Meet the newest members of the GC4W University Leadership Board at the Global Connections for Women Foundation (GC4W). GC4W continues in our efforts and mission to creating leadership and entrepreneurship programs for women and girls worldwide – to help expand their business acumen and business leadership. We are also committed to promoting sustainable business practices that will propel and enable more successful female business ventures.
“In designing a truly transformative learning programs to meet the needs of women and girls in today’s world. We have enlisted the support and leadership of these amazingly talented and successful women, to play a critical role in growing the GC4W University and educational programs ~ Board of Directors, Global Connections for Women Foundation.
GC4W UNIVERSITY BOARD MEMBERS
Dr. Towanna Burrous, President, CoachDiversity Institute is a best-selling author, trainer, and ICF professional certified coach (PCC) based in Washington, DC. As a much sought after executive coach, Towanna’s mission is to empower diverse communities through executive coaching. Her role is to test, re-test and ultimately drive the organization’s overarching vision, strategy, and tactical direction. The CoachDiversity team delivers training and curriculum for to-be coaches and customized diversity and leadership programs for corporate and individual clients.
Towanna has spent the past 28 years in both the federal government and the private sector that has led to her serving a broad range of business executives, sales, and IT (information technology) professionals. She delivers custom keynotes and coaching and training programs designed to assist organizations in their efforts to equip their leaders and key contributors with the skills and competencies needed to excel in today’s challenging business environment. She uses her expertise helping businesses shape corporate strategies that produce positive bottom-line benefits.
Towanna is a trusted partner and problem solver for many clients tackling morale, employee retention, employee engagement, training and development in the post-recession world. As the founder of the Black Life Coaches Network, she has helped over 600 life coaches, counselors and therapists from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and South Africa. Towanna is currently in the process of earning a Doctorate of Education from the University of Pennsylvania. She has a Master of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, a Doctorate of Divinity from Elbon-Solutions College of Ministry and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Howard University.
Maria Kuts is the Partners Program at the International School of Management. The International School of Management (ISM) is a specialized, accredited business school based in Paris, France, with programs on five different continents. ISM gives students the global perspective they need to thrive as modern business leaders. We do this by keeping our classes small, select and culturally diverse, and by offering programs in major commercial hubs around the world.
Lilian Ajayi-Ore is the Founder and CEO of the Global Connections for Women Foundation (GC4W), an award-winning not-for-profit organization headquartered in New York City, with a reach of 3.5 million people worldwide. Lilian is also an award-winning Digital Marketing Executive and Data Scientist with over 16 years of relevant industry experience. She was ranked Top 25 Marketing Professionals in Academia on LinkedIn. Lilian has been a University Faculty at New York University SPS teaching Digital Marketing and Data Analytics for over 5 years and she is a recipient of the 2019 NYU SPS Dean’s Innovations in Teaching and Learning Grant.
Lilian is a Doctoral Candidate/Researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, and holds a Master’s in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, GSE. Lastly, Lilian is an award-winning Humanitarian, Leadership Ambassador, an International Speaker, and a media writer who has written for The Huffington Post and Diplomatic Courier.
Christine Nasserghodsi is the co-founder of Mirai Partners, a learning innovations consultancy, and a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania in organizational learning with a focus on leadership for innovation.
Christine has worked with international companies, schools, and government agencies in the United States, Europe, India, Africa, and the United Arab Emirates to develop high-impact leadership, learning, and organizational transformation programs.
In her previous roles as the Vice President for the TELLAL Institute (GEMS Education) and Head of Innovation Strategy for the Innovation, Research, and Development Department at GEMS Education, Christine was responsible for leading professional learning and development, educational research, and strategic partnerships for schools and corporate entities across the MENASA region. In this capacity, Christine developed Creating Communities of Innovation, a project run with Harvard University’s Project Zero focused on transforming schools through pedagogical, technological, and leadership innovation.
Christine served as the TELLAL Chair for the Learning Innovations Laboratory at Harvard University, was a Harvard University Project Zero Classroom faculty member, and is a member of the advisory board for the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and GEMS FirstPoint School. She is also the board chair at Wellington International School. Christine writes on innovation, education, technology, and entrepreneurship for Forbes and the Huffington Post.
Anne Trumbore is the Senior Director of Wharton Online, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Anne Trumbore leads Wharton Online. She helps senior leadership of Wharton develop the strategic direction for Wharton’s online efforts, directs design and development of online courses, analyzes data to understand learner needs, and initiates and supports research projects.
Anne has been teaching and designing curricula for online environments for almost 15 years. Beginning at Stanford and then at Coursera and NovoEd, Anne has guided top universities into a wide range of new online initiatives. Her work has resulted in a number of publications on online pedagogy and history, and her doctoral research focuses on learning in MOOCs and the links to career advancement.
