ABOUT US
EXECUTIVE STAFF

Suliman A Giddo President
Susan Burgess-Lent Program Director	Suliman Rabih Assistant Director of Programs
Karri DeSelm Darfur Schools Project Coordinator	Dr. Abdalla I. Adam Director for Relief & Development
Omer Ismail Vice President / Advocacy	Adil Hassan Asst. Director for Administration and Finance
Stephen M. Harrigan Solar Cooker Project Manager

 

	Suliman A Giddo, President / CEO - giddo@darfurpeace.org Suliman Giddo, Co-Founder and President of Darfur Peace & Development, is a graduate of Khartoum University and received Masters degrees from Strayer University, in Business Administration and Fordham University in Humanitarian Assistance. His post-graduate studies included Human Resources at Maduri University, India, and Professional Management Institute at New Jersey, UK. He also earned certificates from the Institute of Virginia and a Certificate in Disaster Studies at the University of Wisconsin. He worked 12 years for the United Arab Emirates Government and six years at the American Red Cross.
	Susan Burgess-Lent, Program Director susan@darfurpeace.org Program Director Susan has worked with DPDO since 2004 and is currently functioning as the Program Director. She previously worked as a project manager for the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation and InterAction, as a proposal consultant for CEDPA, and as budget and administrative coordinator with American Red Cross International Services. Susan is also a writer and worked for many years as a television journalist.
	Karri DeSelm, Darfur Schools Project Coordinator karri@darfurpeace.org Karri DeSelm, the Darfur Schools Project Coordinator for DPDO, has earned a BA in both photography and religion from Carson-Newman College in Knoxville, Tennessee. During her undergraduate work, she spent a semester studying with the School for International Training in Durban, South Africa. There she had the opportunity to intern with the Network on Violence Against Women, surveying rape and crisis units within police stations across KwaZulu Natal. She also acts as head tutor in the volunteer program Global English Connection. She plans to pursue her MBA at Eastern University in the fall of 2007, enrolling in the program for International Economic Development.
	Omer Ismail, Vice President / Advocacy omer@darfurpeace.org Omer Ismail, Vice President of DPDO and key player in Darfur Advocacy, is a graduate of Khartoum University where he worked as a research assistant to Dr. Mansour Khalid, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Sudan. In 1988 he became the Operations Manager for the United Nations Operation Life Line Sudan. He fled Sudan after the current regime took power and since then has lived as a refugee in the U.S. He returned to the United Nations to serve in Somalia form 1992 to 1994.
	Suliman Rabih, Assistant Director of Programs suliman@darfurpeace.org
	Dr. Abdalla I. Adam, Director for Relief & Development abdallah@darfurpeace.org
	Adil Hassan, Asst. Director for Administration and Finance adil@darfurpeace.org
	Stephen M. Harrigan, Solar Cooker Project Manager stephen@darfurpeace.org Stephen Harrigan considers his home a small village in Sierra Leone. Raised by missionary parents, he spent most of his early life in the interior of this West African country. After completing his graduate training in the United States, Steve and his wife returned to Sierra Leone in 1987 with World Partners. They spent the next eight years raising four children, running a medical clinic and developing literature for the local people. Civil war inevitably found its way to their village. Steve and his family evacuated to Burkina Faso and finally to Guinea, living in a village a few miles from the war zone of Sierra Leone. Fleeing refugees with desperate needs -- as well as fear of rebel infiltration – became a daily reality.  When peace came in 2001, Stephen was reassigned to Fort Wayne IN.  He works on the resettlement issues of many refugees in the United States. His knowledge of multiple languages and African culture has uniquely equipped him to blend the two worlds of Africa and America. Through collaboration with DPDO, Stephen developed the solar cooker project for Darfur.  Involving Americans with Africa is one of Steve’s passions and his vision is to mobilize the next generation to act for a better world.