Kate Cunningham, from Seattle, WA, is the Senior Faculty for the class of 2009. She has over 20 years of experience in software development in a variety of industries such as health care, transportation, engineering, and publishing. She has shipped software for search engines, e-commerce, content management, member services, and wireless applications. She received a Bachelors of Science degree in Physics from Western Washington University. Kate is passionate about working with teams to design, build and ship really cool software. She is a strong believer in developing iteratively, using visual modeling techniques, releasing early and often, mingling in an "unstructured sort of way," and having fun. In her spare time, Kate loves to read books, talk about books, and suggest books for others to read. In her other spare time, she admires pygmy goats and is learning Twi, a local language. Her favorite phrase is “ Hodojasee en su betdo?” “ Do you think it will rain? ”

DeLanee Collins comes to Accra, Ghana by way of Santa Monica, California, where she most recently managed infrastructure projects for Edmunds.com, the leading website for consumer automotive information. DeLanee has over 20 years of work experience in large-scale systems development and has worked for companies such as AT&T, Lucent, Avaya, Motorola, Answer Financial, Toyota and Honda. Her key career contributions of note are: 1. the automation of the international sales distribution process for Avaya Communications, 2. management and integration of Answer Financial's Call Center acquisition from Capital One, and 3. Toyota's implementation of RouteOne, a joint venture with Ford, GMAC and Chrysler to provide an integrated loan origination system. DeLanee holds a B.S. in Computer Science from UW-Madison, an M.S. in Computer Science from Monmouth University, NJ and an M.B.A. in International Business from University of Southern California. DeLanee has previously taught computer science at Park College in North Carolina and has implemented several corporate training programs.

Hajo Birthelmer, a native of Germany, holds joint positions as Senior Faculty and Chief Technology Officer at the Metlwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Accra, Ghana. He is responsible for establishing long-term technical vision and strategy for entrepreneurial education and for the global launch of new software companies in Ghana, London, and San Francisco. Hajo simultaneously holds the title of Director and Chief Software Architect for GenKey ID Management, a position where he is involved in both the Netherlands and in Ghana. He has a full technology career that has led him through California and Texas in the United States. Hajo lives with his children in Accra and loves exploring the city with them. In his spare time, Hajo further enjoys good conversation, politics, dining, and football (the active part has diminished substantially; the passive part is still well alive and ticking).

Ylva Strander works for the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) as the Managing Director. Being one of the founding team members, she has been developing MEST from the initial stages, as an idea, to a 50-person organization within a little over a year. She enjoys the challenges of her position which include: recruiting, strategic development, financial management, and staff support. Prior to MEST, Ylva worked in Meltwater News as a Sales Consultant and Sales Manager. Ylva has earned a Bachelor's degree from Lund University in Sweden, with a major in Economics and a minor in Political Science. Due to her passion for travel, Ylva has also worked and traveled on five continents and on the seven seas.

Fredrik Reff Sydnes is the Managing Director of Meltwater Foundation, the non-profit arm of Meltwater Group, which fully funds and support MEST. Part of the original founding team of MEST, Fredrik has been developing MEST from the initial stages, developing it into a 50-person organization within approximately one year. Fredrik's responsibilities currently include: recruiting trainees and staff, strategic development, financial management, and staff support. Prior to MEST, Fredrik worked in Meltwater News in the Norwegian and German markets. Fredrik holds an MS in Finance from the Norwegian School of Management. When not traveling to and from Ghana, Fredrik enjoys running, golf, wind surfing and mountain biking.

Thorsten Kramer joined the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology as a Technical Fellow in January 2009. Thorsten has a professional background in the design and development of complex software systems. He is passionate about Agile Software Development and distributes to the Open Source Movement. He received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Freiburg, Germany, with a major in robotics and artificial intelligence. In his spare time, Thorsten likes to read both novels and books on modern history. He also enjoys running, long distance cycle marathons and will be the first German finisher of the Accra Peace Marathon.

Jens Thang joined Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology as a Teaching Fellow in August 2008. Prior to that, Jens served as an Entrepreneur Consultant to Internet startups in the United States. He has been responsible for developing dynamic strategies driving business development in many startups focusing on the Internet industry. Jens is an in-demand author in the field of negotiation. He writes a popular negotiation blog, TheNegotiationGuru.com, which is read by lawyers, entrepreneurs and business executives from all over the world. His blog was invited to join Forbes Business & Finance Blog Network, a community of pre-screened best-of-breed financial and business blogs. He is an author of an upcoming book “Sages of Negotiation”. His research interests include negotiation strategies, entrepreneurial ventures and the application of ancient war strategies to entrepreneurship. Jens is an aspiring Jazz artist and avid photographer. He enjoys experiencing different cultures and has traveled to many different parts of the world.

Aleata Hubbard joins the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology as a Teaching Fellow supporting the technology and product development courses. Before coming to MEST, Aleata was pursuing a Ph.D. at Northwestern University in Learning Sciences where she focused on developing computer-mediated language learning environments. Prior to her time at Northwestern, Aleata spent 4 years at Carnegie Mellon University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne studying computer science and French. Additionally, she has interned at both Soliant Consulting, a custom database company, and Carnegie Speech, a speech training software company. After completing her year at MEST, Aleata plans to return to Northwestern University to continue her graduate studies.

Simon Tam comes to Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology as a Technical Teaching Fellow. Before MEST, he worked at Alias Systems (now known as Autodesk), C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Xandros, Expedia, and Microsoft as a Software Engineer. He holds a double major in both Computer Science and Combinatorics & Optimization from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Upon graduation, Simon spent a year traveling across Asia, occasionally volunteering as an English Teacher. A born and proud Canadian, he enjoys all things that resemble the maple leaf: hockey, poutines, and saying the word “eh”.

Gireeja Ranade comes to Accra from the University of California at Berkeley, where she is finishing her Masters in Electrical Engineering. She completed a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, with a minor in Biomedical Engineering, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007. At MEST, Gireeja teaches the programming concepts and problem solving course and is a co-instructor for the product development curriculum. She has worked in the USA, Germany and India in areas that include robotics, medical-equipment development, neuroscience and resource planning. She also served as an instructor and tutor to children, college students, and adults. After MEST, Gireeja plans to pursue a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Berkeley.