Senior Staff

Richard L. Santos

Rick Santos is the President and Chief Executive Officer of IMA World Health. Rick has over two decades of experience in faith-based and relief and development work. He has been responsible for providing leadership to large and complicated relief and development programs in the field and has served as a senior manager at two different global development organization headquarters.

Prior to joining IMA World Health, Rick was most recently involved in developing strategic planning, prioritization and concrete steps for both Church World Service and International Relief and Development's respective governance bodies, senior management and staff.

Rick's experience spans providing management and leadership for large complicated programs, including program design and implementation, commodity logistics and administration, as well as providing leadership for external relations, donor outreach, public policy, marketing, research, event and web outreach efforts.

Rick holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Johns Hopkins University, a master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from George Washington University.

Dr. Dragana Veskov

Dr. Dragana Veskov is Vice President, International Public Health Programs for IMA World Health.

Dragana earned her Master of Science degree in Public Health, specializing in Infectious Diseases, and a Bachelor of Science in the medical field from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. As a Medical Doctor with 25 years of diverse experience in Public Health in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, Dragana has built relationships with donor communities and secured funding from USAID, DFID, EC, NORAD, SIDA and private donors.

Since June 2010, Dragana was the Director of Chemonics International’s Central and Eastern Europe region. Among her various responsibilities, she served as the senior official of high-profile health technical assistance programs, negotiated contracts, became intricately involved with Tuberculosis fundraising and secured new business opportunities.

Previously, she served as the Senior Technical Advisor for John Snow Inc, became an officer with the World Health Organization in Botswana leading the way on HIV/AIDS programs, founded EURO Health Services in Botswana, and greatly enhanced the National AIDS Control Program at the Ministry of Health Botswana.

Douglas E.H. Black

Douglas E. H. Black is the Chief Financial Officer at IMA World Health.  Douglas has over fifteen years in hands on experience in finance and accounting, thirteen of which was spent in non-profit management. 

Previously, Douglas was the Chief Financial Officer at Easter Seals Greater Washington-Baltimore Region, where he was responsible for the integrity of the financial information for this $10 million nonprofit. He has extensive experience in business leadership with Boards of Directors, banks and auditors. As a financial professional, he excels at working with nonprofits in various areas, including risk management, budget development and management, start-up and expansion programs and financial planning.

Douglas is expected to earn his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland in 2012, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida.

Sarla E. Chand

Sarla Chand is the Senior Advisor to the CEO. Sarla has had a successful career as an administrator and manager of human and financial resources, especially in cross-cultural settings. She has long-term experience in negotiating with interfaith and ecumenical organizations, Governments, USAID Missions, Foundations and NGOs.

In her present position, Sarla provides headquarter support in program design, implementation strategies and monitoring and evaluation. She is also responsible to build partnerships among Ministries of Health, International donors, USAID Missions, Education and Training Institutions and Faith-Based health providers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Prior to joining IMA World Health, Sarla spent the majority of her career with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church where she managed International Health Programs with a concentration on program design and partnership building.

Sarla holds a Ph.D. in Human Services Research and Evaluation from Cornell University, a M.S. in Health Sciences from Cornell University; a M.Sc. in Community Development and Extension Education from the University of Delhi, India; and a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Delhi, India.

Esther Ndiang'ui

Esther Ndiang'ui is currently the Director of Programs at IMA World Health (IMA), responsible for organizing and coordinating the administrative, logistical, and managerial support for project implementation and program development.

A graduate of University of Nairobi in Kenya, Esther has a finance and accounting background and a career that spans over two decades, with diverse experiences in accounting, financial analysis, and program management. She began her career in the private sector in Kenya and later joined USAID/Kenya where she enhanced her skills in program management by taking some certificate courses in the US. At USAID/Kenya she held various leadership positions as a Supervisory Project Accountant in the Office of the Controller, Financial Analyst in the Office of Population and Health, and Program Manager for COPHIA project, the Mission's first pilot HIV/AIDS care and support project.

Esther relocated to United States and joined IMA World Health in 2003 as an Assistant Vice President, Program Audits and Support, a position that supported finance compliance, audits, and coordination of preparation and submission of program narrative reports to the donors. She also mentored IMA overseas staff and sub-grantees and trained them in US Government Cost Principles and grants' Administrative requirements. Prior to taking her current position, Esther was the Senior Program Officer who backstopped IMA program activities in Tanzania under the consortium-managed AIDSRelief HIV/AIDS care and treatment program.

Doug Gorsuch

Doug Gorsuch is the Director of Administration for IMA World Health. Doug has over 25 years of experience in senior management as an executive for both privately held and public corporations. In 2010, Doug joined IMA as Director of Financial Planning and Analysis, and was then advanced to his current role as Director of Administration.

In this position, Doug is responsible for Human Resources, Procurement, Information Technology, and other Administrative staff personnel. In addition, Doug prepares the Monthly Financial Reporting package and assists in other financial and budgeting needs for IMA.

Doug’s experience in executive management, corporate finance, and strategy and planning provide specific expertise in this role with IMA World Health. Doug holds a degree in Financial Management and General Business from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Laura A. Shahi

Laura A. Shahi is the Director of Business Development for IMA World Health, where she helps to develop an annual strategy for managed growth of the nonprofit’s diverse health portfolio through USG and other bilateral donors, foundations, member agencies and the private sector.

She offers more than 14 years of experience in proposal development, project management, capacity building and strategic communications in the public and private sectors with diverse constituents. Laura specializes in writing health proposals in maternal and child health, family planning/reproductive health, health systems strengthening, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, particularly in Asia and Africa.

With the help of her team, Laura creates and mentors others in effective proposal development processes through IMA and works across departments to build engagement and proposal opportunities. She increases IMA’s success rate for new awards through development of consistent, high-quality and competitive proposals.

Before joining IMA in August 2010, Laura held positions the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, as well as Chemonics International in Washington, DC.

Laura earned her Master of Arts degree in Mass Communication and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Kory Burkley

Kory Burkley is currently a Project Director at IMA World Health. Previously, he was the Senior Financial Analyst for Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, where he developed an expertise in financial planning and analysis. With experience in for-profit and nonprofit sectors, Kory worked with senior leadership at EGPAF on all financial and compliance issues, financial strategies and performance metrics. He also created field financial capacity building curriculum and implemented it in multiple field offices, which include Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and Tanzania.

Prior to EGPAF, Kory served as the Budget Analyst for the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, where he established budget targets and provided guidance to senior staff on budget review and projections. He also participated in the development and maintenance of a $30 million operating budget.

Kory attended various workshops and seminars, including USAID Rules and Regulations in 2011, Indirect Cost:  The Basics and the NICRA in 2010, Training of Trainers in 2010 and Strategies for Developing Effective Presentation Skills in 2010.

Kory holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Creighton University.