Board of Directors

Dr. Alicia Robb is the Founder and President of FSD. Dr. Robb received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in economic development and econometrics. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double major in Economics and Multinational Organizational Studies from St. Mary's University. She has worked as a staff economist for an economic consulting firm and as an economist for the Office of Economic Research in the Small Business Administration and for the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow with the Kauffman Foundation, a Research Associate with the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Senior Economist with Beacon Economics. Her main research interests are minority entrepreneurship, small business finance, community development, and microfinance. She has taught economic development at universities in the D.C. and Bay areas, as well as abroad. An avid animal rights activist and vegetarian, she volunteers with animal rescue groups in her spare time. She lives in Marin county with her husband and a wide assortment of animals rescued from abroad and here in the U.S.

Dr. Lori Allio is the Chair of FSD's Board of Directorsis the principal of Allio Consulting of San Francisco which works with domestic and international foundations and non-profit organizations. Dr. Allio’s specialties include evaluation, community and policy research, support for grant-making initiatives, and capacity building. Her experience working with non-profit organizations includes managing a small bi-national sustainable community development organization in Veracruz, Mexico; supporting the African Democratization Program and the Conflict Resolution Program at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta; and acting as a Research and Policy Manager for the California Endowment and the Rockefeller Foundation. Dr. Allio holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from U.C. Berkeley, an M.A. from the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California, and a Doctorate in Political Science from Emory University. She occasionally teaches in the areas of international development, foreign policy, and international non-profit practices and has published on a variety of topics related to non-governmental organizations, communities, policy, and development. Her regional expertise and field experience includes numerous countries in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Dr. Allio speaks excellent Spanish, good Polish, some Russian, and embarrassingly little Italian.

Don Baker is the Vice Chair of FSD's Board of Directors. He is also the Founder and President of the Center for Sustainability and Economic Growth, an NGO that recognizes and promotes best practices in sustainable development projects. Until 2003, Mr. Baker was President and CEO of EPRI Worldwide Holdings, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and served as chairman of the board for two EPRI subsidiaries. Working with other international agencies like World Bank and USAID, he led efforts to increase electrification in developing countries. Mr. Baker developed a passion for sustainable development issues while serving as a juror for Austria’s Energy Globe, “The World Award for Sustainability”. For the past three years, he has reviewed and judged hundreds of sustainable development projects submitted for international recognition in the areas of water, air, land use, energy and education. Prior to joining EPRI in 1998, Mr. Baker spent 25 years with General Electric in positions focusing on the energy market. Mr. Baker earned a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree and a Master of Science in Economics from Auburn University. He has authored and presented over 30 papers on energy and the role of electricity in worldwide economic development.

Dr. Duncan Chaplin is the Secretary of the FSD's Board of Directors. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1983 to 1985. He then completed a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He is now a senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C. where he does research on education policy issues in the U.S., focusing in particular on at-risk youth and rigorous evaluation methods, including random assignment. In his spare time Dr. Chaplin has taught numerous courses in education policy at Georgetown University, served as a board member for the Cesar Chavez Public Policy Charter High School, helped to monitor elections in Bosnia, Kenya, and South Africa, and started a club of Swahili speakers in the Washington, D.C. area.

Juliana Matson is the Treasurer of FSD. She is a financial executive with 15 years of solid business advisory and financing experience. Until recently, she was a Principal in the Global Syndicated Finance group at Banc of America Securities (“BAS”). In the Fall, she will attend University of San Francisco’s International and Development Economics program. Juliana received a MBA from University of California at Berkeley, a BA from University of San Diego, and is a Certified Public Accountant. She has always been passionate about development, volunteerism, and traveling. Juliana strongly believes in FSD’s goal to raise international awareness of the economic challenges in developing countries and to support communities in finding effective solutions to development issues. She is very excited about making a difference in the developing world through FSD.


Mr. Joseph F. Lombardo is an independent consultant focusing on strategic, operational and performance management of international development programs. Over his nearly 30 years working in international development, Mr. Lombardo has held a number of senior management positions with public and private organizations. Between 2005 and 2007, Mr. Lombardo managed education programs for the American Institutes for Research. From 1983 until 2005, Mr. Lombardo was at the U.S. Agency for International Development. In his most recent position with USAID, Mr. Lombardo directed strategic and performance planning, and oversaw policy for the strategic allocation, performance measurement, and reporting of the Agency’s $14 billion budget. Mr. Lombardo’s international development work began with his service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the late 1970s. In later years, Mr. Lombardo directed the USAID Honduras Mission and its hurricane reconstruction program, oversaw development planning and budget for the Latin America and Caribbean programs, directed strategic planning and project development for USAID programs in Peru, and supervised shelter and urban development programs throughout Central America. In addition, Mr. Lombardo oversaw development of economic restructuring programs in Eastern Europe and managed cross-national evaluations of USAID programs. Holding advanced degrees in Regional Planning from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, as well as Educational Psychology and Statistics from SUNY at Albany, Mr. Lombardo played a leadership role in the development of the U.S. government’s strategic planning, project design, and performance measurement policies for programs to address critical economic, governance, and social sector issues. He is fluent in Spanish, and has worked in over 20 countries.

Julie Reed is the Director of the Office of Service-Learning and Communicty Action (OSLCA) within the McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good. Previously she directed the Center for Public Service at Gettysburg College, and worked in the service-learning centers at Indiana University-Bloomington, IUPUI, Georgetown University, and California State University-Monterey Bay. Julie has administered an Annie E. Casey Foundation grant as well as CNCS VISTA and LSA grants. She co-authored Facilitating Reflection in Higher Education, and developed the Advocates of Community Engagement (ACE) student leadership program now replicated in multiple states. Julie earned her PhD in Higher Education and Student Affairs with a minor in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University, and conducted dissertation research on reflective practice and care theory in novice faculty teaching. Her other research focuses on faculty development and service-learning. Julie also holds bachelors and masters degrees in social work from the University of Wisconsin and was previously a licensed social worker in the field of criminal and mental health services. She has served on the executive board of a Nicaraguan community development organization and is interested in domestic and international service-learning projects, in addition to those in her local community.

Dr. Marc D. Shapiro is the Vice Chair of FSD's Board of Directors. He is the principal of MDS Associates of Washington, DC which works with domestic and international organizations and governments across sectors in providing evaluation, research, monitoring, and project management services with particular emphasis on education, non-formal education, and environmental/natural resource issues. He has conducted evaluations for the World Bank and served as project director of the evaluation of the National Flood Insurance Program. Dr. Shapiro served as a project director for the largest project sponsored by USAID involving secondary education and decentralization in Macedonia and also supervised an evaluation of all USAID-sponsored education projects in Macedonia . He has worked for 16 years leading evaluations, surveys, and other research efforts and has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Rochester with concentrations in research design, statistics, and public policy. He has taught, worked for NGOs and consulting firms, and as an independent consultant, and has work experience in Macedonia, the Republic of Georgia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the United States.

Wingee Sin is an investment strategist in the Alternative Investment Group at Barclays Global Investors (BGI). Prior to joining BGI in 2004, Wingee worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the Equity Derivatives Strategy team, where she authored research on derivatives strategies. Wingee received her BA in economics and East Asian developmental studies from University of California at Berkeley. She holds the NASD Series 3, 7 and 63 licenses and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. She is also a Level III candidate in the Chartered Financial Analyst program. Her interest in sustainable development sprouted from her undergraduate days at Berkeley, and she is excited at the prospect of making a difference in the developing world through FSD.