First RespondersSummit

Elizabeth Ashbourne

Executive Director, Partnership for Quality Medical Donations

As Executive Director of PQMD, Elizabeth (EJ) Ashbourne is responsible for furthering PQMD’s commitment to championing and advancing standards in medical supply and service donations by developing the vision, strategy, and execution of the organizations five pillars of work.

Prior to joining PQMD, EJ was most recently the Managing Partner for EJA Consulting, a small private firm specializing in strategic planning, fundraising, international development and joint venture support, mission driven event management, and all aspects of non-profit turn-around. Prior to that, EJ spent 17 years at the World Bank in a number of senior level positions, in the areas of private sector partnerships, global public health, infectious disease, and health management information systems.

Additionally she was a senior operations officer in the Office of Corporate Reform and Human Resources. In the area of health, EJ held the position of Lead, Global Health Information Programs for the World Bank and the Health Metrics Network at the World Health Organization; led the work on eHealth and mHealth in the Health Anchor of the Bank, and contributed to research on a common metric for donor agencies, development partners and countries to measure their investment in health information. At the World Bank, she also spent many years working closely on issues specific to engaging the private sector in the fight against HIV/AIDS as the focal point for private sector partnerships with the World Bank’s Africa Region HIV/AIDS programs. Her role was to develop and implement the mechanisms through which the private sector can access financial and technical resources from the Bank’s initial 2billion dollar investment in HIV/AIDS.
She has also worked for World Learning as a Country Director, overseeing a wide range of USAID capacity building programs in Eastern Europe and served as senior coordinator for international cooperative education programs at American University among other positions. EJ holds an MA in International Education, with an emphasis on Organizational Management from American University in Washington, DC and a BSc in Communications and History from Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY.

Ronny Elfassy

Senior Director, Global Logistics and Supply Chain, International Medical Corps

Ronny Elfassy is International Medical Corps’ Senior Director of Global Logistics & Supply Chain. With 15+ years of experience in humanitarian work, he currently overseas logistics and supply chain for International Medical Corps globally. Ronny has led logistics and operations for disaster responses in Gaza, Haiti, Nepal, Mozambique, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and COVID-19 in the US, and supported operations in the Philippines, Ukraine and Sudan.

Ken Hardy

Senior Vice President of U.S. Supply Chain Operation, Cencora

Ken Hardy is the Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Operations at Cencora. As part of the Supply Chain lead team, Ken is responsible for the operations of 46 pharmaceutical distribution centers across the United States and Puerto Rico. His purview includes wholesale and specialty pharmaceutical distribution including the national distribution center, SmartSource, Central Fill, and the animal health network. Since joining the organization, Ken has built collaborative partnerships across the enterprise and refined processes to ensure continuity across distribution center teams. Ken has also focused on expanding our distribution network, and he has a passion for our team members and our customers. Ken currently sits on the board of the Cencora Impact Foundation. Ken brings deep expertise in distribution with more than 28 years in the business. Prior to joining Cencora, he held various leadership roles with increasing responsibility over his five-year tenure at McLane Company. He also spent nearly nine years at Walmart and a decade with Target Corporation. Ken has been married to his beautiful wife Kristina for 31 years. Together they have four adult children and have been adjusting to life as empty nesters.

Dave Hartman

Senior Program Manager, Global Aid, Flexport

Dave Hartman is Senior Program Manager, Global Aid for Flexport.org, the social impact arm of Flexport. Since 2018, Flexport.org has handled the movement of more than 90 million pounds of humanitarian cargo to 115 countries for 175 nonprofits, community organizations, hospitals, and social enterprises. Prior to Flexport, Dave spent five years with Save the Children as a member of its humanitarian response team as a media and communications officer. Dave is a certified Wilderness First Responder, and volunteers with Team Rubicon as a chainsaw operator and on wildland fire mitigation and remediation projects.

Erica Tavares

Senior Director, International Medical Corps

Erica Tavares is Senior Director, US Programs & Advancement at International Medical Corps, where she leads strategy and execution for health and humanitarian programming across 15 countries, ensuring access to lifesaving healthcare, training, and services that build resilience in communities facing crises. In this role, Erica oversees US disaster response and healthcare operations, partnering with federal, state, and local agencies, community clinics, and grassroots organizations to strengthen health systems, expand access to care and respond when disasters strike. Over the past year alone, she has directed responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton across four states, the Los Angeles County wildfires, and dozens of localized emergencies nationwide.

