Ony joined Catalpa as a web development intern back in 2015 and, as they say, the rest is history. He joined the team full time in 2017 and now provides technical support on the Hamutuk program which coordinates diverse partners in a collaborative effort to fight malnutrition in Timorese children.

Ony works on many of the tasks that ensure programs can be sustainably implemented and properly maintained. This includes producing and delivering training programs, user manuals and other support materials.

Ony speaks Kemak, Tetun, Bahasa and English. He loves to listen to music and jam on the guitar (reggae and slow rock are his specialties).

Pedro is a specialist in production workflows with extensive experience in management, start-ups and technology. He works across all programs to ensure we are delivering our work efficiently.

He brings a wealth of knowledge having co-founded music platform Musikki in Portugal, as well as working across industries and challenging contexts including low-bandwidth environments.

Pedro is often found creating hype about our all team learning and sharing sessions. He fosters collaboration and cross-sharing of knowledge across teams.

He is a certified ScrumMaster, and a Divemaster too. What will he master next? Only time will tell.

Grasinda is the administrative maestro of our Dili office, and has a special place in the Timor-Leste teams’ hearts for always ensuring an ample supply of coffee is on hand.

When she’s not working, Grasinda can be found with a book in hand and has become known for her deep love of reading. Among the many things she picks up from her books, she is using her passion for the written word to help her learn English. This will become her fourth spoken language, after Tetun, Bahasa and Mambae, the language spoken by the second largest ethnic group in Timor-Leste.

An adept art director and designer, Daniel works across Catalpa’s product and program design with a user-first mindset. He has worked with the likes of The World Bank, Asian Development Bank, GIZ, and brings over two decades of experience to his thoughtful visual communication.

Daniel speaks his native Spanish, as well as Catalan, Portuguese and English. He is a talented cook, as those who have tasted his paella will attest. On the weekends, he dedicates himself to farming, lovingly maintaining his favourite tractor and annually picking his old olive grove by hand.

Lindon is our Vanuatu ICT Consultant on the Pacific eLearning Program, a project aiming to change the way science is taught in the Pacific.

In this role Lindon delivers training, technology and learning content support to participating schools, and works closely with the Ministry of Education (which is great because he used to work there!).

Lindon speaks English and Bislama. Outside of work he loves making music, eating ice cream, and hunting - though presumably not all at the same time!

Mário joined Catalpa as a junior developer intern in 2015. He now provides critical tech support on the Liga Inan program, which connects pregnant women with health professionals for safer births in Timor-Leste.

He is involved in the development and testing of technology, training and capacity building of partner organisations and health providers, as well as monitoring and evaluation.

Mário speaks Tetun, Bahasa and English. He likes to balance learning and the lighter side of life, spending his spare time listening to motivational talks or chilling with a good comedy film.

Keren is a highly experienced HR leader who has worked across the Pacific region including New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

She works closely with Catalpians to provide development opportunities, as well as attract and engage new colleagues for our passionate, kind, skilled team.

As Catalpa continues to grow, Keren will support the scaling of our great culture. She’s driven by the opportunity to make people's working life better, even in small ways.

Outside of work, she’s an enthusiastic All Blacks supporter with a green thumb. In between ferrying kids to extracurricular activities she helps coordinate a community food co-op.

A self described IT enthusiast, Brian has worked as a telecommunications network developer, a network engineer at the Solomon Islands National University, and is regularly on call to assist friends and family with their technical challenges.

At Catalpa, he is one of our talented ICT Consultants on the Pacific eLearning Program, which aims to change the way science is taught in the Pacific.

Brian is based in Solomon Islands and speaks English, Solomon Islands Pidjin and his local dialect, Baegu. He loves to watch videos about improving productivity, and sometimes even considers implementing them!

Sérgio is a front-end engineer, which means he works hard to ensure Catalpa’s technology solutions have interfaces that are intuitive, beautiful, and meet the specific needs of the user.

He has worked on a huge number of Catalpa programs across governance and transparency, health, education and nutrition sectors.

He has experience in Portugal, United Kingdom and Timor-Leste, where he is currently based. Impressively, he speaks his native Portuguese, as well as fluent English, Spanish and Tetun.

Bringing more than 10 years experience in software development, Joshua is an expert in designing and building platforms to manage and visualise complex data. He has been key to the development of Openly - Catalpa’s Aid Information Management System - which has been used to improve transparency and monitoring of the aid sector in Papua New Guinea, Myanmar, and Uzbekistan (so far).

Joshua has implemented geographic information systems in New Zealand and Bougainville, and has developed staff training for databases, desktop applications and data collection methods.

He speaks English, Tetun, SQL, Python, and Javascript (though admittedly, some of these only computers will respond to).

Ravu leads the strategic direction of the DIRD program, driving outcomes for Papua New Guinea regional administrations who will use the program’s integrated DIMS and SIP Management System platform.

Prior to joining the development sector he was a senior official with the Papua New Guinea Government Public Service. He has worked across human resources, public sector reform, service delivery and national and sub national government systems in PNG.

In his downtime he enjoys hands-on pursuits, and in another life would have been a mechanic.

With over 30 years experience in international program management across Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific, Karen is well equipped to work with our partners to increase the positive impact Catalpa can make in the region.

Karen has worked in health, community development, rural development and food security; water, sanitation and hygiene; education; gender equality; disability; law and justice; governance; civil society; child protection; child rights and humanitarian and emergency assistance.

She enjoys open water swimming and jewellery making, and is based in Melbourne.

Niko joined Catalpa in 2015 as a junior developer intern. Two years on, he joined our Timor-Leste team full time and since then has supported programs spanning education, health, cash transfer and roads management.

In addition to his coding skills, Niko has developed user manuals, training materials and provided training for our programs, all of which contribute to the ongoing sustainability and maintenance of programs.

Niko speaks Tetun, English, Bahasa, and a number of programming languages. He loves to stay fit and active, and often heads away for weekends with friends.

A qualified accountant, Sara plays the important role of managing finances at Catalpa both internally and for our programs across the Asia Pacific region.

She has worked within the development sector for over 5 years, and prior worked for Deloitte, one of the world’s largest accounting firms.

Sara speaks native Tetun and English, and is a talented home baker (to which those in the Timor -Leste office can attest). She enjoys staying active with regular Zumba classes.

Artila is an education specialist with over 15 years of experience in the sector. She is passionate about using technology to improve teaching and learning, and building impactful partnerships to drive change in developing education systems.

She has made significant contributions to teaching, curriculum writing, assessment designing, course design, elearning and distance learning across the Pacific, and has experience in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Artila speaks Hindi and English. When not at work she loves to play squash, explore new places, try different foods, and sample a variety of beers!

Dan supports Cook Island schools and teachers participating in the Pacific eLearning Program through resourcing, training and tech know-how. 

He has a background in project management (professionally and finely honed from parenting 3 small children) and desktop support in New Zealand and Cook Islands.

When he’s not working, you’ll find Dan in the pristine waters of Rarotonga. He loves anything to do with the water (especially sailing and diving) and in his own words, “I’m never lost, just adventuring.”

Joana has over 10 years experience in information and communications technology and the telecommunications industry in both technical and administrative roles.

As eLearning Specialist on the Pacific eLearning Program, Joana works with the Vanuatu Government and schools to implement the program that aims to change the way science is taught in the Pacific.

Outside of work she loves to play tennis, watch movies, and to get her hands dirty in the garden. She is also passionate about almond ice cream, and wouldn’t be TOO upset if it was the last food available on earth. She speaks English, Bislama and Raga (which is spoken on her home island).

Sarah has over 15 years experience in international education and development specialising in the implementation of complex, multi-country development projects.

As Team Leader in Education Sarah leads a number of education initiatives at Catalpa including ACIAR Learn and Kumul Helt Skul. Prior to joining us, she held a number of leadership roles on Australia Awards investments in South and West Asia, the Pacific and Mongolia.

As well as English she can find her way around in French - importantly, she knows how to ask for the nearest chocolate shop. Sarah will always have a book recommendation handy for anyone she meets - get in touch and ask her!

Mose Mose is an information and communication technology professional passionate about what technology can do within the education and development sectors.

At Catalpa, Mose is our Samoa-based eLearning Specialist on the Pacific eLearning Program. He works with Samoan schools to implement technology which will assist with science learning for year 10 students.

When not at work, his tech skills are under demand - he offers his services as the sound technician of his church. His number one rule in life is simple, “If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, STOP and try something else, because otherwise you’re wasting your time”.

Carlito is the official driver at our Timor-Leste office in Dili. When he’s not driving people and materials around town so we can deliver our projects, he’s busy using his quick thinking and life skills to deal with our mechanical messes. Just ask Minerva, who has had Carlito save her when her car broke down. She even got him to check her new car before she bought it, because he is the real deal when it comes to cars.

Along with Tetun, his native language, he is fluent in Bahasa and can hold a basic conversation in English. Especially if it is about cars.

A woman of many talents, Rebekah has held roles ranging from environmental advisor to edtech start-up co-founder, to now Catalpa’s elearning and country advisor in Papua New Guinea.

She is passionate about education for practical purposes and career building, especially for young people.

In her spare time she coaches women-led small businesses in PNG. She gets great satisfaction from seeing talented women succeed and provide more admirable examples for young girls in the country.

She speaks English and Tok Pisin.

As a Software Engineer and Product Lead at Catalpa, Alessandro applies his technical skills to create products focused on creating social impact. He is currently leading the product design and development for Hamahon, a program and mobile app designed to help victims of gender-based violence access essential services .

Prior to Catalpa, Alessandro worked with EdX at MIT, focused on developing massive open and online learning experiences.

Alessandro is fluent in English and Italian, and dabbles in French and Tetun. He loves Zadie Smith books, and spoke to her once at a book signing. He has a neat story about it - ask him some time!

Wicher is an expert software engineer who, since joining the team in 2016, has worked to extend Catalpa's technology portfolio.

He has established a highly reliable telecom interfaces for the Liga Inan project, developed a data collection, warehousing and analytics suite for education and national social security programs, launched an autoscaling video processing cluster for content platforms, and created peer to peer network technology that distributes educational content on Pacific islands without internet access.

This highly specialised work ensures our programs and tech products work effectively in remote and low-resourced areas.

He enjoys concurrency problems, data processing, Android innards, networks, cryptography, preparing bitter vegetables, kitesurfing, and other problem domains with dramatic failure modes.

EJ is a creative and analytical frontend designer, who uses her skills to create beautiful, intuitive tech interfaces. She currently works on the ALFeLa program, creating a bespoke case management system for a Timor-Leste legal aid service for women and children.

She has unique insight into the needs of this program with many years working as a paralegal. These days her preferred way of practising law is through an obsessive consumption of true crime podcasts.

She is so pleased to have transitioned her career into the tech world where she is surrounded by innovation, diversity, collaboration, and learning every day.

She has worked in Australia, UK and USA, and speaks English and (some) Japanese.

Renon is an experienced and passionate IT professional who, prior to joining us, worked with Samoa’s Ministry of Finance for 14 years. She says taking the leap into remote working with an international not-for-profit was a bit scary, but a risk she’s so glad she took (we couldn’t agree more!).

At Catalpa, she is our Samoan ICT Consultant on the Pacific eLearning Program, which aims to change the way science is taught in the Pacific. She works closely with the Ministry of Education, and delivers training, technology and learning content support to schools.

In recent years she’s grown to love soccer thanks to her children. These days, most of her free time is spent managing the Premier Women’s Team for Lupe o le Soaga Soccer Club.

Brian is a man of many talents, overseeing Catalpa’s finances, operations, and human resources. He brings experience from huge development organisations including UNDP, World Vision, USAID and the Peace Corps, which have taken him across four continents and given him the opportunity to live in a range of locations including Ecuador, Uganda, and Vietnam.

These days he lives and works in Timor-Leste. He is a native English speaker who also speaks Bahasa and just enough Solomon Island Pijin to get him in (or out of) trouble.

One half of the original Catalpa start-up, David has over 15 years experience shaping and delivering programs that leverage design and technology to create lasting change. In fact, one of the earliest Catalpian programs David worked on has now seen more than 100,000 Timorese women connected with health professionals while pregnant.

