charity: water

scott harrison.
founder, ceo.

In 2004, Scott served as a photojournalist for Mercy Ships in Liberia, West Africa, where he learned the life-threatening effects of contaminated water. Upon moving back to his home in New York City in 2006, he founded charity: water. See more of Scott's story here »
twitter: @scottharrison

nat paynter.
director of water programs.

Nat joins us from the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program. His work there sent him to Tanzania for three years, where he learned up-close the challenges of rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene. After overseeing a global handwashing program, he stepped into charity: water to lead our Water Programs and help us scale our impact around the world.

michael letta.
chief financial officer.

Michael has more than 10 years of experience in non-profit, private industry and public accounting. His drive for meaningful work led him straight to charity: water, where he now manages and supports our innovative accounting and operations staff.
twitter: @mletta7

viktoria harrison.
creative director.

Vik attended the School of Visual Arts and began her career at Fad, an NYC design house. For two years she worked on ad campaigns for Honda, Coke, AmEx and many other brands. She left the for-profit world in 2007 to come on full time as charity: water brand manager and designer.
twitter: @vikharrison

paull young.
director of digital engagement.

Paull grew up on a drought-stricken family farm in Australia. He moved to NYC in 2007 to lead accounts for a social media agency and earned multiple awards for work with Fortune 500 brands. For charity: water, he launched a birthday campaign, helped pull off Twestival and now leads the team's online presence.
twitter: @paullyoung

lauren miller.
executive producer.

Lauren spent five years managing events and communications for fashion, entertainment and lifestyle brands such as Warner Bros., Saks and Swarovski before stepping in to produce our charity: ball 2010. She hails from Ohio, but is right in her element in NYC, leading major campaigns for charity: water.
twitter: @laurenemiller3

brian honohan.
director of technology.

Brian used to lead a web development team for publishing, entertainment and traditional product-based clients. Now, his sights are set on crafting technology that accelerates a completely different purpose -- charity: water's impact on the water crisis.

matt tucker.
senior software developer.

Matt comes to charity: water from the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts and six years in the smart grid industry. He's tall, he dislikes cheese (except on pizza) and he believes that technology can be a powerful force for positive change. He's creating and pushing code to help us change the water crisis.

jasdeep gosal.
developer.

A New England native, Jasdeep spent the last seven years honing his software development skills in the for-profit world before joining our tech team. Beyond coding for a meaningful cause, he also likes bikes, knitting, fashion, cats and Chihuahuas.

christina lutters.
front-end developer.

Christina worked in West Africa, China and in the Middle East before returning to her home state of New York in 2010. After a brief spell in the city's for-profit world, she's happy to be back in non-profit, fighting the water crisis one line of code at a time.

jonna davis.
water programs officer, West Africa, LAC, Asia.

From Economics at NYU to a Master's degree in Global Ethics at King's College London to research in Pakistan, Jonna has spent the bulk of her work on human rights. After wrapping up UN advocacy work on Sudan and the D.R.C., she swiftly stepped in to help manage our growing international water program.
twitter: @jonna_davis

mohini patel.
water programs admin.

Mohini studied Psychology and Public Health at NYU and traveled to rural Honduras to construct clean water projects. She spends her days happily engulfed in data and providing administrative support for the Water Programs team. When she's not at charity: water, she's reading for her Book Club and pining for the perfect bicycle.
twitter: @mohinipatel

christy scazzero.
water program development leader.

With degrees in Psychology and HR, Christy worked for three years as a counselor for mentally disabled adults in Queens. A born-and-raised New Yorker, she joined us in 2009 and felt right at home in our fast-paced office. Now, she zips around the world, supervising our ever-expanding water programs in Asia, Latin America and Haiti.
twitter: @christyscazzero

wanja laiboni.
water programs officer, east africa.

Wanja brings many years of international experience in Haiti, Sudan, Kenya and Tunisia, and she's fluent in English, Kiswahili, French and Spanish. Between overseeing our East Africa water programs from Nairobi, perfecting her Masai jump and trying to convince the world that not all Kenyans can run, Wanja will be hard-pressed to encounter a dull moment.

jaclyn lindsey.
key relationships leader.

Jaclyn has been involved in the non-profit sector for more than seven years. Before coming to charity: water, she was a fundraiser for Florida Hospital. Just when she was ready to channel her skills towards an international cause, she got the opportunity to move to New York. She's now pursuing her dream of raising awareness for clean water by leading our fundraising team.

emily matos.
development officer.

