Leadership

Our team is united by our commitment to making available technology-driven educational resources to empower individuals to contribute to personal, social, and economic growth.

Our Team

Brook Negussie (Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer) was born in Ethiopia and educated in Europe and Canada. He is a life-long social entrepreneur dedicated to promoting technology access. Over the past fifteen years, Mr Negussie has held leadership roles in international technology companies. This work has included telecommunications, satellite communications, media and social networks. His business experience has been clearly defined by his efforts to provide learning resources to schoolchildren throughout Africa using satellite radio and internet connectivity. He began eLearnAfrica because of his commitment to expanding educational opportunities to under-served communities. Through his vision, eLearnAfrica is aimed at making world-class, locally relevant educational materials and learning resources available to students throughout the African continent by harnessing technology and social media networking.

Prof. Dr. Ilan Chet (President) completed his Ph.D. in microbiology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot. He has published more than 390 articles in international scientific journals, edited 5 books and holds 38 patents. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Vice President of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Later, he was President of The Weizmann Institute of Science and nominated “Institute Professor”. He was also Invited Visiting Professor at Harvard, Colorado State, Cornell, Rutgers, and Lund and Goettingen Universities. Prof. Chet has been awarded many prizes, among them the Max-Planck Award, the Israel Prize, and the Wolf Prize. He has also received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Germany and the Legion of Honor of France. Furthermore, he was recognized with Honorary Doctorate from Lund, Haifa, and Naples Universities. Prof. Chet is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the European Academy of Sciences, and of Academia Europea. From 2010-2016 he held the position of Deputy Secretary General at the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean.

Dr. Brendan von Briesen (Chief Operations Officer) has worked in the socio-economic development and policy fields. Dr von Briesen brings a strong academic and policy perspective to our strategic and operational work. He oversees general operations and organizational relationships. His commitment to eLearnAfrica is strengthened by his dedication to understanding the issues faced by communities in developing economies and in collaboratively designing appropriate solutions to these challenges.

Orlando Franco (Non-executive Chief Financial Officer) has worked for years at one of the world’s finest consulting firms. He is an expert in navigating the complex and evolving area of internet-based operations in emerging markets. Mr. Franco is responsible for investor relations and for planning for the long-term sustainability of our operations. He is well-versed in tech-company development, scaling, and entrepreneurship in developing markets.

Tom Chet (Educational Technology Specialist) is an expert in the use of technology and data-driven analysis for education.  She also has considerable experience in traditional and on-line communications strategy development and execution. She has worked for years as a consultant increasing visibility, facilitating customer interactions, and coordinating development projects for highly respected organizations around the world.

 

Academic Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Sultan Abu-Orabi Secretary General of the Association of Arab Universities

Prof. Dr. Abu-Orabi is a Chemist with decades of teaching experience and research. He has served as the President of a number of universities before becoming the Secretary General of AArU, where he enjoys working relationships with academic leaders and policy makers throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Prof. Dr. Michèle Gendreau-Massaloux Advisor to the Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, Inter-institutional Relations Officer of the Inter-Academy Group for Development.

Prof. Dr. Gendreau-Massaloux has considerable government and academic experience, having served as a high-level policy advisor to then-President of France, François Mitterrand, and later as the Rector of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF). She was recently Responsible for Training, Higher Education, Research, and Health in the French Mission to the Union for the Mediterranean. She has devoted her professional life to education governance and policy.

 

Dr. Stéphane Monney Mouandjo Director General of the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development.

As an expert in comparative legal frameworks and as the highest functionary of CAFRAD, Dr. Monney Mouandjo works closely with ministers from throughout Africa. He brings to the Advisory Board a profound understanding of the policy universe of African nations, especially regarding education and administration.

 

Prof. Dr. Silas Lwakabamba Former Minister of Education of the Republic of Rwanda

Prof. Dr. Lwakabamba has a noteworthy trajectory in education, having held the positions of Professor of Engineering, Dean of Faculty, Rector of the University of Rwanda, and Minister of Education of Rwanda. He has a very strong commitment to improving access to high-quality education throughout Africa.

Dr. Faimiloni Professor of Chemistry at the University of Lagos

Prof Dr. Oluwole Babafemi Familoni is a professor of chemistry at the University of Lagos and member of the governing council of the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria.

Between 2000 and 2002, he was the sub-dean of the Faculty of Science of the University of Lagos. He was appointed the head of the Department of Chemistry between 2002 and 2005. He later became the dean of science between 2008 and 2012. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, elected into the academy's fellowship at its Annual General Meeting held in January 2015.[2] He is currently the Deputy Vice-chancellor (academic and research) of the University of Lagos. Professor Familoni is the International Representative for the Royal Society of Chemistry, London for Southern Nigeria. 

Dr. Joseph Shevel

BA, MA, and Ph.D. degrees from the Hebrew University (Israel) and New York University (US) in Geography, History, Economics, and Management. Founding President of Galilee International Management Institute. A former lecturer at the University of Haifa, Department of Economics and Director of the Department of Management Studies, University of Haifa (ED). A former lecturer at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and Bar Ilan University, Israel.

Member of the Prime Minister's Committee on Social Policy; Member of the Environmental Committee of the Haifa Region (under the auspices of the Israel Ministry of Energy) and Director and Coordinator of several joint European–Mediterranean networks in the field of management and economic development. Associate at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. Senate member of the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI), established in Slovenia under the auspices of the European Union.

Actively works towards peacemaking in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. Submitted a peace plan between Eritrea and Ethiopia – was implemented in 2018. Member of the East African Security Forum since 2012 and an active member of the Asian University President Forum since 2005. A senior member of the Mediterranean Peace Forum (Lecce, Italy), led delegations and discussions between Palestinians and Israelis in an effort to reach a peace agreement. An active member of the World Public Forum – Dialogue of Civilisations.