People

Managing Director and Founder

Anne Toba

Education: 

• Masters in Tourism 1986
• Post graduate degree in Hotel Administration 1986
• Strathclyde University, Scottish Hotel School, Glasgow Scotland

Corporate Experience:

• Area Director of HR & Training, Luxury Hotels, Africa
• 20 years launching 5 star hotels in Africa with a focus on luxury experience delivery, and holding various senior management roles in London

Anne is an expert in designing end-to-end service models, quality measurements and employee staffing and training plans for luxury hotels.  Her passion for culinary experiences also led her to advising hotel chefs on the fusion of African and western spice fusions.

The Inspiration For Founding Ripples

Anne was raised in Northern Nigeria where she was one of few girls with access to education – a privilege her mother being female, was denied education, fought to secure so that Anne and her children’s future can be secured.

After raising her children and having success in the corporate world, Anne founded Ripples in honor of her mother.  Anne’s  goal is to make it easier to lift up the next generation of African children by connecting as many women as possible to economic independence.

Prof. Judi McClean Parks

Dr. Judi McLean Parks is the Reuben C. & Anne Carpenter Taylor Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior at the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University. Prior to coming to Washington University, Dr. McLean Parks taught at the University of Minnesota, Cornell University, as well as the Institute d’Administration des Entreprises, Université Jean Moulin Lyon III, Lyon, France, King Fahad Medical Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Peking University in Beijing, China. At Washington University, she has taught conflict resolution and negotiation in the business school, the law school, and the Brookings Institute in Washington DC. In addition to teaching conflict resolution and negotiation, she is faculty lead for the Madagascar Program, helping subsistence farmers build sustainable economies through the application of student projects (a cooperative endeavor with Missouri Botanical Garden).

Dr. McLean Parks’ most recent research focuses on dispute resolution, as well as identity in organizations, behavioral integrity and how to divide apparently “indivisible” assets (ideologically or physically indivisible). Her research also has addressed the “psychological contract” between employers and employees, and how the nature of the employer/employee relationship is changing, in particular for those who are ideologically attached to their organizations. In addition, Dr. McLean Parks’ research interests also include the impact of perceived injustice and its implications in terms of employee behaviors, workplace violence, revenge, and more recently, “crimes” of obedience. Dr. McLean Parks’ work has been appeared in such publications as the Academy of Management Journal, Human Resources Management, International Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Research in Organizational Behavior, Research on Negotiation in Organizations, Trends in Organizational Behavior, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and the Wake Forest Law Review.

Dr. McLean Parks’ has received numerous awards and honors. She was a summer research intern in 1992 at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (Institute Conflict & Dispute Resolution) at Stanford, the premier research center on human behavior and has won the Reid teaching award for “…the professor whose enthusiasm and exceptional teaching most inspire, energize and transformed the students…”. Her research has won awards such as the ANBAR citation of excellence (research among the 10% most frequently cited papers) and as one of the “Best Papers” at a variety of professional meetings (e.g. Academy of Management Meetings, International Association for Conflict Management, The Olin Award for Research. She also has been recognized with the Outstanding Service Award of the International Association for Conflict Management.”

Dr. McLean Parks’ was founding editor of Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, the official scholarly publication of the International Association for Conflict Management. In addition, she previously was the editor of the International Journal of Conflict Management and the SSRN Negotiations Papers, Two Party Negotiations series. She also has served on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Organizational Behavior. Dr. McLean Parks served as the executive director of the International Association of Conflict Management, and has served as program chair and President of the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management. She consults in the areas of organizational identity/change management, negotiation and conflict resolution, as well as cross cultural differences and diversity. Dr. McLean Parks is a frequent media consultant and has been a guest expert for programs such as NPR (National Public Radio) and CNBC.

Last, but not least, she is a devoted grandmother, amateur wildlife photographer and “more than amateur” genealogist.

President

Rotimi Toba

Tim Toba was named Director for Boeing AvionX in September 2018. In this role, he is responsible for establishing product line plans for system hardware and software development and execution, driving alignment and coordination across the enterprise, and ensuring the successful delivery of avionic systems capability into commercial and defense programs.

