Officers & Directors

Krista Krieger

Chair of the Board & Executive Director

Krista received her undergraduate degree in business administration from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and qualified as a Certified Public Accountant when she moved to New York City in 1993. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and two children and is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Empowers Africa. She has made over 7 short documentaries over the last several years, some winning awards at various film festivals. She is a former Senior Tax Manager for Ernst & Young LLP, former Chair of the Board of Trustees of Africa Foundation (USA), former trustee of Africa Foundation (SA) and the African Wildlife Foundation. Krista has traveled extensively throughout Africa and was honored with The African Diaspora Award for “The Friend of Africa” by Applause Africa magazine on December 8th, 2012. Krista was honored at the Voss Foundation’s Third Annual Women Helping Women event in the Hamptons on August 7th, 2017.

Liz Kelly

Treasurer & Secretary

Graduate of Princeton University, cum laude, and of Harvard University School of Business Administration. Liz spent her career in financial services in New York City before moving to Florida to be a full-time mother. She spent over 15 years in Investment Banking at such firms as Salomon Brothers, Scully Brothers & Foss, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. She retired in 2004 from Bear Stearns Merchant Banking (now Irving Place Capital) as Managing Director, Deal Sourcing. Liz has traveled to Kenya and Tanzania and is an Africa enthusiast. She is a former Advisory Committee member of Africa Foundation (USA).

Nadia Derelieva

Chief Financial Officer

Nadia comes to Empowers Africa with 15+ years of business experience building operational infrastructures for fast-growth startups, multi-nationals, and prominent nonprofit organizations where she has worked to streamline processes, establish controls and instill compliance. She received her Master of Administrative Sciences from Fairleigh Dickinson University and her Master of Science in Applied Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering from Budapest Technical University. Nadia has also completed a Business Management Program at the Japan International Cooperation Agency as well as Microsoft Office Expert Level Certifications.

Nadia speaks English, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Russian. Her hobbies include: swimming, archaeology, collecting antiques and traveling. Among her favorite places to travel are: South Africa, Peru, Argentina, the Galapagos Islands, Japan and Europe.

Martha McGuinness

Director of Documentary Development & Partnerships

Martha graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University with a BA in English. She began a career in journalism first as a Fashion Editor at The New York Times followed by positions at Seventeen Magazine, Marie Claire and Town & Country. She left print journalism to pursue a career in television where she was a freelance fashion and lifestyle correspondent for WNBC News New York and WCBS News This Morning. She left television to accept the position of Director of PR for Victoria’s Secret. After four years at Victoria’s Secret, Martha pursued her own design business creating a line of women’s tennis apparel. Martha is a frequent traveler to Africa and is a passionate advocate and supporter of animal and wildlife conservation and human empowerment initiatives. She continues to freelance write for various lifestyle publications.