Award).

Claudio Braz Ferro is a former executive of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer, where he was the Chief Supply Officer and member of the Executive Board of Management. Born in 1955, Claudio is a Brazilian citizen and holds a degree in Industrial Chemistry from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS, Brazil, and has studied Brewing Science at the Catholic University of Leuven, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.

He is also on the board of The Icla da Silva Foundation, the largest “be the match registry” recruitment center in the United States for bone marrow donors, with a strong focus on minority communities.

Claudio is the founder and chairman of 7P Capital, a private investment company. He currently lives in London with his wife, and has two children and two grandchildren.

Judith retired at the end of 2021 after a 33-year career with McKinsey & Company. While at McKinsey she worked across the globe advising organizations in the healthcare arena from pharmaceutical companies to multi-lateral agencies focused on improving healthcare in developing countries. A former physician, Judith has drawn on her medical background to partner with leaders across the healthcare spectrum to address their most complex issues.

Judith created and, for many years, led, McKinsey’s Global Public Health Practice, served as the leader of the firm’s Mid-Atlantic Office (NJ, Philadelphia, DC), and subsequently as the leader of McKinsey’s Global Organization Practice. She was an elected member of the Shareholders Council (board of directors) and chaired the firm’s People Committee. For 5 years, she served as McKinsey’s Chief People Officer where she led the roughly 2,000-person organization responsible for all of McKinsey’s global talent-related activities such as recruiting, staffing, compensation, learning, and professional development.

Judith completed an MBA at Harvard Business School, and prior to business school, she was a physician in the dialysis and transplant unit at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, UK. She has lived experience in East Africa, as her youth was spent in a variety of East African countries, and, in her retirement, Judith is enjoying her beautiful New Jersey garden, renovating her family home in Oxford, and a limited number of non-profit activities.

Claudia is Executive Director, Strategy at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Prior to joining Skadden in 2011, Claudia was a Principal with McKinsey & Company. She was with the firm for nearly 15 years, serving as the head of McKinsey’s Global Professional Services Practice and working in McKinsey’s Financial Services and Organization Practices. Claudia is the co-author of Mobilizing Minds: Creating Wealth From Talent in the 21st Century. She holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Mbago Kaniki is Chief Executive Officer of Adansonia Management, an investment firm. He has invested in private and public companies since 2001.  Mbago serves on for-profit boards including Transcat (Nasdaq: TRNS) and not-for-profit boards including Touch Foundation.

Mbago was previously Chief Executive Officer of Alva Charge; a Managing Director and the Head of Strategic Investments at 40 North Industries; a Senior Analyst at Anchorage Capital Group; a Principal at Sageview Capital; a Vice President at The Carlyle Group; and a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University.

Dana Kirchman has over 20 years’ experience in consulting, coaching, facilitation and management. She supports senior executives and high potentials to develop their leadership capabilities, drive change and build effective teams.

Dana brings a combination of counseling skill and business perspective to her client work, coaching the “whole leader.” She helps executives to enhance their decision-making, self-awareness and resilience. Dana also facilitates team workshops, training events and panel discussions on topics such as inclusive communication and building an innovation culture. She holds advanced coach certification through Columbia University.

Dana works with executives in the financial, healthcare, media and technology industries. She has served clients in the US, UK, Western Europe, India and Latin America.

Before becoming a coach, Dana held leadership roles at Viacom, where she drove international business development for MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, and at American Express, where she led global marketing for corporate procurement card and negotiated co-brands with partners. Dana has been a speaker at the Conference Board on “Future Leaders: Millennial Perspectives” and “The Manager as Coach.” She is affiliated as a core instructor of the Columbia University Coaching Certification Program and chaired Columbia’s 2016 Second International Coaching Conference.

Dana is also a board member of the Ars Nova Theater, a dynamic company with over 15 years’ history of incubating new theater work and developing both creative and administrative leaders.

Rik Kirkland is director of publishing at McKinsey & Company, leading the firm’s global print and online activities since 2008.

From 2000 to 2005, Kirkland was editor of Fortune magazine, where he worked for more than two decades and served as Washington editor, Europe editor, international editor, and deputy editor. He has been a frequent guest on CNN and CNBC and a moderator at the Davos World Economic Forum, Fortune’s Global Forum, and the Microsoft CEO Summit. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Vik Malhotra is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company. He currently leads the firm’s Professional Standards Committee. From 2004 to 2017, Vik served on McKinsey’s Board of Directors chairing the People Committee and the Governance & Risk Committee. Vik has also served as the Managing Partner of the Americas, and over time has led parts of McKinsey’s Banking Practice and Insurance Practice.

During his time at McKinsey, his consulting experience has covered a broad range of assignments on performance transformation, corporate strategy, business unit strategy, growth strategies, organizational effectiveness, and operational improvement. Much of Vik’s current focus is on counseling CEOs and Boards on a range of issues. He has recently co-authored the book, CEO Excellence, The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest. The book has become a national bestseller and recognized as such by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly.

