Vice President (Haiti – Caribbean)
Adrianna Sosa (she/her/hers) is a young woman activist born and currently living in Haiti. She has been a board member of the World YWCA since 2019 and is currently serving a second term representing the region of the Caribbean. For the past three years, she has been committed to peacebuilding and community development, working at a grassroots level as a project coordinator at the YWCA Haiti. Her work is primarily centred on implementing projects aimed at preventing and addressing gender-based violence for girls and young women coming from increasingly at-risk communities of the metropolitan region of Pétion-Ville and its surroundings. A key component of these projects is creating awareness of mental health and well-being, providing professional psycho-social support to victims of violence and abuse, as well as providing young women with adequate professional skills to be autonomised and enter the labour market. Additionally, she is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and has hands-on experience in institutional governance, financial management, resource mobilising, and program development. Adrianna is committed to advocating for social justice, gender equality, and a peaceful world that can only be sustainable if women are at the forefront of it.
Vice President (Honduras – Latin America)
Nancy (she/her/hers) joined the YWCA Honduras in 2017, initially serving as a volunteer and later taking on various roles, including Board President. Her experience spans program execution in projects related to local governance, gender, water and sanitation, and philanthropic private foundations. With a strong commitment to social justice and gender equality, she has been an advocate for empowering young women and girls, aligning her efforts with the mission of the YWCA.
Vice President (Switzerland – Europe)
“I envision a strong and relevant World YWCA that is sustainable for many generations of women and girls to come. As a young woman myself, I know that we are not just the future; we are the present and relevant now. I see young women as agents of change, creating meaningful and relevant spaces and change in their communities. I want us to co-create a world where it is safe to be a girl or a young woman and where we can thrive.”
Yvonne (she/her/hers) has been part of the YWCA YMCA Switzerland since she was a young girl scout. Over the last 20 years she has grown into various local, regional and national leadership roles and has gained a wide range of leadership experience.
Yvonne has also been active in the international YWCA and YMCA for 10 years, starting with participating in the 2014 European Representatives Meeting in Stuttgart (now the European YWCA General Assembly). Since then, her heart burns for the YWCA.
Yvonne is a historian and gender researcher, feminist activist, critical and analytical thinker and adventuress. This is her second term on the World YWCA Board; she was actively involved as a board member in the last term, 2019-2023. At the 30th World YWCA Council she was re-elected for another 4 years, now as Vice President. As a young woman on the board, she is committed to inclusive feminist leadership, modernising, democratising and decolonising structure, ensuring that the World YWCA is fit for purpose.
Vice President (Aotearoa/New Zealand – Pacific)
Charlotte (she/her/hers) is in her second term on the Board as a Vice-President. She is a Partner at a law firm in New Zealand, specialising in environmental law. She holds various governance positions both locally and nationally in New Zealand. She is on the New Zealand/Aotearoa YWCA board and has a passion for gender equality.
Vice President (Taiwan – Asia)
Margaret (she/her/hers) is passionate about being a volunteer. In 2003, she joined the YWCA young women international training programs. From 2009, she became the board member of National YWCA of Taiwan and has been a board member of World YWCA since 2019. She ran an ultra-marathon (45K) for a charity fund raising for the ITI (International Training Institute of Young Women) in 2014. Margaret is positive, energetic and enthusiastic in sharing the knowledge about women’s health and eager to promote human welfare. She has a doctorate degree in Nutrition and Food Science from Fu Jen University in Taiwan; she comes with over 25 years of teaching experience in university and is a consultant in sports nutrition and human sciences. She will utilise her expertise in envisioning intergenerational leadership at the World YWCA, specifically to create a safe, healthy and sustainable world for women, strengthening young women and girls’ transformative leadership, realising gender equality, and leading a sustainable YWCA movement. Margaret truly believes that with love and strength, we can do everything successfully together.
Treasurer (USA – North America)
Tina Herrera is an accomplished leader whose entire adult life has been shaped by YWCA. Beginning her YWCA journey as a teen and serving as YWCA USA National Student President while in university, she recently completed two terms as a Director of the National Board of YWCA USA, with two years as National Board President. Her extensive experience encompasses governance, investment, finance, development, and global relations, making her a key figure in shaping the organisation’s strategy and growth. As Chair of the YWCA USA Investment Committee, she was instrumental in launching the YWCA ETF nationally, an innovative investment fund traded on the New York Stock Exchange, which is designed to provide broad market exposure to companies with strong policies and practices supporting women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Tina’s career spans from engineering at NASA, where she launched life science research into space, to high-tech marketing and investment advisory services. She holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering, as well as an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.
Tina’s leadership with a national YWCA and her professional background provides her with key competencies in strategic planning, financial modelling, corporate communications, and board governance.
Elected as World YWCA Board Treasurer at the 2023 World Council meeting, Tina brings a vision of empowering young women through leadership development, financial literacy, and advocacy. She is committed to advancing gender equality and organisational stability and fostering collaboration between YWCA USA and World YWCA. In addition, Tina’s expertise in fundraising and donor cultivation, along with her service commitment to annual giving, further strengthens her dedication to the organisation’s financial growth and sustainability.
