The People Who Build With Us
BAS has been building schools for twenty years. The people below have been with us for most of it. Some funded one school and came back for a second or a third. Some have been here since the beginning. Our organization’s success is built on the foundation of their generosity and commitment. They made a decision to keep going, and that decision is the reason we're still building.
Todd Siegler - Adj. Professor, Columbia Business School
Partner & Advisor
Todd has been quietly funding schools for BAS in Kenya for the past 15 years. He finds the work meaningful, trusts the organization, and keeps coming back. Kithatha junior secondary school, which is currently under construction, will be his fifth school with BAS.
His professional life has been spent in the business of people. A decade-plus at Salesforce, rising to Senior Regional Vice President, and nearly a decade with Apple. Today he teaches Entrepreneurial Selling to MBA students at Columbia Business School. The through-line in all of it is the same, developing people, building relationships, and taking the long view on what actually creates value.
There is a quiet seriousness to his commitment, key to his philanthropy. He understands that education is the thing that has the potential to change the trajectory of a life. He believes that, once a school is built and handed to a community, the change compounds for generations. That understanding is what brings him back.
BAS is fortunate to count him as a partner.
Satjiv Chahil - Silicon Valley Executive. Global Marketing Pioneer.
BAS Partner.
Satjiv spent four decades at the center of the global technology industry. At Apple, he served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and as founding General Manager of the New Media, Entertainment and Internet division, a role that put him at the forefront of how personal computing became a cultural necessity. He went on to senior positions at Palm and Sony before joining Hewlett-Packard in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Global Marketing.
It was Satjiv who introduced Serena Williams to Build African Schools. When he saw what BAS was doing in rural Kenya, he made the connection. In 2007, with Satjiv as the architect, HP and Serena Williams co-funded the Matooni Serena Williams Secondary School in Mwingi, Kitui County. Three years later, the Wee Serena Williams Secondary School opened in Kilili. Serena attended that opening in person. She walked the grounds, met the students, and spoke on camera about what education means to the communities that receive it. Both schools are open today. Both are integrated into Kenya's national education system.
In 2024, Satjiv made a personal gift to fund a working vehicle for the BAS field team in Kenya.
Russell Fish - Partner, Venray Technologies
BAS Advisor & School Funder
Russell Fish doesn't do things halfway, and he didn't come to Build African Schools halfway either.
His professional career spans three decades and dates from the birth of the microprocessor. His achievements include co-designing the Sh-Boom Processor with Charles Moore, recognized by IEEE as one of the 25 microchips that shook the world, and his designs have been licensed into most computers, cell phones, and video games manufactured today. He is currently a partner at Venray Technology in Dallas, where he continues to work on next-generation processor architecture. It is a serious career in a demanding field. But it is not the most interesting thing about him.
Long before the microprocessor work, Russell held the 24-hour Skydiving World Record alongside U.S. Army’s Cheryl Stearns, 255 day and night jumps in a single day. He counts that, and building the schools, as his proudest achievements. The combination tells you something about him.
He found BAS through our founder Patrick O’Sullivan in 2007. He has funded two schools demonstrating his interest in education access for children who've been left behind. By the time he found BAS, building schools in rural Kenya wasn't a departure from what he cared about. It was more of the same, kids who deserved a classroom, and an organization that actually built one. He remains a friend, a sounding board, and an active voice in BAS's thinking about how to move education forward for children in Africa. Someone who knows him well put it simply: "He doesn't think outside the box. He lives outside the box."
That has always been good for BAS.
Alan Scroope -CEO,FreeFlow, Ireland
Partner & Advisor
Alan came to BAS as someone who understood what it means to build something from nothing and recognized an organization that actually does what it says it does.
He is the founder and CEO of FreeFlow, one of Ireland's most recognized technology companies, built over two decades from a bedroom in Tralee, Ireland into a global business with partnerships across the consumer electronics industry. He knows the difference between good execution and good intentions. When Alan funded the construction of a BAS school in Kenya, he saw both.
In his own words: "From the earliest stages of planning through to completion, I was struck by the professionalism, transparency, and dedication of the BAS team." What impressed him wasn't just the finished building , it was how the work was done. Local knowledge guiding every decision. Skilled tradespeople engaged properly. Unskilled labor sourced from the village itself, putting money into the community during construction, not just after. "The result is schools that are not only built to last, but that also transform communities by giving children access to education and opportunity."
He calls supporting BAS one of the most rewarding philanthropic investments he has made.
Alan now serves as an advisor to Build African Schools. His endorsement matters not because of his title, but because of what he witnessed. He traveled. He saw the work. He came back convinced.
"Their mission is clear, their execution is proven, and their results are measurable in the lives of thousands of children who now have a chance at a brighter future."