Our Leadership

Linda Smith is the Chair of the Board of Community Partners International (CPI). Before joining CPI’s Board in 2018, Linda worked with non-profit organizations for 15 years, including the RAND Corporation, particularly in field research and program monitoring and evaluation. She also served as the Program Director for Infectious Diseases at CPI for several years, helping the organization evolve from a volunteer-based organization to one supporting evidence-based health services millions annually in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand. Linda holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MHS from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Stan Sze is President of the B. K. Kee Foundation, Managing Member of Rivermark Management LLC, and a Board Member of the Kim and Harold Louie Family Foundation. The B. K. Kee Foundation is a private family foundation focused on humanitarian and development needs in Myanmar. Stan formerly practiced law with a focus on corporate mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings, U.S. securities laws, and corporate governance. He received his JD, with honors, from Georgetown University Law Center, a BS in electrical engineering, and a BA in political science from Stanford University. Alongside his role as President of the Board of Directors of Community Partners International, Stan serves as Chair of the Audit Committee and is a member of the Development Committee.

Dr. Tom Lee is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Community Partners International (CPI), a Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at UCLA, and an attending physician at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, California. Dr. Lee co-founded CPI (then the Global Health Access Program) in 1998. He has inspired the support of his colleagues at UCLA and other institutions working in Myanmar. He has galvanized support for Myanmar through advocacy and publications, addressing topics including infectious disease, reproductive health, and the impact of human rights on health. In March 2010, he received the International Public Health Hero award from UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health for his work in Myanmar.

In addition to his focus on Myanmar, Dr. Lee’s humanitarian service has included providing village health care in an El Salvador conflict zone and providing care at various free clinics in the United States. Dr. Lee received a medical degree, with honors, from UCSF, an MHS from UC Berkeley, and a BS from Stanford University. He did his residency training at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and an Emergency Medicine Research Fellowship at UCLA Medical Center.

Now retired, Jim’s professional career includes over 20 years in the home health care industry with leading companies, including Apria Healthcare, a NYSE listed company, and Amerita, and ten years in public accounting. Jim has held various financial positions, including Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer, and Vice President and Controller. He has been involved in a management buyout, an initial public offering, and numerous acquisitions and mergers. Jim started his professional career in public accounting and held positions of increasing responsibility in the audit divisions of KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Jim is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University’s Honors Program in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant. Jim currently chairs CPI’s Finance Committee.

Before retiring, John McGonigle spent 18 years with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., holding senior positions including Vice-President, Senior Vice-President, and Executive Vice-President, and was the Chief of Staff and advisor to Chairman and CEO Chuck Schwab from 2003 to 2006. Before his time at Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., John spent seven years with BankAmerica Corporation. John has served as an independent trustee on the boards of two mutual fund trusts.

Nora brings 30+ years of experience in Human Resources to Community Partners International (CPI)’s Board of Directors. In 2021, Nora retired as Vice President of Human Resources for National Underground Group, an underground infrastructure solutions business. Before that, she held executive-level HR roles in both public and private companies in health care, financial services, and homebuilding industries, including Apria Healthcare and Amerita. Nora has her B.A. in Communications from California State University, Fullerton, and an M.A. in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University. Nora is also a certified compensation specialist and was on the Orange County Compensation and Benefits Association board, where she served as President for three years. Nora transitioned to semi-retirement and currently provides HR consulting services to various clients. She lives in North Tustin, California, with her husband, Roger, and has two grown daughters.

Bob Condon began helping the people of Myanmar in 1990 when he joined PlanetCare founder Dr. Ben Brown, supporting the needs of displaced refugees fleeing from decades of civil war in Myanmar. Bob worked with Dr. Ben and Dr. Cynthia Maung at the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thailand-Myanmar border until 2006, when PlanetCare merged with the Global Health Access Program (GHAP). Bob continued his development work for PlanetCare/GHAP/Community Partners International until 2014, when he accepted a Board Emeritus position. Bob is a retired owner of a boutique investment firm and now volunteers for the Bear Yuba Land Trust in Grass Valley, CA.

Michael ‘Mike’ Johnson sadly passed away on January 28, 2025. Read our tribute: https://cpintl.org/type/organization-update/honoring-michael-johnson

Mike joined Community Partners International’s (CPI) Board of Directors in 2011. He served as Board Treasurer from 2012 to 2014 and Board Chair from June 2014 to January 2018.  After stepping down, Mr. Johnson stayed connected to CPI as an honorary Board Emeritus.

