Ushahidi

David Kobia - Director of Technology Development

David is a co-founder and technology lead at Ushahidi and brings more than 10 years of product development experience and a multidisciplinary background to his work, with a focus on social and emerging technologies. He works in a variety of roles, from designer and coder to strategist. After pursuing a BS in Computer Science at the University of Alabama, he has been a professional software developer and has worked with almost every web technology in use today. In 2010, he was a recipient of MIT Technology Review’s TR35 award (35 top innovators under 35) and the Humanitarian of the Year award.

Juliana Rotich - Executive Director

Juliana Rotich is originally from Kenya where she spent her early life and schooling. She later moved to the US where she majored in IT and has worked in the industry for over ten years.

She collaborated with the online community and co-founded Ushahidi which is the Swahili word for testimony. Ushahidi is a web based reporting system that utilizes crowdsourced data to formulate visual map information of a crisis on a real-time basis. As a Program Director for Ushahidi she manages projects and aids in the development and testing of the Ushahidi platform.

She also blogs at 'Afromusing' blog, typically with a focus on African tech and renewable energy. She is a budding African Futurist and a TED Senior Fellow. She often speaks at international conferences about tech and Africa.

Erik Hersman - Director of Operations & Strategy

Erik Hersman is an international technology influencer with a keen eye on the impact of web and mobile technology innovation across Africa. Raised in Sudan and Kenya, Erik brings unique energy and insight to the world of technology and innovation – bridging the gap between Africa and Silicon Valley. He has a B.S. in Business Management from Florida State University.  As part of the Ushahidi strategy he has been building the iHub (Nairobi's innovation hub) since early 2010, a place that has grown to 3000+ Kenyan developers, designers, and entrepreneurs with connections in the corporate, academic and investor sectors.

An avid blogger, Erik writes two different technology-related blogs - AfriGadget and WhiteAfrican. He is frequently a speaker at meetings and conferences dealing with technology in Africa, mapping, blogging and web application development, including; TED, PopTech, DEMO, Picnic, SXSW, Where 2.0 and Web 2.0.  He is a TED Senior Fellow, a PopTech Faculty Fellow, sits on the Safaricom Innovation Board and is a founding organizer of Maker Faire Africa.

Heather Leson - Director Community of Engagement

Heather Leson is Ushahidi’s Director of Community Engagement, a role in which she exercises her passion for community-building, storytelling, and idea hacking.

Heather creates and manages programs for Ushahidi’s diverse community, and mentors members of its open-source developer ecosystem. Her earlier leadership in open source communities such as Random Hacks of Kindness and CrisisCommons saw her successfully organize numerous participant-driven “unconferences” and hackathons.

In addition to her community development work, Heather has 15 years of experience in technical incident management, software life-cycle development, customer care, and Internet communications. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Combined Political Science and History from Carleton University in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa, and a Library and Information Technician diploma from Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto.

Inspired to help people gain access to, understand and apply information, Heather is focused on giving “do-more” disrupters a voice.

She enjoys sharing stories about tech super heroes on her blog textontechs.com. Always interested in hearing from members of the Ushahidi community, reach out to Heather at: hleson@ushahidi.com and @heatherleson.

Linda Kamau - Developer

Linda Kamau is a software developer based in Kenya with a degree in Business Information Technology. She develops both web and mobile applications. Before joining Ushahidi, Linda worked as a software developer with IT firms such as Ibidlabs, Ltd. and Mobile Pay, Ltd.

When not doing what she loves most (coding), she enjoys outdoor activities like camping. She is also a die hard Man U fan and can often be found watching the latest football match.

