Board of Directors

Amare Berhe Desta Chairperson
Atlanta, GA

Amare Desta was born and raised in Gorgora. He attended elementary and Junior High school in Gorgora. His great grandparents were the first settlers in Gorgora. He came to the United States and settled in 1985.

Currently, Mr. Desta works as an Information Technology Adviser for Information Technology Services Office in Global Activity division. He serves as ITSO Information Technology Adviser for Southern Africa and East Africa regions under the direction of the CDC ITSO Global Activities Lead. He provides the coordination of all IT infrastructure activities within Africa.

Prior to CDC, he worked for DataServ Bell South in Atlanta supporting software and hardware needs for Allstate Insurance, Kellogg, and Citibank. Mr. Desta has received advanced training in Networking from North Metro Tech in Acworth, Georgia and computer Diploma from Data Control institute Arlington, VA and he is MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer) ,CCNA and many others Technical certifications.

Tesfai Asmamaw
Secretary
Silver Spring, MD

Tesfai Asmamaw was born and raised in Gorgora, Ethiopia.  He came to the United States of America from what is now North Sudan as a refugee on May 7, 1981 with an 11th grade education.  He works for the Federal Election Commission since 1999.  Tesfai earned a master’s degree in Accounting from U.M.U.C. and is a Certified Public Accountant since 1997. In addition to being a CPA, he earned advanced professional designations as a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Government Financial Manager and is certified in Financial Forensics.

His corporate accounting experience, combined with his experience as a public accountant and forensic accountant, provides him with unique perspective to financial investigations.

Member

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)

Association of Government Accountants (AGA)

Kiros Asmamaw
Treasurer
Silver Spring, MD

Kiros Asmamaw was born and raised in Gorgora, Ethiopia. He attended elementary and high school in Gorgora. Kiros earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Open University, UK in 2000 and Bachelor of Arts Degree in Accounting from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia in 1987.

Kiros had over fifteen years work experience in Ethiopia in managing governmental and private business enterprises. He managed a Block Manufacturing company with a work force of over 250 for 10 years. He had extensive experience in Accounting, Finance, Corporate Management, and Business Development Studies.

Kiros is a successful real estate agent currently licensed for a state of Maryland, Virginia, and DC.

Tadesse T/Michael
Assistant Treasurer
Silver Spring, MD

Yohannes Afework Moges
Board Member
Lawrenceville, GA

Yohannes Afework  is a native of Gorgora, Ethiopia. He attended both elementary and high school at Gorgora.  He graduated with a BSc. degree in Agricultural Engineering from AUA, Alemaya, Ethiopia in 1988. He received his MSc. Degree in Computer Information Systems from UOP, Atlanta, GA in 2005.

While he was in Ethiopia, he worked in several technical and managerial positions. Just before he left Ethiopia, he was working as a Head for Sustainable Agricultural and Environmental Rehabilitation Commission for Northern Wollo where he was responsible for the overall management of irrigation and water development projects in the region.

Currently, he is working as a Network Infrastructure Engineer for West IP Communications, a technology company that provides MPLS networks, hosted voice, centralized security, hosted contact centers, and Unified messaging for enterprise customers all over the world.

Yohannes holds the following computer networking certifications:

Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP)
Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Routing and Switching
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Wireless
Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA)
CompTIA Network + Certified (Network +)
Borderless Networks Mobility Support Specialist