Our people
Budd MacKenzie
Founder
After graduating from Amherst College in 1967, Budd moved westward to Boalt Law School and Haas Business School, UC Berkeley, where he graduated with a joint JD/MBA degree. Following a one-year transition period selling cheese and wine at “Curds and Whey,” (a retail store started with a friend while in law school), Budd opened a private law practice in 1971. He has provided legal and business counsel to entrepreneurs ever since.
Budd has also been committed to community service for many years. He served as a coach and manager of baseball, basketball, soccer, roller blade hockey, and tennis teams for seven years (until his son could take no more!) He was the president of Lafayette Little League for three years and Mock Trial advisor for three years at Acalanes High School. His Lafayette Chamber of Commerce service includes six years as a member of the Board of Directors and president in 2006.
Budd founded Trust in Education after reading Charlie Wilson’s War, becoming informed about US involvement in Afghanistan, and visiting Afghanistan.TIE is comprised of an ever increasing number of people who, like Budd, have chosen to make time to help Afghans rebuild their lives and country. He is just one among many who keep the train running. Truth be told, he looks forward to the day he can be in the caboose.
Awards
- Citizen of the Year, City of Lafayette, CA 2003-2004
- Su Stauffer Friends of Education Award, Acalanes High School 2004
- Peace and Justice Award, Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center 2010
- Paul Harris Fellow, Lafayette Rotary Club 2010
Nabi Tawakali
Vice President
As Vice-President of Trust in Education, Nabi helps develop policy and programs. He also accompanies Budd on semi-annual to Afghanistan.
Born in Kabul in 1949, Nabi attended Kabul University. He worked as Director of Foreign Relations for the Agricultural Development Bank of Afghanistan. Shortly after the Russians invaded in 1979, he immigrated to the United States.
After arriving in the U.S., Nabi worked as an international banker for more than 10 years, first for the European American Bank in New York and then for Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles, California.
He then served as Vice President of Pacific Shores Corporation, an agricultural company, in Walnut Creek, California. In 1991 he founded Pacific International Seed Corporation, which produces and exports top quality American seeds around the world.
In 2006 Nabi started his volunteer work with Trust In Education. He is committed to educating the children of Afghanistan because he strongly believes that education is the best way to help the children and people of Afghanistan overcome poverty and their fears.
Kathryn Vizas
Director of Marketing and Development
After 23 years of practicing law—directing her energies to helping paying clients solve their problems—Kathy is happy to be working with TIE and helping those who cannot pay. She is passionate about working with the people of Afghanistan, particularly women and children, and believes we cannot abandon the Afghan people this time around.
Kathy spent a year as a Rotary International Fellow at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland after obtaining her biology degree from Bucknell University. She then attended University of Pennsylvania law school, graduating cum laude. Kathy served as the chief litigation attorney for a $2 billion division of Raychem as well as at Levi Strauss & Co. As General Counsel at Peregrine Systems, Inc. in San Diego, Kathy was part of a three-person turn-around team, hired to direct the floundering company through recovery from a massive fraud.
Ms. Vizas and her husband live in Berkeley, where she is active with several non-profit organizations. She has been a volunteer with TIE since June of 2010. She enjoys playing golf, biking and traveling, as well as playing with her two exceptional dogs, Lucy and Mikey.
Meri McCoy-Thompson
Online Communications Director
Meri has served as our Online Communications Director since fall 2010. She oversees the website, as well as social media outreach on Twitter and Facebook. Meri also works with Kathy on marketing and development.
With degrees from Stanford University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Meri has lived and worked for non-profits in Africa, Asia and North America, including Catholic Relief Services, Project Concern International, and Strategic Links-India. She is passionate about improving the lives of girls and women in developing countries, through access to education, improved health, better economic opportunities, more resilient families, and strong communities.
Meri and her husband live in Pleasanton, California and they have two teenagers. Along with scouring the Internet to discover great travel spots or delicious recipes, she has enjoyed being a Girl Scout leader for more than 11 years.
Bill Berg
Director of Infrastructure
Bill’s nonlinear career path has taken him from aircraft design, through mergers & acquisitions, to independent energy development, and technical management within financial services. During the dot-com era, Bill managed the western U.S. region for a national systems integrator, and when the dot-com bubble burst he returned to the energy industry, as an economic consultant specializing in efficiency improvements.
Bill became aware of TIE when its founder, Budd MacKenzie, spoke at his son’s elementary school. He followed TIE through the years as Budd continued his annual presentations at his son’s schools. Finally, as his son was completing middle school, Bill decided that he wanted to help.
One email to Budd, a meeting over coffee, and Bill was hooked. Since March 2011, he has been building efficient, low-cost infrastructure to facilitate TIE’s growth, while continuing the organization’s commitment to maximizing the percentage of donations that get to Afghanistan.
A native Californian and product of the University of California, Bill lives in Walnut Creek, and is father to a teen son. He is active in his son’s Boy Scout troop and football team. When not crunching numbers or learning about technology necessary to run an efficient nonprofit, Bill is a voracious reader, avid hiker and amateur photographer.
Jack Howell 
Solar Oven Project Director
After high school, Jack was drafted in the army and served two years in Germany. He went to the University of San Francisco on a basketball scholarship after a USF alum saw him play in Germany. He played one year at USF and then settled down to study philosophy.
Jack spent two decades publishing books in Massachusetts, particularly books on solar, wind, photovoltaic, and organic gardening. The Solar Home Book, a New York Times bestseller, became a classic in the field and was translated into seven languages. In 1986 he founded Morning Sun Press in Lafayette, California where he continues to concentrate on renewable energy and the environment. In 1990 he published Cooking with the Sun: How to Build & Use Solar Cookers. He was hooked on solar cooking and has been designing and helping people around the world build and use solar cookers ever since. In 2011, he managed the construction of TIE’s “Hundred Solar Ovens for Afghanistan” project. He also supervised the manufacturing of 200 simple solar ovens that use the Mylar coffee bean bags from Peet’s Coffee as reflectors. The Afghans are learning how to attach the bags to the cookers. The cookers are all in Afghanistan.
Jack is a hands-on guy with a passion for helping people. TIE offers him the perfect fit: he can direct the construction of solar ovens that will help people live a little healthier life. Jack loves dogs, solar picnics at wineries, (especially wineries with dogs), gardening and cooking, creating art out of junk, and of course, spending time with his family.
Basir Ebrahimkhil
Program Director
Basir graduated from high school in Kabul and then studied Social Sciences at Kabul University. During the war, he lived in Pakistan for ten years as well as served six years as a member of Afghans’s Special Forces.
Before coming to Trust in Education, Basir served for eight years as an administration officer in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Health. Since 2009 he has managed our operations in Afghanistan as full time program director. He interfaces with villager leaders, shuras, and teachers, and villagers in implementing our programs. He’s also helpful in reminding us to eat.
Qudsia Ebrahimkhil
Aschiana Student Liaison and Program Director
Qudsia studied in Kabul until the ninth grade, when the war in Afghanistan forced her family to flee to Pakistan. She finished high school there, and for five years she worked as a kindergarten teacher at Children’s House School.
When she and her family returned to Kabul, Qudsia graduated with a degree in language and literature from Kabul University. She then worked at UNICEF for one year as an administrative assistant and at the Afghanistan International Rescue Committee for one year as administration officer.
Qudsia is the program director of our sponsorship program for street children. She provides assistance to the children and their families and oversees our relationship with our partner organization, Aschiana.
Qudsia is married to Basir and has three young daughters.
