Wafa Ulliyan, MBA
Operations Manager at Student Association, George Brown College- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Andy Dwonch
I have had the distinct pleasure of knowing Wafa since 2006 when she first joined Mercy Corps and working with her for eight of the last 13 years. Wafa has been an absolute force of nature and has been undaunted by new and unfamiliar projects in a way that I have rarely seen in colleagues. Over the more than a decade that she worked with Mercy Corps in Palestine, Wafa grew to become the organization’s most senior and influential local leader through numerous roles. In the beginning she started out leading all operations and administration in the Gaza Strip for roughly $2M USD/year in programs, and was later promoted to serve as Operations Director for the $100M USAID funded five year PCAP program, which at the time was the largest and most complex single grant program Mercy Corps had ever undertaken. Following the end of the PCAP program, Wafa became the Deputy Country Director for Palestine, which gave her the opportunity to take a new focus on higher level strategy, business development, policy advocacy and innovative program design while also maintaining oversight of programs, operations and financial functions. Toward the end of her tenure with Mercy Corps Palestine, Wafa became the director for Gaza Sky Geeks, the most comprehensive technology-enabled employment creation program in Palestine, if not the entire Middle East. In all this time, there was no role that Wafa didn't excel at. Her rapid growth through the organization's ranks is on its own a testament to her capabilities and drive for excellence and performance. Wafa has been a high-level visionary leader with an enormous personal motivation and drive to do important and impactful work in her life, and an irrepressible desire to learn and grow and to support the learning, growth and advancement of her team and their programs. She always steps up to new challenges and leads her team by example, from within. She is adept at reading the context or politics of a situation and to understand key partnerships or alliances that may need to be built or strengthened to achieve her organization's objectives. She has worked with an incredibly diverse array of people over her 10+ years with Mercy Corps and has been culturally nimble, working with people from all walks of life, from dozens of countries around the world, and has adapted her approach to accommodate their cultural and personal needs in order to build productive working relationships. I am pleased to unreservedly recommend Wafa for any future program or operations leadership positions. Please reach out if you have questions about Wafa or her work experience with Mercy Corps Palestine.
Anita Ramachandran
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Wafa during the ELP program offered by Mercy Corps in conjunction with PSU. Her energy and commitment are the first things that struck me as exceptional. From there on I was only more and more impressed with her ability to synthesize information, inspire trust and at the end of the day have undivided focus to get work done! I would be delighted to work with her again in the future and I offer my unconditional recommendation for Wafa.
Andy Dwonch
I have had the distinct pleasure of knowing Wafa since 2006 when she first joined Mercy Corps and working with her for eight of the last 13 years. Wafa has been an absolute force of nature and has been undaunted by new and unfamiliar projects in a way that I have rarely seen in colleagues. Over the more than a decade that she worked with Mercy Corps in Palestine, Wafa grew to become the organization’s most senior and influential local leader through numerous roles. In the beginning she started out leading all operations and administration in the Gaza Strip for roughly $2M USD/year in programs, and was later promoted to serve as Operations Director for the $100M USAID funded five year PCAP program, which at the time was the largest and most complex single grant program Mercy Corps had ever undertaken. Following the end of the PCAP program, Wafa became the Deputy Country Director for Palestine, which gave her the opportunity to take a new focus on higher level strategy, business development, policy advocacy and innovative program design while also maintaining oversight of programs, operations and financial functions. Toward the end of her tenure with Mercy Corps Palestine, Wafa became the director for Gaza Sky Geeks, the most comprehensive technology-enabled employment creation program in Palestine, if not the entire Middle East. In all this time, there was no role that Wafa didn't excel at. Her rapid growth through the organization's ranks is on its own a testament to her capabilities and drive for excellence and performance. Wafa has been a high-level visionary leader with an enormous personal motivation and drive to do important and impactful work in her life, and an irrepressible desire to learn and grow and to support the learning, growth and advancement of her team and their programs. She always steps up to new challenges and leads her team by example, from within. She is adept at reading the context or politics of a situation and to understand key partnerships or alliances that may need to be built or strengthened to achieve her organization's objectives. She has worked with an incredibly diverse array of people over her 10+ years with Mercy Corps and has been culturally nimble, working with people from all walks of life, from dozens of countries around the world, and has adapted her approach to accommodate their cultural and personal needs in order to build productive working relationships. I am pleased to unreservedly recommend Wafa for any future program or operations leadership positions. Please reach out if you have questions about Wafa or her work experience with Mercy Corps Palestine.
Anita Ramachandran
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Wafa during the ELP program offered by Mercy Corps in conjunction with PSU. Her energy and commitment are the first things that struck me as exceptional. From there on I was only more and more impressed with her ability to synthesize information, inspire trust and at the end of the day have undivided focus to get work done! I would be delighted to work with her again in the future and I offer my unconditional recommendation for Wafa.
