Founder Anne Robinson Wadsworth will assist in transition and move to Senior Advisor role in mid-June
Buffalo, N.Y., April 7, 2025 – The Board of Directors of Girls Education Collaborative (GEC) has selected Lois Mufuka Martin, a seasoned nonprofit leader, as the organization’s new executive director. Martin, whose own story is rooted in the transformational power of education and has experience working in nonprofit leadership, education, equity, and nonprofit consulting, will join GEC on April 7.
Anne Wadsworth Robinson, who was one of the original founding members of GEC and has served as executive director since 2012, announced her retirement last fall. She will stay on as executive director through mid-June to assist with the transition and then continue on in a Senior Advisor role as Martin takes the lead.
Martin will join the Buffalo-based organization that works to bring global social change through the transformational power of girls’ education. GEC does this work by linking arms with local change-agents in rural, underserved regions in developing economies, where high rates of gender inequality and economic poverty persist.
Martin, a native of Zimbabwe, has an extensive career of service that has included roles as a nonprofit CEO, grantmaker, and nonprofit consultant, providing her with perspective and experience from all facets of the nonprofit sector. Her career has been driven by a belief in the transformational power of education that was shaped by her parents’ upbringing in an Apartheid like Rhodesia, where they were beneficiaries of missionary school education that provided glimpses into a world beyond colonial Africa. As a child she followed her parents to several countries where they obtained higher education, returned to Zimbabwe for a brief time, and ultimately settled in the United States. She was a founding Trustee and Scholarship Coordinator for the Mufuka Private Foundation (now an endowed scholarship) that provides scholarship opportunities for young people from Zimbabwe. Martin is currently Chair for Education Matters Africa/USAP Community School in Zimbabwe, supporting grassroots education efforts in her native country.
“GEC is delighted to welcome Lois as executive director as she brings the right combination of skill set, experience, and perspective,” commented Georgia Dachille, GEC Board Chair. “As GEC moves to its next phase and becomes a model for other organizations doing this work, we are confident that Lois’ past experience and her commitment to the mission of girls education will be a significant asset to GEC. Her belief in the power of education to open opportunities for girls and her dedication to partnership and allyship are critical GEC values. Her extensive experience in nonprofit management and in leading organizations as they go through transition will be invaluable as our next chapter unfolds,” she continued.
Most recently, Martin was the managing partner at KAVA Consultancy, a boutique nonprofit consulting firm, after working at Diversified Search Group and CalWest Educators Placement. In these roles, she conducted assessments, led executive searches, and served in interim leadership roles during transitions. Specializing in nonprofit and educational organizations, she brings expertise in change management, organizational effectiveness, relationship building, and fundraising.
Martin was the Chief Volunteer Engagement Officer with the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania and CEO with Bethlehem Haven, an organization that provided a continuum of care for homeless women, both based in Pittsburgh. She also served as Community Fund Director of the United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County in Asheville, North Carolina.
As a nonprofit thought leader, she facilitates workshops on navigating organizational change and strengthening leadership teams and has been recognized with numerous awards. Her many volunteer roles also include serving as a trustee for Buffalo Seminary (SEM), Western New York’s only non-sectarian all-girls high school, attracting students from across Western New York, the United States, and the world.
Martin reflected on her new opportunity with GEC, saying. “This is truly a full circle moment. I owe everything in my life to those who supported my parents in gaining an education that, in turn, unlocked a world of possibilities for me. I have been fortunate to have had access to opportunities to increase my understanding of systems, process, and the broader nonprofit landscape. Working with a variety of nonprofits and educational organizations throughout my career has prepared me to lead GEC. I am very excited about continuing GEC’s mission-driven work that centers on working in partnership to enrich the lives of women and girls through education on my home continent.”
Girls Education Collaborative was created from the simple premise that girls deserved an education and began with a partnership with the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa (IHSA) in Tanzania, supporting the work of local changemakers focused on girls education.
More than a decade later, GEC has served as a funder and a partner for their school, the Kitenga Girls Secondary School in Tanzania. Through a unique and robust partnership, the school has grown from 50 students to 242 girls. In 2021, GEC also created Ally Funder Alliance (AFA), to accelerate the pace and volume of philanthropic funding and allyship directed towards authentic community-born development in the area of girls education. The AFA brings together a deliberately small group of like-minded funders to provide unrestricted funding and other assistance to early-stage, promising, and locally-driven girl-centered organizations. The work is currently centered in Tanzania and provides Ally Organizations with the funding and other support they need to grow as they see best – with no strings attached.
GEC’s work is deeply rooted in social change and global gender equality, focused on helping local leaders support marginalized girls in their educational journeys. Globally, an estimated 122 million girls from under-served and economically impoverished communities never complete their secondary education due to the gender-based barriers they face. Through GEC’s model of partnership and allyship, hundreds of girls’ lives have been transformed through the power of education. To learn more about GEC, visit www.gec.ngo.