Literacy Bridge
Executive Team
Cliff Schmidt
Cliff Schmidt started Literacy Bridge in 2007 to address global poverty and disease by making practical knowledge accessible to those who need it most. With help from an international team of volunteers and supporters, he created an audio computer called the “Talking Book” for people with minimal or no literacy skills, living in rural areas without electricity or Internet access.
In 2010, Cliff was awarded a full scholarship to the Global Social Benefit Incubator Program at Santa Clara University and received the Microsoft Alumni Foundation Integral Fellow Award by Bill and Melinda Gates. In 2011, he was awarded a membership by President Bill Clinton to the Clinton Global Initiative.
Prior to Literacy Bridge, Cliff was an open source software consultant and served on the board of the Apache Software Foundation. He also represented Microsoft in industry standards bodies and was a nuclear engineer and officer for the US Navy. He received his B.S. in Cognitive Science from MIT and his M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from University of Washington.
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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
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Andrew Azaabanye Bayor
Andrew Bayor has more than six years of community research experience in rural communities in northern Ghana, focusing on socioeconomic issues given locally available resources and community needs. He also has had practical experience addressing the challenges of technology in rural areas as the network/systems administrator 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.
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Ray Suglo
Ray was born and raised in the small village of Ving-Ving, where Literacy Bridge conducted its first Talking Book pilot program. In high school he specialized in Agricultural Science and led student associations sponsored by NGO’s including ActionAid and Rural Aid Action Program (RAAP). After high school he taught in an elementary school in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. He is fluent in Ashanti-Twi, Dagaare, and English. He currently lives in the United States with his wife and their two children. He has an associate’s degree in general studies from Northern Virginia Community College where he is studying to be a registered nurse.
Debbi Winsten
As a consultant in communication for international development, Debbi has worked in 15 countries, including Ghana, to empower marginalized voices with simple training and appropriate technology. In Liberia, she trained trainers and advised local teams for 25 low power FM community radio stations that reach approximately one million people.
She enjoys challenging projects that surmount language and culture barriers to maximize knowledge sharing among diverse populations. Debbi’s expertise includes Behavior Change Communications (BCC) for agriculture, democracy, health, human rights and livelihoods. In addition to her field experience, she earned a Bachelor of Arts at Hampshire College.
Operations
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Heather Stephens
Heather brings to the table 15 years of experience that runs the gamut from physics research to product management at small startups and at large corporations. She has worked for NASA, Los Alamos Lab, Innovative Business Solutions (now Tobin), Westside Corporation, BEA Systems and Borland. She is presently a senior program manager at Microsoft where she project manages Visual Studio.
Heather’s favorite thing to do in her work life is to bring order to chaos and take products from a fabulous idea to a shipping reality. Outside of work, Heather likes to soak up all kinds of knowledge, especially about other people and cultures, and to contribute positively to the world around her. Literacy Bridge is the perfect marriage of those loves and she’s ecstatic to have an opportunity to contribute her skills to help bring this idea to life.
Engineering
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
Communications
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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.
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Racheal O’Keefe-Mack
Racheal O’Keefe-Mack is a new media marketing & communications professional. While running a part time consultancy, she is currently finishing up a B.S. in Communications with a specialization in New Media at Walden University. In the past she has worked for both private and corporate companies in capacities such as: account management, business communications, data analysis, fundraising campaigns, online business development, business branding, and promotional marketing.
In 2009 she discovered Literacy Bridge, and was so personally inspired by the Talking Book program and mission, she was glad to reach out and join the organization’s efforts. Racheal has brought lots of ideas and energy to support our marketing efforts. Earlier this year she set up and promoted Literacy Bridge first online auction through eBay’s Giving Works.
Racheal’s favorite quote is “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” –Winston Churchill
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Raymond Yeldidong Bayor
Raymond Yeldidong Bayor is Literacy Bridge’s primary media contact for Ghana and the liaison for the 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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.