Meet the Board

Get to know the Building Tomorrow Board of Directors.

Emily Johnson

Chair of the Board

Emily Johnson, the Chair of the Board, is the Director of Europe and Russia Corporate Responsibility for Cummins Inc. based in Italy. During her time with Cummins, Emily has held positions as the General Manager of Cummins’ Distribution business in Singapore, the Director of Global Corporate Responsibility for Cummins' Distribution business based in Dubai, and the Director of Corporate Responsibility Strategic Investments and Corporate Counsel based in Morocco and the US. Prior to joining Cummins, Emily was a Law Fellow with the Liberian Ministry of Justice’s Human Rights Division. Before this, she was in-house legal counsel for a Dubai developer. Emily also worked as an Equity and Debt Capital Markets attorney in both London and Dubai, focused on emerging markets. In-between receiving her law degree from George Washington Law and her Bachelor’s degree in Government from the College of William & Mary, Emily served in the US Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa. She joined the Building Tomorrow Board in 2017.

James Habyarimana

Vice Chair of the Board

James Habyarimana is the Provost Distinguished Associate Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy. His research is focused on identifying low-cost strategies to address barriers to better health and education outcomes in developing countries. Ongoing projects include research to understand the effectiveness of centralized and decentralized programs, including the role of leadership, to improve teacher performance in East Africa, as well as how electoral incentives shape the design and implementation of education and health policies in Tanzania and India. He serves on an Independent Technical Review Panel for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). He is a founding member and former co-Director of Georgetown University’s Initiative on Innovation, Development and Evaluation (gui2de). He is an affiliate of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and has been a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development. Habyarimana joined Building Tomorrow’s Board in 2020.

Randy Kaltenmark

Secretary of the Board

Randy Kaltenmark joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP in 1997 and is currently a partner in the Tax Department. In addition to serving as the Secretary of the Board for Building Tomorrow, Kaltenmark also serves on the board of Centerpoint Counseling, and is a member of the Alumni Board of the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Kaltenmark is also a former Chair and active member of the Taxation Sections of the Indiana State Bar Association and the Indianapolis Bar Association. Kaltenmark has served on Building Tomorrow’s Board since 2011.

Jean Blackwell

Past Chair

Jean Blackwell, board member since 2014 and past Chair, retired as Executive Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Executive Officer of the Cummins Foundation, where she had served in various positions since 1997. Prior to joining Cummins, she was a partner with Bose McKinney & Evans and served as Budget Director for the State of Indiana and Executive Director of the State Lottery Commission.

Kenneth Kobe

Immediate Past Chair

Kenneth Kobe, Building Tomorrow’s Immediate Past Chair of the Board and former Peace Corps volunteer, retired as Executive Director of Barnes & Thornburg LLP in 2014. He previously served as Indiana State Budget Director and has held numerous board positions and governmental appointments. He currently serves as Chairperson of the Easterseals Crossroads Board of Directors. Ken has served on Building Tomorrow’s Board since 2015.

Jimmy Kolker

Jimmy Kolker had a 30-year diplomatic career with the US Department of State where he served as the US Ambassador to Burkina Faso (1999-2002) and to Uganda (2002-2005). From 2005-2007, he was Deputy Global AIDS Coordinator in the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator, leading the implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Following this role, he served as Chief of HIV and AIDS for UNICEF. In January 2017, Kolker retired from his role as Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and now serves on the boards or advisory committees of the Firelight Foundation, Last Mile Health, MANA Nutrition, G4 Alliance, and Texas Children’s Hospital Global HOPE, in addition to Building Tomorrow. He joined Building Tomorrow’s Board in 2017.

Nadira Lalji

Nadira currently serves as a director of Montcalm and Inhabit Hotels, a boutique hotel brand centered on inspiring healthy habits amongst travelers. She previously worked for Monitor Group in New York and London and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Toronto. Nadira received her undergraduate degree and MBA from Harvard. Today she serves on the board of the HBS Fund and is an active member of Young President’s Organization in London. Nadira joined Building Tomorrow’s Board in 2019.

Jerry Langley

Jerry Langley is currently Emeritus Teaching Professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. From 1999 to retirement in 2018, Langley taught courses on Commercial Banking, Bond Issue Process, Global Finance Management, and more in the undergraduate, MBA, and executive MBA programs; additionally, he taught several courses in non-degree programs in Executive Education. Prior to joining the faculty at Notre Dame, from 1982 to 1999, Langley served as Director, International Finance and eventually Vice President—Global System Finance for McDonald’s Corporation. Before McDonald’s, he was Senior Vice President and Manager, International Banking Department for 11 years at American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago. Langley received his MBA from Northwestern University in 1971 and CPA certificate in 1975 and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Langley served as a Trustee and member of various committees for the national Arthritis Foundation from 1976 - 2015 and was National Chair of the Arthritis Foundation from 1994–1996. He is currently Board Chair of the Notre Dame Federal Credit Union and the Board Chair of Volunteers of America. Langley also serves on Building Tomorrow's Board, which he joined in 2017.

