Mary R. Page Director, Human Rights and International Justice
Email: mpage at macfound dot org
Mary R. Page is Director of the Human Rights and International Justice area in the Program on Global Security & Sustainability.
Page joined the Foundation as a program officer in 1990, was promoted to Assistant Director in 1997 and Director in 2000. Prior to her arrival at MacArthur, Page was engaged in research and development of computer-assisted instruction programs at Stanford University; mathematics education research and teaching at the University of Chicago; and English composition and early childhood education at Holt, Rinehart & Winston, publishers, where she was a Senior Editor. She has consulted on projects in African education, mathematics for limited English speakers and U.S. public opinion & foreign policy.
Page received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her master's degree in teaching from the University of Chicago.
Kole A. Shettima Director, Africa Office, and Co-Chair, Higher Education Initiative in Africa
Email: kshettim at macfound dot org
Kole Shettima is the Director of the Foundation's Africa Office in Abuja, Nigeria. He is responsible for grant making in the Population & Reproductive Health area, Human Rights and International Justice, and the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa.
Prior to joining the Foundation in 1999, Shettima taught at the University of Maiduguri (Nigeria), the University of Toronto, and at Ohio University. He was State Coordinator, and National Education Coordinator of Women in Nigeria; Coordinator of the Working Group on Nigeria, Toronto; and Co-chair of the Economic Justice Working Group of the Inter-Church Coalition on Africa, Toronto. Shettima is on the board of several organizations including the Center for Democracy and Development. He has published in several academic journals including Africa Development, Review of African Political Economy, African Studies Review and Journal of Asian and African Studies.
Shettima has a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, a Masters Degree from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and his undergraduate degree is from the University of Maiduguri where he has also been a faculty member.
Sharon Bissell Sotelo is Acting Director for the Foundation’s Mexico Office and Program Officer for the Foundation’s grantmaking in Population and Reproductive Health, working with organizations in maternal mortality prevention and youth reproductive health promotion. Much of this work centers on indigenous and rural populations in Mexico, and seeks to improve access to and quality of reproductive and sexual health services for women and young people.
She sits on the Technology Grants Committee that supports initiatives to develop and use new technologies to promote social development. Prior to joining MacArthur in 2001, she worked at the Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (Information Group on Reproductive Choice, GIRE), a leading reproductive rights organization in Mexico, and as a consultant for numerous Mexican civil society organizations and networks. She holds a Master’s degree from Tulane University and diploma courses in gender, reproductive health and human rights from El Colegio de México and the Universidad Tecnológica de Monterrey in Mexico.
Brandee M. Butler Program Officer for Human Rights and International Justice
Email: bbutler at macfound dot org
Brandee Butler is a Program Officer for Human Rights and International Justice in the Global Security and Sustainability Program.
Before joining the Foundation in 2006, Brandee practiced law at the Alliance for Children's Rights, a legal non-profit organization that helps children in the dependency system gain access to education, health care, and other benefits and services in Los Angeles County. Brandee was also a volunteer at Save Africa’s Children, a foundation in Los Angeles that supports community-based organizations serving children affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to practicing at the Alliance, Brandee was awarded the Yale Law School Bernstein Fellowship for International Human Rights and worked on issues of child trafficking at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Libreville, Gabon. Her work entailed documenting and developing strategies to improve the state protocol for repatriating victims of child trafficking, advocating for bilateral coordination of repatriation/reunification protocols, and developing awareness campaigns on child trafficking and exploitation. Brandee also practiced civil litigation at a law firm in Los Angeles, and interned at Rape Crisis Center in Cape Town and the Center for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where she researched and wrote about the legal and human rights implications of South Africa’s AIDS crisis.
Brandee graduated with a B.A. from Harvard University and received a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Raoul J. Davion Program Officer and Co-Chair, Higher Education Initiative in Africa
Email: RDavion at macfound dot org
Raoul Davion is the co-chair of the Africa Higher Education Initiative in the Program on Global Security and Sustainability. His grantmaking portfolio includes tertiary education in Nigeria, Madagascar, and Africa wide projects, and he is also involved with the Foundation’s support for international human rights.
Prior to joining the Foundation in 2001, Davion worked for six years in South Africa with the Institute of Natural Resources on monitoring and evaluation of proposed large scale development projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Within the Institute’s focus on rural development, he also worked with nature conservation agencies and local government in South Africa to build community engagement with conservation and promote sustainable access to natural resources. Before this Davion worked at the African Development Bank, where he interned with the Bank’s Social and Environmental Policy division, and the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago.
Davion obtained his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, where he received the Henry Richardson Labouisse Fellowship. His master’s degree focused on rural development and was awarded by the University of KwaZulu Natal. He is currently completing his doctorate.
Godwin Odo Program Officer
Email: godo at macfound dot org
Godwin Odo is a Program Officer in the Foundation's Africa Office in Abuja, Nigeria. He is responsible for grantmaking in the Global Challenges area and assists the Country Director in the Population and Reproductive Health area.
Prior to joining the Foundation in February 2005, Odo worked as a Staff Counsel with the Constitutional Rights Project, and as a Program Associate with the Global Rights: Partners for Justice - both in Nigeria. He also was Secretary of the Electoral Reform Network, a coalition of 72 Nigerian NGOs working for a credible and transparent electoral process in the country. Previously, Odo was a researcher with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, and has interned with the Equality Programme of INTERIGHTS in London. He has written widely on the African human rights system, right to health, elections and constitutional reforms.
Odo holds an LL.M in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex; a Barrister at Law degree from the Nigerian Law School; and an undergraduate law degree from the University of Nigeria, where he was President of the Law Society. He is qualified as a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Eric Sears Program Officer, Human Rights & International Justice
Email: esears at macfound dot org
Eric Sears is a Program Officer for Human Rights and International Justice in the Program on Global Security and Sustainability.
Prior to joining the Foundation in May 2009, Eric served as Program Officer in the Crimes Against Humanity Program at Human Rights First. In this capacity he engaged in research and advocacy within the United Nations system on a range of issues related to ending atrocity crimes and strengthening international justice mechanisms. Eric also worked for Amnesty International USA where he held several positions; including directing the organization’s campaign aimed at reforming U.S. counterterrorism policies. He played a key role in developing the organization’s ability to more effectively respond to human rights emergencies.
Eric holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies and Political Science from Saint Louis University.
Phone: (312) 726-8000