Seasonal Changes at AFRE
There is no question that AFRE's people are vital to our work.
Each Board and Staff member draws from wellsprings of personal and professional experience and the quieter streams of intuition and wisdom to create the AFRE that is, and to craft the direction of the AFRE that will be, all in service of a vision of a world where all Black people and communities thrive.
This year, AFRE has welcomed two Board and two Staff members into our shared work. We have also bid farewell to two Board and two Staff members, and we want to take this opportunity to celebrate their immense contributions.
Ashika Davechand
Gil Winters
Chief of Staff Ashika Davechand comes to AFRE after more than a decade in strategy and management consulting. Her particular work supporting start-ups as they mature affords her insights that are already proving crucial as we dream and build into AFRE's future. She works out of Johannesburg.
Gil Winters, AFRE's Director of Finance and Operations based in Washington, D.C., previously worked in finance, investment and operations. His experience spans South Africa and the United States, and a palpable commitment to racial justice drives his work.
Grathel Motau
Kholofelo Molewa
Joining the Board are Grathel Motau and Kholofelo Molewa, who have more than five decades' experience at the nexus of investment strategy and social equity between them.
An avid marathon runner, Grathel is the Group Financial Director at Thebe Investment Corporation, one of South Africa's oldest Black investment firms. Kholofelo is a Portfolio Manager at Khanyisa Impact Investment Fund which aims to directly address South Africa's socio-economic challenges.
Grathel and Kholofelo come to AFRE via the Board nomination process that saw lively engagement from you, our community, earlier this year. We could not be more grateful to welcome them to a deeply committed AFRE Board, led by Damon T. Hewitt, the President and Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Christopher L. Brown
Manuel Pastor
As we welcome Grathel and Kholofelo, we also express heartfelt gratitude to historian Christopher L. Brown and sociologist and community organiser Manuel Pastor, whose Board tenures ended in June.
A historian of Britain and the British Empire with particular emphasis on the comparative history of slavery and abolition, Chris is a faculty member at Columbia University. Similarly, as AFRE’s longest serving Board member, Manuel is on faculty at the University of Southern California, where he researches the economic, environmental and social conditions facing low-income urban communities, and the social movements seeking to change those realities.
In their many years on the Board, Chris and Manuel's insights and perspectives shaped AFRE's strategic direction, and our work is all the better for it.
Daryl Hannah
Terry-Ann Booth
Our farewells extended to the end of September when Terry-Ann Booth and Daryl Hannah transitioned out of their roles on the Staff team.
Terry, our former Associate Director of Finance and Operations, joined AFRE in its earliest days and was our longest-serving Staff member at the time of her departure. During her time on the team, she stewarded AFRE's operations and financial management work, enabling a seamless integration into and interface with our anchor partners in the United States and South Africa. We miss her kindness, her ability to always find a way, and her impeccable style.
Over the four and half years, Daryl Hannah served as AFRE's Senior Director of Narrative Strategy, during which time he oversaw our communications and narrative work. Notably, he spearheaded AFRE’s 1619 Symposium and AFRE’s launch at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. He also started the Narrative Institute for Senior Fellows, and helped to produce and launch the print edition of our literary magazine, Moya. We miss Daryl's warmth, humour, passion and authenticity.
There is no question that AFRE's future work will grow from the contributions of Chris, Daryl, Manuel, Terry-Ann and many others who have come before.
As we welcome Ashika, Gil, Grathel and Kholofelo to our community, we look forward to a fruitful journey together.
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