Jim McClelland

Jim McClelland is the retired President and CEO of Goodwill Industries in central Indiana. During his Goodwill career he led the development of several charter high schools that serve a high poverty population and was also heavily involved in the international development of Goodwill Industries. Following his retirement from Goodwill, he served three years as Executive Director for Drug Prevention, Treatment, and Enforcement for the State of Indiana. McClelland has served on the boards of numerous not-for-profit organizations at local, national, and international levels. He joined Building Tomorrow’s Board in 2015.

Bernadete Nakanwagi

Bernadete is an engineer, digital entrepreneur, entrepreneurship mindset strategist, and educational leadership change maker. She is an alumnus of the first cohort of the Building Tomorrow Fellows program and is currently the Founder and Executive Director of Future Upgrades Foundation, an organization that empowers and motivates learners, teachers, parents, and leaders to unlock their potential to build a transformative learning culture. This, in turn, cultivates innovation and equips students with an entrepreneurial mindset to achieve peak academic performance and bring their talents into the workforce post-graduation.

During her Building Tomorrow Fellowship from 2015-2016, Bernadete developed critical skills and competencies relevant to her current vocation. Working in last-mile communities in Lwengo district, she enrolled more than 1,200 out-of-school children in school in just two years.

Bernadete has eight years of corporate experience in organizational development, human capital management, and entrepreneurial training. She was the first female Ugandan to be certified as a professional network engineer in 2009. She was also recognized as a unique African woman in technology in 2016 by Advancing Women in Tech (AWIT), was named one of Africa’s top 1000 digital entrepreneurs in 2020 by the Embassy of France in Uganda, and has received several other awards.

Micheline Ntiru

Micheline Ntiru has over 20 years of professional experience in business advisory, impact investment and international development in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States.

Micheline has designed, invested in, and/or advised youth skills development, public health, and food security programs/businesses across Africa. During her recent role (2018-2023) as Business Advisor with Stanford University, she advised small businesses in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. Prior to this, she held senior executive roles with the International Finance Corporation and Nokia in impact investment and technology innovation respectively.

She is a Member of the Board of LEAP Africa, focusing on youth empowerment; E Health Africa, a public health organization, and Kasha, a ‘femme tech’ growth stage company. She also sits on the investment committee of Kenya Climate Ventures (KCV).

Micheline holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge, UK, an MSc in Nutrition and Public Health from Tufts University, and a BS in Biology from Mount Holyoke College. She is a certified executive coach and speaks nine languages including Swahili, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Godfrey Semugooma

Godfrey Semugooma is Assistant Accounting General/Acting Director of Financial Management Services with the Government of Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. In addition, Godfrey serves as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Board of Directors for the newly-resuscitated Uganda Airlines. Godfrey is a proud member of the Rotary Club of Kampala and is incredibly passionate about the work of Building Tomorrow, particularly the role it can play in advancing rural transformation. Godfrey is a strong proponent of technical education and the benefits he perceives it can provide to Uganda and its youthful population. He joined Building Tomorrow’s Board in 2020.

George Srour

Founder & Chief Dreamer, Building Tomorrow, Inc.

George Srour is the Founder and Chief Dreamer of Building Tomorrow. Srour attended the College of William & Mary where he graduated in 2005 with a major in Government and International Relations. Upon graduation, Srour was awarded the James Monroe Prize for Civic Leadership and the inaugural William E. Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose, which he used to start Building Tomorrow. Srour has been recognized in the field of social entrepreneurship, being named an Echoing Green Fellow (‘07), a member of the GOOD 100 (‘13) and added to the Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30 list for social entrepreneurs (‘13).

Michael Stayton

Past Chair

Michael Stayton formerly served as President and CEO of the United States Infrastructure Corporation, the largest utility contract-locating firm in the United States. From 2002-2007, he served alongside Honorary Board Member Jim Morris as Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the largest international humanitarian agency in the world. Stayton is a graduate of Wabash College and George Washington University. He joined Building Tomorrow’s Board in 2013.

Amy Walburn

Amy Walburn is a seasoned non-profit executive with a track record for scaling mission-driven work through fundraising, communications, and strategy. She worked for over a decade in the Caribbean, Middle East and Africa and has 15 years of international nonprofit experience and cross-sectoral knowledge in health, education, agriculture, and livelihoods. She most recently served as the Chief Development & Communications Officer for Last Mile Health. Under Amy’s leadership, the organization grew its annual revenue four-fold, and she is credited with raising over $125MM during her tenure through institutional partnerships, primarily in collaborative and venture philanthropy. Amy has dedicated her life’s work to the pursuit of social justice, beginning her career at an inner-city high school in Chicago and going on to hold management positions at high-impact nonprofits in Haiti, Lebanon and Liberia. She holds an MBA from the American University of Beirut and a BA in Religious Studies from DePaul University. When she’s not building partnerships for change, Amy can be found in Boston, cooking Lebanese food with her two young daughters and trying to find a beach warm enough to replicate those she loves in Africa and the Caribbean.