After tackling field research in Africa and helping at-risk kids in Latin America, Emily knew charity: water was the place for her. She recently finished her Master's in Global Affairs from NYU. Now, when she's not planning her next adventure abroad, Emily assists charity: water full-time in all aspects of development.
twitter: @emilyamatos

sarah cohen.
partnership manager.

Sarah dove into the luxury and fashion industries straight out of NYU, until her love for travel took over. She spent the next year and a half in 13 different countries — "serious wanderlust," she calls it. We're relieved she's back in NYC to execute communications strategy and manage all the day-to-day logistics involved with brand engagement.

melissa burmester.
project manager.

Melissa hails from California where she honed her project management skills working to bring water and energy-saving technologies to Napa Valley wineries. With an International Affairs degree and countless hours of non-profit volunteer work under her belt, she's settled in NYC to manage projects at the charity: water office.
twitter: @MelissaBurm

robin jones.
water program compliance leader.

After a one year assignment on a hospital ship in West Africa, Robin came on as one of charity: water's initial staff members to help build our finance department from the ground up. With over five years of development sector experience, she now partners with our Water Programs team to ensure the financial accountability of our partners and projects in the field.
twitter: @robinisajones

josh irving.
senior accountant.

Originally from Rochester, NY, Josh joined charity: water with nearly ten years of accounting experience. He earned degrees in music performance at Berklee College in Boston, then accounting at NYU. After years of working in the for-profit world, Josh is now helping us tackle the water crisis by keeping the books for charity: water.

andi rae healy.
staff accountant.

Before joining charity: water Andi Rae was trying to save the world through music. At night, you can still find her belting out some country tunes around the city... but during the day, she's now putting her accounting degree and soon-to-be-CPA license to work as she crunches numbers for charity: water.

jan way chen.
accounting clerk.

Jan is a life-long Brooklynite. After graduating from Baruch College with a degree in Public Accounting, he jumped into charity: water to help us process our offline donations. He's inspired by the endless financial support that streams onto his desk from people from all over the world joining our cause to end the water crisis.

greg yagoda.
designer.

Water has always been a big part of Greg's life; first, he mastered scuba diving. Then, he took the plunge into charity: water. He recently finished his Master's in Communications Design at Pratt, and now helps charity: water kick out ground-breaking design both online and in print.
twitter: @questfor101

denny mcfadden.
web designer.

A proud Baltimore native, Denny moved to NYC in 2011. Before charity: water, he worked on interactive design for various start-ups and major media companies including Disney and Discovery Channel. When he's not dreaming up new web experiences for charity: water, you can find him cooking, biking or playing ice hockey.
twitter: @dennymcfadden

merry mccarron.
online reporting officer.

Merry finished her degree in International Development at NYU while helping manage media requests and coordinate charity: water volunteers. She's now managing our community of fundraisers on mycharitywater.org. Want to know more about the projects your mycharity: water campaign helped fund? She's your go-to.

chris barton.
general counsel.

Chris started his legal career at a Wall Street firm and has since worked on legal projects in more than 40 nations, including many of the countries where charity: water works. Now, he's helping us translate the fine print and cut through the red tape, guiding us to reach our goals more quickly, smoothly and elegantly. His clear and practical legal work fits right in with our approach.

michael somoya.
special projects manager.

Michael graduated from Vassar, then lived off the grid in upstate NY for a decade as a carpenter and all-around skilled trades master. He came to NYC in 2001 for a different scene and he got it -- working on everything from event promotion to live music production to nightclub management. He joined charity: water in early 2010; he now oversees our office logistics and IT systems.

lindsay ratowsky.
executive assistant to Scott Harrison.

A born and raised California girl, Lindsay left her surfboard behind and moved to the big city to work with the charity: water team and keep Scott on top of his game. She studied Globalization and Communications at the University of California Santa Barbara, and spent the past six years hobnobbing in the entertainment industry.
twitter: @lratow

stephanie goetz.
receptionist.

Straight out of Kentucky, Stephanie joined the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa, to work on community-based health projects. After summers dedicated to public health-related projects in Thailand and Nigeria, she finished grad school at Columbia and came on to be the front-desk guru at charity: water. If you call or walk in our doors, you'll be happy she's the first person to greet you.