Executive Leadership Team (USA)
Board of Directors
Peter Kithene, CEO & Founder
A Kenyan native, Peter Kithene holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Washington. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Peter chose to focus entirely on creating a sustainable, rural healthcare solution by refining the Mama Maria Clinic model he and his wife had founded in 2005. The end result was an innovative and sustainable approach to healthcare previously unseen in rural Africa. Peter combined his unique background and visionary perspective on how and why rural villages, like the one he was raised in, endure the problems they do, and used that to create a sustainable answer to the problem of healthcare. His solution changed the focus from giving to the needy to providing an opportunity for them to invest in their own future. In so doing, he altered the face of rural African healthcare.
Peter divides his time between Kenya, and his home in Seattle, Washington with his wife, Katrina, and sons, Mathó and Zakayo. In 2007, Peter was chosen one out of more than 7,000 applicants from 93 countries to be CNN’s Global Heroes “Medical Marvel” honoree for his work in developing rural healthcare in Africa. In 2008, he was named as one of University of Washington’s “Wondrous 100″ — one of 100 described as UW’s “extraordinary and influential living graduates.” As he continues to run MMC, Peter is completing his MPH in Global Health at the University of Washington.
Christin Hokenstad – Board Member
Christin Hokenstad is a Project Leader with the Dalberg office in San Francisco, and focuses on advising corporations on global issues, public partnerships, and CSR practices. Most recently, she has been supporting The UN – Business Partnership Working Group at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which includes executives from Shell, Intel, Unilever, Telfonica, UNDP, WHO, UNHCR and others, to optimize public private partnerships with the UN. Additionally, Christin has been researching food security issues, such as agricultural extension and post-graduate education in Africa, global health delivery and financing, as well as funding for small medium and social enterprises. She has broad experience in stakeholder management and private sector contributions to development.
Prior to joining Dalberg, Christin was the manager of Corporate Citizenship for Pfizer Inc, where she recommended internal social responsibility policies for R&D, sales, marketing, manufacturing and corporate governance. In addition, her team published the company’s first Corporate Citizenship Report, which addressed access to medicines in the developing world. Christin was a researcher and project manager in Brazil for Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government multi-country (Brazil, India, Thailand and South Africa) three sector study (banking, mining and auto) on the Corporate Social Responsibility. Before Harvard, she spent five years working with Ernst & Young’s Performance Management Practice and Center for Business Innovation.
Christin holds a Bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and a Master’s from Harvard University’s Divinity School where she studied ethics in business. She is a co-author of Ponga orden a la informacion social de su empresa (Put your business’s social information in order) Harvard Business Review Latin America Winter 2005.
Brian Ratzliff – Board Member
Brian Ratzliff is a long-time marketer and innovator in Email Marketing since the early 90′s, helping to build some of the earliest email platforms. Brian, a co-founder of email service provider, WhatCounts (recently acquired by Mansell Group), was responsible for leading the teams that help drive WhatCounts to deliver innovative and world-class email marketing solutions. For over ten years he has built brands, forged strategic relationships, and driven revenue for internet pioneers, including Netstock Corporation (which became the second fastest growing online brokerage in 2000), and prior to that, Starwave Corporation. He holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, Canada, and a BA from Trinity Western University in Vancouver, Canada. Brian is an active member of the UPC Aids Response for Africa team, and has made numerous trips to Eastern Africa, supporting the cause of rural African healthcare.
Chris Beer – Board Member
Chris is the founding member of Ironmark Law Group, PLLC, a firm providing legal services and counsel to companies, creatives, and lawyers in the fields of intellectual property and corporate law. Chris received a B.A. from Pacific Lutheran University, a J.D. from the University of Washington and M.A.I.S. from the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. Chris also helped to set up and serves on the Board of Directors for Room to Read, a rapidly growing, successful nonprofit that has built 10,000 libraries in developing nations throughout the world.
Michael Kinoti – Board Member
Kinoti grew up in Kenya before moving to the US in 2002 for school. He is a graduate of Florida Institute of Technology with a BS in Software Engineering. Prior relocating to the United States, Kinoti attended Starehe Boys Centre, Kenya’s top boys’ high school at the time, where he met and became friends with Peter Kithene. Michael has been a supporter of Mama Maria since 2006 after moving to Seattle, where he reconnected with his old high school friend, Peter. Currently Michael Kinoti is a Software Engineer at Microsoft working on Bing search. In addition to addressing the critical need of healthcare, Kinoti also feels education is vital to solving many of the problems in developing nations. He is also involved with other groups/organizations to further with this goal.
Harold Nyikal – Board Member
Harold Nyikal was born and raised in Kenya before moving to the United States in 2000 to attend college. He has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Howard University and a MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He is currently a Software Engineer at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington. Having grown up in Kenya, Harold has a firsthand perspective on the devastation and hopelessness that inaccessibility to the basic human rights of food, shelter, education, and healthcare can bring to families. He has been a supporter of Mama Maria Kenya since 2006 when he moved to Seattle and first crossed paths with Peter Kithene. In addition to Mama Maria, Harold is also involved with various charities focused on education and healthcare in third world countries.
Lynn M. Anderson – Board Member
With a BA in Technical Management, Lynn currently works as the Lead Business Analyst at ADP Comprehensive Outsourcing Services, and has experience in both Operations as well as Implementation. A Certified Payroll Professional since 1995, Lynn has served as Payroll Manager for multiple clients in various industries, and has worked with other Payroll processing systems for 11 years. Lynn has been one of MMC’s longest supporters and has served in various volunteer capacities – from financial to technical to helping put on auctions – since MMC’s inception. She truly is committed to helping make MMC succeed.
Amanda Di Tomassi – Secretary
Amanda’s passion for women’s health has led to her work as a clinical research coordinator. She is currently conducting clinical trials in the advancement of the field of women’s healthcare. Amanda has ten years of healthcare and research experience within the field of Gynecology to include Obstetrics and Infertility. In pursuit of higher education, Amanda left her home in Hawaii to attend the University of Washington. There she met Peter while completing her BA in Philosophy, focusing her studies in the bioethical dilemmas confronted in modern medicine. Peter’s inspiration fueled Amanda’s motivation to get involved with Mama Maria, in which she has been an active supporter since 2005. Amanda fell in love with the Emerald City and she and her husband now reside in greater Seattle.
Advisory Board
Jonathan Markland Haynes, MD – Advisory Board
Dr. Haynes received his Medical Degree from Oregon Health Medical School and completed his residency training in Family Medicine through the University of Washington’s Vancouver residency program. After receiving board certification, Dr. Haynes opened a primary care practice in San Diego, where he practiced as a Family Physician and Hospitalist for nine years. At present he runs the One Life clinic in Solana Beach and is in the process of opening several more throughout the San Diego area.
As a young man, Dr. Haynes spent time living among the rural and urban poor of central Brazil and Central America. This time abroad shaped him in a fundamental way, teaching him not only the need for equitable healthcare, but also a deeper sense of our interrelatedness to one another on this planet. Dr. Haynes continues to work one day a week as an Urgent Care physician and offers his support and medical and business background in the provision of medical care for Africa’s rural poor.
Katrina Kithene – Advisory Board
Katrina serves as Email Marketing Manager at Alaska Airlines, and is responsible for creating, deploying, and analyzing more than 25 million individual email each year. Leading the crusade of strategy, technology, and analytics, Katrina leverages her technical and strategic skills not only for her day job at Alaska, but after co-founding Mama Maria with her husband Peter in 2005, for her organization as well, aiding in Mama Maria’s planning, growth, marketing, and development efforts.
