John Wiclif Odhiambo, Ph.D.
In 2002, Professor John Odhiambo was installed as Vice Chancellor (President) of Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya, where he is also a member of the Faculty of Commerce as a professor of statistics. Before Strathmore, President Odhiambo (whose equivalent title in Kenya is Vice Chancellor) was Chairman of the Department of Mathematics of University of Nairobi, where he was also Professor of Mathematics in Statistics.

In addition to his duties at Strathmore, President Odhiambo is Chairman, Kenya Branch, of the International Biometric Society. He also serves as Consultant Statistician to the Population Council and as Consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Program.

President Odhiambo received his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in mathematics and statistics all from the University of Nairobi. In 1984, he was awarded a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship at University of London in the United Kingdom. In 1976, he was awarded the Shell Prize for best overall graduating student in the Faculty of Science at University of Nairobi. Professor Odhiambo’s continuing research concerns the potential of the Group Screening Method in the management of the AIDS crisis in Africa.

Thomas H. Pyle, M.B.A., Chairman

Tom Pyle is a banker, businessman, and social entrepreneur who served as Strathmore University Foundation’s founding Executive Director from 2004 to 2009. Under his direction, SUF established itself as a fully functioning 501(c)3 non-profit advancement enterprise serving all the functions of a university advancement office.

Mr. Pyle is formerly Development Director of the United States Rowing Association and director of several organizations, including Princeton-in-Asia, Inc., the National Alliance on Mental Illness (Mercer County, NJ Chapter), and Access of New Jersey Credit Union, a newly forming financial institution by and for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. He also served as chairman of TerraCycle, Inc., a novel eco-consumer products company founded by students at Princeton University.

An experienced professional trainer, Mr. Pyle developed and delivered a highly successful project finance training program for Euromoney Institute of Finance throughout Asia. He is also a certified instructor of the NAMI Family-to-Family Peer Education program as well as a Designated Practitioner of the Balanced Scorecard Institute.

Before entering the non-profit sector, Mr. Pyle was for 20 years engaged in international banking with firms such as JPMorganChase, Deutsche Bank, and Bank Austria in Hong Kong and New York, for which he specialized in project and international finance. He has also served as a consultant to the United Nations Industrial Organization and Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Mr. Pyle began his career as an English teacher at Singapore’s Nanyang University, where he also studied Mandarin Chinese. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School.

Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ph.D.
Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe is the Theodora Shelton Pitney Professor of Environmental Sciences and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University. He has recently also been Director of Princeton’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. Professor Rodriguez is also currently Member of the Corporation Visiting Committee for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Professor Rodriguez-Iturbe joined the Princeton faculty in 1999 after holding positions at several institutions in the United States and in his native country of Venezuela.

A world-leading expert in hydrology, Professor Rodriguez-Iturbe was selected in 2002 to receive the Stockholm Water Prize, known informally as the “Nobel Prize of water” presented by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on behalf of the Stockholm Water Foundation. The prize recognizes outstanding research, action or education that increases knowledge of water as a resource and protects its usability for all life.

Professor Rodriguez-Iturbe received a degree in Civil Engineering from Universdad del Zulia in Venezuela, a Master of Science from California Institute of Technology, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Colorado State University.

David C. Sperling, Ph.D.
Dr. David Sperling is Research Professor and Advisor to the Vice Chancellor at Strathmore University. He is also the former Chairman of the Governing Council of Strathmore University and Associate Professor of History and Islamic Studies at Strathmore University. Previous to his current academic appointments, Dr. Sperling served as Lecturer in the Department of History of University of Nairobi from 1989 to 2001. Dr. Sperling’s education career began in 1961, when he became founding principal of Strathmore College, the predecessor of Strathmore University

A native American and since 1971 a naturalized Kenyan citizen, Dr. Sperling received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, Master of Arts degree from Harvard University, and his Doctor of Philosophy Degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. In 1997, Dr. Sperling was Visiting Fellow at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University. In 1995, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Harry Truman Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently a fellow at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, NJ. Dr. Sperling’s ongoing research concerns Fundamentalism and African expressions of Islam and Christianity in East Africa.

For his pioneering work in Kenyan education as a founder in 1961 of Strathmore College, Kenya’s first multiracial school, Dr. Sperling is a recipient of The John Phillips Award from Phillips Exeter Academy, recognizing alumni whose lives and contributions to the welfare of community, country, and humanity exemplify in high degree the nobility of character and usefulness to humanity that John Phillips sought in establishing the Academy.

Luis E. Tellez
Mr. Luis Tellez received a B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering, as well as an MBA in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis. Mr. Tellez spent the early part of his career working in the chemical industry, and subsequently spent over 20 years administering several not-for-profit corporations. A member of the Advisory Council of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, he is founder of The Witherspoon Institute.