Board of Trustees

Ricardo A. Anzaldua is Executive Vice President and Senior Legal Advisor to CEO Don Layton of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) and after a transition period is expected to succeed Bill McDavid as Freddie Mac’s General Counsel. He was appointed to this position on May 14, 2018.

From December 2012 to December 2017, Anzaldua served as General Counsel and as Special Advisor to the CEO of MetLife. In that role he led the 1,000+ person team comprising the company’s global legal operations, corporate secretary’s office, corporate ethics and compliance group and government affairs operation. He designed and led the execution of the Company’s one-of-a-kind successful legal challenge of its too-big-to-fail designation under the Dodd-Frank Act.

Anzaldua joined MetLife from The Hartford Financial Services Group, where he was Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel. There, he led legal support for the two largest operating divisions (commercial and consumer markets) after a three-year tenure serving as Corporate Secretary and leading the legal teams supporting the company’s general corporate functions, including securities and m&a, tax, intellectual property & technology, bankruptcy and real estate. Prior to joining The Hartford, Anzaldua was a partner with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York. He began his legal career with the firm upon graduation from Harvard Law School in 1990.

Anzaldua currently serves as Trustee of the New York City Bar Fund and LatinoJustice/PRLDEF. From 2007-2018, he served on the Board of the Greater Hartford Legal Aid foundation (and as its President from 2015-2018) and from 2014-2018 on the board of MCCA (an organization formed to promote diversity in the legal profession).

Dr. Bassiouni joined IIRR’s Board in 2011. A veteran humanitarian and emergency expert, Dr. Bassiouni served in the United Nations system for over two decades, primarily working with UNICEF, DHA,OCHA and UNDGO. He was the first-ever Humanitarian Coordinator and the only Coordinator to be appointed by the Secretary-General and the Security Council.

Dr. Bassiouni’s expertise cuts broadly across humanitarian affairs and assistance, complex emergencies, conflict and crisis resolution, safety and security, change management, sustainable development, agricultural and natural resource development and management, and his first career in veterinary medicine.

Bassiouni has held several senior positions in the UN including Deputy Director of UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programmes, Chief of Inter-Agency and Response Branches in DHA/OCHA and Coordinator for IASC/ECHA, Rappoteuer to the high level panel on the Humanitarian Response Review and Senior Technical Coordinator for the Joint UN/WB Needs Assessment of Somalia. He has also served as UNICEF’s Representatives in seven countries including Somalia Sri Lanka, Maldives, Ethiopia, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Egypt and Bangladesh. Prior to his career in the UN, Dr. Bassiouni served in senior government positions, including Regional Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the Sudan.

A graduate of the School of Veterinary Medicine of Khartoum University, Sudan, Dr. Bassiouni holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government as well as a Parvin Fellowship from Princeton University. In addition to his role on the Board at IIRR, he sits on the boards of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation, the Non-Violent Peaceforce, the Bassiouni Group and the Mary N. Bassiouni Foundation. David joined as a voting member of the Board of Trustees in 2011.

Peter is a social entrepreneur who was the founder and executive director of ARCHIVE Global - an international NGO that designs homes to improve health. Forbes Magazine named his organization as having one of the eight best sustainability ideas on the planet, and in 2018, Fast Company recognized it as one of the most innovative social good projects in the world.

Peter also served as an International Expert Adviser at the World Bank, delivered projects in five continents, and holds two master’s degrees from the University of Oxford and Columbia University. Devex named him one of the leading international development leaders in Britain.

When he isn’t too busy, he enjoys reading and sharing ideas on social innovation with groups around the world.

James Diao has had a career spanning over 35 years as an investment banker, specializing in risk management and global financing transactions for both equity and fixed income.  Most recently, he was a Managing Director at UBS Securities where he oversaw the approval, execution and diligence of all equity new issue transactions in the Americas, and prior thereto had positions at Bear Stearns, Prudential Securities and Brown Brothers Harriman.  Mr. Diao received his undergraduate degree in Applied Mathematics/Economics from Brown University, and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.  He has been a voting Trustee since 1999 and is the grandson of Dr. and Mrs. Y.C. James Yen, the founders of the IIRR.

An International Economist and Bank Credit Officer, Jim was a Peace Corps Volunteer in a UNDP-led Rural Development Program in the Rif Mountains of Morocco for three years. This experience sparked his interest in joining the IIRR Board, where he has served as the Chairman of the Finance & Budget Committee for the past twenty years and became Chairman in April 2009. In a long career in the financial services industry, he has held various positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Chemical Bank, The Institute of International Finance, Merrill Lynch, Smith New Court, and Citigroup. He holds a B.A. in Economics and History from Fordham University and has pursued graduate studies in International Relations and Economics at George Washington University and New York University. In addition to Morocco, he has worked in Mexico and Belgium and speaks Arabic, French and Spanish. Jim and his wife, Marcia, have been married for thirty-two years and have three sons.

