US Staff and Board

Roland Paanakker

Roland Paanakker is currently the Principal of Paanakker & Co, LLC, an executive coaching and strategic IT advisory firm committed to accelerating transformation in leadership behaviors, team dynamics and technology strategies. Prior to beginning his consulting firm he served as CIO at Levi Strauss & Co following 9 years as Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Nike Inc. Roland serves on the Board of Directors of Children International. He is a native of the Netherlands.

Nancy Press, Ph.D.

Nancy Press, co-founder of Child Aid, is professor emerita at Oregon Health & Science University. Trained as a cultural anthropologist at Duke University, Nancy received a National Institute of Health postdoctoral fellowship to specialize in the study of how cultures deal with issues of health and illness. Applying her training in anthropology and academic research to the creation and growth of Child Aid, Nancy has helped ensure the organization’s programs remain grounded in not just the ideals of partnership and sustainability but in research and results. Nancy and her husband, Richard Carroll, began Child Aid in memory of her father, Harry Press. Although the name has changed from its original (The Harry Press Memorial Foundation), the principles and core values that define the organization have not.

Robert Costello, J.D.

Robert Costello is married to Michelle for 47 years, and they have two children. Bob is an attorney (since 1977) and served as a Magistrate of the 36th District Court of Detroit for 22 years where he heard over 380,000 cases. Prior to being an attorney he worked as a school teacher (three years) and a social worker (two years). He served as president of the Italian American Bar Association of Michigan, as dean (president) twice of the Alumni Senate of Metropolitan Detroit Delta Theta Phi Legal Fraternity, and on the Board of the Catholic Lawyers Society of Metropolitan Detroit. Robert was the president of the Detroit Goodfellows (a Detroit charity) and served on the Board of Detroit Goodfellows, the Titan Club (University of Detroit Mercy), Trinity High School, and St. Paul Knights of Columbus. He holds a BA from the University of Detroit, MA from Wayne State University and a JD from Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University). He has traveled to Guatemala more than seven times.

J. Andrés Gálvez-Sobral

J. Andrés Gálvez-Sobral is a psychologist and currently heads the Centro de Investigaciones Educativas (CIE) of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala in Guatemala City. CIE is the major educational research center in Guatemala, engaged in work supporting, among others, the Guatemalan Ministry of Education. Andrés’ personal research interests include bullying in school and socioemotional learning. He is fully bilingual in Spanish and English.

Susan G. Harris, J.D.

Susan Greer Harris is a faculty member and administrator at the University of Virginia who is both a special assistant to the president of the University and secretary of the corporation. Her primary role is coordinating and managing the university governing board and other corporate duties. The position is the oldest administrative position at the University, created when the University was chartered in 1819 and originally held by Thomas Jefferson. Ms. Harris is the first woman to hold the position. Ms. Harris studied at Amherst College and received B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is a trustee and secretary/treasurer of the Alumni Board of Trustees of the University of Virginia Endowment Fund, and trustee and secretary of the Leifur Eiríksson Foundation, a graduate fellowship program operated in conjunction with the government of Iceland. As a member of the Board of Directors of Child Aid, she has a special interest in Child Aid’s affiliate, the Fundación para Desarrollo Integral de El Tejar (FUNDIT) which operates a preschool, scholarship program, municipal library, and music program in El Tejar, Guatemala. These programs were founded by her mother, Nancy Rittmaster de Espana, who lived and worked in Guatemala for thirteen years and passed away in 2000. Ms. Harris also serves on other boards of organizations affiliated with the University of Virginia. She is a member of an honor society at the University, the Raven Society, and is active in several state and national organizations including the Virginia State Bar.

Holly Jimison, Ph.D.

Holly Jimison holds a joint appointment as a professor of both the College of Computer and Information Science and Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. Together with Misha Pavel, Holly is spearheading the Consortium on Technology for Proactive Care, which has been created to develop a technology infrastructure and interventions that support continuity of care outside a hospital setting and promote long-term health behavior change. Holly previously served as an Associate Professor of Medical Informatics at Oregon Health & Science University. While on temporary assignment, Holly was a technology advisor for the Behavioral and Social Science Research initiative of the National Institutes of Health. Holly is passionate about bringing relevant educational opportunities to disadvantaged children in Latin America. In her experiences with Child Aid in Guatemala, she has come to appreciate the importance of facilitating local talent in creating sustained and effective interventions and feels that Child Aid excels in this area. Holly holds a Ph.D. in Medical Information Sciences from Stanford University.

Misha Pavel, Ph.D.

Misha Pavel is currently a professor who holds a joint faculty appointment in the College of Computer and Information Science and Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. Misha held a three-year appointment as the director for the National Science Foundation’s Smart Health and Wellbeing program. Together with Holly Jimison, Misha is spearheading the Consortium on Technology for Proactive Care, which has been created to develop a technology infrastructure and interventions that support continuity of care outside a hospital setting and promote long-term health behavior change. Misha’s previous experience includes a joint appointment as a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology at Oregon Health & Science University. Misha was born in what is now the Czech Republic and came to New York in his late teens. He has a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from New York University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

Rietta Stoneman

Rietta has over 25 years of experience leading teams in high-growth technology-oriented successful companies in roles in IT, Customer Operations, and Business Process Reengineering, and Acquisition Integration in both B2B and consumer companies. She has been VP Integration at McCaw Cellular/AT&T Wireless and VP Information Technology at Western Wireless and VP. Since 2019, she has been a partner at the TAPP Growth Group. Rietta has an MBA from the Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington.