Core Team
Gregg Swanson, Executive Director, HumaniNet
A former Air Force officer and fighter pilot, Gregg served for 20 years in line and staff positions with Air Force headquarters, NATO forces, and operational units in Asia and Europe. Before founding HumaniNet in 2002, he held executive and management positions in several Silicon Valley technology companies and nonprofit organizations, primarily in operations and international programs. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, he has studied in Germany as an Olmsted Scholar and has graduate degrees in international affairs from the American University and in business from Stanford University. Gregg and his wife Doris live in the Portland area.
Matt Blair, Founder, Elsewise Media and Technology Consultant to HumaniNet Matt is devoted to empowering non-profit organizations and small businesses through technology. Since 1997, he has evaluated and implemented a wide variety of solutions, including custom database programs, tools to enhance organizational data flow and information sharing capacity, and strategies to improve communications between non-profits and their constituents and volunteers. Matt has helped to design and implement the HumaniNet Web Information Service, an online resource that assists humanitarian organizations with technology and communications information. He is now leading efforts to design and deploy our next generation of information and project collaboration services using Plone, an open source content management system. In addition, he is currently implementing a constituent relationship management (CRM) system for HumaniNet based on donated services from SalesForce.com
Peter Dickinson, Director, Information Technology, Mercy Corps
Advisory Group
Daphne Karypis, Management Analyst/Field Data Manager, USAID/Afghanistan
For the past year, I have been working in Afghanistan as a direct USAID contractor through the SUPPORT program with Checchi and Company Consulting. My main responsibility as Management Analyst/Field Data Manager is the development of a management information system that will enhance overall data collection, data coordination, monitoring and reporting functions for the USAID/Afghanistan Mission.
Tim Choi, Mercy Corps Sudan Project
Jenny Wells, Group Leader – Emergency & Humanitarian, Caritas Australia
Mikel Maron, Co-founder, Mapufacture
Mikel is co-founder of Mapufacture, developers of mapufacture.com and consultants on geospatial web technologies. He’s been active in the standardization of GeoRSS and in the OpenStreetMap collaborative mapping project, and numerous open source projects. He’s developed two of the first Wikis in use at the UN. Previously, Mikel worked as senior developer of My Yahoo! and researched evolutionary models of ecosystems for an MSc at the University of Sussex. Keeps a weblog at http://brainoff.com/.
Wayne Rankin, Western Regional Director, U.S. Programs, World Vision
Mike Wenger, Strategic Consultant and Advisor to HumaniNet
Mike retired from industry after over 30 years of varied experience which included senior executive positions at Sun Microsystems (Worldwide Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation for Sun Knowledge Services, Senior Director of eLearning in Sun Educational Services), academe (teaching business strategy, international business, and entrepreneurship at Washington State University, the US Air Force Academy, and Mercer University), and a successful private consulting practice focused on long-term strategy and change for clients in industry, government, and the non-profit sector. He also served over 20 years in the US Air Force in leadership positions as both a pilot and on the faculty of the USAF Academy. Mike took his Doctorate in international business and cross-cultural communication from Oxford University. He currently works with several international humanitarian organizations in a variety of advisory roles. His interests include the use of technology to foster communication, coordination, and learning in and among organizations; innovation and change; and fostering education and business skills for humanitarian development.
Nigel Woof, Operations Director, MapAction
Nigel is the operations director of MapAction (www.mapaction.org), the NGO that specialises in mapping for humanitarian emergencies. He has field mapping and information management experience in sudden-onset disasters including the Indian Ocean tsunami, Kashmir earthquake, Hurricane Dean in 2007, and several flooding emergencies. He is based in Buckinghamshire in the UK.
Robert Patton, Manager, Emergency Management, ADRA New Zealand
Robert currently manages ADRA New Zealand’s emergency management programme in the AsiaPacific region and is technical adviser for emergency management at the ADRA Asia regional office. For the last 15 years he has been involved in risk and emergency management within the health sector and more recently working with humanitarian agencies in the Asia region. Over the last few years he has responded to major disasters in Asia such as the Gujarat earthquake, Indian Ocean tsunami, Yogyakarta earthquake, the Mt. Merapi volcanic eruption and Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh. Robert has recently developed and facilitated two disaster response simulations in Asia that involved multiple key stakeholders. He lived in India for three years, teaching public health at a University in Pune and he worked in Indonesia for two years as the Country Director for ADRA, based in Jakarta. He has a Master of Philosophy and in 2001 was awarded a QSM in recognition of his community service. He is married with two adult children.