Paul Marquardt is a partner at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton, based in the Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Marquardt’s practice covers a broad range of domestic and international transactional matters, including public and private international law and he has represented a number of governments and international organizations in negotiations of international agreements. Mr. Marquardt also has extensive experience in a number of regulatory areas relevant to cross-border transactions and is a specialist in reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

From 1998 to 2002, he worked in Brussels. He received a J.D. and an M.A. in international relations from Yale University in 1994, where he was Book Reviews Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and an undergraduate degree, with highest distinction, from the University of Michigan in 1990. Mr. Marquardt is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the State Bar of Michigan. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the American Society of International Law. Paul joined as a voting member of the Board of Trustees in 2012.

Lisa Milton is the founder and CEO of AZAP Mobile where she has helped create over 50 applications using social media and user generated content. AZAP has worked with Samsung Electronics, Excelsior Newspaper, and the government of Mexico City to create applications for the Latin American market. Before founding AZAP, Ms. Milton worked as a community organizer in California for 8 years. She advocated for the creation of some of the strongest affordable housing policy in the state, and helped spearhead the effort to establish a high school focused on film in South Los Angeles. In 2005, she was awarded Woman of the Year by the California Legislature for the 22nd State Senate District. Lisa graduated Cum Laude from Columbia University, studied Social and Political Science at Cambridge University, and received her MBA from Wharton. Lisa is an independent voting trustee and joined the board in December 2012.

James F. Munsell is a Senior Counsel of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, having joined Cleary as an associate in 1969, become a partner in 1976, and, upon retirement, a Senior Counsel in 2002.  His practice focused on domestic and international financial and corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, workouts and restructurings and bank and other public and private financings. He is also a Senior Managing Director of Brock Capital Group, LLC, and Chairman of the Board of Managers of the Partners Group Private Equity, suite of mutual funds.

Mr. Munsell has an undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics, with distinction, from Cornell University, an LL.B. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and a Masters of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He also studied Russian while on active duty in the United States Marine Corps and at Columbia.

Joel’s experience spans 25 years predominantly in marketing, business development, impact investing, and entrepreneurial management in Southeast Asia. He held various corporate positions in several companies such as Procter and Gamble, Philippine Airlines, before culminating his career as CEO of Franklin Baker. As an entrepreneur he has started up and exited in companies in advertising, in-store media, agri-business and food & beverage distribution.

Joel is currently President of Thames International Business School and its college, Entrepreneur School of Asia. He also serves as a Board of Trustee in the Apl.de.Ap Foundation of the Pop Group Black Eyed Peas. Joel holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Management from the Ateneo de Manila University (Phils) and a Masters in Responsible Business Practice from the University of Bath (UK)

Joel resides in Manila with his wife Tina and teenage daughter Maxinne. He works mainly in both Manila and Singapore.

Dane Smith is a consultant on peacebuilding and development, with emphasis on Africa. In 2014 he spent five months teaching peacebuilding as a visiting professor at the Martin Luther King Evangelical University of Nicaragua in Managua.  In 2011 and 2012 he served as Senior Advisor on Darfur in the State Department’s Office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan. Ambassador Smith made a dozen visits to Darfur, meeting with government officials, rebel leaders, refugees in Chad, internally displaced persons in numerous camps, civil society and human rights activists, as well as UN and African Union peacekeepers and senior representatives. He played a significant role in the negotiation in Qatar of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur signed in 2011 by the Sudanese Government and a major Darfuri armed movement.

From 2006 to 2010 he was a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, where he authored U.S. Peacefare: Organizing American Peace-Building Operations(Praeger: 2010). He has taught peacebuilding as an adjunct professor at American University. From 1999 to 2003, he served as President of the National Peace Corps Association, which mounts programs in global education, conflict resolution and voluntary service. Smith served as U.S. Ambassador to Senegal 1996-99. In 1995-96 Smith was Special Presidential Envoy for Liberia, while concurrently directing the State Department’s Office of West African Affairs. He was U.S. Ambassador to Guinea 1990-93. He is the recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Service Award and the Commandant de l’Ordre du Lion Award from the Government of Senegal. Smith and wife Judy began their international careers as Peace Corps Volunteers in Eritrea, 1963-65, then part of Ethiopia.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Alliance for Peacebuilding. He is Chairman of

George SyCip was born in the Philippines and received his A.B. in International Relations/Economics from Stanford University and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Aside from serving as a member of IIRR’s Board of Trustees since 2003, George is the Chairman of Give2Asia and serves on the board of the Global Heritage Fund. He has also served as Commissioner for the City and County of San Francisco’s Social Services Department, as well as Director and Treasurer of both the San Francisco Education Fund and the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. George also sits on several corporate boards including Bank of the Orient in California, Cityland Development Corporation, Paxys, Inc., Premiere Horizon Alliance Corporation, and Sinag Global Energy Corporation. Prior to setting up his own offices, George had a career in banking, internationally and domestically, including serving as Chief Financial Officer of United Savings Bank, a leading provider of banking services to California’s Asian communities and a major originator of home mortgages during the 1980s.