Governance
School of Leadership Afghanistan is governed by a Board of Directors, which meets at least once a year. The Board of Directors has all the powers to achieve the SOLA mission. Among other responsibilities, it elects an Executive Committee and adopts SOLA's budget and annual accounts.
The Executive Committee meets regularly to discuss SOLA's policy objectives and standards, to be adopted by the Board of Directors, and supervises SOLA's work. Its daily management responsibilities are delegated to the SOLA Managing Director.
All board positions within SOLA are filled by volunteers.
The Executive Committee meets regularly to discuss SOLA's policy objectives and standards, to be adopted by the Board of Directors, and supervises SOLA's work. Its daily management responsibilities are delegated to the SOLA Managing Director.
All board positions within SOLA are filled by volunteers.
Shabana Basij-Rasikh
Co-founder, Managing Director, Head of School, Board member ex officio, & Executive Committee member
Shabana was born and raised in Kabul, where she attended Maryam High School. After finishing high school in Onalaska, WI, through the Youth Exchange Studies (YES) program sponsored by the U.S. State Department, Shabana attended Middlebury, where she graduated magna cum laude in International Studies and Women and Gender Studies, including Arabic (and Islamic law) at Alexandria U. in Egypt.
At college, Shabana founded HELA, a non-profit dedicated to empowering Afghan women through education. She raised funds across the U.S. to build a high school for girls in her ancestral village and wells in the outskirts of Kabul An enthusiast of systemic change and community impact, She was one of Glamour Magazine's Top 10 College Women of 2010, and recipient of Vermont Campus Compact 2011 Kunin Public Award for outstanding public service, effective leadership and community building. Shabana was National Gender Mainstreaming Advisor at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in Kabul In 2011-12.
Shabana was born and raised in Kabul, where she attended Maryam High School. After finishing high school in Onalaska, WI, through the Youth Exchange Studies (YES) program sponsored by the U.S. State Department, Shabana attended Middlebury, where she graduated magna cum laude in International Studies and Women and Gender Studies, including Arabic (and Islamic law) at Alexandria U. in Egypt.
At college, Shabana founded HELA, a non-profit dedicated to empowering Afghan women through education. She raised funds across the U.S. to build a high school for girls in her ancestral village and wells in the outskirts of Kabul An enthusiast of systemic change and community impact, She was one of Glamour Magazine's Top 10 College Women of 2010, and recipient of Vermont Campus Compact 2011 Kunin Public Award for outstanding public service, effective leadership and community building. Shabana was National Gender Mainstreaming Advisor at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in Kabul In 2011-12.
Ted Achilles
Co-founder, honorary Board member &
Executive Committee member
Ted Achilles retired from a career as an entrepreneur in 2001 and began the Afghan chapter of his life shortly after 9/11.
A Yale graduate, Ted served as an infantry officer (ranger, airborne qualified) and earned his MA in developmental economics from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. After managing a high-school exchange program that sent many of Afghanistan’s best and brightest young men and women to the United States for a year of study, Ted co-founded SOLA in October 2008 with Shabana. Ted remains very much involved in SOLA's fundraising efforts and in creating substantive leadership opportunities for returning SOLA alumnae in the Afghan public and private sectors.
Executive Committee member
Ted Achilles retired from a career as an entrepreneur in 2001 and began the Afghan chapter of his life shortly after 9/11.
A Yale graduate, Ted served as an infantry officer (ranger, airborne qualified) and earned his MA in developmental economics from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. After managing a high-school exchange program that sent many of Afghanistan’s best and brightest young men and women to the United States for a year of study, Ted co-founded SOLA in October 2008 with Shabana. Ted remains very much involved in SOLA's fundraising efforts and in creating substantive leadership opportunities for returning SOLA alumnae in the Afghan public and private sectors.
Terry Dougherty
Board Chair ad interim, Treasurer &
Executive Committee member
Terry is a former Peace Corps Afghanistan Volunteer (1972–75) who remains fluent in Dari through his work with Afghan refugees in Fort Wayne, IN. A 35-year career in information technology began with IBM and continues in its 12th year in higher education technology at Indiana-Purdue University. He has hosted five Afghan exchange students and coordinated Afghan YES students.
Terry also is vice president of operations for Friends of Afghanistan, and on the board of the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace.
Executive Committee member
Terry is a former Peace Corps Afghanistan Volunteer (1972–75) who remains fluent in Dari through his work with Afghan refugees in Fort Wayne, IN. A 35-year career in information technology began with IBM and continues in its 12th year in higher education technology at Indiana-Purdue University. He has hosted five Afghan exchange students and coordinated Afghan YES students.
Terry also is vice president of operations for Friends of Afghanistan, and on the board of the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace.
Rian Smith
Executive Committee member &
Director of Development & U.S. Operations
Rian grew up behind the Iron Curtain and in the Middle East. After attending St. George's, Harvard and RISD, Rian taught English in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and then began a career in foreign policy in Washington, DC for the Atlantic Council, the World Bank and the IFC. She left to raise her son in California and Washington states, and now supports Afghan girls’ education from Wakefield, RI.
Director of Development & U.S. Operations
Rian grew up behind the Iron Curtain and in the Middle East. After attending St. George's, Harvard and RISD, Rian taught English in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and then began a career in foreign policy in Washington, DC for the Atlantic Council, the World Bank and the IFC. She left to raise her son in California and Washington states, and now supports Afghan girls’ education from Wakefield, RI.
