MANAGEMENT TEAM

Ory Okolloh - Executive Director
Ms. Ory Okolloh is a lawyer, a political activist and a blogger. She is the co-founder of Mzalendo, a website that tracks the performance of Kenyan Members of Parliament, and the co-founder of Ushahidi, She was previously a summer associate in Covington and Burling, Washington DC and a Chayes Fellow at the World Bank's Department of Institutional Integrity.

She is a frequent speaker at conferences including TED Global and Poptech on issues around citizen journalism, the role of technology in Africa, and the role of young people in reshaping the future of Africa. She was a contributor to Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century and is affiliated with the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights. Ory graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh, and graduated with a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She also writes one of the most popular blogs in the Kenyan sphere at Kenyan Pundit.

Erik Hersman - Director of Operations
Erik Hersman is an international technology influencer with a keen eye on the impact of web and mobile advancements and technology innovation across Africa. Raised in Sudan and Kenya, Erik brings unique energy and insight to the world of technology and innovation – bridging the gap between Africa and Silicon Valley. He has a B.S. in Business Management from Florida State University.

An avid blogger, Erik writes two different technology-related blogs - AfriGadget and WhiteAfrican. He is frequently a speaker at meetings and conferences dealing with technology in Africa, mapping, blogging and web application development, including; TED Global, DEMO, Picnic, PopTech, SXSW, Where 2.0 and Web 2.0.

David Kobia - Director of Technology Development
David Kobia’s experience is varied and extensive. David has almost 10 years in the technology field. After pursuing a BS in Computer Science at the University of Alabama, he has been a professional Web developer and has worked with nearly every Web technology including VB, .NET, PHP, Perl, MySQL, JSP, Flash, XML, Javascript, CSS and HTML.

David is the former Head of Internet Services at Latitude 3 Media and Allied Media, in addition to software development experience at Vulcan Publications and Time Inc. David is the owner of numerous websites, including Mashada (an online African community), TravelAfrica.biz (tours to Africa), ScubaDivingPlanet.com (a site geared to scuba divers) and TextHQ.com (a text messaging site) to name a few. You can also keep up with David on his blog at DKfactor.

Juliana Rotich - Program Director
Juliana Rotich is a blogger, digital activist and environment editor of Global Voices Online. She is also an IT professional with years of experience in Database administration, Application development and project management. Her most recent role was as a Data Analyst at Hewitt Associates in Chicago, She also has on-the-ground experience as a citizen journalist. Juliana's skills will help build partnerships and relationships with other non-profits/NGOs internationally and on the ground in Kenya. She is a StartingBloc Social Innovation fellow with a passion for non-profit work that involves technology. You can follow her on her personal blog at Afromusing.