Board of Directors USA
MCV, a Malawian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) is financially supported by Malawi Children’s Village Foundation Inc. a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. MCV Foundation Inc. sends approximately 97% of all donations to MCV in Malawi, and ensures that these funds are used responsibly by MCV Malawi, with the care of Mangochi’s orphans and vunerable children first and foremost. MCV Foundation Inc. has no employees, and our board of directors works on a completely volunteer basis. No board members have ever received compensation of any kind. In addition to fund-raising and financial oversight, MCV Foundation Inc. board members are in constant contact with MCV Malawi staff to advise and support the project.
Tom Vitaglione, President
Tom and wife Frances served as a Peace Corps volunteers in Malawi from 1965 to 1967 and have been involved with MCV since the project's inception. Tom holds a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University and spent most of his career as Head of Child Health for the NC Division of Public Health. Since retiring he has been working as a child advocate and also serves as a co-chair of a legislative study committee to study and make recommendations to prevent child deaths.
Ruth Nighswander, Vice President
Ruth joined the board in 2000. She was formerly a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi and also spent a year as lecturer at the Kamuzu College of Nursing in Lilongwe. After teaching several years, she became a nurse and is presently a contract nurse mentor with the Anchorage School District. She has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Education/German plus a B.S. in Nursing. The school to school program between Anchorage and Malawi was initiated by Ruth.
Adrienne Leech, Secretary
Adrienne joined the board in 2007 after volunteering with MCV in Malawi. Adrienne is Director of Sponsored Programs with Niagara University, where she is also an adjunct faculty member. Adrienne also serves as a trustee for several human service and historic preservation organizations. Her undergraduate degree was earned at Mount Holyoke College; she also attended the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and was awarded her Master's from Niagara University focusing on Poverty Studies and Nonprofit Management. Adrienne lives in Medina, NY.
Mike Horne, Treasurer
Mike joined the MCV board in 2009 after volunteering with his family at MCV in 2008 on an Engineers Without Borders water project. He is a Registered Land Surveyor in Alaska and a principal of a mid size engineering company, working in many remote villages in Alaska. Mike is from New Zealand and worked as a surveyor on a foreign aid project for the New Zealand government in 1978 in Western Samoa.
Conor Brady, Communications Officer
Conor joined the MCV board in 2008 after spending a year in Malawi as a volunteer teacher for MCV. As Communications Officer, he is in charge of MCV's mailings and web content. A former teacher, Conor currently works in New York University's Study Abroad office. He has a Master's in Teaching from Pace University, a BA in Economics from Boston College, and is currently enrolled in the Master of Public Administration program at NYU Wagner. Conor lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jack Allison
Jack served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi for three years (1967-69). He recorded 16 health education songs during this time, the most famous of which was Ufa wa Mtedza. Jack's three degrees are from UNC-Chapel: AB Chemistry ('66); MPH ('71) and MD ('75). He enjoyed a 30-year career in academic Emergency Medicine, with an avocation in Public Health. He responded immediately to the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, and was commissioned to write/record three public health jingles upon his return. Jack retired from clinical medicine in 2007. He & his wife, Sue Wilson, reside in Asheville, NC.
Don Gray
Don and his wife Joan were Peace Corps Volunteers in Malawi in 1965-1966. They returned to Africa in 1972-1976, where Don taught at the National University of Lesotho and became Dean of the Faculty of Science. After returning to the States, Don worked in higher education in the University of Wisconsin System for 30 years as a professor, a dean, and for the final 23 years as the Vice President for Principal Gifts at the University of Wisconsin Foundation in Madison. Don joined the board in 2010.
Tom Nighswander
Tom became a board member in 2002. He and his wife Ruth were Peace Corps Volunteers in Malawi in 1964. They returned in 1984 for a year and Tom worked with the Ministry of Health at their headquarters in Lilongwe. They maintain a small thatched roof cottage in Mangochi and have returned to MCV annually for the last ten years. Tom is a physician and public health officer at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage and the Assistant Region Dean for the University of Washington School of Medicine in Alaska.
Mary Pomeroy
Mary lived in Africa from 1974-1977, traveling and working as a Physical Therapist. She joined the board in 2009 after volunteering at MCV with husband Mike Horne and their two sons. Mary returns to Malawi every summer, where she is helping to assure that MCV is accessible to students with diverse needs and has helped to get wheelchairs and adapt equipment for children in need. At home in Alaska, Mary runs her own Physical Therapy business providing guidance to families who have children experiencing developmental challenges. She has a BS in Physical Therapy from the University of Colorado.
Bill Schmidt
Bill Schmidt was a Peace Corps volunteer in a Maternal and Child Health Program in Malawi from 1967 to 1969. He joined the MCV Board in 2007. He works as a Physician Assistant in gastroenterology in the Kansas City, Missouri area. He has bachelors degrees from Loras College and Johns Hopkins University, and a masters in Public Health from UNC, Chapel Hill.
Elizabeth Usovicz
Elizabeth Usovicz joined the MCV Board in 2010. Over the past 10 years has written several grants for MCV through her activity in Rotary International. A past District Governor of Rotary District 6040 in Missouri, Elizabeth has spearheaded funding initiatives for sanitation and malaria prevention. She is principal of WhiteSpace Consulting, an entrepreneurial and business development consulting practice based in Kansas City. Fluent in Spanish and French, she has conducted business and lived in Europe, Latin America and the Far East. She holds a Master's degree from the School for International Training's Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, VT.
Frances Vitaglione
Frances (known as Eve in her home state of North Carolina) met future husband Tom Vitaglione while serving in the Peace Corps in 1964. She holds a BA in Biology from Colby College. She is a Certified Environmental Educator, and spent much of her career as Coordinator of the Discovery Room at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. This program provides hands-on opportunities for young children to experience nature. Now retired, Frances volunteers frequently at the Museum and in other nature venues.
