Board of Directors

The TASFA foundation will be run by a five-member Board of Directors. This board will serve as the core team shaping the foundation’s vision, mission, and strategy. The proposed term for the board is five years.  The following individuals have been nominated to serve on the board:

 

Dr. Yacob Astatke, President

Dr. Yacob currently serves as the Assistant Vice President for International Affairs at MSU. Dr. Astatke has been a full-time faculty member in the School of Engineering for over 24 years, where he rose to the position of Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. For over a decade now, Dr. Astatke has facilitated the donation of 250+Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) portable laboratory instrumentation boardsand has conducted capacity-building training workshops for five universities in Ethiopia. This work has improved the education of more than 4,000 ECE students in Ethiopia annually. He has expanded his services to other African countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, and Cameroon. Dr. Astatke is recipient of several awards, including the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) National Outstanding Teaching Award, and more recently the 2016 Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC)-Airbus Diversity Award, andthe 2016 “Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) for College Level Promotion of Education.”

Mr. Samson Teferra, member

Samson currently works for the United States Government agency for the Office of Chief Information Officer (OCIO) as the Director of Information Technology Division with the responsibility of leading people to achieve the OCIO mission which is to deliver enterprise- level application systems and support services. In addition, he serves as a part time Faculty member and project and program management curriculum adviser at Maryland Global University. Samson possess over 20 years of Information Technology management experience, with a strong background in Program Management, Contract Management, Information Technology Implementation and Project Management. As a Senior Program Manager, Samson delivered significant value for customers in Higher Education, Software Development, Telecom Industries, Non-Governmental Organizations, Health Care and Governmental Agencies.

Mrs. Bezakulu Alemu, co-founder and member

Dr. Seble Mengesha, Secretary

Seble Mengesha is an Electrical Engineer with an extensive experience in teaching, research, design and operations in wireless communications. Seble holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin as well as BSEE and MSEE from Addis Ababa University. She holds several industry certifications, including CCNA, CISSP, and PMP. She currently works at Cisco Systems as Technical Solution Architect. Prior to joining Cisco, Seble worked for the District of Columbia, Office of Technology Officer, where she directed the wireless program for architecture, design, implementation and operation of the District’s wireless infrastructure and services. She also architected and implemented integrated SmartCity solutions that leveraged intelligent city infrastructure, including connected devices, sensors, data and location analytics, to improve quality of life for residents, enhance economic growth, and address city challenges. She was also an Adjunct Faculty at Virginia International University and has taught various graduate level courses within the School of Computer Information Systems

Dr. Dereje Tessema, co-founder and member