Board President
Helen holds a B.A. in art history and a law degree from NYU and has specialized in civil and human rights law. After assisting in the founding of Prisoners Legal Services of New York, she practiced constitutional appeals for several more years. She then worked at the Center for Human Rights at Columbia University on refugee and migration issues and on children in armed conflict. She is now a photographer based in New York City and has published and exhibited in various venues.
Founder & Executive Director
Conor lived and worked in Haiti from 1996 to 2008. Under his leadership, HELP has grown from a single student to the largest university scholarship program in Haiti. In addition to growing HELP, Conor was a volunteer teacher, Deputy Director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Haiti, and Director of Haiti Programs for the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Conor has a B.A. in History from Brown University and was named one of the Hemisphere’s Innovators by <em>Americas Quarterly</em> Magazine in 2008.
Board Member
Haitian-born Roger is the co-chair of the French and Francophone Studies Program at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of several books and articles, including From Cannibals to Radicals: Figures and Limits of Exoticism and Universalism in Crisis: France from 1851 to the Present, and the co-founder and editor of the quarterly contemporary French journal, SITES. Roger left Haiti in 1964, earning his M.A. from the Sorbonne and his Ph.D. from City University of New York.
Board Member
Born in Haiti, Yves teaches journalism at the University of Miami. An 18-year veteran of The Miami Herald, Yves is an award-winning reporter who has written extensively about Haitian immigration, politics, and refugees. Most recently, he directed a successful civic education program to empower Haiti’s community radio owners, operators, and journalists.
Haiti Country Director
Garry has been educating Haitians for over 20 years. Since graduating from teacher’s college in 1990, Garry has taught at public schools in rural Haiti, directed a Haitian-American magnet school, co-founded a high school, and consulted with Haiti’s Ministry of Education. He joined HELP as Country Director in 2006. Garry has represented HELP at the White House Conference on the Americas and testified before the Haitian Parliament’s joint committee on education. Garry also represents HELP in the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), an international association of French-speaking universities.
Board Member
Bernard is a Haitian business leader who pioneered the introduction of wireless telecommunication services to Haiti through the launch of Communication Cellulaire d’Haiti (ComCEL) in 1999, which became Voila in 2005. Bernard led its management team until the sale of the company to Digicel in 2012. Past President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti (AmCham-Haiti), he is also the President of the Trilogy International Foundation. He has a Master’s in Public Administration from Florida International University.
Board Secretary
Danielle is the Director of Development at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. She previously served as the Chief Development Officer at Washington, DC’s Arena Stage, beginning in 2011. Prior to that, she spent three years with the American Association of Museums (AAM) in Washington, DC, most recently as the Vice President for Institutional Advancement. Before AAM, she served as the Associate Director of Development at Washington, DC’s (LORT B) Shakespeare Theatre Company from 2000-2008. She has focused her career on forging partnerships and is keenly interested in building relationships and matching appropriate philanthropic causes to interested patrons. Danielle holds a B.A. in Humanities/Art History focus with a Studio Art minor from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.
Haiti Deputy Country Director
Amber has 12 years of non-profit management experience, many of which have been spent supporting education programs in Haiti. She began her experience in Haiti as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 2000 and has since held senior management roles for Outreach to Haiti (formerly Haitian Ministries) and Save the Children, facilitating strategic planning processes as well as managing large-scale programs and operations. Amber has B.A. in political science from McGill University and an M.B.A. from Yale University.