Before joining The Boeing Company, Toba spent 7 years at United Technologies Corporation (UTC), holding roles of increasing responsibility in Engineering and Program Management at its UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS) division. While at UTAS, Toba served as Program Manager for New Product Introduction (NPI), Production, Repair and Sustainment responsible for leading global cross-functional teams for the China and Russian market.

Prior to UTC, Toba spent 7 years at Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors. During his tenure at Lockheed Martin, he held leadership roles in the areas of Systems Engineering, Business Development, Strategy and Capture Management.

Toba serves on the Board of Directors for the non-profit organization, RIPPLES Foundation, supporting its mission of empowering young women to be the next generation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) leaders. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in physics from Illinois Wesleyan University, a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Chief (Mrs.) Oyenike Monica Okundaye

Occupation: Professional Textile Artist and a Painter.

Membership of professional bodies:
Society of Nigerian Artists, ASA of USA and Canada, ACASA, Society of Nigerian Women Artists, Member of Osun Support Grove, Board member of the National Heritage Council of Nigeria, Member of the Board of Trustee of Osun State Centre For Black Culture and International understanding, etc.

Philanthropy:
Member, Board of Ripples USA
President, Ripples Nigeria

From modest beginnings:
Nike was principally educated in art by her great grandmother whom Nike lived with after the death of her mother and grandmother. Her great grandmother was a weaver and an “Adire” textile maker/dyer during her lifetime. Nike had little formal education.

Nike opened this center with 20 young girls, street girls on the streets in Osogbo with no hope for the future. Nike provided them with food, accommodation at her residence at Osogbo and training on how to use their hands to earn a decent living through the art. Todate, over 4000 young Nigerians have been trained at the center..

Nike’s faced challenges from a men dominated culture where men are allowed to dominate women. Men saw her as challenging the status quo, empowering girls and women to be economically independent.

The Nike Center for Art and Culture, Osogbo now admits International scholars and researchers in traditional African art and culture, undergraduate students from many Nigerian universities and Colleges of Arts abroad for their industrial training programs/Internships/Internships in textile design. Nike Arts center also admits students from all over Europe, Canada and the United States of America.

Nike has had over 102 solo art exhibitions and 36 group art exhibitions. Nike’s art works can be found in many private homes collections and public institutions collections including schools, colleges, universities, palaces and museums all over the world. Two of Nike’s major art works “Liberal Women Protest March (Parts 1 & 2)” were collected by the Smithsonian National Museum Of African Art in Washington DC, USA for permanent display in 2012.

Yomi Toba

Yomi Toba is the CEO and Co-founder of YT Advisors a Saint Louis based consulting and software Development Company. Mr Toba is responsible for managing the company, formulating and executing long-term strategies and interacting with clients, employees and other stakeholders. With over a decade of industry experience, Yomi has a deep expertise running software operations, creating partnerships with third party vendors and delivering on technical goals.

Yomi began his leadership experience in software as the co-founder and CTO of Lockerdome — a social media advertising platform. After founding the company, and building it’s initial software development team, the company went on to raise over 18M dollars in venture capital, establishing partnerships with leading media companies nationwide.

Yomi acted as CTO and co-founder to a second venture funded company — Push-up Social an online social community and social media aggregator. The company subsequently raised 1M dollars in seed money, hired a small team of software developers and engineers and were early disrupters providing social media widgets to small to medium-sized companies.

Yomi is a passionate mentor and sits on the Advisor board of multiple Saint Louis start up companies, providing valuable insight on preventable pitfalls to avoid as a young company. He has lectured on business and technical topics at Washington University in Saint Louis, Square One at CET, and Saint Louis University.

Secretary

Abby Frimpong

Abby Frimpong is an accomplished development professional with more than a decade of experience in all aspects of corporate and non-profit fundraising.

Ms Frimpong is an inclusive and inspiring leader, adept at cultivating relationships to enhance cooperation and build teamwork, and a creative and strategic planner with a keen eye for detail and a proven, goal-oriented methodology. Her professional experience has included Major Gifts Officer and Director of Annual Giving at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital Foundation, where she increased participation in employee giving initiatives from 8% to 23%, increased attendance for an annual gala fundraiser by almost 50%, successfully sold out ticket sales for an annual golf tournament to raise $500,000 in support of the Hospital’s strategic plan.

