David Risher

CEO and Co-Founder

As Worldreader’s CEO, David is a lifelong reader who knows that books have the power to change lives, just as they have changed his. He has been at the forefront of technology for more than two decades, first as a general manager at Microsoft and later as Amazon.com’s Senior Vice President for Retail and Marketing, responsible for growing the company from $16 million to $4 billion in sales. David later taught at the University of Washington’s Business School where he was elected Professor of the Year, served as president of the Board of the Benjamin Franklin International School, and is a member of ESADE Business School’s International Advisory Board and the International Advisory Board of Catalonia.

David has a comparative literature degree from Princeton University and a MBA from the Harvard Business School. In 2011, he was named a Microsoft Alumni Foundation Integral Fellow and a Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneur.

On reading:
“Growing up, books were my way to explore the world. We can make it possible for children everywhere to do the same.”

His Favorite Books:
As a kid: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
As an adult: The Odyssey

Twitter: @davidrisherWR

Colin McElwee – Managing Director and Co-Founder

Colin oversees Worldreader’s strategic operations, putting to good use his branding, marketing and sales expertise and on-the-ground experience from several African and Latin American countries. Most recently, Colin was the first director of marketing at ESADE Business School in Barcelona, where he helped establish the school’s reputation as a world-class business education provider. Prior to that, he started his career as an economist for several Brussels-based lobbies to the European Commission, and later worked in global marketing for Scottish & Newcastle PLC. Colin is a Non-Executive Director of St. Ignasi School of Tourism and the British Chamber of Commerce, speaks English and Spanish and continues to study Catalan.

Colin has a degree in economics from the University of Manchester and a MBA from ESADE Business School.

His take on reading:
“The images created by the written word make an indelible mark on the mind.”

What got him reading:
Rumplestilskin

Twitter: @ColinMcElwee

Neil Johnston – Director of Development

Neil joins Worldreader from a successful career in the for-profit world. As an executive and an independent consultant, he sourced over $300 million in new revenues from individuals and organizations. He found creative new ways to grow revenue for organizations of all sizes, ranging from startups, such as “Her Interactive” – developer of the award-winning Nancy Drew series of video games, who creates compelling content to draw girls into computing via entertainment, and where Neil’s efforts resulted in a 1500% increase in revenue over two years; to Fortune 200 “Tandem Computers” (now a part of HP/Compaq), where he was instrumental in creating worldwide programs generating over $170mm as Tandem grew from $0.75 million to $2.2. billion.

Neil is a native of Cork City, Ireland, who emigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 8 years old.

On reading:
“Oral storytelling was still a significantly active art when I was young. When I moved to the U.S., this led to a love of libraries, where I spent most of my indoor time. The librarians used to regularly forgive my small, chronic, overdue book fees (they would sigh every time I walked in the door).”

Favorite Books:
As a kid: Tom Swift
As an adult: The 6,528-page “Aubrey/Maturin” novels by Patrick O’Brian. Infinitely re-readable old friends.

Twitter: @NeilJohnstonWR

Zev Lowe – Director of Research and Operations

Zev joined Worldreader at the very beginning, jumping right into our first test pilot in Barcelona. Later, he would draw upon that experience to launch many of our other projects in Africa. Zev leads our research team, measuring outcomes and impact; drives Worldreader strategy as we grow and explore new ideas; and serves as lead problem-solver and way-smoother as we tackle a series of “firsts”. Zev entered the world of social enterprise when he left Goldman Sachs in London to serve as a Kiva Fellow in Indonesia, and has not looked back since. In his varied career, he has also worked as an ethnographer, a software architect, and a full-time Aikido apprentice.

Zev has computer science and anthropology degrees from Dartmouth College and a MBA from ESADE Business School. He is currently a Ph.D candidate at ESADE in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

In his words:
“As a kid, reading time was sacred. Nobody would interrupt me — not even to ask me to clean my room! Through reading, I discovered worlds other than my own, and words that kept me company so I was never alone.”

Twitter: @zevlowe

Susan Moody – Director of Marketing and Communications

Susan directs Worldreader’s online strategy, media relations, corporate sponsorship and branding strategies. Prior to Worldreader, Susan did online marketing for various start-ups and companies in Spain and the U.S., including Icon Medialab and Teletech. She wrote two children’s books that teach kids how to appreciate different cultures.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and a MBA from IESE.

Books that made her fall in love with reading: 
A Wrinkle in Time, and any series she could get her hands on, including The Black Stallion, The Great Brain, Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and The Hardy Boys.

Twitter: @soozmoody

Heidi Williams – Director of Finance & Control

Charged with keeping our multi-continental accounting books in order, Heidi started her career in quality, financial and process control at American Express and, later, went to Bank of America. Recently, she managed quality and process controls at a biomedical materials start-up company, and was a business manager at a small intellectual property law firm.