Vik currently serves on the Wharton Advisory Board and until recently served as the Chairman of the Board of the Wharton Graduate School (University of Pennsylvania). He is also a Trustee Emeriti of The New York City Partnership, the Asia Society, and The Conference Board. He graduated from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to receiving his MBAhe worked at the accounting firm of Ernst & Whinneyin London, England. Vik received his undergraduate degree in economics from the London School of Economics in 1980.

Vik served as an early Board member for Touch Foundation, 2006-2011.

Robert H. Niehaus is the Chairman and Founder of GCP Capital Partners LLC which currently manages several private equity investment funds totaling $1.5 billion in committed capital.  Mr. Niehaus has worked more than 30 years in the private equity industry, with prior tenure as a Managing Director in the private equity businesses of Morgan Stanley & Co. and Greenhill & Co.  Bob is also a Board member of the Asia Society, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Student Sponsor Partners, and Success Academy Charter Schools. Bob is a graduate of Princeton University and the Harvard Business School.

Michael Patsalos-Fox was previously Chairman, President & CEO of Vidyo. Before that, Michael was CEO of Stroz Friedberg, a trusted cybersecurity and specialized risk management firm, acquired by Aon Risk Solutions in 2016. Prior to Stroz Friedberg, Michael enjoyed a long career at McKinsey & Company where he served as chairman of McKinsey Americas. Michael also served as senior partner on McKinsey’s operating committee for nine years and held a seat on the board for 12 years. In addition to his role as Chairman, President & CEO, Michael currently serves on the boards of several other companies including Cognizant, Quid, and CloudPay. Michael began his career with Fujitsu Australia Limited and holds a B.Sc. in computer science and pure mathematics from Sydney University in Australia. He received his MBA with distinction from International Institute of Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Stephen Redwood is the founder of Redwood Advisory Partners. He specializes in helping leaders and organizations transform their business and adapt to the changing strategic and organizational challenges of the digital era. Stephen helps executives formulate strategies, structure their organizations, align their culture, and strengthen employee engagement. Prior to Redwood Advisory Partners, Stephen was a senior partner at Deloitte, McKinsey, and PwC, where he held various global, regional, and practice leadership roles covering organizational and strategy services.He co-authored Action Management, a book on organizational change strategies and has written and presented extensively on the subject of organizations. Stephen holds a degree in Psychology and postgraduate diploma in HRM, both from UK universities. He is also a chartered member of the UK Institute of Personnel and Development, a certified executive coach, and an honorary research fellow at the University of Texas in Dallas.

Sean William Ryan, MD is a Partner in the New York Office of McKinsey & Company. Since joining McKinsey in 2010, Sean has been serving pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and MedTech companies on a range of strategic topics.  Sean has worked across a broad range of therapeutic areas (e.g., inflammation, GI, oncology, respiratory, cardiometabolic, dermatology, vaccines) with clients in a broad range of situations (e.g., public, private, venture/PE backed). He leads McKinsey’s US Emerging Growth pharma service line, focused on serving mid and small cap companies on growth strategy, new product launch, business development and other commercial topics.

Before joining McKinsey, Sean worked in investment banking at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Montgomery & Co., LLC. He holds a BA in Physics and Political Science from Colgate University and an MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Charbel is the President of Specified Technologies Inc (STI), a provider of firestopping products and solutions he co-founded in 1990. Today, STI is one of the top two firestopping manufacturers in the United States, with an increasing presence world-wide.

Charbel holds a B.B.A. from the American University of Beirut (1974) and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1976). He then spent 8 years with McKinsey & Company, working on assignments in Europe, North Africa, the Middle-East, and the United States. Subsequently, he became a Vice President of Thomas and Betts, a manufacturer of electrical and electronic components, where he ran a division for three years.

Prior to founding STI, Charbel spent two years with an investment group. He is also involved with a number of non-profit organizations focused on the education of young people and in particular is President of TFL-US, which raises funds to support Teach For Lebanon. Charbel is a U.S. citizen. He enjoys gardening, playing tennis and golf, reading, and traveling with his family.

Secretary

Kerry T. Cooperman serves as Director of Stroock’s national pro bono program, the Public Service Project, and leads Stroock’s Nonprofit and Tax-Exempt Organizations practice.

Kerry has extensive experience advising public charities, social welfare organizations, trade associations and other nonprofits on matters involving formation, applications for tax-exemption, governance, foreign and domestic grantmaking, charitable solicitations, regulatory compliance, political law compliance, mergers and asset-sale transactions. He co-runs Stroock’s firmwide Anti-Racist Ideas and Actions (ARIA) program, which works to combat racism through community action, research and policy-reform projects and litigation. Kerry also co-chairs the Education Committee of the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA), a nationwide coalition of law firms and public service organizations that is working to amplify the voices of communities and individuals oppressed by racism and to promote racial equity in the law.

He completed his J.D. at University of Maryland in 2009 and received his undergraduate degree from University of Pennsylvania in 2006.