Millennium Partners is a woman-owned small business certified by the US Small Business Administration. The principal owners of the company are Dr. Esther W. Hannon and Brian C. Hannon. Millennium Partners is based in Charlottesville, Virginia and benefits from a close association with the University of Virginia.
Millennium Partners has undertaken projects in every region of the world under rule of law, economic growth, and democracy and governance programs. Since 2005, Millennium Partners has been awarded over $60 million in programs in Moldova, Ethiopia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Egypt, North Macedonia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Niger, Ecuador, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Liberia, and Benin, funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC),the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Department of State.
Our Mission and Approach
Millennium Partners is committed to building just societies that provide opportunities to all of its people by means of effective and accountable government institutions. Our approach does not forsake attention to detail for speed but recognizes that in a fast changing world the window for reform is often short and the need for results critical. From experience we have learned that empowering local leaders and communities is the most effective way to achieve effective and sustainable results.
Who We Are
Brian Hannon has over 30 years experience in international development has developed and managed over $280 million in fully funded USAID and other donor funded projects in the areas of economic growth, democratic governance, anti-corruption, and rule of law.
Prior to 1995 he led the start-up of Booz Allen’s USAID portfolio. There he managed large USAID privatization and economic reform programs in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Previously, Mr. Hannon served at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce where he directed the Center for International Enterprise (CIPE) program for Eastern Europe and Soviet Union that was funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID. Earlier in his career he served in the U.S. Government for the USAID Administrator, Alan Woods, co-authoring Development and the National Interest; he also worked at the U.S. Department of Commerce on international trade policy, and at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. He co-authored a chapter in Foreign Aid and the National Interest for the former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios with Dr. Esther Hannon and Yung Whee Rhee in 2002.
Esther Hannon has worked in international development for over 25 years, specializing in democratic governance and human rights, Latin American politics and development, gender equality, and rule of law. Her management experience includes projects involving good governance, civil society development, anti corruption, legal reform, human rights and access to justice. She has a Ph.D from the University of Virginia, where she has also taught courses on international economic and political development, the politics of corruption, global development, rule of law and development, and Latin American politics.
Esther Hannon, Partner
Brian Hannon, CEO
OUR TEAM
Home Office
Cathryn Michie, Vice President of Finance — Cathryn Ritter Michie, CPA, joined Millennium Partners in 2020 and serves as the Vice President of Finance. Prior to joining Millennium Partners, Ms. Michie served as Chief Financial Officer of the Shenandoah Valley Workforce Development Board from 2015-2020. During her tenure with the Workforce Development Board, Ms. Michie managed over 24 Million Dollars in federal funding and managed the finance, budgeting, payroll, human resources, contract management, property management, and information technology functions for the Workforce Development Board.
Ms. Michie holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from James Madison University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Virginia.
Emily Calley, Senior Accountant— Emily Calley, CPA, joined Millennium Partners in 2020. She earned her BS in Accounting from George Mason University. She has worked in both the public and private accounting sectors. Her experience includes real estate tax, foreign earned income reporting for expatriates, small business accounting, and project management.
Neil Price, Advisor on Contracts and Compliance —Former USAID Supervisory Contracting Officer, advises Millennium on contracting and compliance matters.An accomplished senior manager with 34 years of U.S. Government executive leadership and acquisition and assistance (A&A) experience that includes 19 years as a Foreign Service Contracting Officer managing regional and bilateral A&A offices for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Have served overseas as a Supervisory Contracting Officer in Botswana, Iraq, Ukraine, Ghana, Colombia, and Bosnia. Served in senior leadership positions in Washington as the Deputy Director (FS) of USAID’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance, and the Director of the Management Bureaus’s Office of Overseas Support Operations in Frankfurt, Germany.