Globally, Erica manages International Medical Corps’ flagship Local Engagement and Response Network (LEARN) program, which trains local Rapid Response Teams, equips first responders with just-in-time skills, and closes critical gaps in outbreak response capacity, helping stop infectious disease outbreaks at their source.

With two decades of nonprofit leadership and fundraising experience, Erica specializes in building high-impact public-private partnerships and mobilizing resources to meet community-driven goals. Previously, she served as Vice President of Institutional Advancement at International Medical Corps, where she developed transformational partnerships with leading foundations, academic institutions, and Fortune 500 companies—including AbbVie, FedEx, the Gates Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, and P&G—driving more than $40 million annually to support humanitarian programs worldwide.

Erica has held senior leadership roles as Chief Development Officer at USA for UNHCR, where she raised $100 million in response to the crisis in Ukraine, and Director of Development at Women for Women International, where she traveled extensively to help establish programs in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has also served on the boards of organizations such as the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations and began her career in political organizing with the Democratic National Committee, contributing to the 2000 Gore-Lieberman campaign and election recount efforts in Miami. Erica holds a B.A. in Political Science from American University.

Veronica Arroyave

Vice President, Corporate Responsibility and Global Philanthropy, Baxter

Verónica Arroyave serves as the Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Global Philanthropy at Baxter, a position that underscores her dedication to driving positive social impact. Her team helps advance Baxter's commitment to social responsibility, aligning with the company's 2030 Commitment and Goals. As a key member of the global leadership team, Verónica plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s corporate responsibility strategy and engaging global stakeholders, while also ensuring that the company's philanthropic efforts are aligned with its mission to save and sustain lives.

As the Executive Director of the Baxter Foundation, Verónica leverages her expertise to build strategic partnerships that address pressing global health challenges and support global health system strengthening to increase health access. By fostering collaborations with organizations, governments, and communities, she works to improve health resiliency worldwide, ultimately contributing to the company's mission to make a meaningful difference in underserved communities.

Before joining Baxter, Verónica held various leadership or research positions with organizations such as the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations and AbbVie and the AbbVie Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, MAP International, Project HOPE and USAID's MEASURE Evaluation program. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Our Lady of Holy Cross College, a Master's from Tulane University's School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs.

Jeff Burrell

Global Head, Sustainability and Social Impact, Riot Games

Jeffrey is head of Social Impact and Sustainability at Riot Games. His team is responsible for product and community activations, disaster relief response, and he's the Executive Director of the Riot Social Impact Fund. He received his MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern and an MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School. He's a proud father of 2 and lives with his family in Culver City.

Patrick Dawson

Former Journalist

Patrick Dawson spent more than three decades in journalism, most of it as an award-winning national and international broadcast news correspondent for NBC News, CNN and ABC. His career is notable for its reporting from several international hotspots and war zones, coverage of four US Presidential campaigns and reporting from the White House. He was the first NBC News correspondent to report from the scene of theWorld Trade Center attacks in New York, describing the collapse of the twin towers live on the Today Show. He was also one of the four lead NBC News correspondents nominated as a group for an Emmy Award for outstanding coverage on the day of the September 11th attacks.

In the 1990s, he covered the Balkans War from Kosovo and Macedonia, reporting extensively on the plight of the refugees and victims of ethnic cleansing for NBC Nightly News, the Today Show and MSNBC. He also was the network’s lead correspondent in Yemen for the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, and covered numerous conflicts and terror attacks over several years from Israel and the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza.

In 1991, he was the recipient of the Emmy Award for his reporting of the first Gulf War in Kuwait and Iraq.

As a correspondent, he covered Presidential campaigns for CNN, ABC and NBC, including the extended dispute in the Bush-Gore race over the results in Florida. He also reported from the White House during the administrations of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Caitlin Bartkus

Manager, Employee Engagement, International Medical Corps

Caitlin Bartkus is the Gift-in-Kind and Employee Engagement Manager at International Medical Corps. In this role, she oversees all internationally sourced in-kind donations and leads International Medical Corps’ corporate employee engagement program, including in-person and virtual volunteering offerings. Bartkus joined the global humanitarian organization in the resource development department in 2017 and became the Gift-in-Kind and Employee Engagement Manager in 2022. She has significant experience in employee engagement initiatives and gift-in-kind programs. Bartkus has an M.Sc. in Human Rights from the London School of Economics in the UK and a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Boston University in the US.

