Literacy Bridge
Below is a list of our volunteer staff, who make this work possible.
Executive Team
-
Cliff Schmidt
Cliff Schmidt started Literacy Bridge after spending six weeks in rural Ghana to research ideas for the Talking Book project with local nonprofits, universities, and government agencies. Aside from his service as a grassroots lobbyist for organizations working to end global poverty (such as CARE and RESULTS), most of his prior experience comes from business, nonprofit governance, and engineering.
Cliff ran a successful open source software consulting business for clients throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North America, specializing in intellectual property issues, nonprofit governance, privacy policies, and community development. He also served many nonprofit organizations, such as The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the Eclipse Foundation, the OpenSEA Alliance, and the Free Software Foundation, including service on the board of directors and as the Vice President of Legal Affairs for the ASF. In the 12 years prior to his consulting work, Cliff worked as an industry standards representative for Microsoft, as the open source programs manager for BEA Systems, and as a nuclear engineer and submarine officer for the US Navy. Cliff received his B.S. in Cognitive Science from MIT and his M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from University of Washington.
-
Arthur Tao
Arthur Tao has more than 20 years of management and development experience in the software industry. In addition to his work at Literacy Bridge, he provides business and product leadership in an early stage startup. Previously, he worked at Microsoft, DEC, and Merck as a senior program manager. He has extensive experience in the management of large and complex software projects, international outsourcing, and working in a multi-national and multi-corporation environment.
Arthur grew up in Hong Kong, came to the US for college, and received his B.S. from Swarthmore College, and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. Arthur holds a patent in the area of high performance and high volume database application processing.
Programs
-
Andrew Azaabanye Bayor
Andrew Bayor has more than five years of community research experience in rural communities in northern Ghana, focusing on socioeconomic issues given locally available resources and community needs. He has regularly addressed the challenges of technology in rural areas as the network/systems administrator at S. Joseph Knowledge Centre in the Upper West Region of Ghana.
Prior to joining Literacy Bridge in early 2008, he served as a volunteer in a number of nonprofit organizations working to eradicate poverty and promote human rights serving in various capacities at community levels. Andrew received his B.S. in Computer Science from the University for Development Studies (UDS), Ghana, and is currently pursuing a post-graduate diploma in network engineering at the National Institute for Informational Technology (NIIT) Kumasi, Ghana.
-
Trina Gorman
Trina Gorman comes from Microsoft’s Windows Server division where she spent six years writing documentation and designing user interfaces for information technology administrators. Each year, she also led a variety of initiatives for the Microsoft Giving Campaign. In addition to her past career, Trina has over 15 years of experience working with a variety of social issues—concentrated mostly with at-risk youth and the homeless community.
Trina has a B.S. in Technical Communication and a Masters in Public Administration (with an emphasis in International Development), both from the University of Washington.
Engineering
-
Roger Massey
Roger retired after a 33 year career as a member of the technical staff at Lucent and Avaya labs working on software/firmware for the Audix voice mail system and its clients. Roughly half his time was spent on MS Windows development and half on Unix/Linux. His experience includes development of firmware, device drivers, dlls and shared libraries, as well as native windows and Unix applications.
Roger holds a BS from Washburn University in Topeka Kansas and has done graduate work at the University Of Kansas. When he is not mystified by the behavior of the code he has just written, he builds stained glass projects at home in the foothills west of Denver.
-
Michael Busch
Michael Busch is a software engineer at Twitter, where he builds the next generation of real-time search. Before Twitter, Michael worked as software engineer and architect at IBM on Enterprise Search and eDiscovery applications. He is also an active Open Source developer and participates in the Apache Lucene project as a committer and PMC member. He regularly presents at ApacheCon conferences, where he met Cliff for the first time in 2008 and became a fan of Literacy Bridge.
Now Michael helps develop and mentor various Literacy Bridge software projects, such as the Audio Content Manager. He currently lives in Mountain View, California and works at Twitter in San Francisco (and on the Caltrain).