She holds an English degree from the University of Utah.

What reading means to her:
“Reading is the entire universe and all its knowledge and insight conveniently packaged into something you can carry and enjoy quietly. Thankfully, an e-reader is much lighter than the hardbacks I used to carry!”

Elizabeth Wood – Director of Digital Publishing

Elizabeth works with authors and publishers, ensuring our kids’ e-readers are loaded with the best digital books possible. She also oversees the Worldreader Book App for mobile phones and leads Worldreader Kits, a program that enables others to replicate Worldreader’s success all over the world. Her multinational career has included jobs with Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine in Paris, DDB Needham in Hamburg and Accenture consulting group in London.

Elizabeth has a journalism and communications degree from the University of Florida and a MBA from INSEAD.

What makes a book worth reading:
“A good book for me is one where I constantly stop and think, ‘Wow, how did the author conjure that sentence, that word, that analogy?’ I’ll read great sentences over and over, marveling at the structure and the words.”

Twitter: @lizzywood

Lisa Andracke – Video Manager

Lisa produces and edits Worldreader’s videos. Her films have aired on major television networks including ABC, CBS, Discovery Channel, History Channel, IFC, NBC, PBS and TV3, among others. Her HBO documentary received two Emmys, and her recent film, Hijos de Sansón, was selected for the International Film Festival, DOCSBARCELONA.

She studied Spanish language and literature at Colby College and has a master’s degree in theory and practice of creative documentary making from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Books she has long loved:
The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea and The Great Gatsby

Twitter: @Andracke

Jennifer Baljko – Content Manager

Jennifer blogs for Worldreader and helps manage social media. She is an award-winning journalist and has written for various business, technology and travel publications in Manhattan and Silicon Valley. She is a founding member of the Townsend 11 writers collective, which published three e-anthologies, and is co-founder of a multimedia start-up.

Jennifer has degrees in journalism and political science from Rutgers University.

Favorite books on her Kindle:
Graceful by Seth Godin and A Moveable Feast edited by Don George

Twitter: @jbaljko

Nadja Borovac - Marketing Manager

Joining Worldreader in the middle of a website re-launch, Nadja jumped into managing our branding, web design, media and partner relations and social media activities. Previously, she was a communications manager in the B2B and B2C sector, working with companies such as Unilever, Siemens and ConnectPR and managing their global communications strategies.

Nadja is a native of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina but moved to the United States with her family when she was 12 years old.  She now resides in Barcelona, Spain and hopes to soon be reading digital books in Catalan. She has a mass communications degree from University of California, Berkeley and a Masters in marketing and sales from ESADE.

Books that drew her in:
Song of Solomon, Of Mice and Men and Beowulf

Twitter: @NadjaBoz

Joseph Botwey – Operations Manager, Ghana

Joseph oversees the daily operations of our iREAD program in Ghana. He is also the founder of Reflex Media, an interactive media company in Ghana. Skilled in photography, production and directing, Joseph has been a set designer at Top Studios, and worked for international clients such as Marcel Desailly/UBS, Baglioni Hotels and the British Council in Ghana.

He completed film-making studies at the Academy of Screen Arts.

A book he loves and why:
“I loved Faceless by Amma Darko. It gave me a different perspective of the underground world in Ghana.”

Elena Nikolova – Software Development and Operations Manager

Elena is our Barcelona-based IT specialist.  She was a digital video engineer at Philips Innovative Applications, and a software engineer consultant at TTP.

She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from the Technical University of Sofia, and a doctorate in computer engineering from Loughborough University.

Books she can’t get enough of:
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and anything by Hemingway, especially Green Hills of Africa

Tina Tam - Senior Operations Manager

Tina launched Worldreader’s first projects in Kenya and Uganda. She is the Product Manager of Worldreader Kits and also the go-to person for Worldreader’s operational processes, data systems and analysis. Prior to Worldreader, she studied sustainable development and consulted for organizations such as Ashoka and Banorte in areas of micro-finance, impact investing, technology and development and corporate social responsibility. She was a content publishing manager and programmer/writer at Microsoft.

She received a degree in cognitive science with computing specialization from UCLA and a MBA and MS in natural resources from the University of Michigan.

The books she loved when she was young:
A series on the classical stories behind Chinese idioms, written in Chinese

Twitter: @tina_tam

Sofia Wareham Mathiassen – Fellow

Sofia is part of our Ghana team, and assists with classroom observations, case studies, inventory management and publisher relations. She has previously volunteered at a soup kitchen in Barcelona and taught English to Somali refugees in Nepal.

The gift that made her a bookworm:
“In sixth grade, my English teacher gave me one of her favorite books, ‘The Outsiders,’ which I fell in love with. I read every book I could get my hands on by S.E. Hinton, and then moved on to other authors, until reading was as natural to me as sleeping.”