Shayla Nilsen

Vice President, Employee Engagement Strategy, JPMorgan Chase

Shayla is an accomplished Human Resources leader at JPMorgan Chase, where she oversees Employee Volunteerism globally. Since 2022, Shayla has directed a large-scale champion network and implemented strategic initiatives that have redefined and elevated the employee experience and communities where JPMorganChase operates. Her leadership has engaged more than 80,000 employees worldwide, resulting in over 400,000 volunteer hours annually.

Prior to her current role, Shayla served as a business transformation leader, driving firmwide global technology implementations and advancing operational excellence. Recognized for her visionary approach and expertise in global operations and employee engagement, Shayla consistently delivers impactful results across complex, multi-layered organizations.

Shayla holds a degree from The Ohio State University and resides in Columbus, Ohio with her husband and two daughters. Go Bucks!

Paula Olson

Paula Olson is an International Program Director for West, Central, Southern Africa and Latin America. The countries under her leadership include Mali, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In this role, she oversees program planning, design, development, implementation and supervision in those countries as well as advocacy and strategic partnerships more broadly. Olson has deployed to lead and support large-scale emergency responses, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the Response Manager from 2018-2021 and 2025, and Chad in the most recent Cholera outbreak. She has more than 15 years of experience working in the development and humanitarian sectors, providing support and working alongside communities, and has traveled extensively to and lived in the region she supports.

Dr. Jill John-Kall

Jill John-Kall is a physician with 20 years’ experience in international health programming, including emergency response, protracted crises and development. She has worked in many countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, implementing programs to improve access to and availability of quality primary, secondary and specialty health care services for populations in need. In her current role as a Senior Health Advisor for International Medical Corps, she provides technical support for program design and implementation, quality assurance, and adherence to clinical care standards. She also provides capacity building, deploys and supports emergency responses, and participates in global forums.

Suha Kahn

Suha Mhanna Khan is the Director of the Emergency Response Unit at the International Medical Corps, where she leads Emergency Response Management at the headquarters level and coordinates closely with country, regional, and technical teams to ensure effective operations and high-quality humanitarian assistance. Over the past five years, she has managed more than USD 120 million in emergency programming and led over 18 responses, including crises in Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine, as well as natural disasters in Myanmar, Morocco, Syria, Türkiye, Haiti, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the United States.

Suha has extensive experience across Emergency Response, Finance, Human Resources, Programs, and Project Management, with field roles in Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, the Philippines, and Ukraine. She is committed to localization and strengthening national capacity. She holds an MS in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, an MBA, a graduate certificate in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, and an Associate's degree in Business Management. She is PMP-certified and currently pursuing a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

Dr. John Roberts, MD MPH, FACEP

Dr. John Roberts is an emergency physician and public health practitioner specializing in humanitarian assistance and disaster response, with deep experience in emergency and disaster medicine. Dr. Roberts joined International Medical Corps as a Medical Advisor in 2020, served as the Interim Lead for US Programs and Emergency Response in 2021, Senior Emergency Health Advisor from 2021 to 2024 and is currently the Senior Technical Advisor for the Emergency Response Unit. He was a leader in International Medical Corps’ successful efforts to be classified by the World Health Organization as an Emergency Medical Team Type 1, Fixed and Mobile; led International Medical Corps’ COVID-19 response in the US in 2020, deploying to responses in California and Texas; and led the Haiti earthquake response in 2021. In 2022, Dr. Roberts deployed to Moldova, Poland and Ukraine in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion to conduct assessments and provide strategic guidance as the war progressed. In 2023, Dr. Roberts led the design team for International Medical Corp’s Type 3 field hospital in Gaza. In 2024, he led the scaling of the Emergency Response Unit’s emergency and trauma training initiative that trained more than 3,000 people in 10 countries from 2022 to 2025.
Dr. Roberts still works extensively with the United States and Territories program as a technical advisor for emergency preparedness and response. He has helped lead multiple emergency preparedness and response projects, including responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the Los Angeles wildfires, and ongoing projects to provide healthcare to people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.
Before joining International Medical Corps, Dr. Roberts led medical teams responding to Cyclone Idai in Mozambique and the Syrian refugee crisis in Greece, among other emergencies. He has training in urban humanitarian emergencies, disaster response and humanitarian assistance from Harvard University, Disaster Medical Coordination International Society and McGill University, and in medical Spanish from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua. Dr. Roberts graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, LAC+USC Emergency Medicine Residency, Carolinas Medical Center Fellowship in Disaster Medicine and the University of South Florida School of Public Health in International Humanitarian Assistance.

