Harpswell Foundation Staff

Alison Pavia
Executive Director
Alison Pavia
Alison comes to the Harpswell Foundation with over 20 years of experience working in the non-profit, corporate and legal sectors. She was most recently the Executive Director of the Peter C. Alderman Foundation, a non-profit working in global mental health which trains indigenous health workers and establishes trauma treatment systems in post-conflict settings (including Cambodia, Uganda and Kenya). Prior to joining PCAF in 2009, Ms. Pavia was the founding Executive Director of ReServe, and has worked as a consultant with Living Cities, the National Community Development Initiative. She began her career as an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and at Pavia & Harcourt, specializing in international corporate and banking law. She serves on the boards of ReServe and the Riverdale Neighborhood House, serves on the Advisory Board of Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity of Hunter College, and is a trustee of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. Ms. Pavia has a JD from Columbia Law School and BA from Brown University, where she majored in History and Chinese language. She has worked and traveled extensively, and is fluent in French and Italian. She is married to Franz Paasche, and is the mother of three daughters.

Moul Samneang
Country Director
Moul Samneang
Moul Samneang has over twenty years of experience working on design, management, and implementation of programs related to women’s advancement. Prior to Harpswell, she worked as a Senior Program Officer for over twenty years at The Asia Foundation’s Cambodia office, where she led the program on violence against women, including an integrated program of public awareness advocacy through civil society partners. She also implemented programs to prevent trafficking and exploitation of children through the use of innovative formal and non-formal educational strategy. Through this program she worked to connect on-the-ground experience in education interventions to national and local policies, particularly through work with local government bodies. For many years, she provided technical support to a women’s NGO to facilitate female commune councilors in formulating strategies to address issues of key concerns to communities. She also managed girl’s education initiatives that provided scholarship to young girls from economically disadvantaged families to pursue secondary education. Samneang also served as Field Adviser for Give2Asia, a US-based social enterprise that serves as a catalyst for philanthropic investment in Asia, where she managed donor-advised grants to organizations implementing charitable activities in Cambodia. Samneang has a Master’s in Development Management from Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines.

Suon Raksmey
Manager, Program and TT Dorm
Suon Raksmey
Raksmey, a Harpswell Alumna, graduated in 2010 with a dual degree in Biology and English language from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. After graduating, she spent a year as Harpswell US Scholar at Bard College in the United States. She returned to Cambodia and received her B.A. in Education, TEFL from Built Bright University in Siem Reap, and went on to get her Masters Degree in Educational Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Raksmey has several years of teaching experience and before joining Harpswell worked as the ECE Facilitator at the Cambodian Children’s Fund in Phnom Penh.

Lok Malin
Manager, BT Dorm
Lok Malin
Lok Malin has over ten years of experience in grants, finance and administrative management with local and international non-profit organizations. Her strong interest in women and girl’s education led her to join Harpswell. Prior to joining Harpswell, Malin worked with the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia in redesigning, setting up and leading the implementation of their financial management systems. Previously, Malin was with the Asia Foundation in Cambodia and several other INGOs and NGOs, where she provided technical assistance on financial and administrative management, including to implementation partners whose programs included women’s empowerment, human rights, education and the environment. Malin graduated with degrees in Accounting and English Literature in Cambodia.

Nim Sopheap
Assistant Manager, TT Dorm
Nim Sopheap

Phally Touch
Administrative Manager
Phally Touch
Phally grew up in Phnom Penh and graduated high school in 1988. She has been working at Harpswell since 2006 and previously worked as an Administrative Assistant for seven years at the Association of Nuns and Lay Women in Cambodia (ANLWC).

Khan Sophy
Alumnae Support and Special Projects Officer
Khan Sophy
Sophy is a graduate of the Harpswell Class of 2011. She comes back to Harpswell after many years at the Alliance for Conflict Transformation Organization as a project manager, and several years as an officer at the Somaly Mam Foundation. Sophy received a Bachelor Degree of Law and Masters Degree of Private Law from RULE in 2013. She has also served as an officer of HAA.

Kham Khun Malis
House Mother
Kham Khun Malis
Kham Khun Malis has over fifty years of experience working as a government official in different fields. She began her career as a secretary for the Ministry of Commerce in Phnom Penh during 1960s. After that, she spent more than 20 years as a math teacher at Srey Santhor Secondary School in Kampong Cham. She later worked as cashier for the Department of Education. She retired from the government in 2007, and came to work for Harpswell in 2010 as the House Mother.

Dr. Leila Mohajer
Senior Administrator, ASEAN Program
Dr. Leila Mohajer
Dr. Leila Mohajer, a native of Teheran, received her Phd holder in Sociolinguistics from University of Malaya in 2013. Currently, she is a lecturer at Centre for Research on Women and Gender, KANITA, Universiti Sains Malaysia. She worked as a lecturer at University of Applied Science and Technology in 2006. She has also cooperated with different centers and institutes as an English Language & IELTS Instructor. She has published in several impact factor journals. She also cooperates with some journals as a reviewer and editor. Her research interests include language and gender, power and solidarity, cultural studies and violence against women.

Sia Moua
Development and Communications Officer
Sia Moua
Sia has more than 10 years of cross-sector experience, working primarily in communications and project management roles. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and an AmeriCorps alumna. During her Peace Corps service in Mauritania, she worked to advance girls’ education and empower women. Sia has a Bachelor’s in International Studies and Communication from Denison University and a Master’s in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University.

Maggie Doyle Toran
US Fellowships and LR Coordinator
Maggie Doyle Toran
Maggie received a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire, and a M.A. from Northeastern University in Global Studies and International Affairs. Maggie’s introduction to the Harpswell Foundation was in 2009 when she was a Harpswell Leadership Resident. Maggie lives in New Hampshire and works in Boston in theatre.