About our Team

Pat is a retired IT Executive, who has dedicated his post-retirement work to advocating and enriching the lives of people with disabilities.  Pat retired in 2017 as Vice President of Cloud Sales Strategy at Cisco Systems, 

Founded and leads the Bridge to Opportunity program globally.  Also serves on several non-profit boards, and is the Executive Director of Andrew's Place Charity.  

Pat hold a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Economics, and Master's Degree in Non-Profit Administration from the University of Michigan. 

Sarah Wang’ombe is a Social Inclusion Expert with extensive experience in multi-sectoral program design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and learning processes with INGOs in humanitarian and development projects.    

We are blessed to have Sarah share her deep expertise in program design and delivery of highly successful Bridge to Opportunity Programs.  She works closely with our partners to launch and deliver great programs 

Sarah supports organizations in realizing disability inclusion ambitions, with a specific focus on promoting skills building and employment of people with disabilities in Africa. 

Most recently, she led the establishment of Bridge Academy in Nairobi, provided strategic advisory on disability employment programs scale up, trained over 600 corporate staff on disability inclusion in the workplace and carried out value chains analysis for disability inclusive labor programs.  

She advises Bridge to Opportunity programs around the world on best practices and strategies to build and launch these life-changing programs.    

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Kenyatta University, and a Master of Science Degree in International Development from the University of Portsmouth  

Rich is a very experienced and accomplished technical leader and instructor.  

We are blessed to have Rich lead our technical program design and curriculum architecture efforts. 

 Rich began his computer networking/training career during his time as an undergraduate at  Central Michigan University, working for Education Central as the Lead Technology Trainer and  World Wide Web Director. He continued down this path as a Technology Specialist for  Michigan Schools in the Middle as well as a Technology Advisor with the CMU Office of Clinical  and Field Experiences.  After graduation, Rich pursued a career in secondary education teaching various computer and  mathematics courses.   He subseqently completed his Masters program and continues to this day adding to his technical skillset.

Rich began his technical instruction in 2002,  at the Pinckney Community High School Cisco  Academy, teaching Computer Hardware (A+), Computer Networking (CCNA/Network+), and  Operating System (Linux) Courses.  He later grew this program into the Pinckney Cybersecurity Institute.  He retired from Pinckney in 2021 and continues to lead and design technical training programs across Michigan.  He has led the instruction and success of multiple cohorts of the Michigan Bridge Academy.

Rich holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Mathematics and Political Science from Central  Michigan University as well as a Masters in Arts in Mathematics from Eastern Michigan. 

Silvia is a gifted adminsitrative and operations leader that has driven many successful programs in both IT and Higher Education.

We are blessed to have Silvia guide some of our very successful Bridge to Opportunity Programs.  She works closely with our partners to launch and deliver great programs. 

Silvias background includes leading Administration, Operations, and  Development work in the Information Technology and Higher Education fields.  she led administrative operations for a highly successful team at Cisco Systems.    She subsequently lead administrative and development work at Marymount University.  

Silvia holds a Bachelor and Masters degreee of Business Administration from Marymount University.  

Palak is a brilliant strategy professional with industry and development agencies expertise across the globe in business strategies, operating and business model design.  we are honored to have her deep expertise and advise guiding our program design and strategy.

She is a certified Design Thinking practitioner focused on marrying innovation and design with business value creation.   Palak has worked with many of the world's biggest thought champions including the World Economic Forum, Global Compact Network and the United Nations on cutting edge research on sustainability and business impact. 

She is also a freelance artist and enjoys artistic pursuits to further her creative energy. 

She has a Bachelor of Commerce

Degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce and Post Graduation Diploma in Management, Strategy and Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management