Andy Dwonch
I have had the distinct pleasure of knowing Wafa since 2006 when she first joined Mercy Corps and working with her for eight of the last 13 years. Wafa has been an absolute force of nature and has been undaunted by new and unfamiliar projects in a way that I have rarely seen in colleagues. Over the more than a decade that she worked with Mercy Corps in Palestine, Wafa grew to become the organization’s most senior and influential local leader through numerous roles. In the beginning she started out leading all operations and administration in the Gaza Strip for roughly $2M USD/year in programs, and was later promoted to serve as Operations Director for the $100M USAID funded five year PCAP program, which at the time was the largest and most complex single grant program Mercy Corps had ever undertaken. Following the end of the PCAP program, Wafa became the Deputy Country Director for Palestine, which gave her the opportunity to take a new focus on higher level strategy, business development, policy advocacy and innovative program design while also maintaining oversight of programs, operations and financial functions. Toward the end of her tenure with Mercy Corps Palestine, Wafa became the director for Gaza Sky Geeks, the most comprehensive technology-enabled employment creation program in Palestine, if not the entire Middle East. In all this time, there was no role that Wafa didn't excel at. Her rapid growth through the organization's ranks is on its own a testament to her capabilities and drive for excellence and performance. Wafa has been a high-level visionary leader with an enormous personal motivation and drive to do important and impactful work in her life, and an irrepressible desire to learn and grow and to support the learning, growth and advancement of her team and their programs. She always steps up to new challenges and leads her team by example, from within. She is adept at reading the context or politics of a situation and to understand key partnerships or alliances that may need to be built or strengthened to achieve her organization's objectives. She has worked with an incredibly diverse array of people over her 10+ years with Mercy Corps and has been culturally nimble, working with people from all walks of life, from dozens of countries around the world, and has adapted her approach to accommodate their cultural and personal needs in order to build productive working relationships. I am pleased to unreservedly recommend Wafa for any future program or operations leadership positions. Please reach out if you have questions about Wafa or her work experience with Mercy Corps Palestine.
Anita Ramachandran
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Wafa during the ELP program offered by Mercy Corps in conjunction with PSU. Her energy and commitment are the first things that struck me as exceptional. From there on I was only more and more impressed with her ability to synthesize information, inspire trust and at the end of the day have undivided focus to get work done! I would be delighted to work with her again in the future and I offer my unconditional recommendation for Wafa.
Andy Dwonch
I have had the distinct pleasure of knowing Wafa since 2006 when she first joined Mercy Corps and working with her for eight of the last 13 years. Wafa has been an absolute force of nature and has been undaunted by new and unfamiliar projects in a way that I have rarely seen in colleagues. Over the more than a decade that she worked with Mercy Corps in Palestine, Wafa grew to become the organization’s most senior and influential local leader through numerous roles. In the beginning she started out leading all operations and administration in the Gaza Strip for roughly $2M USD/year in programs, and was later promoted to serve as Operations Director for the $100M USAID funded five year PCAP program, which at the time was the largest and most complex single grant program Mercy Corps had ever undertaken. Following the end of the PCAP program, Wafa became the Deputy Country Director for Palestine, which gave her the opportunity to take a new focus on higher level strategy, business development, policy advocacy and innovative program design while also maintaining oversight of programs, operations and financial functions. Toward the end of her tenure with Mercy Corps Palestine, Wafa became the director for Gaza Sky Geeks, the most comprehensive technology-enabled employment creation program in Palestine, if not the entire Middle East. In all this time, there was no role that Wafa didn't excel at. Her rapid growth through the organization's ranks is on its own a testament to her capabilities and drive for excellence and performance. Wafa has been a high-level visionary leader with an enormous personal motivation and drive to do important and impactful work in her life, and an irrepressible desire to learn and grow and to support the learning, growth and advancement of her team and their programs. She always steps up to new challenges and leads her team by example, from within. She is adept at reading the context or politics of a situation and to understand key partnerships or alliances that may need to be built or strengthened to achieve her organization's objectives. She has worked with an incredibly diverse array of people over her 10+ years with Mercy Corps and has been culturally nimble, working with people from all walks of life, from dozens of countries around the world, and has adapted her approach to accommodate their cultural and personal needs in order to build productive working relationships. I am pleased to unreservedly recommend Wafa for any future program or operations leadership positions. Please reach out if you have questions about Wafa or her work experience with Mercy Corps Palestine.
Anita Ramachandran
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Wafa during the ELP program offered by Mercy Corps in conjunction with PSU. Her energy and commitment are the first things that struck me as exceptional. From there on I was only more and more impressed with her ability to synthesize information, inspire trust and at the end of the day have undivided focus to get work done! I would be delighted to work with her again in the future and I offer my unconditional recommendation for Wafa.
