Panagora Group offers an array of global health, international development, and learning services and experts across a wide range of technical and cross-cutting areas. We can provide expertise as short-term or long-term technical assistance in-country or in Washington, D.C. through institutional support mechanisms.
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Betsy Bassan is Chair of the Board and President and CEO of Panagora Group, a woman- and employee-owned social enterprise she founded in 2011. Betsy brings over 30 years of experience as an innovator in the international development field. From 2011 to 2024, Betsy grew Panagora into a successful company with a proven track record of excellence providing novel solutions in health, development, and learning, with more than 200 long-term employees and over 300 short-term contractors working in and supporting 55 countries. The company was named Small Business of the Year for FY2018 by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Panagora’s main client.
Betsy is an industry leader who has developed novel approaches to address major global health challenges and she works tirelessly to elevate the voice of small and women-owned business in international development. Through the Panagora platform, Betsy led the founding of the Council for International Development Companies (CIDC) and, as chair, transformed the Small Business Association for International Companies (SBAIC) over three pivotal years from an informal network into a registered and recognized advocate. Through the USGLC, a membership-based foreign aid advocacy group, Betsy helped build support for critical foreign aid programs. As Program Vice President and then Chair of the Society for International Development-Washington D.C., a leading professional association, she greatly enhanced its profile as the “the public square of development” through cutting-edge knowledge exchange. In 2021, she co-founded the Global Small Business Sustainability Coalition, which works to voice the needs of larger small businesses seeking to graduate successfully and continue partnering in support of international health and development.
As a 2021 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic region and a 2020 Enterprising Woman of the Year Awardee for her leadership and mentorship of other women entrepreneurs, Betsy is a recognized business leader. Panagora was on Inc. Magazine’s list of “5,000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America” three times; in 2019 and 2020, we ranked in the top 10 percent and top 20 percent respectively and in 2022 in the top 30 percent. We also ranked number 12 on the Women Presidents’ Organization list of “50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned and Led Companies” in 2020.
She lived overseas for seven years in Kenya and Sudan, where she worked for a variety of NGOs and USAID missions. She holds an M.A. from Columbia University in New York City, where she completed a joint degree program (Planning in Developing Nations) in the School of International Affairs and the Division of Urban Planning; and a B.A. cum laude from St. John’s College, Great Books Program, in Annapolis, Maryland. She speaks French. Betsy has three children: Madeleine, Rebecca, and Ben.
David Binns is an experienced corporate executive with extensive expertise with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), equity compensation strategies and international economic development. At Panagora, he serves as an independent member of the Board of Directors and worked closely with Panagora leadership to establish the company as an ESOP.
He served as President & CEO of Macfadden & Associates, a 100% ESOP-owned company, from 2011 through 2018. A professional services government contracting company with approximately 325 employees, Macfadden specializes in delivering a broad range of services to support the U.S. government’s response to international disasters and humanitarian crises. From 2008-2011 he served as Macfadden’s Chief Operating Officer where he was responsible for management and oversight of operations, including integrating an acquisition that effectively doubled the number of professional staff. Macfadden was acquired by PAE in February 2018.
From 1991-2008 Mr. Binns served as Associate Director of the Beyster Institute, where he consulted with scores of companies on the use of equity compensation plans and managed many of the Institute’s international economic development and privatization programs.
He served as Executive Director of The ESOP Association from 1984-1991. His experience includes work in over 20 countries on a variety of entrepreneurship and economic development programs, including the design and implementation of employee ownership plans to facilitate the privatization of state-owned enterprises.
Mr. Binns has served on multiple corporate and non-profit boards of directors and advisory boards including Macfadden & Associates, Mattos Pro Finishes, the Beyster Foundation for Enterprise Development, Wilson Global Communications and several other private companies.
A published author, Mr. Binns has written extensively on ESOP-related issues and is Co-Editor of Employee Stock Ownership Plans: ESOP Planning, Financing, Implementation, Law & Taxation.
Mr. Binns is a graduate of the University of Virginia. He and his wife Beth live in Silver Spring, MD.
Darlene Faye Andrews is an international development executive with a passion for effective management and leadership. She has over 35 years of experience developing implementation strategies and achieving results that ensure the highest technical and operational quality. She started at Panagora in 2019, as director, program management and staff development where she ensured effective project implementation through quality assurance, compliance, capacity building, and resource management. After being promoted to vice president of program impact in 2020, she built a team of Panagora professionals who currently manage contracts and compliance, training and capacity building, and program operations across the company. She is a native Washingtonian who loves to travel, learn new things, advocate for worthy causes, and vacation at the beach. Darlene has earned two master’s degrees, one in organizational leadership from Nyack College and the second in Christian counseling from Bible Faith Global University and she is also a certified life coach. She serves as an active company representative for the Small Business Association for International Companies (SBAIC).
Katie Stauss is a Global Health Practice Director at Panagora, focusing on country-specific health activities and business development. She brings 25 years of experience in international development, including providing technical and management support to projects funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Departments of State and Labor, the U.K. Department for International Development, and multi-donor funds. Prior to joining Panagora, Katie led Scintilla Consulting, a small woman-owned business focused on business development, program design, facilitation, and monitoring and evaluation services for international development programs. Previously, Katie also served for 12 years at Chemonics International, where she led a range of global health and private sector initiatives, including projects funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Katie has skills integrating gender, youth, and social inclusion and climate change mitigation and adaptation into program activities. She brings knowledge of policies and strategies to combat global human trafficking through past support to strategic planning for the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking and other country-level anti-trafficking work. Katie has experience in Africa (Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, and Zambia), Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) and in Haiti. She speaks fluent French and conversational Wolof and Spanish and studied Arabic in Syria. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and studied international economics at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.
Lisa Igiehon is the Director of Global Human Resources at Panagora. She has over 20 years’ experience and has worked for non-profit and for-profit organizations with US-based and international employees. In her roles, Lisa has aligned corporate strategic goals with all aspects of Human Resources, including organizational development and culture, employee engagement, talent management, employee relations, HR policy and development and process improvement. Lisa holds a BSc in natural sciences from the University of the West Indies and a master’s in human resource management from Marymount University in Arlington, VA. Lisa has her PHR license, a graduate certificate in HR analytics from Cornell, and has successfully completed the chief human resources officer program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Lhundup Amdo, the Assistant Controller for Finance and Accounting at Panagora. He is responsible for the general ledger, monthly close, financial statements, field accounting and the Accounts Payable team. He is an accomplished professional with more than 20 years of experience as corporate accounting and finance manager with passion for learning, getting things done and delivering solutions to complex problems. Lhundup spent his last 12 years working at Deloitte GPS practice serving a variety of government clients as Project Controller and later leading several digital system transformations within the GPS accounting department. Prior to his government contracting work, Lhundup led accounting and finance operations at major corporations like Verizon Business, Cable & Wireless and Morrison Healthcare as well as at small business and non-profit organizations. He holds an MBA from the Monterrey Institute of International Studies and holds a CPA certificate. Lhundup is a native speaker of Tibetan.
