Our Leadership

To make the most of the collective power of our global network, Ipas practices shared leadership—an organizational philosophy that broadly distributes authority and responsibility and moves decisionmaking closer to where our work is done. This enables a more collaborative and democratic way of working and gives more authority and responsibility to staff and leaders who work at the level closest to the people we serve

Our management structure—consisting of a Network Leadership Group, a staff Community Council, our Country and Regional Directors and the Ipas Board of Directors—reflects our aim to carry out our mission with attention to equity, power and accountability in how we do our work.

Network Leadership Group

Staff Community Council

Country Directors

Board Members

Network Leadership Group

The Network Leadership Group (NLG) is the highest-level staff management body for the Ipas Impact Network. Made up of five members—two from Africa, one from Asia, one from Latin America, and one from the United States—the NLG is responsible for setting overall strategy and standards for the network. NLG members serve two-year terms.

Blessing Zvinzanwi Rufetu
Blessing Zvinzanwi Rufetu
Finance Manager, Africa Southern Region
South Africa
Lucky Palmer
Lucky Palmer
Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation
Nigeria
Vinoj Manning
Vinoj Manning
Ipas Development Foundation
India
María Antonieta Alcalde
María Antonieta Alcalde
Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexico
Anna Lynam
Senior Regional Program Manager
United States

Staff Community Council

Our Staff Community Council, made up of 18 staff members, advises the Ipas Impact Network Leadership Group and serves as a “check and balance” to ensure that staff voices are heard and acted upon with respect to network policies and processes. Council members are non-managerial staff who serve three-year terms and are chosen through a network-wide selection process.

Ipas Country and Regional Directors

The directors of our locally led country and regional teams provide leadership, oversight and strategic guidance as they work with Ipas staff and partners to expand access to abortion and contraception in countries around the world. Their diverse skills, experience and local knowledge help drive the work of the Ipas Impact Network.

Dr. Angela Akol
Ipas Africa Alliance
María Antonieta Alcalde
Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean
Dr. Bilguissou Balde
Ipas Francophone Africa Region
Dr. Demeke Desta
Ipas Ethiopia
Vinoj Manning
Ipas Development Foundation
Jorge Matine
Ipas Mozambique
Malena Morales
Ipas Bolivia
Dr. Jean-Claude Mulunda
Ipas Democratic Republic of Congo
Petronella Ntambo Sebele
Ipas Southern Africa Region
Lucky Palmer
Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation
Dr. Sayed Rubayet
Ipas Bangladesh
Ipas Pakistan
Dr. Marcia Soumokil
Ipas Indonesia

Photography by Esther Sweeney for Ipas.

Board Members

Members of the Ipas Board of Directors share our philosophy and believe in our mission. Based in countries around the world—with diverse backgrounds in reproductive health and human rights, health-care, finance and business—they provide mission-based leadership and strategic governance for the Ipas Impact Network.

Ottawa, Canada
Laurel, Maryland, USA
New York, New York, USA
Uttarakhand, India
Virginia, USA
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Centreville, Virginia, USA
Mexico City, Mexico
Sherman Oaks, California, USA
Johannesburg, South Africa
Göteborg, Sweden
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
Kisumu, Kenya
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Financial consolidation based in the United States

Ipas US, led by the President and CEO, is a legal entity registered in the United States, with a governing board—the Ipas Board of Directors— comprised of international members, which has oversight over the Ipas Impact Network. Ipas US is the consolidating financial entity for the Ipas Impact Network. Ipas US serves as the legal entity for signing contracts and agreements on behalf of the Ipas Impact Network and is the legal and administrative location for staff based in the United States.

Ipas US is also the programmatic arm of Ipas’s work in the United States.

Dr. Anu Kumar
President and CEO
Lisa Simutami
Chief Operating Officer
Chief Financial Officer

Why we practice shared leadership

Ipas President and CEO Anu Kumar has written op-eds for a variety of publications on what drove Ipas to transform its organizational structure into a global network with distributed authority and responsibility:

Let’s stop talking about decolonizing global health and development and actually make it happen. Here’s what Ipas is doing  (LinkedIn)

Five years from now, who will be setting the global health agenda? (BMJ Global Health)

Shaping a post-colonial INGO (Medium)

It’s time to face the facts: We have a gender and diversity problem in the nonprofit world (Forbes)

White supremacy in global health (Think Global Health)

To learn more about philanthropic opportunities with Ipas, please contact Jessica Bonanno, individual & major gifts.

About Us

We work with partners around the world to advance reproductive justice by expanding access to abortion and contraception.

Ipas Sustainable Abortion Care

Our Work

The global movement for legal, accessible abortion is growing. Our staff and partners in countries as diverse as Bolivia, Malawi and India are working to ensure all people can access high-quality abortion care.

Where We Work

The global movement for legal, accessible abortion is growing. Our staff and partners in countries as diverse as Bolivia, Malawi and India are working to ensure all people can access high-quality abortion care.

Resources

Our materials are designed to help reproductive health advocates and professionals expand access to high-quality abortion care.

For health professionals

For advocates and decisionmakers

Training
resources

For humanitarian settings

Abortion VCAT resources

For researchers and program implementors