Experience
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Student Association, George Brown College
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Canada
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Higher Education
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1 - 100 Employee
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Operations Manager
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Jan 2020 - Present
Working with the Student Association of George Brown College “SAGBC” as an Operations Manager, managing SAGBC $5-10M operations portfolio. •Manage the development of SAGBC tenant and business revenue-generating strategies and capital building improvement initiatives. • Lead SAGBC communication and Publication strategy and lead the development of communications projects and initiatives that promote SAGBC digital presence and foster SAGBC image and brand. • Devise new program modalities and activities that promote and foster GBC student’s social experience and success. • Playe an integral role in delivering on the strategic plans for SAGBC programs and services and support the strategic efforts to grow SAGBC revenues and business partnerships. • Drive continuous learning for our programs and services by developing feedback and assessment surveys and promotes an evidence-based data approach to enhance our service delivery. Show less
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Mercy Corps
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United States
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Non-profit Organizations
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700 & Above Employee
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ENGAGEMENT AND PARTNERSHIP MANAGER
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Aug 2019 - Nov 2019
Work directly with Mercy Corps global Influence, policy, and partnership team to support strengthening Mercy Corps Middle East profile and representation with Global Affairs Canada “ GAC” through intentional robust communication plans • Develop strategy and approaches to facilitate multi-team/multi-country shared learning around GAC programming so we know what is working in order to standardize best practice, develop comparative advantages for new GAC program development and advance strategic partnerships with GAC on the ground, in the Middle East. • Representation of Middle East Programs to Global Affairs Canada. • Interpretations of Global Affairs Canada mandate and strategy to Middle East Programming. • Support County offices with program proposals development that align with GAC Strategies and Budgets • Instrumental in supporting influence objectives in Canada including advising internal and external stakeholders Show less
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PROGRAM DIRECTOR, GAZA SKY GEEKS PROGRAM
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Jul 2018 - Aug 2019
Served as Program Director for the umbrella program focusing on internet-enabled economic development work in Palestine. The program includes a leading co-working space, tech education hub, and startup accelerator run by the organization. Leveraged strong strategic, operational and leadership insight while maintained full management oversight of the program including planning and execution of GSG’s three major program verticals (Freelancing Academy, Coding Academy, and Startups) in the Gaza Strip. Worked closely with the program CEO to devise the strategy and implement GSG existing and expansion programs across Gaza.•Improved the program operations functions and infrastructure from a couple of million dollars to 14M+ budget.•Spearheaded the program delivery team in planning, implementation, and expansion of Sky Geeks type programming in Gaza Strip to drive excellence in execution, and to ensure continuous improvement and ever-increasing levels of impact and influence.•Drove continuous learning for the GSG program verticals (startups, coding, freelancing) through informal feedback gathering, surveys of participants, and debriefs with GSG program leads.•Oversaw the expansion of GSG Technology program elements outside Gaza City under Geek Labs, in coordination with GSG Director and Community Engagement Manager, including setup of coworking annexes. •Oversaw Women’s inclusivity program elements and ensured that women’s programming is occurring across all program verticals, maintained 40%+ female participation in GSG activities•Partnered with GSG CFO and Coworking Operations team to steer the optimization of current coworking strategy, revenue model, marketing, and operations.•Delivered proactive support to the GSG CEO in the development of new program concepts and proposals, and participate in the identification and cultivation of new potential donors. Show less
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DEPUTY MISSION DIRECTOR
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Mar 2016 - Jun 2018
Promoted in March 2016 to the Deputy Mission Director to lead the organization’s Program Portfolios and Operations in Gaza. Work with the Mission Director to strategize the programs’ planning and executing focusing on quality, accountability, and measurable impact, including performance oversight by tracking progress toward reaching targets, maximizing budget resources and personal development. •Led the successful implementation of the organization’s humanitarian assistance and development programs in Gaza alongside the management of program implementation team nationally for the newly expanding Sky Geeks program.•Played an integral role in delivering on the strategic plan for key Mercy Corps program throughout Palestine; supported strategic efforts to grow country programs through proposal development, donor representation, partnership building.•Significantly contributed to increasing Mercy Corps diverse funding and building new program competency areas.•Directed all aspects of program procurement, HR, and finance, exercising authority for approval and payments signing within program budgets, and in alignment with the program results framework and MC’s program strategy.•Steered the preparations, development, and implementation of the Country Strategy and annual implementation plans.•Represented Mercy Corps' programs to current and potential future donors; cultivated strong interpersonal relationships with donor representatives to drive funds.•Fostered and nurtured professional relationships with local government, community leaders and local partner organizations.•Led the recruitment, training, and oversight of local staff; strived to build the capacity of staff and programming partners, and worked with staff and other relevant stakeholders on proposal development, project design, and high-impact strategies Show less
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DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
