MSF-Netherlands Board
Board Member Terms of Reference
| File name | File size |
|---|---|
| 2024 Board Member Terms of Reference | 175.1 kB |
| 2024 Board Member Terms of Reference - Annex 1: Public Representation | 133.8 kB |
| 2024 Board Skills Matrix | 118.4 kB |
| 2024 MSF-NL President Terms of Reference.pdf | 159.1 kB |
| 2024 MSF-NL Secretary Terms of Reference | 183.3 kB |
| 2024 MSF-NL Treasurer Terms of Reference | 189.3 kB |
| 2024 MSF-NL Vice President Terms of Reference | 164.0 kB |
Your Board Members
Jesse Wambugu - President - elected 2023
Jesse Wambugu is a business executive and a public health professional with over 20 years of experience in the health sector. He has worked in and managed humanitarian projects across multiple continents in both conflict and emergency settings. At both the international- and national-level, he has worked on and led the development and implementation of new diagnostic tools across Sub-Saharan Africa. He joined MSF in 2003 as Field Laboratory Scientist, with various assignments in South Sudan, Uzbekistan, Sierra Leone, Uganda and DRC. By 2008, he moved to his second MSF role as Project Coordinator, first in South Sudan and then in Haiti, until 2010.
Jesse holds an Advanced Diploma in Biomedical Sciences, a Master’s in International Public Health and is an International Coaching Federation-certified executive leadership coach. He is passionate about his daughters, loves the outdoors, and is an avid conservationist.
Nestley Songco - Vice President - elected 2024
Nestley Songco is a human resources professional with experience in leadership and humanitarian work. Based in the Netherlands, Nestley has dedicated over a decade to advancing HR practices globally. He then joined Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in 2010, where he held key roles, including the Emergency Desk Personnel Advisor, Change and Project Support Manager, and Operations HR Advisor. He supported HR operations in challenging environments such as Somalia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone Ebola response and Bangladesh and led initiatives in learning and development. He later became the Regional Head of HR and Psychosocial Unit for the Southeast, East Asia Pacific Project (SEEAP), enhancing regional fundraising and staff support and development.
He is also currently one of the MSF-Norway individual coaching pool coaches supporting MSF colleagues globally.
Currently, Nestley is the Director of People and Culture at War Child Alliance, overseeing global HR, learning and development, safeguarding and integrity (responsible behaviour), values and culture and DEIB frameworks. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration and an Agile Scrum Master Certification and is pursuing an MBA from Monash University. Nestley aims to enhance collaboration and engagement within the MSF Netherlands Board, leveraging his extensive HR, DEI and leadership experience.
Wout Adema - Treasurer – elected 2025
Wout Adema is the Director of Healthcare at the Dutch Association of Health Insurers (Zorgverzekeraars Nederland). A Certified Public Accountant by training, he previously worked at KPMG, served as Chief Procurement Officer at Achmea/Zilveren Kruis, and held leadership roles as CFO and CEO in Dutch hospitals.
Wout has extensive experience in governance, having served as Chair of the Audit Committee for ZOA RefugeeCare and as a Board member of Compassion, an organisation supporting child sponsorship programs. He currently serves on the Board and Audit Committee of the Salvation Army.
Co-opted as an MSF-NL Board Member in 2022, he was later appointed Treasurer.
Linda Kuipers - Secretary - elected 2024
Linda Kuipers brings over 20 years of expertise in communication and fundraising for humanitarian organizations. Based in the Netherlands, she began her career as an editor-in-chief, creating impactful TV programs for various charitable causes. Over the years, she has worked with globally recognized NGOs such as UNICEF and Oxfam, as well as the Dutch Postcode Lottery, MSF's largest donor.
In 2019, Linda completed a post-academic degree in Philanthropy and joined MSF Netherlands. During her tenure, she played a key role in advancing funding strategies and fostering donor partnerships. In 2024, Linda transitioned to freelance consultancy, providing fundraising and communication advice to humanitarian organizations. She also dedicates her time to volunteer work, serving as a board member for a refugee-supporting NGO in the Netherlands and a grant-making family foundation.
Antoine van Sint Fiet - elected 2024
Antoine van Sint Fiet is a clinical psychologist / psychotherapist with a commitment to humanitarian work and global mental health advocacy.
From 2015 to 2017, he served as a Mental Health Activity Manager with MSF in India, Syria, and Turkey. In these roles, he led teams of counselors, developed mental health programs for victims of war and violence, and implemented innovative projects addressing HIV, MDR-TB, Hepatitis C, drug abuse and sexual and gender-based violence.
Currently, Antoine works at ARQ Centrum’45, where he leads a team focused on treating refugees with psychotrauma. As chairman of the clinical council at ARQ, he provides strategic advice on patient care and workplace safety to the Board of Directors. Antoine also served as a board member of Trauma Aid Netherlands and has trained professionals in mental health care in Sudan and South Sudan.
He is dedicated to enhancing mental health care accessibility and integrating comprehensive care approaches for vulnerable populations. He is a proud father of two boys and he has a passion for traveling and sports.
Maarten de Jong - elected 2024
Maarten is an infectious disease epidemiologist and public health specialist. With extensive experience working with MSF and other NGOs, he has dedicated his career to combating infectious diseases in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana, South Sudan, Haiti, and Iraq. His focus has been on outbreak control and operational research.
