Meet the Staff
Andrea Richardson
Andrea is the Program Officer of Operations for AJWS Individual Service Programs, responsible for administrative aspects of AJWS Volunteer Corps and World Partners Fellowship and ensuring their efficient implementation. Andrea previously served as Program Officer for Southeast Asia with AJWS Volunteer Corps, placing volunteers with NGOs in Thailand and Cambodia. She earned her B.A. in anthropology from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, where an internship teaching English to Southeast Asian refugees inspired her to pursue human rights work; she continues to have a professional interest in the rights of refugees and migrants.
Lani Santo
Lani is the Senior Program Officer for AJWS World Partners Fellowship, responsible for managing the fellowship and arranging fellows’ volunteer assignments. Lani previously served as Program Coordinator for AJWS Volunteer Corps. Lani is an alumna of AJWS Alternative Breaks and AJWS Volunteer Summer, as well as AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. While in AVODAH, she was a case manager for homeless women at N Street Village in Washington, D.C. and she now sits on the AVODAH Board of Directors. Lani graduated from Barnard College, where she majored in religion and was president of Columbia/Barnard Hillel.
Samantha Wolthuis
Samantha (Sam) Wolthuis is the Associate Director of Service for AJWS Individual Service Programs. She is responsible for managing World Partners Fellowship and Volunteer Corps. Prior to joining AJWS, Sam worked for Family & Children’s Services in Tulsa, Oklahoma and with Princeton in Africa in Princeton, New Jersey. Sam holds a Master’s degree in International Studies and has lived in Belgium, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
Sunita Sharma
Sunita is the country consultant for AJWS Service Programs in India. Sunita has been associated with the field of social development for more than 27 years, having worked with national and international development organizations. Prior to her work with AJWS, Sunita worked as Technical Consultant with Plan International for its HIV/AIDS Awareness Package program. She also served as the Country Director of World Education India and the India Country Coordinator for the Institute of International Education. Sunita also worked for CARE India as the Education Sector’s Coordinator for six years. Sunita holds a BA in Humanities and a Masters in Social Sciences. She currently resides in New Delhi with her husband and two children.
Oscar Andrade
Oscar is the regional consultant for AJWS in Mesoamerica. Prior to expanding his consultancy with AJWS, Oscar worked with Oxfam America in El Salvador, where he held a variety of positions for Oxfam’s programs in Central America. Previously, he was a founding member and executive director of both El Rescate Legal Services in Los Angeles, California and Fundación Flor de Izote, San Salvador, El Salvador, as well as the founder and member of the Board of Directors of Fundación Redes: San Salvador, El Salvador. In 1998, he was a Senior Advisor to USAID’s Municipal Development, Citizen Participation and Decentralization Program in San Salvador. He has a B.A. in political science from Universidad Nueva San Salvador.
Kip Panebianco
Kip Panebianco is the Field Officer for World Partners Fellowship in Central America. His consulting responsibilities include providing support to World Partners Fellows and facilitating educational programming. Kip joins AJWS after living in Honduras for close to two years, where he was doing field research and serving as an AJWS Volunteer Corps participant with Comité de Emergencia Garífuna. He also served with the Peace Corps in Nicaragua from 1998-2000. Kip is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Sustainable Development from the School for International Training, where his research focuses on leaders of social justice in Garífuna communities of Honduras. Kip holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Boston University.