-
Sven Schade
Sven Schade is a software engineer at Vector Informatik in Stuttgart, Germany. Before he joined Vector he worked as an intern at IBM Germany together with Michael Busch, who introduced him to Literacy Bridge.
At Vector Sven develops user interfaces for software used in the automotive industry. He primarily writes C++/MFC/.net code, but is also experienced with Adobe Flex/Air and Java. At Literacy Bridge, Sven helps developing the different software projects, such as the authoring application, the audio converter and the audio management system.
-
Mathias Köhnke
Mathias Köhnke is a software engineer at Sun Microsystems. He is part of a team, which develops Sun’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution. Among other things, his main responsibilities are the persistence/database part and some core functionalities. He primarily works with programming languages like JAVA and SQL.
Mathias got introduced to Literacy Bridge by Michael Busch, whom he first met during his internship at the IBM Silicon Valley Lab in San Jose, CA. He shortly became a fan of this project and helps develop various software projects such as the audio converter and the Audio Content Manager. He currently lives in Hamburg, Germany.
-
Tanya Breshears
Public Relations
-
Forrest Carman
Forrest Carman is a media and analyst relations professional at Owen Media, a technology-focused public relations agency in Seattle, WA. He has been responsible for day-to-day client interactions on several accounts, including The Green Grid, the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) and Asset Management International. In the past, Forrest has worked with a variety of high-tech consortia and alliances, with members ranging from AMD to Microsoft to VMware.
Forrest graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in Cultural Anthropology and a teaching certificate (grades K-8). Forrest is the primary press contact for Literacy Bridge.
-
Raymond Yeldidong Bayor
Raymond Yeldidong Bayor is Literacy Bridge’s primary media contact for Ghana and the liaison for Accra area. He has had considerable experience working in one of the most sensitive departments of Ghana’s National Security Council. Raymond’s desk at that office saw him deal with high-ranking officials across the political divide.
Raymond is currently studying for a degree in Public Relations at the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
Business Development
-
Shayne Gary
Dr. Shayne Gary is a Visiting Professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Senior Lecturer of Strategy & Entrepreneurship at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) in Sydney. He is also Associate Director of the Accelerated Learning Laboratory, and in 2007 was a visiting faculty member at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Shayne’s research focuses on improving strategic decisions under complexity and uncertainty. He teaches Strategic Management, Systems Thinking, and System Dynamics across MBA, Executive MBA, and executive programs. Shayne received his Ph.D. at London Business School and his BSc degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Product Development
-
M.G. Leong
Grace Leong works in the design of built structures at all scales. Grace is especially interested in urban and community design, material use, and pre-fabrication. Prior to returning to architecture for her professional degree, she spent eight years working in health education and outreach for the National Cancer Institute. Grace received her B.S. from MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning and her M.Arch. from the University of Washington. She works for the Miller|Hull Partnership, an architecture and planning firm in Seattle.
-
Fernando Botelho
Fernando Botelho is an international consultant who manages projects in the areas of trade development, poverty reduction, technology, and disability. Fernando’s experience includes managing the Visionaris Award, a partnership between Ashoka and UBS AG, in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Before coming to UBS Philanthropy Services in Zurich, Fernando worked for the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO, an agency of the United Nations in Geneva. At ITC, Fernando led the development of the first methodology for the integration of professionals with disabilities in the services export sector. Before joining ITC, Fernando was Director of Technology at a New York NGO where he led the development of a groundbreaking online community for the professional advancement of people with disabilities. Fernando has published and has been interviewed on trade, open source software, public policy, and disability topics. He has degrees from Georgetown University and Cornell University.
-
Nicole Starnes Taylor
Nicole’s professional architectural experience and work as a green building consultant support Literacy Bridge’s sustainable initiatives. Nicole has been active as a researcher on green building strategies and vernacular building methods presenting lectures at conferences and universities. After graduate school, she worked in construction to develop her skills as a carpenter through the lens of an architect. Her field experience has proven an invaluable tool in merging innovative sustainable strategies and complex architectural detailing with the realities of construction. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture and a Minor in Art History from North Carolina State University and a Master of Architecture from the University of Washington.