Guest Speakers
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SPEAKERS WHO ARE KEY TO MAKING THE 2020 CONFERENCE A SUCCESS.
Please read further details about each speaker via their profile below.
Prof. Chacha N. Chacha
Professor Chacha Nyaigotti-Chacha (born 1952 in Kuria District, Nyanza Province, Kenya) is a Kenyan playwright and consummate educationalist. He has served as an executive secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa (2000–2010), and was the first CEO of the Kenyan Higher Education Loans Board (1995–2000). He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Kenyan Commission for University Education (CUE).
He was educated at Kenyatta College, receiving a BEd (Swahili Language), and later studied at Yale University, gaining an MA in Anthropological Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Swahili Language Linguistics. He has been a Tutorial Fellow and Lecturer in Swahili Language and Linguistics at Kenyatta University and later Egerton University in Kenya. He was a Research Professor at the Institute of Regional Integration and Development of the Catholic University of East Africa
Carolyn Musyimi
Carolyn Musyimi-Kamau is currently a Program Manager at the Organization for refugee and immigrant success an organization that serves refugees from different parts of the world living in Concord and Manchester, New Hampshire. Among other things the organization works to ensure that immigrant youth and their families prosper through building strong relationships with the host community, schools, colleges, workplace and to also ensures that immigrants have the skills they need to thrive in their new home.
Carolyn originally from Kenya moved to Boston to further her studies at Brandeis University where she earned a master’s degree in Sustainable International Development. Upon completion, she joined the Consortium for Law and Development at the Boston University School of Law where she worked on a project on how Kenya can locally produce pharmaceuticals. She joined the Kenya UN Mission in New York, serving on the Economic and Financial Committee of the United Nations that worked on the post 2015 development agenda, a process led by the UN whose aim was to help define the future global development framework that succeeded the Millennium Development Goals.
After her bachelors in Kenya Carolyn worked with World Vision International, in Makueni, Kenya, overseeing projects, microfinance groups and volunteers. She gained additional experience, working with youth with HIV, their families and churches to mitigate spread of the disease in Nairobi through the Baptist Aids Response Agency.
Carolyn has also founded among other organizations the Upendo Women Alliance which brings together Kenyan Women living in the USA together for investment purposes and educational tours. The group recently visited Israel. The ladies have continued to invest towards their retirement and future education trips. Carolyn has also founded Mbaitu inc. a group that brings together the diaspora community from South Eastern Kenya living in the USA and Canada for networking, sharing of expertise, promoting talents among members, supporting each other and also building a bridge between the members and the counties for giving back, sharing expertise and resources. Mbaitu currently has 344 members.
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Prof Edward Borodzicz
Prof. Edward Borodzicz
Former Dean Research and Enterprise/ Risk and Crisis Management
Tamon Bah Ndasi
Tamon is the Founder and Application Engineering Manager at TBS Gruppe, an Engineering Design
company based in Houston Texas. Tamon is a graduate of the Technical University of Munich, and the
University of Stuttgart, Germany where he received an MSC in Sustainable Resources Management &
Process Engineering, respectively. Tamon is also a Project Management Professional (PMP).
After graduation, Tamon launched a career in Engineering with specialization in the Environmental,
Renewable, and Energy sectors. This let to him designing and installing several high-level technical projects
in Germany, Portugal. Scotland, Canada, and the USA. Tamon has corporate and technical experience in Europe and North America.
Tamon has verifiable experience in taking technologies from the lab to the market, and from concept to
realization. Below are some of his selected accomplishments,
1. Designed, constructed, and commissioned multiple Waste-to-Energy Plants ranging from 6 to 99
Million Euros in Germany, Scotland, and Portugal – turning organic waste into energy (Biomethane &
electricity), and compost.
2. Designed, manufactured, and commissioned multiple Biogas purification systems for Siloxane and
H2S removal for clients in Canada and the US. All for projects (ranging from $300K to 2 million dollars)
3. Designed and executed 5 water and soil remediation projects in Ontario meeting both the client’s and
the Ministry of the Environment’s requirements
4. Project Management
Successfully led high-value projects (of up to $130M) in Europe and North America meeting both the
client’s expectations and exceeding company expectations.
Tamon is fluent in 6 languages including English, French & German.
Laban Opande
Laban Opande is a Kenyan-American lawyer with over 23 years of leadership, management and executive experience in a unique and vast array of fields including law, business, technology, science, agriculture and the environment.
Mr. Opande attended his primary and secondary schooling in Nairobi before his admission to college in Texas where he moved to in 1996. He earned his Associates degree in Applied Science from Houston Community College System in the year 1999, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Texas Southern University (TSU) in the year 2001. In the year 2003, he enrolled for a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) program with a concentration in Global Management at the University of Phoenix before earning admission to the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at TSU in the year 2004. He graduated from law school in the year 2007, and was certified to practice law in Texas by The Supreme Court of Texas in February of 2008. He is also licensed to practice Federal Law in the United States Federal Courts by the United States District Court, Southern District and Northern District of Texas.
Mr. Opande is currently the Principal Attorney at The Opande Law Firm (www.opandelaw.com). With a team of formidable associate attorneys, paralegals, and legal assistants, he has represented thousands of clients, and continues to, in matters of law.
Prof. Mutuku J. Mutinga
Professor Mutuku Mutinga
Vice Chancellor Eden University
Vice President Academic Affairs Adventist University of Africa 2004- 2007
Vice Chancellor Rusangu University 2016
Administration- Research Gate 1989-1990
Vice Chancellor University of Eastern Africa
Medical Entomologist. Ministry of health 1968- 1973
Senior lecturer university if Nairobi 1973-1979
Principal Research scientist ICIPE 1986-1987
Professor Zoology Jomo Kenyatta University 1995
Dr. James J. Cochran
James J. Cochran Is the Rogers-Spivey Fellow and Associate Dean for Research with the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Business. He has been a Visiting Scholar with Stanford University, the University of South Africa, the Universidad de Talca, Pôle Universitaire Léonard De Vinci, the University of Limpopo, and the University of Namibia. He holds honorary faculty appointments with the University of KwaZulu Natal and the University of Limpopo.
Dr. Cochran’s research focuses on problems at the interface of statistics and operations research, and he has taught a wide range of statistics and operations courses from the introductory undergraduate level through PhD seminars. He has published fourteen book chapters and over fifty research articles, and he is coauthor of seven textbooks in statistics, operations research, and analytics. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Wiley Encyclopedia of Operations Research and the Management Sciences, Wiley Series in Operations Research and Management Science, Oxford Anthology of Statistics in Sports series, and INFORMS Analytics Body of Knowledge. He has served as a consultant to a wide variety of corporations, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations around the world.
Dr. Cochran established an international teaching effectiveness colloquium series and organized these events in Uruguay, South Africa, Colombia, India, Tanzania, Argentina, Kenya, Nepal, Cameroon, Croatia, Cuba (twice), Estonia, Fiji, Mongolia, Moldova, Bulgaria, Tunisia, and Grenada. He was a founding co-chair of Statistics without Borders and a founding committee member for INFORMS Pro Bono Analytics initiative. He has delivered keynotes to conferences in twenty-five nations.
Dr. Cochran has received the INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of OR/MS Practice, Mu Sigma Rho Statistical Education Award, Waller Distinguished Teaching Career Award, and Karl E. Peace Award for outstanding statistical contributions for the betterment of society. He is a Fellow of both the American Statistical Association and INFORMS, and he has received both the American Statistical Association’s Founders Award and the INFORMS President’s Award.