David is passionate about locally embedded programs designed for long term sustainability, and as a result, has led the growth of the organisation to 70+ staff working out of 11 countries.

He frequently speaks about the value of leveraging creative approaches to solve complex development challenges. You can get a taste (and a new perspective on potato peelers) in his TEDx talk.

Zoe is a strategic marketing communications specialist with experience across government, advertising, not-for-profit and commercial sectors in Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.

At Catalpa she uses written and visual communication to help people understand our projects and design thinking approach to development.

Prior to joining us she founded a small creative agency in Fiji. She loves standup comedy, diving, cooking and working with great people (lucky for her, they come in spades here).

As Product Lead, Junior drives best practice processes in tech product design, development and management. He coordinates our engineers, designers, project staff and external partners in the product development process.

He is an experienced software engineer skilled in software architecture, management, databases, server administration and configuration and web technologies.

Originating from Brazil, Junior moved to Timor-Leste in 2003 where he is now based. Though, true to his roots, his favourite food is still churrasco (Brazilian barbecue).

Rapha is passionate about how technology can assist governments to improve governance, and in turn, deliver better services to their citizens through enhanced accountability.

He leads Catalpa’s governance and transparency projects and his background in software development means he is well placed to translate program aspirations into built-for-purpose technology solutions.

He speaks French, English and Tetun, as well as varying levels of Bahasa, German and Spanish. In his spare time, he built an English-Tetun translation app now used by over 15,000 people.

Sarah is a talented graphic and multimedia designer who has worked with many of Fiji’s largest organisations including Digicel, Fiji Airways and Tourism Fiji, as well as USAID’s Climate Ready Project and Regional Pacific NDC Hub.

She works with the ACIAR Learn team to create engaging visual communication able to be understood by diverse agricultural researchers around the globe.

She speaks Fiji Hindi, English and recently finished her first course in Fiji sign language. On her days off she can be found shore fishing, volunteering with Rotaract, or tinkering with new creative ideas.

Vanessa is an experienced project officer supporting health and gender-based violence (GBV) programs in Timor-Leste.

As part of her role, she coordinates GBV training for health professionals. This training equips frontline workers to support and refer patients to the appropriate services in a timely and appropriate manner.

Vanessa has a naturally curious mind and enjoys sharing experiences and learning about others - which is probably what makes her so good at her job!

She has worked in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, where she is currently based. She speaks Tetum, English, and Indonesian.

Kara’s career has centred around technology in education with a particular focus on inequitable access to education and the gender gap in digital skills.

Before joining Catalpa, she was a senior director at the New York City Department of Education where she led work with teacher training providers, universities, industry, and the community to achieve the ambitious goal of scaling computer science education to all 1.1 million NYC students by training 5,000 teachers.

Kara’s is known for her open and empathetic leadership style, and for placing focus on individualised professional and personal development for her team.

17 years ago, a young Anders mused about the possibilities of digital technologies for improving lives. From a two-person start-up, he has overseen Catalpa’s expansion across the Asia Pacific, working on programs that aim to create positive change through health, education, aid transparency, social protection and infrastructure project management.

Anders is a skilled software developer, leading agile teams with a commitment to putting people at the centre of technology design.

Affectionately known for his loud, distinctive laugh, Anders can be heard in the background of video calls across the Asia Pacific.

Sonia leads the Hamahon project which helps victims of gender-based violence access support services in Timor-Leste.

She has extensive experience working on international development programs and in 2019 completed her Masters in Education and International Development, for which she received the Chevening scholarship.

Outside of work, she volunteers as the President of the Korean Government Scholarship Alumni Association, and supports the community where needed. In fact, Sonia and two colleagues raised $52,000 USD to support families during the 2021 floods in Timor-Leste.

She speaks Tetun, English, Bahasa Indonesia, Portuguese and Korean.

Roberto has over 30 years experience in information technology. This wealth of experience means he has seen more than most, which might also be why he is so passionate about inbuilding robust software development lifecycle practises and contingency planning for when unexpected things happen.

He currently works primarily on Catalpa’s Liga Inan mHealth project, which connects pregnant women with health professionals for safer births.

