Our Team

Catherine Rielly, Ph. D.

Executive Director

Catherine Rielly was president of Rubia from the time it received its 501c3 non-profit status In 2009 until 2024 when she passed the torch to Gloria Mason. In 2013, when Rubia pivoted from Afghanistan to Mali, Dr. Rielly assumed the post of Executive Director.  Previously Dr. Rielly taught international community economic development for eight years at Southern New Hampshire University’s School of Community Economic Development where she was Professor and International Academic Program Chair.

A Political Economist, she has conducted research, training, and technical assistance for the past twenty-five years on women’s empowerment, public policy, economics, democratization and governance, for the following organizations:  the Harvard Institute for International Development, UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNDP, the Asian Development Bank, USAID, the Governments of Mali, Zambia, and Uganda, and the Kennedy School of Government. Her research focuses on women’s economic empowerment and fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS through building women’s financial independence. As a Fulbright Scholar in Cameroon, she conducted doctoral research on women’s participation in informal savings and credit organizations and the gender-specific division of labor and income.

She received her Ph.D. and Master’s in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; and her B.A in History from Stanford University.  Dr. Rielly has conducted comparative research and written journal articles on policy processes in over twenty countries.

Connect with Catherine on LinkedIn!

Gloria J. Mason, ED.D.

President

Gloria has been an educator at the high school and university levels for over 40 years, and consulted as a project/program evaluator.  Her work and interests are in language teaching and learning, and in international development (particularly in women’s issues) and especially in Africa.  For her doctorate, she conducted research in Cameroon on a Fulbright grant, studying the effectiveness of French and English programs in the country’s efforts to become bilingual, in a country with over 50 native languages.

Dr. Mason has lived and taught or conducted research in Algeria, Sudan, Cameroon, Spain, Portugal, and Finland, as well as in the U.S.   Dr. Mason is fluent in French and Spanish, and currently working to improve her Portuguese.

Dr. Mason has an ED.D. in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University, an MA  in Applied Linguistics from the University of Michigan, and a BA in English and French from Oakland City University.

Tanya Gisolfi-McCready

Vice President

Tanya is a litigation attorney, certified mediator and divorce mediator and is the Vice Chair of the Lexington Human Rights Committee.  Ms. Gisolfi-McCready is also an instructor, trainer and facilitator for Quabbin Mediation’s Training Active Bystanders program, working with both youth and adults.  With over 20 years of experience counseling individuals in private and institutional settings, Ms. Gisolfi-McCready is a passionate advocate for civic and human rights and youth empowerment. 

She deeply believes that when all sectors of our community communicate with each other and listens to one another, we find the common threads of equity, empathy, and understanding and can begin to build a better global and local community.  Ms. Gisolfi-McCready embraces diversity, equity and inclusion as a both a journey and a destination, and is committed to working within her community to create positive, long lasting change.

Abdoul Salam Bello

Board Member

Abdoul Salam Bello is the Alternate Executive Director of the Africa Group II at the World Bank Group Board of Directors, brings extensive experience in economic development, multilateral trade cooperation and diplomacy. Mr. Bello most recently served as Senior Project Officer at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), leading a land restoration programme in the Sahel. Prior to that, he was Advisor to the Executive Director of the Africa Group II at the World Bank Group from 2014 to2019.

Between 2007 and 2014, he held a series of senior positions in multilateral institutions. They included Chief of Staff at the New Partnership for Africa's Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) in South Africa, and Economist at the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia. Prior to that, Mr. Bello worked in the private sector, including as Assistant Project Manager at Renault France in 2005.

Mr. Bello holds a Master’s Degree in International Risk Management from HEC Paris, France; a master’s degree in Management of International Activities from theUniversity of Lyon; a Master’s Degree in Diplomacy and Strategic Negotiations from Paris-Sud University and an Engineer's Degree in Telecommunications from the University of Toulon, France. Mr. Bello also graduated from the Executive Education Program for Senior Managers in Government at Harvard Kennedy School, USA.

Mr. Bello is a Senior Fellow at the Africa Center of the Atlantic Council in Washington D.C. and has authored two books: Les Etats-Unis et l’Afrique, de l’esclavage àObama (L’Harmattan, 2019) and La régionalisation en Afrique:Essai sur un processus d'intégration et de développement (L’Harmattan,2017).