Rob Baker - Operations Manager

Rob Baker is primarily responsible for overseeing company deliverables and internal reporting and is a lead on documentation and toolkits for deployment strategies. Previously, with a 10-year background in software development, Rob was a lead for project deployments around the world, primarily working in East Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. He's spoken at the United Nations, World Bank, with government events, hackathons, and at technical conferences around the world. Prior to officially joining Ushahidi, he was the Senior Developer of Web and New Media for Oxfam America and a member of the US/Russia Presidential Commission on New Media. When he's not working on Ushahidi projects, Rob is also a member of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team and reluctant writes about himself in the third person. He is currently based in Washington, DC and is on Twitter at @rrbaker.

Jon Shuler - R&D Manager

Jonathan is self described polymath with a background in multimedia journalist and a penchant for taking things apart to make new things. Like all hardware hackers, Jonathan’s experience has come out of necessity and frustrations. His improvised creations have ranged from a remote trigger systems to sync sound and multiple cameras for multi-cam interviews, to hot-wiring a hard drive to a car battery in order to file a story from the DRC.

Jonathan has been collaborating with Ushahidi since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, creating videos which highlighted the impact of Ushahidi Platform has on real people’s lives. As R&D Manager for Ushahidi, Jonathan leads a team of engineers and designers develop hardware that we hope will change the way we experience internet connectivity.

Robbie Mackay - Software developer

Robbie Mackay is a software developer based in Auckland, New Zealand. He works on Ushahidi deployments and customisation with external partners. He has been part of the Ushahidi community since early 2011, and is an active member of the Standby Taskforce Tech Team.

Prior to joining Ushahidi, Robbie worked with charities and non-profits such as ActionAid, the UK Green Building Council and Greenpeace. Robbie has a BE in Computer Systems Engineering from Auckland University. 

Robbie has just relocated back to Auckland from Oxford, UK to start a family, his first child is due in March.

Angela Odour - Developer

Angela Oduor is a developer based in Nairobi, Kenya. She started off as an intern with Ushahidi before joining the team full time. She recently graduated from Strathmore University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology, where she discovered her deep interest in web and mobile technologies. She has also worked as an intern at the iHub.

In her spare time, Angela is an avid reader and social media enthusiast. She also loves music, and spending time with her family and close friends.

Limo Taboi - Finance Director

Limo is a banker and blogger living in Nairobi, Kenya. Prior to joining Ushahidi, Limo worked as a banker in the Kenyan finance sector. He holds an MBA and dabbles in Nairobi Stock Exchange investments and real estate management. In the future, Limo plans to develop funding and finance links to the local tech community. He enjoys formula one racing and travel.

Nathaniel Manning - Director of Business Development

Nathaniel’s work orbits around the theme of developing technology that makes the world a better place. He worked for the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) for three years throughout Asia, where he helped to craft business models that make clean energy financially feasible in emerging nations. He focused on solar in Malaysia, rural electrification in India, waste management in Indonesia, and energy efficiency in Thailand. He has advised companies such as First Solar and Virgin on market strategy and is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional. Nathaniel holds a BA in Philosophy and MA in International Environmental Policy from Brown University.

A curious technologist, Nathaniel has founded web startups such as TheInteract.net, writes about technology and ethics at moraltech.com, advises social businesses such as Runa.org, and helps to build robots at 9thsense.com.

Nathaniel was selected to attend the Singularity University 2011 Program at NASA Ames where he focused on building an encrypted cloud computer.

He is currently attempting to build a 3D printer and scanner in his basement.

Brian Muita - Software Developer

Brian is a Nairobi based software developer with five years experience in the industry and has been a volunteer with Ushahidi since 2008, when he set up the FrontlineSMS to relay SMS reports for the November 2008 Ushahidi DRC instance setup to track eastern Congo conflict.

Prior to joining Ushahidi, he was responsible for the development, maintenance and support of the postpaid billing system at a local telco and had previously worked in the development of systems for managing higher education institutions and also in the provision of open source managed services to clients around Nairobi.

