About ICVolunteers

Viola Krebs
Founder & Executive Director

Languages: French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian

Viola Krebs takes care of the day-to-day management of ICVolunteers. With a background in socio-linguistics, she has many years of experience with international project management in the field of communications and media, including in a development context (Africa, Latin America and Asia). She is a member of the Strategy Council of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), chaired several international conferences, and served from 2003 to 2005 on the Civil Society Bureau of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). She has worked in both the public and the private sector, including for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PWA), the World Economic Forum and Merrill Lynch. Viola Krebs is a Swiss national and holds a Masters in Communications and Media, a Bachelor in Linguistics, Spanish and English of the University of Geneva. She is now working on a Ph.D. focusing on the impact of the Internet on volunteers and volunteerism.

Adama Samassékou
President

Languages: Bamanan (Bambara), Songay (Songhay), Fulfulde (Peul), French, Russian and English

Adama Samassékou was born in 1946 in Mali. He is currently President, with ministerial rank, of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN). Between July 2002 and December 2003, he served as the President of the PrepCom of the Geneva phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Previously, he was Malian Minister of Education (1993-2000) and former spokesperson for the Government of Mali (1997-2000). Since 2003, he is a member of the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie. Playing an active role in community life, Mr. Samassékou is the founding President, for Mali and Africa as a whole, of the Peoples' Movement for Human Rights Education, in association with PDHRE, and since 21st October 2005, President of the International Federation of ICVolunteers. In the political sphere, he was the founding Chairman of ADEMA-France. He holds a Master of Arts in philology and linguistics from Lomonossov State University in Moscow, DEA postgraduate diploma in African linguistics from Sorbonne and a DESS specialist postgraduate diploma in organizational science from the Université de Paris-IX (Dauphine). He was Head of the Linguistic Department of the Institute of Human Sciences of Mali, then Director of the National Library of Mali and Adviser to the Minister in charge of Culture.

Victor Gabriel
Vice-President

Languages: French, Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian and Lingala

Born in Luanda (Angola) in 1951, Victor Gabriel spent 24 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire), where he went to school. For over 30 years, Victor Gabriel has worked in the field of public health in Switzerland in the capacity of information technology conceptualist. Volunteer in spirit, he participated in the creation of a measuring system of cerebral blood flow in the framework of studies lead by the Clinics of Neurology of the HUG. Since, he has participated in the team Genevan team in the context of clinical and epidemiological research in the fight of HIV/AIDS. From 1996 to 1998, he was in charge of the IT infrastructure of the 12th World AIDS Conference which took place in Geneva in 1998. Specialist in the field of information and communication technologies, Victor Gabriel is at present responsible for an information technology unit of some 1000 machines. He is today strongly motivated by the concept of cyber-volunteering, which he believes can bring a better appropriation of new technologies to people in both the South and the North. Victor's conviction is based on many years of experience in francophone Africa but also on the experience in the European scientific environment.

Truong Nguyen
Treasurer

Languages: English, French, Vietnamese

Truong is coordinating the finances and accounting activities of ICVolunteers. Until December 2004, he was the Chief Financial Officer of the Europe-Asia Division of Sylvania Lighting International (SLI), one of the largest lighting-manufacturer worldwide. He had spent over 24 years with SLI in various financial management positions in Europe and North America. In addition to this, he also participated in the management of a scholarship funds in Vietnam to assist children from rural and poor conditions to follow their education path, increasing their chances in their future lives. Originated from Vietnam, Truong studied and graduated from the University of Geneva in Business Administration.

Margit Leonhardt
Secretary

Languages: English, French, German, Spanish

Margit Leonhardt is the focal point for the communications task force of ICVolunteers and is also involved in the fundraising team. She has a background in interpretation and translation in German, English, French and Spanish. She later worked as marketing communications manager, handling all aspects of communications, including strategic planning, media relations, advertising, branding and merchandising as well as event and trade show coordination. She also developed marketing collateral and led the editorial committee of a multi-lingual global newsletter. Originally from Germany, Margit studied in Munich. She has spent her professional life in Geneva, with a two-year job transfer to Paris, working for various companies and multinationals, among them Rolex and DuPont.

Nazir Sunderji
Member

Languages: English, French, Gujerati, Kutchi and Kiswahili, with a notion of Urdu, Hindi and Farsi

Nazir Sunderji is serving as Financial Manager of ICVolunteers. He brings 30-plus years of international business, management, negotiating and diplomatic perspective. In the past, he served as the Director General of the Bellerive Foundation, founded and presided by the Late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, former High Commissioner for Refugees and Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. He managed a part of His Highness’ financial portfolio, and represented the Prince’s interests at senior levels of Governments, bi- and multi-lateral agencies, as well as other international organizations and the press. In parallel, he has served on the Board of Directors of various national and international companies as well as various non-profit organizations. Before moving to Switzerland in 1984, he assumed several significant management and accounting positions at the United States Steel Corporation. Nazir is of Indian ancestry, raised in Africa, educated in the United States and has accumulated extensive experience from a European base. He holds an Associate of Science degree from the Community College of Allegheny County, Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Relations from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Master of Business Administration from the Baldwin Wallace College.

Randy Schmieder
Member

Languages: English, French

Randy Schmieder has a background in communication, science and the visual arts. He is the founder and director of MCART, an organization that offers communication services. Before founding MCART in 1997, he worked with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), BioSystems Books, Inc., and the University of California. He helped develop the first scientific conference held on the Internet (USDOI), and with the 12th World AIDS Conference, produced the award-winning aids98.ch online news service. More recent projects include designing systems used to manage donations of HIV/AIDS related products to Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Randy's original training is in Biology. His scientific research was influential in raising support for federal protective legislation for Rana aurora draytonii, an endangered species of frog in California, often cited for use as a indicator species for environmental degradation. He holds an MA-equivalent in Science Communication and a BA with Honors in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz, and has received a number of awards for his design work.