Fluent in English and basic in Spanish, Tina’s values guide her inclusive approach, which is focused on creating a world where women’s leadership promotes and sustains justice, peace, health, and human dignity.
Vice President (Zambia – Africa)
Kateule Valentina Kasonde (she/her/hers) embodies the spirit of empowerment and advocacy, seamlessly blending her roles as a commercial lawyer, human rights advocate, youth leader, and farmer. Her journey with the YWCA began as a Y-teen volunteer, where her passion for social change was ignited. Recognised for her leadership potential, Kateule was mentored by the senior leaders within YWCA Zambia, propelling her into the role of National Youth Chairperson from 2015 to 2019. During her tenure, she represented the organisation on national and international platforms, advocating for human rights, youth empowerment and the development of organisational policy documents to further youth participation. Currently, Kateule serves as the World YWCA Board Africa Region Vice President, bringing her wealth of experience and dedication to advancing women’s rights and social justice across the continent. Additionally, she holds the vital position of Constitution Chairperson within YWCA Zambia, ensuring governance structures align with the organisation’s mission and values.
Professionally, Kateule lends her expertise to Invictus Hill Zambia, where she is seconded to Messrs. Nawa Mataa Advocates, a leading law firm specialising in commercial, tax, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and intellectual property advisory services. Her commitment to legal excellence extends beyond the boardroom as she continues to volunteer with YWCA Zambia and community organisations, advocating tirelessly for the rights of women, youth, and children. Kateule’s multifaceted approach to social change exemplifies the transformative power of combining passion with action, inspiring others to join the movement towards a more just and equitable world.
General Secretary/CEO (USA)
Ex-Officio Member
Casey (she/her) is a testament to the YWCAs mission to create space for young women to be leaders, in all their diversities, working together to contribute to gender equality.
Since January 2019, as the 15th General Secretary of World YWCA, Casey has been driving the realisation of the global YWCA movements’ Goal 2035 – 100 million young women transforming power structures – and tackling exciting operational, governance, and partnership opportunities to ensure the vitality and relevancy of YWCA in the 21st century. She demonstrates commitment to transparency, authenticity and inclusion, and a closely held aspiration for World YWCA to be accountable to the leaders of the YWCA global movement, most especially young leaders.
Casey has worked in the local, regional and national sphere of the USA advocating on and ensuring direct services in response to the issues of sexual and gender-based violence, economic justice, health and wellness, leadership and anti-racism. Casey joined the YWCA movement 24 years ago and through varied executive and leadership positions, has shown how to harness a movement that is rich and wide-reaching in its diversity, toward a common goal for collective impact, including a multi-year transformative process toward the YWCA USA mission of racial justice.
Casey serves on the Board of ACT Alliance, as a co-chair of the Multi-Faith Advisory Council to the UN Interagency Task Force on Religion and Development, on the Board of the Global Youth Mobilization, and as a #ThursdaysinBlack ambassador for the World Council of Churches.
An aspiring astronaut, proud mama of four, and YWCA torchbearer who finds joy in simple things, Casey believes that young women and girls will lead the way in realizing the global goal of leaving no one behind.
Read more about her journey here.
President (Palestine – Middle East)
Mira Rizeq (she/her/hers) is a recognised leader with over 35 years of solid local, regional and international experience in development and advocacy. Mira is a Palestinian who was born in East Jerusalem. She got her graduate degree in Business Administration in the United States and her second Master’s Degree in International Development in the Hague.
She accredits her first development experience right after graduating to Save the Children U.S.A. in Palestine and the Middle East region, where she started her career by designing credit programs and entrepreneurship development programs specifically for women.
Mira then moved on as Team Leader for the Local and Rural Development Program at the United Nations Development Program in Palestine (UNDP). She succeeded in designing one of the most successful partnership programs between civil society and local governments for poverty alleviation.
Later, Mira headed the Palestine National NGO Project, funded by the World Bank in Palestine for many years, a program managed by a consortium of international NGOs and led by the Welfare Association. Through this program, she has designed special training manuals for NGO capacity building, especially in areas of good governance, monitoring and evaluations, and conducted trainings especially for NGO Boards, leaders, and staff in these different topics.
Mira has been an active YWCA member since her childhood and served as the National General Secretary at the YWCA of Palestine from April 2006 to April 2020, after which she was elected as President in the 29th World YWCA Council Meeting held in Johannesburg in November 2019 in South Africa. Mira was re-elected as the World YWCA Board President at the first transformative hybrid 30th World Council, in November 2023.
Mira is an activist in the area of human rights, and especially women’s rights. She has served on several boards of women’s institutions, acted as an advisor to several UN agencies, especially on women empowerment strategies, and served as an International Board Member on the Global Ministries Board (United Church of Christ and Church of the Disciples) in the USA for eight years and actively advocating for justice.
Her passion is for music and advocacy for peace and justice. During her childhood and earlier years, she joined many music groups as a composer/singer and pianist.