Matiullah Amin
Board Member
Matiullah Amin is a Senior Associate at Ashoka, a global association of leading social entrepreneurs in Washington DC. Holder of a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Williams College, Mati founded and presides over the Afghan Youth Initiative, a US- and Kabul-based nonprofit that helps educate young Afghans, and supports grass-roots, youth-led community projects to stimulate leadership and educational skills among Afghan youth. His extensive writing on development issues in Afghanistan has been published in The New Times, Foreign Affairs, GlobalPost, The Diplomat, The Hill, USA Today, and has appeared on several media outlets including RTA, Tolo TV, Voice of America, and WRGB TV.
Matiullah Amin is a Senior Associate at Ashoka, a global association of leading social entrepreneurs in Washington DC. Holder of a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Williams College, Mati founded and presides over the Afghan Youth Initiative, a US- and Kabul-based nonprofit that helps educate young Afghans, and supports grass-roots, youth-led community projects to stimulate leadership and educational skills among Afghan youth. His extensive writing on development issues in Afghanistan has been published in The New Times, Foreign Affairs, GlobalPost, The Diplomat, The Hill, USA Today, and has appeared on several media outlets including RTA, Tolo TV, Voice of America, and WRGB TV.
Sedika Mojadidi
Board Member
Born in Kabul and raised in the U.S., Sedika is an independent filmmaker, producer and writer. She directed/produced Motherland Afghanistan on maternal mortality in Afghanistan; and produced ABC News Boston Med; and t.v. projects for PBS; the Learning, Discovery, and Arts & Entertainment channels; and the Food Network. Sedika has an MA from the University of Florida and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently working on Afghan documentaries and a PBS project on the future of Afghan women in 2014.
Born in Kabul and raised in the U.S., Sedika is an independent filmmaker, producer and writer. She directed/produced Motherland Afghanistan on maternal mortality in Afghanistan; and produced ABC News Boston Med; and t.v. projects for PBS; the Learning, Discovery, and Arts & Entertainment channels; and the Food Network. Sedika has an MA from the University of Florida and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently working on Afghan documentaries and a PBS project on the future of Afghan women in 2014.
Leigh Perkins
Board Member
Born to teacher parents on a boarding school campus, Leigh attended Brooks School, Williams College and Suffolk Law School before following an atypical career path in law and journalism. But as a firm believer in the boarding school experience, Leigh returned to Brooks, where she now teaches English. Mother to Samantha and Jake, she is also dorm mom to 20 girls and proud “American mom” to a SOLA alumna. In the classroom, Leigh pushes her students to express themselves clearly and thoughtfully and to open themselves to other people’s realities. Outside the confines of the school building, she seeks to help students stretch their understanding of the world in numerous ways including travel and online partnerships. Once you’ve learned someone’s story, she believes, it becomes part of yours.
Born to teacher parents on a boarding school campus, Leigh attended Brooks School, Williams College and Suffolk Law School before following an atypical career path in law and journalism. But as a firm believer in the boarding school experience, Leigh returned to Brooks, where she now teaches English. Mother to Samantha and Jake, she is also dorm mom to 20 girls and proud “American mom” to a SOLA alumna. In the classroom, Leigh pushes her students to express themselves clearly and thoughtfully and to open themselves to other people’s realities. Outside the confines of the school building, she seeks to help students stretch their understanding of the world in numerous ways including travel and online partnerships. Once you’ve learned someone’s story, she believes, it becomes part of yours.
Wazhma Sadat
Board Member
Born and raised in Afghanistan, Wazhma is a junior at Yale University’s Timothy Dwight College intending to pursue a major in Global Affairs. She is the president of the Yale Afghanistan Forum, the international coordinator for Khairul Bashar Charity and founder of Kamyab Afghanistan, a for-profit consulting and marketing firm, that aims to empower small and medium enterprises in Afghanistan. Between 2007 and 2010, Wazhma worked on State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) projects to bring peace through development in Afghanistan and wants to establish a career in education and economic development.
Born and raised in Afghanistan, Wazhma is a junior at Yale University’s Timothy Dwight College intending to pursue a major in Global Affairs. She is the president of the Yale Afghanistan Forum, the international coordinator for Khairul Bashar Charity and founder of Kamyab Afghanistan, a for-profit consulting and marketing firm, that aims to empower small and medium enterprises in Afghanistan. Between 2007 and 2010, Wazhma worked on State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) projects to bring peace through development in Afghanistan and wants to establish a career in education and economic development.
Zolaykha Sherzad
Board Member
An Afghan-American born in Kabul, Zolaykha grew up in Switzerland after her family were forced to flee the Soviet occupation.
With degrees from Lausanne and New York, she became an award-winning architect in New York. In 2000 after the fall of the Taliban, Zolay founded the NGO School of Hope in an effort to help educate Afghan children and moved back to Kabul. In 2004 she used her background in fashion to found Zarif Design, which today successfully sells designer fashion around the world. Zolay splits her time between New York and Kabul.
An Afghan-American born in Kabul, Zolaykha grew up in Switzerland after her family were forced to flee the Soviet occupation.
With degrees from Lausanne and New York, she became an award-winning architect in New York. In 2000 after the fall of the Taliban, Zolay founded the NGO School of Hope in an effort to help educate Afghan children and moved back to Kabul. In 2004 she used her background in fashion to found Zarif Design, which today successfully sells designer fashion around the world. Zolay splits her time between New York and Kabul.
