Who We Are
STAFF
Chad W. Bissonnette, Co-founder and Executive Director
Chad holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from American University in Washington, DC. During his undergraduate education, he spent a year at Emerson College in Boston, MA, and two years in Spain teaching for the Spanish Government. While in Spain, he obtained a diploma in Hispanic Language and Culture Studies from the University of Salamanca. Before completing his undergraduate degree, Chad was a participant in American University’s Washington Semester Program. The focus of his semester was International Environment and Development, and included a three-week practicum in Brazil, observing the affects of diverse environment and development initiatives throughout the country. Chad began traveling to Haiti in 2005 and co-founded Roots of Development in 2007. He currently serves as its Executive Director. Chad formally speaks about Community Development and his work in Haiti regularly, at high schools and universities along the East Coast. He has also written several articles on those subjects in the Huffington Post. Chad grew up in Connecticut, and has lived a substantial amount of time overseas (Spain, South Africa, Haiti, etc.). He currently resides in Washington, DC.
Brian Averill, Executive Assistant
Brian is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in History and Africology. He has engaged in advocacy work for the ONE Campaign, Oxfam America, 9 to 5 National Working Women’s Association, and Witness. Brian has been traveling to Haiti since January, 2007, working with organizations in the areas of ecological sanitation, micro-finance, historical preservation, and cultural preservation. After graduating, he lived in New Zealand for a year performing a variety of odd jobs, including a month long voyage at sea working on a fishing boat.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Montgomery Erwin is a retired businessman. He owned Surety Company of the Pacific in California, which for many years was the leading writer of the state mandated contractor’s license bond, with a 55% market share (144,000 bonds in force). He had exclusive experience with the California legislature and state regulators given the statutory nature of the company’s core business. He joined the family owned company in 1974 and sold it in 2009. Before beginning his career at the Surety Company Monty was a professional DJ for two years in Arizona. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in political science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He is on the Big Brothers Big Sisters board of directors of Southeastern Connecticut. He is also involved with Sons of Lwala (Kenya) where his niece works at their clinic and local schools. He visited Lwala in July.
James O. Martin is a retired astronomer. He has been interested in Haiti since the 1970s and was introduced to Roots of Development in 2007. Martin has served as the Director of the Naval Observatory in Perrine, FL, the Project Manager for the Radio Astronomy Supercomputer, and has sat on church boards involved in local and world issues. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1987, and helped expand the McClendon Center, a program to provide therapeutic day treatment to persons with mental illness, from a church mission serving forty people to an independent non-profit serving over 600 people at two locations. Mr. Martin has an A.B. from Cornell University and a M.A. from Indiana University.
Sak Pollert is a business owner and an active member of the Logan Circle and U Street communities in Washington, DC. A native of Thailand, Mr. Pollert moved to Washington in 1991 to study English. He spent more than six years working in the Office of Educational Affairs for the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington before opening up a small business called Simply Home. Mr. Pollert opened his first restaurant, Rice, in 2003, and has since opened “Stem,” and “DC Noodles.” Mr. Pollert is a current member and former board member of the Mid City Business Association and is actively involved in various neighborhood organizations. Mr. Pollert has a Bachelors degree in Economics from Chulalongkorn University.
Kristy Stoesz is an ESL teacher in Washington, DC. She was born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and has worked in Education in various assignments in the US and over nine years in Haiti. Ms. Stoesz possesses a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Eastern Mennonite University and a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the School of International Training. After teaching third grade for seven years in Pennsylvania, Ms. Stoesz moved to Deschapelles, Haiti. In 1992, she worked for Hospital Albert Schweitzer as an elementary school teacher, and piloted a Kreyol literacy program for mountain women. Ms. Stoesz lived in the States again from 1997 until 2002 before returning to Haiti to direct HAS’s education programs in community health and community development at the hospital. From 2003 to 2006, Ms. Stoesz worked for Beyond Borders, living in Dabon and Matenwa, Haiti. She coordinated the Transformational Travel and Apprenticeship in Shared Living programs, and then worked with rural schools to develop participatory education practices and build networks of schools wanting to be involved in alternative educational practices. Ms. Stoesz has additionally worked with peasant agricultural and educational groups to increase their ability to manage their internal processes and develop income-generating activities.
Mark Summers is the President of CNC Software Inc., a family business he helped found in 1983, developing a CAD CAM software, which primarily drives CNC machine tools. The company employs 125 people and sells software in approximately 50 countries. Mr. Summers’ interest in energy efficiencies extends into various parts of his life. His home and office buildings have been heated and cooled by ground source heat pumps for 20 years and 25% of the office building’s heat and electricity consumption is solar-powered. Mr. Summers serves on both his town’s Energy Task Force and on the Board of Directors for a small start-up software company. Mr. Summers has an Associate’s degree in Manufacturing and Engineering. Mark is married and has five children. He enjoys running, biking, skiing, traveling, gardening, woodworking, and testing his company’s software.
VOLUNTEER TASK FORCE
*Advisors
Marian Bissonnette
Martin Bissonnette
Linda Collyer*
Jennifer Demma
Minna DiBella
Doris Gordon*
Sara Guderyahn
Lynn Haney
Kate Hartman
Josh Horowitz*
Kaylee Hultgren
Ben Knowlton
Geoffrey Kurgan
Pat Leavens*
Ana Maria Saiz
Vinay Thakur*
