Our Team

Director

Kelly Kobza is the Founding Director of Greater Good International.  As a Social Entrepreneur, she has compassionately dedicated her life to take positive and wise action in her belief that all children are entitled to basic human rights, one of which is to be educated. Kelly founded an education program in the rural town of Anse A Galets on the island of La Gonave in Haiti after traveling to Haiti because of a devastating earthquake.  Kelly believes that, through education children learn to read so that they may read to learn. Because of their participation in her program, children are able to blossom academically, socially, emotionally and also economically. Since 2011, she has been developing a program which supports the education of not just the children in the school, indeed, the entire community of Anse A Galets benefits.  Quoted from Kelly, “As we educate the children, we bring about a confidence and general sense of well-being to the community. Having an education is vital for the movement from poverty to prosperity, with dignity and pride.” 

Kelly has sixteen years experience teaching at both elementary and middle school in her hometown, Palo Alto, California. In addition, she spent five years teaching English as a Second Language in Spain. As an environmental and social justice activist who has worked with organizations such as Bay Area Action (now Acterra), Beyond War, and Amnesty International, Kelly is passionate about leaving the world a better place than when she arrived.  She has traveled in Europe, Asia, and in Central and South America. After growing up in Palo Alto and graduating from Cubberley High School, She earned a Bachelor’s degree from California Institute of Integral Studies and completed credential course work in education at Notre Dame de Namur University. She speaks English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. Currently, Kelly splits her time between Haiti and Palo Alto where her three children and ten grandchildren reside.

Development Director

Andrew Bowring has been working with Greater Good International since 2011 when he first visited the project. He began as a teaching assistant and then worked as a project manager on sustainability initiatives, with further visits in 2017 and 2011, and in 2022 came with a team from Wind Empowerment to run a renewable energy workshop, upgrading our electrical and solar power system, and hosting a workshop on construction and maintenance of a small wind turbine, which is powering the school. Andrew has worked in non-profits throughout his career with a focus on social justice both at a national and international level, ranging from homelessness to trade justice, he works full time at the Fairtrade Foundation and is Executive Coordinator at Wind Empowerment.

Board of Advisors

Robin Bougeja was raised in Palo Alto, CA graduating from Cubberley High School.  She attended California State University at Northridge completing a BA in Liberal Studies, and received her California Teaching Credential from San Jose State University.  Robin lived in France for one year where she learned to speak French fluently. She taught at both the Los Altos School District and the Mountain View School District in California.  Currently she works as a substitute teacher in the Los Altos School District. Robin is an Environmental, Political and Social Activist. She attended the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia as an alternate delegate in July of 2016. Robin traveled to Haiti in September 2016 to visit the Greater Good International school project, PI GWO BYEN.  She was moved and inspired by the project and consequently became a member of the Board . She has since traveled to Haiti multiple times.

Michele Brantley is originally from Southern California where she grew up volunteering in diverse environments with kids, teens, marginalized people, and the homeless. She has done fundraising for many causes and events that she has a passion for. Michele has traveled volunteering in Mexico, China, India, and in inner-city Los Angeles, and inner-city San Francisco. She has a passion for social justice and worked for Bay Area Anti-trafficking coalition which fights bay area human trafficking. She has a Bachelors degree from California State University, East Bay where she majored in Liberal Studies and minored in Human Development.

Friederike Buelow was born and raised in Germany and moved to the Bay Area with her family in 1987. A former language major (University of Tuebingen, Germany), she received her BS in Human Services from Notre Dame De Namur University. For six years she worked as a weekly volunteer at the San Mateo Crisis and Suicide Prevention Hotline, and for eight years with the Ecumenical Hunger Program of East Palo Alto, where she was also a board member. Currently, she is a board member at GGH, as well as at GLGBS (German Ladies’ General Benevolent Society), a nearly 150-year-old SF nonprofit supporting women and children of German descent in need. Over the last 7 years, she has been involved in refugee rescue and resettlement efforts. She has been a Palo Alto resident for 34 Years.

Lisa Craig is a Bay Area native who has lived on the S.F. Peninsula over 30 years. Currently, she splits her time between Palo Alto and Brisbane, Australia. Her college degrees are in communications, economics, and accounting all are with high honors. Through her academic experience, she developed a passion for mentoring and tutoring under-resourced students, with learning disabilities, in economics and statistics. In her telecommunications' career, she launched the second largest wireless retailer nationwide, in less than a year, first as a district sales manager, then as a regional training manager. This was followed by a position in global finance, where she was on a team of five, managing up to 3 billion dollars in assets. Lisa is committed to cultural understanding and reconciliation. She has been a board member on several Palo Alto based nonprofits and is also the treasurer of the Kafenia Peace Collective.