Jepchumba - Designer

Jepchumba is an African digital artist and digital enthusiast who works hard to combine her two passions: Digital media and Africa. Originally from Kenya, she has lived around the world developing her interest in philosophy, art and technology. Jepchumba has a Masters in Digital Media with experience in New Media project management and digital production She specializes in Web Design, Digital Art, Audio/Visual Production and User Interface/User Experience. Jepchumba is also the founder of African Digital Art Network, dedicated to the African Digital Media industry. Jepchumba continues to focus on the intersection between technology, creativity and design.

Brian Herbert - Director of Crowdmap

Brian Herbert is the Director of Crowdmap, serving up free hosted deployments of the Ushahidi Platform. Crowdmap allows anyone to have a website up and running that crowdsources and aggregates geospatial information and visualizes it in useful ways for visitors. His responsibilities run the gamut from customer service, to vision and development.

Before falling in love with Ushahidi, he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, worked with Esoko in Ghana as a software developer and performed web maintenance at CNET. He received his MBA from Kennesaw State University and a BS in Computer Information Systems from Bellarmine University.

Esther Ondigo - Administrative Assistant

5 years experience as a customer service representative with a track record of success in meeting and exceeding customer expectations in top Organizations in the USA and Kenya. Holder of a Bachelors degree in Leisure and Hospitality Management and a Certified Hospitality Supervisor certificate awarded by American Hotels and Lodges, Also voted best intern of the year  at The American Hospitality Academy. Previously worked for Radisson Resort in Orlando Florida, Fairmont The Norfolk, Fairmont Mara Safari Club, and m:Lab East Africa.Love singing, travelling,spending time in church,  listening to music, and learning new things.

Evan Sims - Senior Developer, Crowdmap

Evan is a programmer and entrepreneur from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois who had spent the last decade and a half as a freelance developer and consultant for the web and video game industries prior to joining Ushahidi. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Game Design. He is an open source enthusiast and a strong believer in web standards. He occasionally blogs at evansims.com, and you can reach him at evan@ushahidi.com and @evansims.

Sharon Rutto - Quality Assurance Engineer

Sharon is a Nairobi based software developer. She recently graduated from Strathmore University with a degree in Business Information Technology. She started off as a Quality Assuarance Testing intern at Ushahidi where she developed a growing interest in we technologies. Prior to this she interned at CoreTEC Systems and Solutions and was part of the Support team for Microsoft Dynamics Nav ERP Systems. In her free time, Sharon loves baking, listening to music and spending time with family and friends. She also loves challenges, learning and discovering new things.

Emmanuel Kala - Developer

Emmanuel is a software developer living in Nairobi, Kenya and has been part of the Ushahidi volunteer developer community since December 2008. Prior to joining Ushahidi, he served as the lead for the software development team at Strathmore University where he worked on applications for managing higher education institutions. He also worked as developer at Alliance Technologies. While there, he worked on a file encryption tool and deployed Open Source GIS tools at the Department of Defense.

Henry Addo - Senior Developer

Henry is a software developer living in Accra, Ghana. He has worked as a software developer with several IT companies including Suuch Solutions, txtGhana, IDZ Ghana limited. He has also worked as a Java instructor at IPMC Ghana, an IT training institution.

He is passionate about open technologies and has been instrumental in the evangelism and advocacy of the use of Free and Open Source Software in Ghana. Henry enjoys riding on his motorcycle when he is not doing his professional work, practice Karate Shotokan and traveling. You can read about his personal experiences with technology on his blog at Info zone.

Daudi Were - Project Director - Africa

Daudi Were is a Kenyan technology strategist, entrepreneur, social activist based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is regularly recognised as one of the most influential African voices online on technology and how it relates to accountability and transparency; the growth of social and citizen media and the way it is changing the world we live for the better; trends in technology; good information as the most powerful resource for development.

As Project Director at Ushahidi, Daudi manages key partnerships and custom Ushahidi deployments for organisations ranging from large multinational organisations to grassroots NGOs.

Daudi blogs at Mentalacrobatics, is a TED Africa fellow, a semi-retired rugby player and supports AFC Leopards and Liverpool FC.