Founder and Executive Director
As an American of Jamaican heritage, Scott Clarke grew up aware of the generational inequities wrought by discriminatory policies and systems in both countries. Both his academic and professional career have accordingly focused on overcoming the effects of such inequities. He founded Amandla Development in response to the need in South Africa for local capacity development ensuring that populations previously oppressed by apartheid have the opportunity to participate in the growing economy on equal footing.
His interest in education’s ability to provide opportunities for upliftment out of poverty led to work in education policy research and education reform, having worked for Yale University Admissions, the International Leadership Charter School’s startup team, and later with Life Choices Peer Education Programme in Cape Town, South Africa. Most recently, Scott has sought opportunities to combine policy, non-profit, and private sector mechanisms for opportunity creation. Thus, he has worked in program evaluation, strategic development, and in various consulting roles with South African and American non-profits.
Scott has also served with ABAFAOILSS, a consortium dedicated to increasing the presence of underrepresented students on Ivy League campuses, in addition to work with the National Hispanic Institute’s College World Series program, and The Los Angeles Mentoring Project’s mentoring program for at-risk youth.
He received his BA in Political Science with a concentration in Comparative Government and East Asian Languages from Yale University and holds an MPA from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service where he completed his Master’s in public and non-profit management with a specialization in Public Policy Analysis.
Dr. Heather Wathington
Heather Wathington is an assistant professor of education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on the academic achievement of low-income students and students of color in higher education, with a specific focus on understanding the educational contexts, levers, and practices that promote greater academic success for these students. She also examines, more broadly, issues of access and equity for underserved students in higher education.
Prior to her appointment at the University of Virginia, Wathington served as senior research officer at Lumina Foundation for Education. In this role, she conducted research related to access and success in postsecondary education and commissioned and managed a portion of the Foundation's research grant portfolio. In addition, she was an integral part of the Foundation's Achieving the Dream Initiative, an effort committed to improving student success rates in community colleges.
Before joining the Lumina Foundation, she served as director of programs in the office of Diversity, Equity and Global Initiatives at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, D.C. Wathington is an honors graduate of Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and earned a master's degree in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania. She has her doctorate from the University of Michigan in Higher and Postsecondary Education.
Dr. Danielle Moss-Lee
Dr. Moss Lee joined HEAF in 2002 after many years of working in the field of education and youth development. She previously served as Assistant Principal of the Grace Lutheran School, Assistant Executive Director of the Morningside Area Alliance, Director for Community and Parent Partnerships at The After-School Corporation, and most recently as Director of the CTY Goldman Sachs Scholars Program of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. She has significant experience in curriculum development and program design and a commitment to expanding educational enrichment opportunities for underserved students.
Dr. Moss Lee served on the board of the Grace Lutheran School, was a founding trustee and lead applicant for Sisulu-Walker Children’s Academy – Harlem Charter School, and has served on the board of the Dodge YMCA, Teachers College Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation Advisory Board and the National Advisory Board of The Next Generation Venture Fund, a partnership between Johns Hopkins and Duke Universities. She received her B.A. in English Literature and History with a concentration in Black Studies from Swarthmore College and holds M.A. and Ed.M. degrees from Teachers College Columbia University where she completed her doctorate in Educational Leadership. Dr. Moss Lee is a graduate of the Institute for Not-for-Profit Management’s Executive Level Program at Columbia Business School, received her Certificate in Fund Raising Management from The Fund Raising School at Indiana University and more recently participated in the Harvard Business School SPNM program for non-profit. executives.
In 2007, Dr. Moss Lee was elected to the Community Education Council for District 3 in New York City where she lives with her husband and daughter.
Dr. Akwasi Aidoo
Dr. Aidoo, executive director of TrustAfrica, has extensive experience in philanthropy in Africa. His positions have included IDRC Program Officer for Health and Development in West and Central Africa and head of the Ford Foundation’s offices in Senegal and Nigeria from 1993 to 2001. He serves as a director on boards of several nonprofit organizations, including Oxfam America, the Crime Prevention Centre of South Africa, the Soros Foundation’s AfriMAP initiative, and the Global Network Committee of the Ash Institute at Harvard University. He also chairs the executive committee of the Africa Grantmakers’ Affinity Group.
Dr. Aidoo has taught at universities in Ghana, Tanzania, and the United States. He was educated in Ghana and the United States and received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Connecticut in 1984. He writes poetry and short stories in his spare time.
Teboho Moja – Professor, NYU Steinhardt School of Education
Teboho Moja has authored articles on higher education reform issues in areas such as the governance of higher education, policy processes, and impact of globalization on higher education. She is a co-author of a book on educational change in South Africa since the first democratic elections in 1994.
Her teaching experience includes high school and university levels. Moja has held key positions at several South African universities including being appointed chair of the Board of Trustees to the largest university in South Africa, the University of South Africa. She was instrumental in setting up the Center for Higher Education Transformation (CHET) in South Africa to monitor and stimulate debates on change issues. Moja has also served on the boards of international bodies such as the UNESCO-Institute for international Education Planning and the World Education Market. Her course topics include Current Research in Higher Education, International Perspectives on reform, and Globalization and Higher Education.
Moja has been a policy researcher and policy analyst for higher education in South Africa. She was appointed the Executive Director and Commissioner to the National Commission on Higher Education appointed by President Mandela. The Commission produced a national report that provided a framework for higher education reform in South Africa. Before coming to NYU, Teboho Moja served as a Special Advisor to the Minister of Education and again in 2005 -2006.