Prior to her work with the Foundation. Ms. Frimpong worked at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Maryland, The Endocrine Society and Landon School. Ms. Frimpong volunteers her time and expertise to many worthwhile causes in her community. She serves on the Fight 4 Diabetes Cure Committee, providing thought leadership on fundraising goals and practices as well as the Board of So What Else, a grassroots organization focused on enhancing the lives of at-risk youth in the DC Metro area. Internationally, she has worked with Books for Africa and Iniciativas de Paz, where she helped send dozens of physicians to care for residents of remote villages in Ghana.

President Ripples Ghana

Madam Rabi

What is the best thing about working at Ripples?

 I love working at Ripples because Ripples Team’s approach to challenges makes them less daunting by breaking them down into simple processes, no matter how big the project.

Interesting fact about myself:

I’m generally a very calm person.

Top of my bucket list:

To go on a wildlife safari trip.

Logistics Ghana

Maltiti Bilal Abubakari

What is the best thing about working at Ripples?

 I handle all logistics, local and international.

Interesting fact about myself:

Ripples Ghana has really made a big effort to help rural women in deprived communities in Ghana. I like being a part of an organisation that changes women’s lives. I see the impact of our work every day, it is very humbling

Top of my bucket list:

I want to be part of growing Ripples Ghana and help even more communities.

General Manager - Ripples Ghana OR

Imoro Abu Kassim

Imoro Abu Kassim is the General Manager of Ripples OR Ghana holds a B.A Integrated Development studies, University for Development studies.

He is Trainer, and has been instrumental in the preparation of Ripples Ghana OR’s accreditation as a Fair Trade and Organic Certification for over 5,500 women.

Kassim has experience in Warehouse Management, Project Planning and Implementation. He is development-oriented, and an active change agent to many rural communities in Northern Ghana with a strong ability to research and communicate effectively.

Regional Director of Enterprise (Nigeria)

Funke Owonubi

What is the best thing about working at Ripples?

I love working at Ripples because Ripples Team’s approach to challenges makes them less daunting by breaking them down into simple processes, no matter how big the project.

Interesting fact about myself:

I’m generally a very calm person.

Top of my bucket list:

To go on a wildlife safari trip.

Medical

Dr Maryam Nasir Aliyu

What is the best thing about working at Ripples?

I love working at Ripples because Ripples Team’s approach to challenges makes them less daunting by breaking them down into simple processes, no matter how big the project.

Interesting fact about myself:

I’m generally a very calm person.

Top of my bucket list:

To go on a wildlife safari trip.

Medical

Dr Anthony Ojo

What is the best thing about working at Ripples?

Ripples has helped to restore hope to very many less privileged African women endowed with potentials. That fulfilment you have when you see a woman empowered.

Interesting fact about myself:

Life is about living for others. Dream Big, With optimism & strong will, nothing is impossible.

Top of my bucket list:

Holidays in Paris.

Medical

Dr Abdurrahman Nasir

What is the best thing about working at Ripples?

I like the flexibility and adaptability of Ripples’ Programmes. Their working model is different from most other organizations. One has the freedom to do what you do best and yet be able to make a difference. The team is very great with virtually no limitations except the extent of our abilities. That is very great!

Interesting fact about myself:

Interesting facts about myself are that I love challenges (the bigger the better) and that I’m always in when it comes to learning something new.

Top of my bucket list:

Help establish a first class center of learning, visit the Faroe Islands, learn to play the Piano.

Madagascar Country Manager

Gloria Zoulder

Gloria Zoulder is the country head of Ripples Madagascar. Her expertise is in communications and community development, with formal training at the university in CNTEMAD Tulear in Madagascar and the Hald International Center in Norway.

She has over a decade of experience designing and implementing community led development programs in Madagascar that balance economic security with protection of natural resources and the environment. She is fluent in Malagasy, English and French, with working knowledge of Norwegian and German

General Manager

Rasoajanahary Julienne Franckelle

Logistics and Secretary

Virginia Rakotobe