OUR TEAM

With more than 15 years of experience in international development, Elene has devoted her career to advancing social equity and expanding opportunity for all people. Originally from South Africa, Elene’s early work in youth development shaped her lifelong interest in how systems affect people’s lives and how communities can work within those systems to thrive. She earned a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Kansas and conducted numerous research studies that explore the intersection of everyday life and social wellbeing. She joined Outreach in 2018 and most recently served as Senior Director of Research & Advocacy. Elene brings a rare combination of academic rigor, strategic insight, and deep compassion to an organization committed to lasting change, and her leadership helps strengthen our global operations, deepen our evidence-based approach, and amplify the voices of the people at the heart of our work.

A degree in Nonprofit Leadership and study in Central America set Charlotte firmly on the international nonprofit path. As Chief Development & Marketing Officer, she’s our Chief Creative Problem Solver who creates campaigns, drives our social media and website forward (right here!), and creates the conditions for our story to spread far and wide. She’s our ever-energized marketing machine who’s motivated to work every day to communicate that at Outreach, we “empower people living in poverty around the world to solve their own problems and live happier, healthier, more hopeful lives.” And, as you may have guessed by now, she’s kind of a nice person.

FUN FACT: Charlotte prepares to teach her spin class by selecting motivational songs with the right tempo. So she’s not just listening to Justin Bieber for fun. It’s work.

After a few victory laps of the upper management tiers in Big Banking, Amanda’s considerable number-wrangling skills were sharp enough to cut glass. Sensing that her expertise could be employed for the unlimited good of all humankind, she joined Outreach, and has since ascended to Senior Manager of Donor Services, ushering in an era of frictionless, error-free mastery of all possible details.

FUN FACT: She enjoys a game of billiards. And she won’t get all defensive if you say “that’s not even a sport.”

Growing up in Pereira, Colombia, Mariana recognized at a young age the contrasts between families who were financially stable and those who lived in poverty. This inspired her after moving to Washington D.C. to volunteer at the Spanish Catholic Center, which provides services and resources to support low-income migrants. She earned her master’s degree in international development from American University, and then worked as an analyst for the Inter-American Development Bank, managing development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, including digital transformation initiatives. Now, as Global Program Manager, she brings her considerable expertise to Outreach, managing socio-economic development programs across multiple countries where we work.

FUN FACT: Mariana enjoys walking with her baby and her dog, and visiting museums. She hasn’t said so, but we’re guessing she’s been banned from several museums.

From the moment Chris first read Robert Frost poems as a kid, he knew he’d be a writer for the rest of his life. The world finally agreed with him a couple decades later by giving him a job writing jokes and poems for greeting cards. Then it was on to children’s books, magazine articles and internet gibberish. 2,400 cards, 14 books and ten hundred thousand blog posts later, he finally gets to lay down some work of real value as Creative Director for Outreach.

FUN FACT: Chris has earned two writing awards and one World’s Greatest Dad mug.

Along with a degree in both Nonprofit Leadership and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry, Mckenzie has racked up an accomplishment or two, including (deep breath)… New Roots for Refugees, the Alzheimer’s Association, Gateway to Hope, Union Station of Kansas City, an NGO in Spain called ABD, Outreach International internship, volunteering, fundraising, planning awareness events, donor appreciation (inhale!). And before any of that, at age 11, she fundraised thousands of dollars for a trip to six countries as a People to People Student Ambassador. This makes Mckenzie, in all, an inarguable expert in the industry of Helping People.

FUN FACT: Mckenzie figure skated competitively for 12 years. And, she loves a good theme party. This is either the best or the worst intersection of interests we’ve ever heard of.

Some international travel early in life exposed Alex to a variety of cultures, and probably influenced her career path. After grad school and a few years designing and building schools for a nonprofit, she rose to the challenge of Director of Field Finance for Outreach, orchestrating the finances of all our program partners around the world. And as if that wasn’t enough, she also manages field operations in Bolivia and Nicaragua.
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FUN FACT: Alex has probably read more books this week than the rest of us have in the last year or so.

Throughout her early years, Katie watched her father and others around her raise millions of dollars to provide for children with leukemia and autoimmune diseases. And now with a BA in Journalism, Advertising, and Ethnic Studies, she has merged this dedication to helping others with a love of storytelling. She has spent years developing and producing video content, including documentary films through the University of Nebraska’s Global Eyewitness series, including a study of the Lakota people of the Great Sioux Nation of the Midwest. Katie’s lifetime of working to help others combined with her expertise in photography, videography, writing, and digital design makes her a formidable member of the marketing and development team.

FUN FACT: Katie is a member of a monthly homemade postcard club, so she also knows how to write and design old-school.

Andrea got an early start on the international stage by spending some of her high school years in China. Later on, she started her career as an architect, where she designed buildings that would rise to be strong and lasting. But as much as she enjoyed helping to build structures, she knew she was meant for a purpose that was higher still. Now she helps build partnerships with community groups around the world where people rise to their full potential into lives that are prosperous, empowered, and full of hope. As Vice President of Global Programs, Andrea oversees all of Outreach’s operations around the world, working to prioritize new strategies, improve systems, and ensure that all our program partners continue to build solutions to poverty that are strong and lasting.

FUN FACT: Andrea loves creating art, especially painting and mixed media, and throwing pots (but not at you).