When he’s not coding, he likes to explore and build machine learning tools (sounds relaxing, doesn’t it!). He speaks Italian, English and is learning Japanese.

Tanya makes sure things run smoothly in our Papua New Guinea office. She manages logistics for the growing PNG team as they travel around the country implementing the District Information Management System program across all 111 electoral districts in the country.

She has previously worked in development program implementation and other administrative roles.

Tanya speaks English and Tok Pisin and loves music and singing. We also found out she is a big follower of Australian rugby league and a die hard Melbourne Storms fan!

Amjad is a skilled software engineer with a background in designing and building measurement control and data acquisition systems. At Catalpa, he builds and maintains APIs and database models for the Jerasuan Foun project.

He has worked in Spain and Syria, and speaks Arabic, English and Spanish (and bits and pieces of French and Japanese). He holds a PhD in experimental physics.

Outside of his highly analytical work, he designs and builds furniture and lovingly cares for his five cats.

Meggan is a front-end engineer, working on Catalpa’s learning management system, Bero. Together with the wider team, she designs and builds beautiful, intuitive learning experiences suited to remote areas with limited connectivity, for people with varying digital literacy.

She has 4 years experience as a software engineer in the music industry, and before learning to code, worked in project management and customer experience at an education startup.

When Meggan’s not coding herself, she’s teaching others to code. Failing that, she’ll be found swimming, sewing or practising her Spanish and Mandarin.

Andrew is an expert in using edtech to create impact in development contexts. He has over 14 years experience in tech-for-development and has worked on projects across the Asia-Pacific including in Australia, Cook Islands, Kiribati, PNG, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Myanmar, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. At Catalpa, he develops the training materials used on our learning platform Bero.

On top of English, Andrew speaks Bislam, Tok Pisin, and a little French and Burmese. Outside of work he loves to scuba dive and bikepack, which is all-terrain cycling with a backpack full of all the gear one needs to survive. He once cycled from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.

Ano joined Catalpa as an junior developer intern back in 2015, and is now an important technology support to our partner organisations.

During the first COVID-19 lockdown in Timor-Leste, he closely supported the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion in the roll out of the Cash Transfer Program which distributed more than $62million across 452 villages..

He is a qualified electrical engineer, and speaks Tetun, English, (pretty good) Bahasa and (slightly less good) Portuguese. He is learning to speak Python, SQL, Javascript, CSS and HTML.

Known for her outstanding communications skills, Isabel is an experienced project coordinator and professional translator.

At Catalpa, she supports the delivery of  a new social protection program which will deliver cash payments to Timor-Leste households nationally. She facilitates collaboration and effective ways of working between the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion and our product team as we work together to develop a payment tracking system.

Outside of work Isabel has a penchant for good food and drink (in particular Manadonese cuisine, Argentinian wine and Timor-Leste’s finest coffee).

Bri manages our District Information Management System program with the PNG Government. He works closely with government staff to manage data transfer and management within our custom built platform. He’s also kept busy managing trips across the length and breadth of PNG as we work to roll out the platform to all 111 electoral districts in the country.

Impressively, Bri speaks five languages: English, Tok Pisin, Bahasa, Motu - spoken by the Motuan ethnic group in PNG - and Hula, spoken in the village he is from. Outside of work, he is an international cricket umpire and has umpired in nine different countries so far!

Peter leads all things engineering and software development at Catalpa. He has over 15 years experience in global organisations including Microsoft and Lionhead Studios, and wrote much of the original code for Openly, Catalpa’s powerful information management system.

Peter sets the standard for how we build technology solutions for social good. He works across all programs managing and mentoring our diverse software development team spread across a number of continents.

Peter is now based in Timor-Leste, and has also worked in Myanmar, Uzbekistan and the UK. He speaks English and Tetun.

Andy works closely with our product and program teams through the whole product lifecycle - from ideation, to prototyping, high fidelity design and iterative improvements. He is a creative, talented and passionate multidisciplinary designer, specialising in interactive and user experience design across digital platforms and channels.