Mike enjoyed a 32-year career with Exxon Mobil, where he served in both professional and management positions, including as vice president of Upstream Research and Exploration.  His extensive nonprofit experience included many years in Board and Chair positions with Exxon’s Houston United Way Campaign, Kingwood Volunteer Fire Department, Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte, and Sahar Education (formerly Ayni Education International).

​Dr. Adam Richards is an Associate Professor of Global Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, where he is an active member of the M.P.H. Program in Global Humanitarian Health. Adam applies his internal medicine, epidemiology, and health services training to develop measurement tools and evidence-based interventions to improve health equity through clinical and population-based participatory research. His international work includes human resource development, malaria elimination and drug resistance, undernutrition, viral hepatitis, non-communicable disease, and health information systems that have quantified population-level exposure to human rights violations and their association with mortality, morbidity, and specific health outcomes.

Adam has been a champion of health care in Myanmar since 1992 and joined Community Partners International in 2001. Adam is board-certified in internal medicine. He graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health before completing his postgraduate training in the Social Internal Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the South Bronx. He completed a Ph.D. in Health Services Research at UCLA and was a Fellow of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and the American Heart Association Outcomes Research program. He served on the Board of Physicians for Human Rights from 2009-2020 and on the Board of Community Partners International from 2010 until 2022.

Shortly after graduating from medical school in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) in 2008, Dr. Si Thura joined relief and recovery efforts in the Ayeyarwady Delta after the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis, the worst natural disaster in Myanmar’s recorded history. The experience convinced him that the key to the future was to strengthen resilience and support the development of community-led services to provide for essential needs such as health care and education. Dr. Si Thura joined Community Partners International (CPI) in 2009 as the organization’s first Myanmar-based staff member.

Starting from a small office in Yangon, Dr. Si Thura has played an instrumental role in bringing CPI from its roots on the eastern border to the forefront of health systems in Myanmar, especially for health reforms. Under his stewardship, CPI supports a network of community-based partners in Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, and other South Asian countries, delivering lifesaving health, humanitarian, and development services to more than one million people in conflict-affected, remote rural and urban poor communities.

Dr. Si Thura received the 2013 Australian Leadership Award and 2016 InsideNGO’s Emerging Leader Award. He is also a co-founder and Joint Secretary of the Liver Foundation (Myanmar).

As Chief Operating Officer, Marjan Besuijen leads Community Partners International (CPI)’s Operations Team, which includes finance, grants, human resources, administration, IT, and safety and security functions. During the past 20 years, Marjan has worked in various operational leadership roles in the international development and humanitarian sectors, with strategic placements in Asia, the Middle East, and East and Southern Africa. Her experience is firmly embedded in human rights, public health, strategic leadership, grants, and operational management. Before joining Community Partners International (CPI), Marjan worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as Head of Mission (Country Representative) in Myanmar from 2020 until August 2023.

As Community Partners International’s (CPI) Chief Program Officer, Dr. Nu Nu Aye oversees developing and implementing the organization’s health and nutrition, emergency response, and sustainable development programs. Dr. Nu Nu Aye joined CPI in October 2017 after spending 10 years managing key health funds across Myanmar for the Three Diseases Fund (3DF) and the Three Millennium Development Goal Fund (3MDG). Before her time at 3DF and 3MDG, Dr. Nu Nu Aye spent six and a half years with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Myanmar in a variety of medical and program roles. Dr. Nu Nu Aye holds a Master in Public Health degree from Mahidol University, Thailand, and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees from the University of Medicine 1, Yangon, Myanmar.

Tom leads the development of Community Partners International (CPI)’s strategy, partnerships, and learning. Before this role, Tom was CPI’s Director of Policy and Research.

Before joining CPI, Tom worked as a World Bank health systems advisor for the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports. He also supported the development of CPI’s strategic purchasing project with the Karen Ethnic Health Organization Consortium, which continues to inform policymakers about a potential approach for cooperation between ethnic health organizations and the government. He also worked on health policy and economics in Tanzania (Zanzibar) and Europe. Tom holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Oxford University, an MSc in Economic Policy from UCL, and an MPA from Harvard University.

Kalsang is drawn to Community Partners International’s commitment to drive change in the most challenging places in Asia. As Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, Kalsang works closely with CPI’s Development Committee to lead long-term financial sustainability goals and strategies. She is passionate about designing meaningful ways to engage donors and driving resources to where they are most needed. Before CPI, Kalsang was the Associate Vice President of Programs at Give2Asia, overseeing the stewardship of individual donors and private foundations with their philanthropic giving across Asia.

Kalsang has served on various boards and projects serving the rights and needs of displaced communities. She studied economics and peace and conflict resolution at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.