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Oct 2010 - Feb 2016
Directed the organization’s Gaza program support operations, including leading a team of 20 technical managers to manage the procurement, human resources, administration, logistics and security for a multi-sectoral, multi-donor program, comprising a $100M USAID funded community assistance program, and smaller ECHO, ARD, ROTA and Google-funded projects. Oversaw the procurement, import, and compliance for $525,000 worth of construction materials and NFIs. Managed the recruitment, orientation, and training for the Gaza national staff team of over 100 people.•Led Mercy Corps’ rapid and wide-reaching response to three emergencies during the 2014 conflict. Oversaw a team of 30 cross-functional members to implement large-scale food, non-food and WASH activities, which aided over 223,000 Gazans.•Executed decision-making on the deployment of staff and resources and the selection of intervention modalities based on continuous analysis of security and humanitarian conditions; coordinated closely with other international and local organizations, building partnerships to maximize the reach of the assistance provided.•Developed relationships and drove strategic alignment with 50 community-based organizations throughout Gaza while actively participating in Gaza’s humanitarian coordination mechanisms including the UN cluster system.•As a key member of the senior management team, contributed to the country strategic planning process, contributing to the development of program implementation plans•Participated in the preparation and review and management of the Gaza office operations budgets •Enforced and ensured compliance with internal Mercy Corps policies, donor policies, and applicable local laws while working with all Mercy Corps staff to ensure smooth adoption of systems •Worked with finance and compliance to mitigate fraud, conflict of interest and legal ramifications of Mercy Corps activities ensuring compliance with donor’s rules and regulations. Show less
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Admin, Finance and Compliance Manager
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Feb 2009 - Sep 2010
Spearheaded the finance, compliance, and other support functions for a multi-donor relief and recovery program funded by USAID, ECHO, EC, ROTA, Qatar Charity, DFID and several small donors during a period of significant program expansion and in an extremely challenging and dynamic environment.•Managed the hiring, training and management of high performing finance, logistics, HR, and administrative staff in Gaza. •Successfully implemented and oversaw systems for internal control and compliance, managed accounting data processing and financial reporting functions in accordance with internal and donor regulations.•Delivered and reviewed monthly and end-of-grant standard finance, logistics and HR information including cash flow status per cost center/project reporting and purchase requisition tracking in a timely and accurate manner. •Executed and oversaw procedures for the procurement of goods and supplies and accounting for said transactions. •Actively participated in the assessment of staffing needs, the hiring process, personnel orientation and professional development plans, personnel evaluation system, field personnel policy manual, and personnel grievance procedure system. •Partnered with the Mission Director and Deputy Mission Director to develop and maintain local office policies and procedures. •Contributed to the development of new program budgets or budgets for grant proposals Show less
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Admin (Logistics & Procurement) Officer
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Nov 2006 - Jan 2009
Planned and directed the procurement, logistics and administration functions in the Gaza office, leading the processing of procurement requests and ensuring compliance of all procurement transactions with internal and donor regulations. Trained and oriented all staff on procurement issues.•Effectively implemented the purchasing and procurement of goods and supplies required in an efficient and timely manner to ensure smooth program and office operations.•Supported the administrative and financial management, preparation of payment requests and support documentation required to process payments and the monthly cash projections according to planned activities.•Coordinated the budget tracking for all activities while coordinating vehicle movement and management of the vehicle fleet.•Facilitated smooth office operations and manage all office and program assets. •Delivered security updates to senior management and contributed to management team discussions relating to the safety and security of staff and assets. Show less
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Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
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Non-profit Organizations
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1 - 100 Employee
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FINANCE ASSISTANT (PART-TIME)
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Jun 2005 - Nov 2006
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MAAN Development Center
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Palestine, State of
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Non-profit Organization Management
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1 - 100 Employee
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ADMIN & FINANCE ASSISTANT
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Aug 2004 - Nov 2006
Carried out all the administrative tasks related to the agency’s programs and operations, as directed. This included office management, processing of procurement transactions, asset management, staff support and coordination of staff meetings, management of contracts and leases and assistance with the preparation of program and other reports. Carried out all the administrative tasks related to the agency’s programs and operations, as directed. This included office management, processing of procurement transactions, asset management, staff support and coordination of staff meetings, management of contracts and leases and assistance with the preparation of program and other reports.
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Education
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2010 - 2015
Islamic University - Gaza
Master of Business Administration - MBA, Business Administration and Management, General -
2014 - 2014
Portland State University
Certificate of Completion- MINI MBA program, ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP -
2005 - 2009
Al-Quds Open University
BSc, Business Administration and Management, General -
2002 - 2004
Gaza Training College- UNRWA
Diploma, Business Administration and Management, General
Community