Twitter: @SofiaWareham

Danielle Zacarias – Digital Publishing Manager

Dani works closely with African and international publishers and ensures that the books being added to  Worldreader’s collection are current and locally relevant. She is also instrumental in expanding the Worldreader Kits program and promoting African literature worldwide. Dani started out with Pearson Education, but gravitated toward nonprofits in 2009. She has volunteered at a woman’s shelter in Thailand and worked with Engineers Without Borders Canada.

Dani holds degrees in criminology and English from the University of Toronto.

The power of reading:
“Not every reader becomes a critical thinker, but I think the more readers you have accessing a variety of information, the more likely you are to have critical thinkers as well.”

Twitter: @DanieZacarias

Tanja Commike

Tanja assists the communications team. She is a hospitality professional, and has held various positions in hotels such The Breakers Hotel in Florida and The St. Regis Hotel and one of the Thompson Boutique Hotels, both in New York.

Books she loved growing up:
Grimm’s Fairytales, Der Kleine Vampir by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg and anything by Enid Blyton, especially the “Hanni & Nanni” stories (“St. Clare’s” in English)

Twitter: @tcommike

Clare Joy

Clare gives the publishing team a hand. She has taught in Argentina and Madagascar, and did an internship with Longtail Publishing International, contributing to a guide for Chinese investors in Africa.

She’s currently studying French and Spanish literature at the University of Barcelona, on a year-abroad program from Trinity College, Dublin.

Stories that roped her in:
Anything by Roald Dahl, especially The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

Twitter: @cecj

Clara Miralles Codorniu

Clara handles day-to-day administrative tasks as our office manager. She is a lawyer, and previously served as general director at the Association of Mutual Aid to Immigrants to Catalonia (AMIC).

She has a law degree from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a master’s in international and European law, with a specialty in international trade and investment law, from Universiteit van Amsterdam.

The best book ever given to her:
The Little Prince by Antoine de Sant-Exupéry

Twitter: @ClaraCodorniu

Shamala Palaniappan

Shamala is helping the digital publishing team. She has been an UN volunteer teaching English in the Indochina region; a geneticist working on finding disease patterns across ethnicities, and a medical and scientific communicator relaying science and medicine to physicians and patients. She has published a collection of short stories, is now writing a novel, and is a qualified laughter yoga teacher.

What she loves reading over and over:
The Lord of the Rings trilogy because “a good book speaks to you in different voices at different times.”

Twitter: @shamalasp

Sara Rhyne

Sara is our star lead teacher ambassador. She was instrumental in providing teacher training during our launch with The Kilgoris School. She spends her days teaching teachers and designing professional development by blending best curriculum practices and technology for a school district in North Carolina.

She has degree in literature from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and a master’s in instructional technology and library science from Appalachian State University.

The first book she remembers reading until she had it memorized:
Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells

Twitter: @Rhynes

Monica Salgado

Monica translates materials into Catalan and Spanish. She is an English teacher at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas, and has done various translation, interpretation and editing projects for local and international clients, including Adidas, IBM, Novell, Novartis, SAP and Weather.com.

Monica has a Bachelor of Arts in translation and interpreting from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and master’s degree in speech therapy from ISEP.

A book close to her heart:
La regenta by Leopoldo Alas Clarín

Michael Smith

Michael joins Worldreader as publishing associate. He spent the last 10 years in the Canadian and U.S. financial services industry as a vice president of compliance and risk.

He has Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature from the University of Western Ontario.

The book he loves most:
“My favorite novel of all time is James Joyce’s Ulysses. The challenge of reading one of the most complex books of the 20th century and enjoying it was the ultimate reward.”

Twitter: @RothwellSmith

Nicole Stanbridge

Nicole is a research volunteer for Worldreader, performing literature reviews, annotation and content retrieval. She was a publications manager, implementing communication strategies and medical publication plans for academic journals and congresses, and worked as project manager at University of Michigan Health System.

She is studying for a Master of Information Science degree from Borås University. Nicole has a master’s in education from the University of Michigan, where she also studied Latin, and a bachelor’s humanities from Michigan State University with majors in classical and European history, Greco-Roman architecture and business.

One of her all-time favorites:
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Alex Sulzberger

Alex manages large-scale e-book downloads for our kids in Ghana. He has worked on information and communications technology projects in Austria, Israel, Germany and West Africa, and with the United Nations and Internet service providers and telecoms in West Africa. Alex was CEO of Ecoband Networks, a Ghanaian connectivity solution provider.

He has Bachelor of Arts degrees in political science and philosophy from the University of Vienna.

The book he discovered in high school:
Homo Faber by Max Frisch

Twitter @blaqhaq