Management

Manna’s team consists of experienced international professionals dedicated to seeing the success of this humanitarian business.

CEO Victor Bernstein retired as Executive VP and General Counsel of Loral Skynet. CFO Chuck Adams was previously CFO of Omni Hotels. Exec. VP Evan Thomas and CTO Max Gold managed programs in Rwanda, Nepal and Mexico with Engineers Without Borders-USA, inventing a patent-pending surface water treatment system. COO Josh Kefauver worked for USAID in Eritrea, Afghanistan and Rwanda. Manna’s other board members, executives and staff are diverse and experienced professionals. Sibling organization Manna Energy Foundation Founder Ron Garan is a NASA Astronaut independent of his work with Manna.

Victor Bernstein retired as Executive Vice-President and General Counsel for Loral Skynet, a division of Loral Space and Communications, one of the world’s leading satellite companies. Prior to that, he was a Senior Attorney at AT&T for many years. He is a director of ManSat Ltd., and a member of the National Executive Committee of the Wesleyan University Fund.

In addition to his service to Manna, Evan is an Assistant Professor at Portland State University, with research focusing on developing sustainable life support systems for spacecraft and the developing world. Evan has been a sustainable development engineer in Nepal, Rwanda, Kenya, Mexico and Afghanistan since 2002 with Engineers Without Borders-USA and Manna. Previously, Evan was an aerospace engineer, project manager and principal investigator for six years at the NASA Johnson Space Center specializing in water and other life support systems for current and future NASA spacecraft.

Chuck is an experienced financial and operations executive with substantial international background. He was a senior banker with the Chase Manhattan Corporation, later Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Omni Hotels, co-founder and CEO of Xatrix Interactive Entertainment and most recently CFO of BioPro Pharmaceutical, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on underserved Asia. He is Chairman of VascularCures, the Foundation for Accelerated Vascular Research.

Max is responsible for the design, development, and implementation of carbon-reducing technologies. Max designed and managed the development and installation of surface water treatment systems for rural communities. In Rwanda, these systems can produce clean drinking water for 500 to 3,000 people per system, and can be produced and maintained in developing communities. Max has also designed and tested high efficiency cookstoves and biogas systems appropriate for developing environments. In Kenya, Max developed and implemented a monitoring and evaluation database, collecting input from 4,000 community health workers with smartphones distributed over a 9,000 square kilometer area during a six week public health campaign.

Carmel is a founding member of the Manna Energy Foundation and Manna Energy Limited. She manages and oversees Manna Energy Limited's day-to-day operations, coordinating efforts between US, Isle of Man and Rwandan operations.

Josh is responsible for the contracting and logistical oversight of Manna’s overseas operations and program development. Josh has extensive international development experience, having worked and lived in Latin America, Central Asia and Africa managing agriculture, health and infrastructure related programs with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Peter is Manna’s chief national consultant in Rwanda. He has been responsible for maintaining all USAID capital assets in Rwanda since 2002, and has worked with Engineers Without Borders-USA since 2003.

Dan is a carbon project developer and engineer for Manna. He also works as a mechanical engineer at the NASA Johnson Space Center, and is the past-president of the Johnson Space Center Chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA. Dan has worked on appropriate technology programs in Rwanda, Kenya and Mexico.

Jean Pierre Sibomana (Sibo) has worked with Manna since 2008 on sustainable development projects in rural Rwanda. Sibo manages the construction of water treatment systems, biogas generators, rainwater catchment systems, and high efficiency cookstoves. Sibo also leads Manna’s assessments of future sites across Rwanda.

Innocent began working with Engineers Without Borders in 2006 at the orphanage where he grew up. During summers, he helped install rainwater catchment systems and high efficiency cook stoves. Innocent graduated from secondary school in 2008, specializing in Accounting, Management and Business and began working for Manna in January 2010.

Dieudonne (Cyoga) was educated in Rwanda and has been working for Manna since January 2010. He works primarily in the research laboratory conducting water quality tests.