Peter Drekmeier is a former Mayor of Palo Alto, CA and has been working as an environmental advocate for the past 25 years. He helped lead two international Earth Day campaigns, and loves traveling in developing countries. Peter co-founded several organizations, including Environmentalists Against War, Bay Area Action (now Acterra), and the Stanford Open Space Alliance. He currently serves as the Bay Area Program Director for the Tuolumne River Trust in San Francisco. Peter has a political science degree from U.C. Berkeley.

Peter Goggin has been developing online communities since 1995. As vice-president and co-founder of NetHealth, Peter led the development of some of the first vertical health and medical websites. He has worked as a consultant specializing in the development of online publications and open-source web applications. Peter is currently Vice-President of book publisher, Epicenter Communications, a Partner at Argonaut Ventures, and co-founder of Malaria.com.

Vandana Hariharan is a finance professional with 20 years of global finance experience. She started her career in the Financial Management Training (FMP) program at GE and held various managerial and leadership positions at GE Capital, eBay and Facebook. Vandana holds a Master of Management degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business (Northwestern University), a Masters in Accounting Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and a Bachelor of Commerce & Economics from the University of Mumbai. She lives in Palo Alto with her husband and two kids.

Andrew Salop works at the intersection of technology, media, and commerce. He specializes in defining and bringing new-concept products to market that empower creative, mobile and collaborative workflow. Over the course of his career, Andrew has worked with a variety of media technology brands and startups across the Americas, Asia and Europe including Apple, Adobe, Skype and GLOBALedit. Based in his hometown of Palo Alto, he travels widely for business and pleasure with extended stays in Amsterdam (NL), Washington DC, New York City, Tokyo, Los Angeles and most recently, Haiti. Andrew holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and BA degrees in International Relations and Economics from the University of California, Davis. His initial collaboration with Greater Good Haiti introduced interactive media as an enabling tool for Haitian students in the remote village of Anse-à-Galets to learn and explore new concepts.

Alice Smith is a retired lawyer who worked for 36 years in the IT industry, starting as an IBM Systems Engineer and after a brief hiatus at home raising her 2 daughters and attending law school, becoming in-house legal counsel for major UK and US computer companies. Currently, she volunteers for the California North Committee of Human Rights Watch and is chair of the Mid-Peninsula Chapter of the ACLU/Northern California. Alice is the Founder of National Voter Corps and involved with PeoplePower to protect the rights of Americans to vote. She has a BA from Smith College and a JD from Golden Gate University Law School.

Haiti Staff & Volunteers

Rosemanie Estama is a teacher at Pi Gwo Byen, she has been working in the program since September 2011. Rosemanie graduated from High School in 2005  and then studied at the American College of Modern Science Haiti, in Port Au Prince. Her previous work experience was at the Carolina School in Port-au-Prince during the  2009-2010 school term. Rosemanie is proud of her time with Greater Good Haiti as she feels that together with those who support the program, she is educating children who would not otherwise attend school. She believes there is a great dream and we are fulfilling that dream.

Carol Felix is one of the original employees of Greater Good Haiti aka Pi Gwo Byen, she believes in the work and is committed to the vision of the program. She has been the head cook and prepares daily meals for the children, teachers and volunteers in the Pi Gwo Byen program. Carol hopes that the future of Greater Good is strong because she believes that more children could benefit from education so that they can emerge as citizens who are employable and will find work. Carol was raised in Anse A Galet on La Gonave, Haiti. Carol has worked with Greater Good Haiti since January 2011. Prior to that she worked with the Wesleyan Mission in Anse-à-Galets from 1997 -2002. Carol is a graduate of the Wesleyan School of anse A Galets, where she attended from 1984 until 2003.

Pierre Fritz provides maintenance, security and property management services at Pi Gwo Byen School.  He was raised on the Island of La Gonave, Haiti.  Pierre Fritz is dedicated to the vision and work of Pi Gwo Byen (Greater Good).

Benira Paul is a teacher in the Pi Gwo Byen program. After graduating from high school in Anse-à-Galets Benira studied education in Port-au-Prince for one year in 2006-2007. He has worked with NGOs such as World Vision, Compassion International, and now Greater Good Haiti. Benira is a passionate member of the Pi Gwo Byen staff as he believes in the fundamental need for literacy in Haiti. He has been working with Greater Good Haiti since January 2012. Benira is grateful for all the people who support the work and have helped to successfully implement the program. He is committed to continuing to improve and grow the program.