Neil Sullivan, Board Chair
Neil has served on the PRIDE Board of Directors since 2010 and has served as Chairman of the Board since 2017. Neil has been traveling to Ethiopia annually since joining the PRIDE Board to assist with needs assessment and project evaluations. Neil lives in Lyons Colorado with his family and owns / operates two independent local businesses. In addition to his busy schedule, Neil maintains an active outdoor-oriented lifestyle with is wife and two Ethiopian adopted children.
John Putnam, Founder and Advisor
John Putnam is an environmental and transportation attorney and regulator, who has practiced for more than 25 years. He represented states, municipalities, and private entities in Colorado and nationwide on a range of environmental and project development issues. John co-founded PRIDE with Zewge Gebre-Mariam in 2006, is a former chairman of the PRIDE Board and has participated in six trips to PRIDE’s projects in the Highlands of Ethiopia.
Zewge Gebre-Mariam, Founder and Board Member
Zewge is the co-founder and former chairman of PRIDE. Currently retired, Zewge was an agricultural economist for the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization from 1978 to 1994, and served in the field and at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. His field assignment for the UN included a two and a half year stay in The Gambia. Prior to joining the UN, Zewge worked for the Ethiopian government as an economist with the Ethiopian Coffee Board in the Ministry of Agriculture. He earned a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Zewge makes annual trips to Ethiopia to monitor and facilitate PRIDE’s projects. He lives in Boulder with his wife Edda
Ruph Gebre-Mariam, Board Member
Ruph is a Senior IT Manager in charge of Change Release and Software Configuration Management at Century Link Communications. From 1990-2007 he was at the University of Colorado where he was the Assistant Director for Budget Services, Assistant Athletic Director in charge of Ticketing and Guest Relations and Account Manager at the Cooperative Institute for Research In Environmental Sciences (CIRES). Ruph earned a Master's Degree in International Affairs and a BA in International Business and Marketing from the University of Colorado. Ruph traveled to Ethiopia on PRIDE’s behalf in January 2010 and 2013. He lives in Boulder with his wife and two children
Saskia Keyes, Board Member
Saskia has served on the PRIDE Ethiopia Board of Directors since 2023. She was born in South Africa, moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada when she was 4. She moved to Colorado when she was 14 and has lived there ever since. Saskia lives in Greenwood Village, CO with her husband and three children and two Rhodeisan Ridgeback dogs. She has a house in Nicaragua and works with the schools and clinics there to get children educated and make sure they have access to healthcare. She has been contributing to PRIDE Ethiopia for many years and will continue to do so to help the children in Ethiopia get their education, clean water and access to healthcare.