With experience in the UK and Australia, designing for almost every industry, he says he is happiest at work when he is able to deliver products that make a tangible, positive impact in people’s lives. In his spare time, Andy loves making music, camping, and exploring nature with his young family.

Juliet is an edtech professional, who previously worked as webmaster and moodle administrator for Solomon Islands National University.

Her skills, together with a passion for the development of her Solomon Islands home, make her one of our outstanding eLearning Specialists on the Pacific eLearning Program, a project aimed at changing the way science is taught in the Pacific.

Juliet loves her family and describes her favourite pastime as having a good laugh! If you need her, you’ll find her hanging out with friends cracking jokes. She speaks English, Solomon Islands Pidgin and Cheke Holo, her mother tongue.

Tanya is a learning experience designer with extensive experience in both the public and private sectors. She brings her expertise in adult learning, instructional design principles and emerging technologies to her role as eLearning Lead on ACIAR Learn: an online learning platform for agricultural researchers around the globe.

With her contagious enthusiasm and positivity, Tanya approaches unique challenges with a determination to tackle them through creative collaborative problem solving.

When she’s not working, she’s equipping herself with the physical, mental, and emotional skills she needs to (eventually) build an off-grid permaculture farm and home.

She speaks English and basic Cantonese.

Juliana oversees Catalpa’s tech products used for programs, ensuring iterative improvements are filtered across projects, and that innovation remains a constant.

Before Catalpa, she co-founded a music platform Musikki where she managed a creative team and honed her skills in product development, human centred design, and operations.

After working in Spain and Portugal, Juliana moved to Timor to volunteer with a local NGO that supports entrepreneurship for women in remote areas. She loves to work in multicultural, challenging environments where she can learn from others.

When she’s not thinking tech, she’s admiring the underwater world (she’s a divemaster), driving a boat (also a boat skipper), or getting creative (...and has illustrated several children’s books).

Ligia is a long standing Catalpian and has been integral to the smooth running of a number of our Timor-Leste based programs including Hamutuk and Eskola.

Her background is in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and environmental management, though these days she’s focused on the power of technology to make an impact in education and schools.

She speaks native Tetun and Bahasa, as well as English and (almost fluent) Portuguese. In addition to improving education using innovation, she is passionate about reading, travelling, and providing a great life to her three children.

Minerva has worn a number of hats at Catalpa, originally starting with us as operations and human resources manager, and now taking the reins of a multisector nutrition program.

She works closely with FONGTIL and their network of 100+ partners to equip them with support and training to use technology in their important work to improve nutrition outcomes in Timor-Leste. She also supports the Jerasaun Foun program.

Minerva has worked in Indonesia, New Zealand, and her home Timor-Leste where she is currently based. Her first love is basketball, and is a die-hard supporter of the NBA San Antonio Spurs. Go Spurs!

Paula coordinates Liga Inan, a program connecting women with health professionals for safer childbirth in Timor-Leste. Hers is a multifaceted role which involves maintaining close partnerships with government and health organisations, as well as program planning, management, training and reporting.

She is qualified in computer science, has worked in telecommunications and as a lecturer in multimedia and graphic design.

She speaks English, Tetun, Bahasa, and Fataluku, which is a language spoken by the Fataluku ethnic group in the eastern areas of Timor-Leste. On top of all that, she’s a dedicated mum to three young kids.

Reshmi manages the operations and logistics of the Pacific eLearning Program which involves working with governments, teachers and schools across Cook Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (plus many other partners!).

Prior to joining us she worked for USAID on climate change adaptation projects in the Pacific.

In her spare time Reshmi enjoys meeting new people, reading romance novels, and getting outside in nature. She says her daughter motivates her to be the best she can be everyday, and we love that! She speaks Hindi, Fijian and English.

As a software engineer, Lee builds and maintains software across our varied projects in health, and education.

He humbly describes himself as a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-some, but the truth is that he has run his own company, worked in wide ranging industries (emergency services, telecommunications, retail, insurance, aid and government, but to name a few), and in a number of countries (Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, United States, and Timor-Leste). Put simply, he brings a fresh perspective to everything he does.

In addition to English, he is fluent in Solomon Island Pijin and can make small talk in Tetun (Oinsá mak klima ne'e?).