During his time back home in the Netherlands, Maarten has worked in medical centers in the fields of stem cell transplantation, antibiotic resistance and clinical trials. In addition to his professional roles, Maarten holds board positions in sports and homeowners associations. However, he plans to resign from these positions to create dedicated time for the MSF-NL Association Board.
Currently, he works as an epidemiologist at the Public Health Service Amsterdam and is pursuing a PhD on detecting infectious disease outbreaks through wastewater analysis in both high- and low-resource settings. Maarten is passionate about nature and enjoys spending time outdoors with his lovely partner Floortje.
Marianne Weijers - elected 2024
Marianne is a healthcare professional with a background in nursing and educational coordination. Currently, she serves as the Coordinator of Workplace Learning with Learning Technology at mboRijnland in Leiden, where she leads the professional development of over 50 teachers across various healthcare disciplines. Marianne's also holds a position as a Senior Lecturer in Care & Wellness, where she develops and teaches workplace learning programs.
Marianne's career includes significant international experience with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), where she undertook missions in Afghanistan, Thailand, and Nigeria. These missions involved managing health programs in challenging environments, such as controlling diarrheal diseases in Nigeria and overseeing malaria drug resistance studies in Thailand. Her early career was marked by roles such as District Nurse and Medical Reception Coordinator in the Netherlands, focusing on community health and asylum seeker medical care.
Her educational background includes a post-graduate diploma in Community Health from Hogeschool Leiden and a BSc in Nursing from Hogeschool InHolland. Marianne's skills in health education, project coordination, and her commitment to improving healthcare access make her a valuable candidate for the MSF Netherlands Board, where she aims to enhance MSF's outreach and professional image within the medical community.
Rashed Mohammad Mahfuzullah - elected 2023
Rashed is a medical doctor and a public health specialist with about 12 years of professional experience behind him. He served MSF for 6 years, with role past roles in all five OCs, for international and national assignments, and covering refugee crisis, urban health and planetary health. He served as medical activity manager, deputy Project Medical Referent (PMR), and PMR, and has been vocal in associative movements across MSF SARA and MSF NL. Included in his memorable assignments were in the aid of the Rohingya refugee crisis and in the unique occupational and environmental health scenario in Kamrangirchar.
Rashed’s main expertise is in occupational and environmental health, but his studies have covered disaster management, tropical medicine, and international relations. He has written occupational health protocols and constructed many Information Education Communication materials for his projects, and has been most recently pursuing his second Master’s degree in Global Health in Sweden.
Sunita Baskar Abraham - co-opted 2023
Sunita Baskar Abraham is a Medical Doctor with over 15 years of experience in health and development. She has worked with MSF since 2010 in various capacities as a medical doctor, PMR, Deputy MedCo, and MedCo. Sunita was also been on the board of MSF South Asia (formerly SARA) 2014-2023, serving as chair for two years and representing the Regional Association at the OCA Council.
Sunita's passion lies in advocating for health and improving access to healthcare for those in crisis. Her expertise includes strategic planning, managing country operations, project monitoring and evaluation, and networking. She has provided leadership in implementing hospital and health programs, with a focus on tropical and neglected diseases.
Vincent Hoedt - elected 2025
Vincent Hoedt was elected to the MSF-Netherlands Board in June 2022 after being co-opted in April.
After studying Tropical Agriculture, he joined MSF in 1996, working for a decade as a logistician, WatSan Emergency Coordinator, and Head of Mission in DRC, Sudan, and Colombia. In 2006, he became an Emergency Manager at MSF-OCA’s Emergency Support Department (ESD), later serving as Head of ESD until 2015, opening the missions in Syria, Libya, and more, as well as leading the response to the Haiti earthquake.
After a short break, he became Deputy Director of Operations in 2016, a position he held until 2020.
Charity Kamau – elected 2025
Charity Kamau is a senior healthcare leader with extensive experience in program management, policy advocacy, and strategic leadership. She has over 15 years of international experience in healthcare systems, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) field and headquarters roles. Her proven ability to drive impactful policy changes, foster multi-stakeholder collaborations, and lead high-performing teams is complemented by her passion for strengthening healthcare systems and advocating for sustainable reforms. She worked with MSF from March 2006 to July 2023 as a project coordinator in South Sudan and Nigeria, as a laboratory advisor based in Amsterdam and supporting diagnostic capacity technical across various countries. She served briefly as a co-opted board member with MSF Netherlands Board in 2022 as well as the OCA representative in the MSF We Want to Be committee. Today, she is Head of Programs at the Kenya Healthcare Federation, where she focuses on healthcare governance, health systems strengthening, private sector contribution to Universal health coverage and policy advocacy.
Laura Kant – elected 2025
Laura is a humanitarian safety and security advisor with almost a decade of experience within an extensive number of complex contexts affected by conflict and disaster. She has broader experience in project management, operations, humanitarian affairs and advocacy within the sector. Her first assignments with MSF and OCA was as a Supply and Logistics assistant from 2016 until 2018, and from 2018 until 2024, she worked on project coordination in Nigeria, India, DRC, and Kurdistan, as well as internal review and support for the Amsterdam headquarters and OCA intersectional topics. In 2018, she co-founded the MSF Green Elephant Network an OCA-based initiative that advocates for a more sustainable foundation for the organization; links operational sections or directorates, project staff and home societies to cultivate and support sustainable and 'green' initiatives; and continues the discussion on MSF’s role in the midst of humanitarian health crises. Outside of MSF, Laura is employed as a Security Officer at Red Cross (The Netherlands), and her interests include visual storytelling through documentaries and photography.