Who We Are | Fintrac

About Fintrac

Fintrac, a woman-owned and US-based consulting company, develops agricultural solutions to end hunger and poverty. For over three decades, Fintrac has helped increase rural incomes and strengthened food security across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We do this by developing interventions to improve market system competitiveness and increase participation of smallholder farmers.

Since 2000, Fintrac has supported more than 3.2 million producers and agricultural entrepreneurs, provided recurrent training to more than 2 million farmers, supported more than 10 million people, including children, in becoming more food secure, and leveraged more than $4.6 billion in agricultural sales.

Our teams of highly skilled in-country experts across multiple technical disciplines provide unique insight and analysis, and contribute vital context-specific knowledge to all programmatic activities.

Improving production, bridging local capacity, & developing value chains

Through proven technologies and practices, we rapidly increase smallholder yields to multiply incomes by two, three, and even 10 times in one year. This income fuels local economies and drastically improves healthcare, education, and overall quality of life for entire communities. We believe sustainable food security is inherently linked to income generation, so we train families, producer groups, and local service providers to treat farming as a commercial enterprise.

Our partnerships expand income exponentially

Fintrac coordinates technical assistance delivery to farmers and local enterprises through partner alliances with private sector enterprises, national and regional governments, educational and research institutes, and civil society. Through these partnerships, we offer embedded extension services, enable access to inputs and finance, and set up channels for farmers to add value to their crops—all while building relationships between local stakeholders that are sustained long after projects are completed. We promote “no regrets” interventions that improve natural resource management and resiliency to weather variability while reinforcing economically sound business practices. Our teams and partners are equipped with cutting edge tools and knowledge, and the resources to make innovative technologies available to farmers.

Our Experienced Team

Fintrac’s global team is comprised of technical and operational specialists who are collectively committed to the mission of developing agricultural solutions to end hunger and poverty. Our team members – from agronomists and postharvest physiologists to M&E experts and market analysts, project managers and communications gurus – are simply the best in the business. Following are bio-summaries for our most senior, but there are dozens more talented individuals in top and mid-level management tiers, and many more ‘line’ staff who contribute mightily every day. Our plan over the coming months is to highlight current and former Fintrac staff, and promote new and pending endeavors, and ‘next’ acts. Stay tuned!

Executive Leadership

Claire Starkey, President

A founding Fintrac executive, Claire has been collaborating for over three decades on agricultural initiatives with in-country and international partners across four continents that support farmers and farm families to achieve income increases and food security. A marketing and communications strategist, she provides leadership in organizational development; advises staff and clients on best practices for sustainable impact; and advocates for increasing women's participation and small business engagement in the agribusiness sector worldwide.

Tom Klotzbach, Chief Executive Officer

A founding Fintrac executive, Tom is responsible for technical, operational, and corporate financial planning and oversight. He has been a primary contributor to Fintrac’s value-chain methodologies; was the original architect of the agricultural M&E system cited by donors as a model for measuring farm productivity and income impact; has worked with in-country stakeholders to design initiatives responsive to gaps and goals; led numerous analytical assignments across the globe; and is a thought leader on climate change mitigation and smallholder adaptation.

Andy Medlicott, Executive Vice President

A Fintrac executive for over three decades, Andy designs and implements agricultural activities that sustainably increase crop productivity and diversification, market and credit access, technology use and distribution, farmer incomes, and family nutrition. He is a market systems specialist who has been instrumental in developing sustainable private sector partnerships that integrate smallholders into global supply chains, is a pioneer in agricultural M&E, and has been Chief of Party on multiple USAID and other donor projects. He holds a PhD in postharvest physiology.

Mary Duncan, Senior Vice President

Mary has managed two practice areas at Fintrac over the last eighteen years; provided leadership to a major on-line technical education initiative; led start-up teams on multiple programs across East Africa, southeast Asia, South America and the Caribbean; and been Deputy Chief of Party on two large agriculture and nutrition projects in Cambodia and Ethiopia. She also provides operational management training to project teams and partner staff worldwide; and conducts mid-term program audits. She holds an MBA, and degrees in agriculture and livestock.

Laura Harwig, Senior Vice President

Laura was most recently Chief of Party on the Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation program, responsible for supporting commercial partnerships with in-country and international companies to help them scale technologies, and provide goods and services, to smallholder consumers in emerging markets. She also has fifteen years’ experience worldwide (e.g. Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, East Timor, Nepal, Cambodia, Guatemala) designing agricultural development projects that prioritize in-country stakeholder goals.

Mike Reiter, Senior Vice President

Mike’s responsibilities in the last two decades with Fintrac include design of complex agricultural projects and strategic frameworks; on- and off-farm impact reporting; and management of technical staff and partners. He is currently resident in Colombia and is the DCOP for the USAID-PMA project, contributing to crop productivity, infrastructure, investment and market share across multiple value-chains. He holds an MS from Berkeley in big data analytics.

Anya Castor, Chief Financial Officer

Anya is responsible for ensuring that all financial activities comply with legal and contractual requirements, adhere to accepted accounting and industry practices, and that tax, NICRA, EDC, and other reporting is accurate and timely. She manages the accounting team in headquarters, and provides oversight to Fintrac’s finance and accounting teams across the globe. Anya has a BA in accounting from the University of the Virgin Islands.

Steve New, Executive Emeritus

A founding Fintrac executive, Steve has spent four decades across four continents supporting local responses to food security, nutrition, and income-generation needs. He has consistently demonstrated the commercial viability of regenerative cropping systems, successfully scaled technologies for smallholder consumers, and collaborated with commercial partners to integrate smallholders into supply chains for staple crops, dairy products, floriculture, and horticulture products. Steve holds a PhD in crop physiology.

