Halfway through 2016 and REFUNITE has three new faces to introduce to you! Over the last few months Alex, Gideon, and Giulia have joined the REFUNITE Team in Nairobi. Let’s welcome them on board and get to know them.
ALEX BRONER – Product Manager
As Product Manager, Alex leads the research, conceptualization, prototyping, product and cross-functional team management of REFUNITE’s mobile services. As UX lead, she also manages survey, experiment and prototype development across REFUNITE. As a data analyst, Alex designed company-wide KPIs and is responsible for oversight of data quality assurance, data investigations, research training, and multivariate analysis for family tracing. Before joining REFUNITE, Alex worked as a Monitoring & Evaluation Officer for International Rescue Committee (IRC) Somalia, and spearheaded the first pilot and rollout of IRC global’s digital online and mobile data platform. She also co-developed and managed a year-long pilot of a human-centered design project on mobile health in Nairobi out of Stanford d.school, funded by Omidyar Network and Stanford GSB. She previously completed a postgraduate Princeton in Africa fellowship and a Stanford postgraduate research fellowship, where she consulted for PEPFAR/CDC and Kenya’s Ministry of Health on implementing a national Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. Alex received her B.A. with Honors and M.A. from Stanford University. An equestrian, Alex loves training horses and competitive riding, studying opera, traveling, listening to Afrobeats, and reading a good book on global politics.
GIDEON MAINA – Infrastructure Systems Engineer
Gideon’s role at REFUNITE involves the management and monitoring of computing infrastructure. This requires close monitoring of our systems to ensure fluent service delivery, securing the systems and preserving the integrity of REFUNITE data. Before joining REFUNITE, Gideon worked as a Freelance contractor doing Systems Administration for remote clients. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science from Dedan Kimathi University in Kenya. Gideon likes hiking, cycling, nature walks, wildlife photography and reading.
GIULIA BALESTRA – Communications Coordinator
As Communications Coordinator for REFUNITE, Giulia is involved in a wide range of projects, spanning from communications, to project management, UX, user acquisition and growth, as well as research and testing. Before joining REFUNITE, she focused on the intersection between social innovation, refugee protection, research and project management, working closely with refugee communities developing solutions that address refugees’ needs. Most recently, Giulia worked on a mobile project in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and in reception centres for asylum seekers in Switzerland. She holds a MSc in Medical Anthropology and a Postgraduate diploma in Social Innovation Management. Giulia loves traveling, hiking, reading poetry and spending nights watching a good documentary or Ted Talk.
