GLOBAL STAFF
Tommy Clark // Founder & CEO
Dr. Tommy Clark is a pediatrician and former professional soccer player. Tommy conceived the idea for Grassroot Soccer after living and playing soccer in Zimbabwe. Tommy was born in Scotland and moved to Zimbabwe at age fourteen where his father Bobby Clark was coach of the Highlanders Football Club. He attended Dartmouth College where he was captain of the soccer team. Following graduation, Tommy returned to Zimbabwe to teach English and play professional soccer. Tommy attended Dartmouth Medical School and completed residency in pediatrics at the University of New Mexico where he was twice named the Resident Teacher of the Year. Following residency, Tommy was a research fellow at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California at San Francisco. Tommy has been awarded the American Academy of Pediatrics Annie Dyson Child Advocacy Award, the Dartmouth College Martin Luther King Junior award, the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care Nkosi Johnson Award, the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award, and was named to the Alpha Omega Alpha national medical society.
Ethan Zohn
Co-Founder
Ethan Zohn is a co-founder of Grassroot Soccer and a member of our business development team. In 2002, Ethan was the winner of CBSâs television prog...Read more
Babikir M. Babikir
Senior Business Development Coordinator
Babikir is responsible for business development systems management across Grassroot Soccerâs restricted donor portfolio, including proposal developm...Read more
Chris Barkley
Technical Advisor, Mental Health
Chris helped develop and launch Grassroot Soccerâs mental health strategy and guides program design, partnerships, research, and capacity-building t...Read more
Yared Belete
Partnerships Program Manager, Ethiopia
Yared Belete is Grassroot Soccer's Partnerships Program Manager, Ethiopia, based in Addis Ababa.
Prior to joining GRS, Yared worked wit...Read more
Kenneth Bhauti
Director of Global Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Kenneth âKennyâ Bhauti has worked for international NGOs since 2000, including PSI Zimbabwe, CNFA, and Grassroot Soccer, among others. In his seco...Read more
James Chimbiya
Partnerships Program Coordinator
James is based in Malawi and supports the Grassroot Soccer Partnerships team to provide technical assistance and steward programs and partnerships. Ja...Read more
Tendai Chimuka
Senior Business Development Coordinator
Tendai is the Senior Business Development Coordinator at Grassroot Soccer, based in Zimbabwe. She supports the management of business development syst...Read more
Ilana Cohen
Director of Programs
Ilana leads Grassroot Soccer's Global Partnerships team, which manages grants, provides technical assistance, and stewards partnerships across a wide ...Read more
Andy Dallos
Director of Strategy and Innovation
Andy Dallos oversees Grassroot Soccer's global go-to-market strategy for GRS SKILLZ products and technical assistance services and supports the evolut...Read more
Derek Daniels
Global Training Manager
Derek started working for Grassroot Soccer South Africa as a Master Coach in 2009 and joined the Global team as Training Manager in 2021. He is respon...Read more
Melissa Densmore
Senior Director of Finance
Melissa Densmore is responsible for overseeing all financial management and reporting functions of Grassroot Soccer, both internally and externally. P...Read more
Dennis Dube
Global Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Coordinator
Dennis works within Grassroot Soccerâs Global Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) department supporting all things M&E. He is based in Johann...Read more
Blessed Bukhosi Gumbi
Partnerships Program Support Manager
Blessed is a Partnerships Program Support Manager supporting programmatic interventions across Grassroot Soccer partnership countries. He is based in ...Read more
Lisa P. Kable
Chief Operating Officer
Lisa Kable leads the development and execution of Grassroot Soccerâs global strategic plan. Prior to joining the GRS team, Lisa spent 25+ years work...Read more
Diana Taonga Kennedy-Tembo
Product Development Coordinator
Diana Taonga Kennedy-Tembo is the Product Development Coordinator on the Grassroot Soccer Global team. In her role, Taonga is responsible for co-devel...Read more
Kondwani Kuthyola
Digital Health Specialist
Kondwani is Grassroot Soccer's Digital Health Specialist, based in Lilongwe, Malawi. A technology enthusiast who enjoys challenging the status quo thr...Read more
Devyn Lee
Research Manager
Devyn oversees Grassroot Soccer's research and evaluation portfolio, working with other GRS teams and partners to design and carry out studies that he...Read more
Judith Lungu
Partnerships Program Manager, Malawi
Judie is the Grassroot Soccer Partnerships Program Manager based in Lilongwe, Malawi. She is a psychologist by profession with vast experience in pedi...Read more
Mxolisi Magagula
Research Assistant
As a dedicated and skilled professional in the field of Population Studies, Mxolisi Magagula brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his role as...Read more
Mbulelo Malotana
Managing Director, GRS South Africa
