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Board of Directors

WEDO owes much of its successful global activism to its dynamic Board of Directors, a diverse group of experts and activists.

Board of Directors

Monique Essed Fernandes
Monique Essed Fernandes (Suriname), Chair, has been active in social development and politics for the past twenty years. She is the founder of the Women’s Parliament Forum, an organization to foster women’s political participation, as well as Projekta, an NGO focusing on women and development. Ms. Essed Fernandes is also the founder of a political party in Suriname and was the first woman to run for President of the country. She recently served as a policy advisor on planning and development cooperation and governance issues in Suriname, the region and worldwide. While continuing her international work, she is presently focusing on educational, environmental and governance priorities in her own country. Ms. Essed-Fernandes has been on the WEDO Board for several years, serving in the capacity of both Vice-Chair and Chair, prior to stepping back in late 2009 to act temporarily as Interim Executive Director during a transition period for the organization.

Susan M. Ifill
Susan M. Ifill (United States) is a career-long financial services executive, experienced in and comfortable with all aspects of running a large, multifaceted organization. From early in her career, she has been recognized as a leader and chosen to lead complex organization-wide programs, turnarounds, and entrepreneurial initiatives. Past employers include Bank of America, FleetBoston Financial, and, most recently, Carver Federal Savings Bank. A committed advocate for girls and young women, Susan has served as a mentor, volunteer, board member, and fund-raiser for over 15 community organizations in the Boston and New York metropolitan areas. Susan is the recipient of many professional and civic awards and has a Masters in Management from Cambridge College in Cambridge Massachusetts, with a specialization in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. Susan is also a member of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Finance Committee. From 2009-2010, Susan acted as the Interim Finance Director at WEDO. Susan resides in West Orange, New Jersey. She has two adult daughters, Nicole and Monique.

Katherine McDonald
Katherine McDonald (Canada), LL.B., LL.M., is the first Executive Director of Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD), which was formed in 1997. She has a long history as a human rights activist, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights. She has substantial knowledge of international law as it relates to sexual and reproductive rights, and a deep understanding of the United Nations system and international human rights mechanisms. She actively participated at the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, its reviews, as well as the reviews of the International Conference on Population and Development, High Level Meetings on HIV/AIDS, and at the Human Rights Council and its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights. Before joining ACPD, Katherine McDonald practiced law for ten years, and was the Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Public Legal Education Society, and President of the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women. She is a Past President of Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada, and a former member of the regional and international governing bodies of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

Feng Min Kan
Dr. Feng Min Kan (China) has been the Senior Coordinator for the Advocacy and Outreach Coordination Unit within the ISDR secretariat in Geneva since September 2005. In this position, Feng Min has promoted a gender-sensitive approach to climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) to ensure sustainable development. Prior to the current post in Geneva, she was the Senior Regional Officer for Africa of the ISDR secretariat since August 2002. She set up the ISDR Africa office in Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2002. Feng Min has worked for many international organizations in different capacities, but with progressive responsibilities for programme management within the UN system, including OCHA, UNOPS, UNDP, UNCHR and IOM. She has accumulated rich working experience in programme planning, management, monitoring, evaluation; fund-raising, and liaison with donors, UN agencies, Governments and NGOs. Before Feng Min joined the ISDR secretariat she represented OCHA as the first Regional Disaster Response Advisor in Asia based in Kobe, Japan, where she set up the OCHA’s regional office and advanced OCHA’s partnership and networks with national governments, regional organizations and Asian NGOs in Asia. Before joining the UN, Feng Min worked in the Government of China, and she holds a PhD in social science and education from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, with a master degree in women and development studies, and additional studies on international law, social justice and human rights.

Marcela Tovar-Restrepo
Marcela Tovar-Restrepo (Colombia and Spain) is Director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program and teaches in the Anthropology Department at Queens College (CUNY). She obtained her PhD in Anthropology at the New School for Social Research (N.Y.) and her Master on Urban Development Planning at University College of London. Marcela has worked close to WEDO, previously as Coordinator of the Sustainable Development Program and more recently in the GEAR Campaign. She has served as an international consultant mainstreaming cultural and gender rights into policy-making processes at different UN instances like the Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD) – DESA, UNDEF, IPU and the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues. She has also served as technical advisor and researcher for International cooperation agencies (GTZ, AECID), governments, social movements and NGOs in areas such as gender and ethnic diversity, environment and human rights and conflict. She conducts research on ethnicity, gender and development in Latin America and has taught in Colombia, Chile and U.S.A. Marcela serves as a member of Advisory Council for the Center for Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Understanding – Queens College- City University of New York.

Sayida Vanenburg
Sayida Vanenburg (Netherlands) received her master’s degree in International Management from the Radboud University. During her studies she was the Dutch Youth Delegate to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. She started her career in the field of corporate social responsibility/ sustainability namely at Dutch multinationals. She contributed to the development and implementation of sustainability strategies and programs on all three P’s (planet, people and profit). She consciously expanded her horizon to Operational Excellence as these fields of expertise can strengthen each other. Sayida is active on the grassroots and strategic level. She is passionate about continuous learning and developing and therefore actively involved in capacity building from youngsters in the Netherlands to (young) men and women in South Africa. She is a member of the Worldconnectors, an international think tank whose aim is working towards a just, sustainable, inclusive and peaceful world.

Soon-Young Yoon
Soon-Young Yoon (United States) received her A.B. in French literature and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan. She was a Social Development officer for UNICEF in the Southeast Asia office as well as the Social Scientist at WHO/SEARO in New Delhi. A former columnist for the EarthTimes newspaper, she is a UN representative for the International Alliance of Women and Vice-chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/NY. She serves as a board member of the Global Advisory Council at the Harvard AIDS Initiative and International Foundation for Ewha Womans University. She works as a consultant for the World Health Organization Tobacco Free Initiative and is co-editor with Dr Jonathan Samet of the WHO monograph, “Women and the Tobacco Epidemic.”