Erica Tavares

Erica Tavares is Senior Director, US Programs & Advancement at International Medical Corps, where she leads strategy and execution for health and humanitarian programming across 15 countries, ensuring access to lifesaving healthcare, training, and services that build resilience in communities facing crises. In this role, Erica oversees US disaster response and healthcare operations, partnering with federal, state, and local agencies, community clinics, and grassroots organizations to strengthen health systems, expand access to care and respond when disasters strike. Over the past year alone, she has directed responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton across four states, the Los Angeles County wildfires, and dozens of localized emergencies nationwide.

Globally, Erica manages International Medical Corps’ flagship Local Engagement and Response Network (LEARN) program, which trains local Rapid Response Teams, equips first responders with just-in-time skills, and closes critical gaps in outbreak response capacity, helping stop infectious disease outbreaks at their source.

With two decades of nonprofit leadership and fundraising experience, Erica specializes in building high-impact public-private partnerships and mobilizing resources to meet community-driven goals. Previously, she served as Vice President of Institutional Advancement at International Medical Corps, where she developed transformational partnerships with leading foundations, academic institutions, and Fortune 500 companies—including AbbVie, FedEx, the Gates Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, and P&G—driving more than $40 million annually to support humanitarian programs worldwide.

Erica has held senior leadership roles as Chief Development Officer at USA for UNHCR, where she raised $100 million in response to the crisis in Ukraine, and Director of Development at Women for Women International, where she traveled extensively to help establish programs in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has also served on the boards of organizations such as the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations and began her career in political organizing with the Democratic National Committee, contributing to the 2000 Gore-Lieberman campaign and election recount efforts in Miami. Erica holds a B.A. in Political Science from American University.

Shira Goldstein

As Head of Programs for International Medical Corps, Shira Goldstein provides oversight and strategic leadership for programs across the United States & Territories. In this role, she provides leadership for the planning, design, implementation, expansion, and administration of the US & Territories portfolio of projects and programming. She comes from a diverse background of 20 years as a global health practitioner and emergency response lead across four continents. Her experience in management comes from leading teams during acute emergency situations, building and guiding country offices focused on long-term multi-sectoral projects, and working with a diversity of individuals in a wide range of environments. Prior to joining International Medical Corps, she gained almost a decade of public health experience embedded in West African communities developing strategies for and implementing services promoting increased access to healthcare for populations in hard-to-reach areas. She led multiple response teams in complex environments, including public health programming during the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian, and in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic. Domestically, she worked with Tribal Nations in the American Southwest during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and provided support to teams in Chicago and LA managing mass vaccination sites. She has led teams responding to emergencies throughout the US and Territories including North Carolina, Texas, California, and Puerto Rico. Shira holds an MSC in Global Health from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.

Ronny Elfassy

Ronny Elfassy is International Medical Corps’ Senior Director of Global Logistics & Supply Chain. With 15+ years of experience in humanitarian work, he currently overseas logistics and supply chain for International Medical Corps globally. Ronny has led logistics and operations for disaster responses in Gaza, Haiti, Nepal, Mozambique, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and COVID-19 in the US, and supported operations in the Philippines, Ukraine and Sudan.

Nikola Usenovic

Nikola Usenovic is Director of Global Procurement at International Medical Corps. In this position, he leads a global team of procurement specialists who manage international sourcing of medical and nonmedical commodities and services for about 30 country missions and three HQ offices. Usenovic joined International Medical Corps in 2010 and has worked in several roles in supply-chain management. He has also participated in a number of emergency responses, including Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, Ebola outbreaks in Africa, Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Ukraine conflict, with two tours in 2022–2023. The Global Procurement Team has been setting up framework agreements since 2017 in multiple categories, most notably in the multi-year, multi-million dollar medical category. The same team also has managed the setup the organization’s Emergency Medical Team Type 1-specific framework contract, which has been used repetitively to respond to complex and urgent emergency situation worldwide. Usenovic received his BS in hotel and resort management from the Rochester Institute of Technology and his certification in humanitarian logistics from the Fritz Institute.