Mbulelo oversees strategy, programs, operations, and business development for GRS South Africa. He joined Grassroot Soccer in 2015 as a Provincial Pro...Read more
Ethan McCoy
Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications
Ethan leads Grassroot Soccerâs global marketing and communications efforts. Prior to joining Grassroot Soccer in 2021, Ethan worked for over six yea...Read more
Boyd Mkandawire
Managing Director, GRS Zambia
Boyd joined Grassroot Soccer as a Business Development and Communications Manager, now holding the role of Managing Director of GRS Zambia, overseeing...Read more
Chikwanka Mubanga
Research Coordinator
Chikwanka is responsible for coordinating all Grassroot Soccer research activities. Prior to joining GRS, Chikwanka worked as a consultant Research As...Read more
Maluba Mulebi
Assistant Systems Analyst and Developer
By profession, Maluba is a self-driven and ambitious software engineer. She graduated from the University of Zambia with a bachelor's degree in softwa...Read more
Kunda Mwitwa
Partnerships Program Coordinator
Kunda Mwitwa is a passionate and enthusiastic youth advocate from Lusaka, Zambia who supports Grassroot Soccerâs Global Partnerships team as Program...Read more
Happy Ncube
Partnerships Program Manager, Zimbabwe
Happy Ncube is a Partnerships Program Manager, based in Zimbabwe, responsible for coordinating and providing technical assistance to GRS partners. She...Read more
Polite Ndlovu
Product Development Manager
Polite is the go-to guy for all Grassroot Soccer products and processes â curricula, SKILLZ magazines, implementation guidance, formatting, digital ...Read more
Godknows Ngwenya
Salesforce Assistant
Godknows is Grassroot Soccerâs Salesforce Assistant, responsible for organizing and supporting organizational database management activities, conduc...Read more
Alexander Nkosi
Global Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager
Alex is a leading monitoring and evaluation expert with over 15 years of experience in designing and managing monitoring and evaluation systems for co...Read more
Charmaine Nyakonda
Mental Health Specialist
Charmaine is based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and is the Grassroot Soccer Mental Health Specialist. In her role, she supports the Mental Health Technical A...Read more
Babatunde Odusolu
Partnerships Program Manager, Nigeria
Babatunde âBrosteeâ Odusolu is Grassroot Soccerâs Partnerships Program Manager for Nigeria. Prior to joining GRS, Babatunde worked as a clinicia...Read more
Elizabeth Okoth
Partnerships Program Manager, Kenya
Elizabeth Okoth is Grassroot Soccer's Partnerships Program Manager based in Kenya. Elizabeth is a public health specialist with a Master of Public Hea...Read more
Holly Louise Perry
Senior Manager, Operations and Global HR Compliance
Holly oversees Grassroot Soccerâs Global Human Resources and also manages the organization's Operations and Compliance efforts. Prior to joining GRS...Read more
Fleur Pollard
Director of Programs â Maternity Cover
Fleur leads Grassroot Soccerâs Global Partnerships team, which manages grants, provides technical assistance, and stewards partnerships across a wid...Read more
Laura-Jade Richards
Director, U.K Development
Laura-Jade (L-J) Richards leads all U.K and European development at Grassroot Soccer; cultivating strategic partnerships through individuals, major gi...Read more
Alex Romagnolo
Vice President, Principal Gifts
Alex has rejoined Grassroot Soccer to oversee principal gifts, after spending nearly a decade in college athletics. His career includes leadership pos...Read more
Theresa Sanchez
Senior Development Coordinator
Theresa Sanchez is Grassroot Soccer's Development Senior Coordinator, supporting the development team in unrestricted fundraising efforts. Prior to jo...Read more
Fiona Shanks
Vice President, Global Impact and Operations
Fiona Shanks is responsible for managing Grassroot Soccerâs programs across Africa â GRSâs Impact â as well as leading the organization's Oper...Read more
Tori Stellon
Event Manager
Tori supports Grassroot Soccerâs development team by managing a wide variety of successful and engaging events. Tori graduated from Texas Christian ...Read more
Olivia Swindler
Digital Communications Senior Coordinator
Olivia Swindler is Grassroot Soccerâs Digital Communications Senior Coordinator. Before joining Grassroot Soccer in 2023, she lived in Grenoble, Fra...Read more
Sara Sykes
Vice President, Development
Sara Sykes leads development at Grassroot Soccer, raising unrestricted funding through individual and major gifts, events, and corporate and foundatio...Read more
Angela Tucker
Global Assistant Controller
Angela Tucker is responsible for preparing financial statements to summarize and forecast Grassroot Soccer's financial status. She also assists with t...Read more
Donny Vumbi
Global Information System Manager
Donny manages the Global Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) information systems (i.e Salesforce, SKILLZ Scoreboard, and SKILLZ App) for Grassr...Read more
Marilyn Wanner
Executive Assistant
Marilyn is the Grassroot Soccer Executive Assistant and provides high-level administrative and logistical support for the Founder and CEO, as well as ...Read more