Board of Advisors

George Economy

George Economy is Director of Amani Holdings LLC, Bainbridge Island, WA, a private investment fund, where he manages the investment portfolio. He is also spearheading an initiative to develop and finance scalable, replicable models for community based social ventures in developing countries related to health, nutrition, agriculture/agribusiness, education, and safe water systems. George brings thirty years experience in the private sector as an investment banker for The Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, Frankfurt and London. He brings his experience as an entrepreneur in the technology and food sectors to his current work with NGOʼs and social ventures at an early stage of commercial development to achieve financial sustainability, scale and/or integration into regional, national and global supply chains. He founded and was CEO of Helios Nutrition Ltd., a company that became the nationʼs largest producer of organic kefir, a high value-added, specialty dairy beverage. He currently works on several projects in collaboration with Paul Polak, founder of International Development Enterprises. George was Lumana's primary advisor during the UW Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition this March and continues to coach the team in strategic planning and development.

Emily Gallup

Emily Gallup recently left Global Partnerships, where she was the Director of Investment Operations. She supported the Investment Team in raising microfinance funds, managing relationships with individual and institutional investors and facilitating the transactional aspects of relationships with partner microfinance institutions. She has a background in retail mortgage lending, and provided retirement plan advisory and client services support with an East Coast wealth manager. Emily has a B.S. in international affairs from Florida State University. Emily started advising Lumana in early 2009 after meeting Founder Sammie Rayner and has been involved in oversight of Lumana's financial structure and helping the organization meet industry standards.

Jane Atkins

Jane Atkins holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently completing her mastersʼ thesis in Forestry and International Development at the University of Washington. Her research is focused on interactions between the timber industry and cocoa farmers in Ghanaʼs Ashanti region. She believes that increasing productivity on existing farmlands is an essential component to reducing pressure on Ghanaʼs remaining forest resources. Microfinance is the perfect vehicle for empowering farmers in rural areas, increasing livelihood security and improving land stewardship. In addition to her current work, Jane has three and a half years experience in the non-profit sector, working in community development and environmental education in Central California.

Helena Bottemiller

Helena Bottemiller is a Washington, DC-based reporter who covers food policy, politics and regulation for Food Safety News as its Washington Correspondent. After years of being a self-described food policy wonk, Helena delved into the food safety world for the first time while writing her thesis on the politics of food regulation at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles, where she graduated with a degree in Government. Starting in June 2009, Helena has been working with Lumana to coordinate media relations for several of Lumana's big events.

Jessie Rock

Jessie Rock received her B.A. in Sociology and African American Studies from the University of Maryland. Since then, she has received her M.A. and is a PhD candidate in Demography. Jessie has both qualitative and quantitative research experience through her graduate work in Sociology and Demography. She has worked on various research projects including social networks and impact on different minority groups. Jessie is currently working with Lumana to build a social impact analysis that will evaluate the long-term effects and impact of coming projects and initiatives, as well as Lumana's current curriculum and loan cycles.

Tiffany Wong

As a Program Planner at Aerojet General Corporation, an aerospace company in Redmond, Washington, Tiffany Wong is spearheading Lumana’s strategic marketing plan. Tiffany received her MBA from the University of San Francisco in May 2009 and subsequently joined the Global Partnerships team, a Seattle-based microfinance organization working in Latin America, where she conducted institutional investor research. That work led her to three months in Europe, where she gained an insider’s look at European development financial institutions. Upon her return to Seattle, she coached several global teams at the University of Washington Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) where she met Sammie Rayner. She is passionate about social justice issues in developing settings and has worked for Amnesty International.