Senior Project Management

Ian Chesterman, COP - FTF Ethiopia VCA

Ian has more than three decades of experience in East and Southern Africa both managing supply chains for commercial exporters, and in the last fifteen years, leading donor-funded agricultural development activities for Fintrac in Kenya and Ethiopia. His technical knowledge and operational expertise extends to multiple value-chains (e.g. horticulture, staple crops, livestock, specialty coffee), with a focus on smallholder income generation, and women and youth managed enterprises. He holds an MS in Land and Water Management.

Antonio Coello, COP - FTF Tanzania MnM

Antonio has been an integral member of Fintrac’s senior management team for 20 years, inclusive of two prior stints as COP on multi-year programs in Honduras and Tanzania. He is an architect of the integrated agriculture-nutrition approach that is a hallmark of Fintrac projects worldwide; is an active proponent of market systems facilitation; and has successfully designed activities that optimize youth engagement. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MBA with an agro-industrial emphasis.

Mary Duncan, DCOP - FTF Ethiopia VCA

Javier Giraldo, COP - Colombia PMA

Prior to moving into senior management on USAID-funded agricultural development projects, Javier had three decades of experience coordinating market-led supply chains for commercial companies in Colombia (e.g. Chiquita, Tropical Crop S.A., Uniban). He currently leads the USAID PMA project, providing oversight to multiple value-chain activities that integrate smallholder support, inclusive of specialty coffee and cacao, as well as domestic and export market development activities. He holds an MS in Corporate Financial Management.

Teshome Lemma, DCOP - FTF Ethiopia VCA

A team leader on agricultural activities across Africa and Asia for more than three decades, Dr. Teshome has held COP and DCOP positions on Fintrac-led USAID programs in his native Ethiopia for the last ten years. He works across multiple crop and livestock value chains; manages technical specialists to provide smallholder extension and other services; facilitates access to inputs, technologies, credit, and markets; and advises governments on enabling environment strategies and policy reforms. He holds a PhD in Development Economics from the University of London.

Stephen Mruma, DCOP - FTF Tanzania MnM

Stephen is a dedicated private sector development and agriculture technology transfer specialist with 20 years of in-depth knowledge and understanding of both public and private sector agriculture. On two consecutive Fintrac projects in Tanzania, he has built the capacity of partner agronomists, managed training for client farmers and agribusiness partners, and provided strategic guidance on achieving program goals. Prior to joining Fintrac, Stephen moved up the ranks of Balton Tanzania Ltd, leading the company’s agrochemical division.

Olivia Mukoko, CROP LEAD – Zimbabwe FARM

Olivia has 30 years’ experience in crop production, marketing and agribusiness. She holds PhD and MPhil degrees in plant breeding and genetics from the University of Cambridge, an MBA from the University of Zimbabwe, and was Crops Technical Manager for Fintrac’s Zim-AIED prior to being DCOP on the FTFZ-CD program. She now provides leadership to the crops component of FTF-FARM. Olivia began her career as a plant breeder with the MoA in Zimbabwe, and in senior management with a large processed foods manufacturer.

Rosemary Nyoka, LIVESTOCK LEAD – Zimbabwe FARM

Rosemary has almost three decades of experience in agriculture, with a focus on dairy and livestock sectors. She has worked in senior management positions with Fintrac for the last decade, including in COP and DCOP positions on USAID projects. Previously, Rosemary coordinated livestock and dairy research & extension for the Zimbabwe Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, she is a university lecturer, and she holds a PhD in Biological Sciences with Dairy Science Specialization from South Dakota State University, and an MSC in Animal Science from the University of Zimbabwe.

Department Directors

Trevis Baker, Director of IT Services

Trevis develops and maintains all IT tools and systems, and provides oversight to IT operations in headquarters and to IT operations and specialist teams in project offices worldwide. He co-manages cybersecurity protocols, maintains servers, manages Cloud-based systems, and additionally is responsible for the back-end infrastructure of CIRIS, Fintrac’s award-winning agricultural M&E system. Trevis holds a BS in computer science.

Sara Duran, Director of Partner Services

Sara has been working with commercial partners (e.g. input suppliers, processors, exporters), NGOs (e.g. trade associations, universities and government agencies) for fifteen years. She has also managed M&E activities in Latin America and southeast Asia, and is a leading contributor to technical training initiatives. Well-versed in the USG regulatory environment, she has also been DCOP on a multi-year USAID agricultural project, and holds a BS in agriculture.

Yasmine Haynes, Global Director of Human Resources

Yasmine is an innovative HR professional with global operations management experience in staffing, benefits, compensation, employee relations, regulatory environments for labor compliance, payroll, and professional training and development. She also coordinates health & safety protocols across multiple countries, is skilled in strategic organizational development, and an expert in application of FAR regulations (e.g. trafficking, fraud reporting). Yasmine holds a BA in communications, MA in public administration, and a PHR certification.

Kathleen Jacques, Global Director of Program Services

Kathleen has extensive expertise providing management support and oversight to agriculture and nutrition projects funded by USAID and other donors across East Africa, southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. She is expert in staff, partner, and grants management; FAR applications; and tracking/adjusting integration of healthy household activities into on-farm technical assistance. She was also responsible while resident DCOP in Ethiopia for integrating health education into farmer training, and holds both BS and MS degrees.

Haskell Noyes, Global Director of Business Services

Haskell provides his expertise in operational and financial project management to Fintrac teams on four continents, conducting gap audits and devising process solutions. He also provides leadership to the Contracts & Grants practice area, and to new business initiatives worldwide (e.g. team selection, budgeting, technical design inputs). Haskell holds an MA in International Business and Policy from Georgetown University, and a BA in International Studies from the University of Wisconsin.