Équipe
Les personnes qui se cachent derrière les programmes
Rencontrez notre équipe : des acteurs du changement qui s’engagent à respecter les normes les plus élevées en matière de développement communautaire.
Members of the Board of Directors (HAF-USA)
Harry Palumbo, Chair
Harry Palumbo has been a member of the Board of Directors of the High Atlas Foundation since
2017. He is an active member of the Board on the Finance Committee and the Funding Raising
and Marketing Committee. He retired from AIG (American International Group) in 2017 after 15
years. He is now an independent consultant working within the financial services industry. He
has over 40 years of experience in the insurance and corporate banking industries. At AIG he
was a SVP and Division Executive of Trade, Project Finance and Structured Finance insurance
area. He worked with major U.S. and International banks and other financial intermediaries and
corporations providing insurance covering the non payment of loans for major infrastructure
projects in the U.S. and internationally.
Prior to joining AIG he spent over 10 years with Bank of America in London and New York. He
was a Managing Director in London responsible for project and structured finance transactions
in Eastern Europe, Russia, Middle East; and Central Asia. Before Bank of America he worked at
J.P. Morgan in the corporate banking area in London, Australia and New York.
He is on the Board of Directors of the Excelsior Corporation a real estate company and actively
works with non profit charities.
He holds a BA from Rutgers University and a MBA in finance from Rutgers University Graduate
School of Business.
Suzanne Moyer Baazet, Treasurer
Suzanne is an American entrepreneur and non-profit leader with extensive experience in Morocco and
North Africa. Suzanne is the co-founder of Nevo Technologies, a value-added distributor of security
solutions (cyber security and public sector security/defense) which serves the North and West African
market and represents a portfolio of more than 40 leading brands. She is also a founding partner of
AmeriSource Consulting, a boutique consulting firm providing a broad range of business, trade, and
development consulting services in the North African market. Prior to launching her own enterprises in
the region, Suzanne was awarded a prestigious Fulbright grant to research the implementation of the
Morocco-US Free-Trade Agreement.
In addition to her private sector work, Suzanne is passionate about education and economic
empowerment, especially of women. She serves as the Executive Director of the African Studies
Association, President of the Board of Trustees of the Rabat American School, and a Board Member of
the High Atlas Foundation. Suzanne is also the former Director of AIESEC in the United States, where she
worked with top executives in multi-national companies such as MasterCard, Google, Kraft Foods
International, Cisco, and Delphi to design international mobility and leadership recruitment programs.
Suzanne has also contributed as a trade and development consultant on key projects in the MENA
region. She has served as a consultant on several projects dealing with women’s empowerment,
including a regional initiative to build Breast Cancer awareness among Arab women in collaboration with
Vital Voices and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Suzanne graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Honors College of the Fisher College of Business at the
Ohio State University, with degrees in International Business and Accounting. She was honored as the
Most Outstanding Female Graduate of the Ohio State Fisher College of Business. She also completed
advanced Arabic language studies at the Arabic Language Institute of Fes (ALIF.) She holds several
professional certifications, including a professional certificate in Cybersecurity from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Suzanne speaks fluent French, Moroccan, and classical Arabic and is a published
author on business and development in the Maghreb. She currently lives between Rabat, Morocco and
Princeton NJ with her husband and three children.
Martine Roberts, Secretary
Martine Roberts has a combined experience of over twenty-five years in financial services and in the
renewable energy industry. She is currently an active board member who leads the fundraising
committee of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), whose mission is to improve the quality of life for rural
Moroccans across a range of projects including supporting sustainable farming, developing clean
drinking water, and promoting female empowerment and engagement in society.
During her career in finance, Martine served as an Executive Vice President at BankBoston/Fleet, a
leading global bank headquartered in Boston. In this role, Mrs. Roberts led a team of global private
bankers in the International Private Bank, servicing high net worth clients in Latin America and Canada.
Mrs. Roberts oversaw a book of more than $1 BN in client assets and provided a full suite of financial
advisory services to her clients, including investment selection, risk and credit management, and
building deep trust-based relationships with the clients she covered. She also led the strategic direction
of the team and drove its business development.
After BankBoston/Fleet’s sale of the International Private Bank, Mrs. Roberts redirected her professional
interests toward her passion in the renewable energy space. She held the position of Senior
International Consultant and Product Manager for the MENA region at Balderrie GmbH, a renewable
energy company focused on using green waste products to provide fuel for industrial production, as well
as developing applications for next generation technologies such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. In this role,
she was responsible for business development in the area of refuse-derived-fuel (RDF) with recoverable
caloric value to be used as fuel in cement kiln in Morocco.
Born in Casablanca, Martine Roberts speaks English, French, Moroccan Arabic, and Spanish. She has a
Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University Mohamed V in Rabat. Additionally, Mrs. Roberts is
a Fulbright Scholar, and received an MBA from Boston College. Martine is an active founding member of
the Rotary Club Salé Bab Lamrissa (Morocco).
Yossef Ben-Meir, President of Operations (co-founder)
Amine Alami, Member
Nizzar Ben Chekroune, Member
Nizzar is a marketer who develops applications and models for the new internet. Nizzar leads Web3 and NFTs at Berexia Digital, a leading global services company providing a wide range of services and solutions in consulting, digital, new technologies, and innovation. He is focused on remodeling the way donations are raised and shared by international organizations and creating a sustainable frame of collaboration for artists and projects through decentralized B2B platforms. He co-founded NCEPTION, a decentralized ecosystem based on a new financial model.
Lamia Fikrat, Member
Ruth Huwe, Member
Ruth Huwe is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Management and Organization at the University of Washington. She created the Triple Impact Africa program where she has taken four groups of students on treks to impoverished villages, taught students principles of organic farming, and guided her students to win grants to help they very people the students met. She is also author of the book Metrics 2.0 and teaches courses in ethics, organizational behavior, leadership, performance management, and negotiations.
Dr. Huwe has also served on the faculty of the university's Global Executive MBA and Global MBA programs, where she has taught international business communications for executives from Japan, Korea, and Romania. She was an on-site consultant at the Boeing company for 12 years, leading 196 teams through the process of becoming “Partners in Leadership.” She is also an off-site facilitator and frequent speaker at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Huwe has a bachelors and masters degree in speech communication from San Diego State University, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from the University of Washington.
Bruno Mejean, Member
Chemsedine Sidi Baba, Member