Cristina Malai, International Programs – Cristina Malai served as COP of the USAID/Moldova Open Justice Project. She brings 20 years of justice sector reform experience, most recently managing the development of an integrated case management system (ICMS) for Moldova’s courts and working with Moldova’s judicial leaders to advance justice reforms. She also consults on other international projects for Millennium in Ethiopia, Egypt and Bosnia bringing her expertise on court modernization and judicial integrity and effectiveness. She received Certificate of Project Management Professional (PMP) in 2020, and holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from University of Illinois College of Law, and a J.D. from Moldova State University Law School..
Our Team Leaders and Experts
David de Giles — David is currently our Chief of Party for the Feteh Activity in Ethiopia. He was formerly Deputy Chief of Party in Cote de Ivoire for the USAID funded PROJUSTICE Program where he provided management and operational support as well as technical assistance to increase judicial independence, transparency and accountability by developing models of professional court management, automated case management systems, codes of professional ethics, and improved public outreach. He has his law Public Law Degree (1992), University of Seville – Spain; and his Masters (D.E.A.) in European Union Law (1993), University of Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) – France.
Mandefrot Belay —Mandefrot is currently our Deputy Chief of Party for the Feteh Activity in Ethiopia. He is a renown legal expert with many years experience in justice reform, legal institutional capacity building, legal education and legislative drafting. He served as Country Director for the Rule of Law Initiative of the American Bar Association Legal and Judicial Reform and Capacity Building program in Ethiopia from 2008-2013 where he was responsible for setting the strategic direction of the country program including planning, budgeting, and monitoring and evaluating of projects. He has published numerous articles on justice sector reform in Ethiopia. He has a Master of Laws from Nagpur University, India; was a Post-Graduate Fellow for Governance and Democracy University of Birmingham and European Center for Diplomacy and Security Studies UK; and received a Post Graduate Diploma in International Law and Organization for Development, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands, 1998.
Emir Ramadanovic — Emir is currently our Chief of Party for the E-Governance Activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is an IT professional with over 30 years of experience, including 14 years in the United States. Prior to his current role as Chief of Party for the USAID funded E-Governance Activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was the Director of Engineering for Authority Partners in Sarajevo which had multiple clients in the US and Europe. Mr. Ramadanovic has also worked as an independent IT and management consultant for various projects in Europe and US. He was the Senior Principal Consultant for Oracle in BiH and also worked for Microsoft securing multiple contracts for them with the BiH government among other accomplishments.
Elmira Pasagic – Elmira is currently our Senior Legal Advisor for the E-Governance Activity in Bosnia. She has over 10 years of experience in comprehensive justice sector reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina including more than three years with the Office of the High Representative (OHR) Independent Judicial Commission (IJC)), first as judicial reform officer, then as Head of the IJC Sarajevo Field Office, and then as Head of the IJC Restructuring Department (2001 – 2004), and over 5 years as Executive Director of the Secretariat of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH.
Olivia Pirtac-Goaga – Ms. Pirtac is currently our Chief of Party for the DRL Access to Justice Project in Moldova. She is a seasoned rule of law professional with over 20 years of experience managing donor funded projects in Moldova, specializing in media law, civil society monitoring and capacity building, and human rights. Ms. Pirtac’s solid project management portfolio includes implementation of various USAID-funded and UN-funded projects. For these projects she served in the following capacities: Deputy Chief of Party of the Media Program in Moldova (2008–2011) managed by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX); Media Law Program Officer of a Strengthening Civil Society Monitoring Capacity program in Moldova (2007–2008) also managed by IREX; National Consultant on Anti-Discrimination and Freedom of Religion or Belief in the “Support for Civil Society in Combating Discrimination” project, managed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2014); and Coordination and Monitoring Expert for the Ministry of Justice assisting in the coordination of justice sector reform in Moldova (2013.)
Adelina (Ada) Dulman– Ada is the Senior Legal Expert on the Access to Justice (ATJ) Project since 2019. She is a Moldovan lawyer and justice and civil society specialist with over 12 years of capacity building and grant making experience with civil society groups active in access to justice and human rights, especially for youth and disadvantaged groups. She is highly effective in providing assessments and internal evaluations to identify training needs and ways to strengthen organizational development, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and budgeting. She served as the Senior Capacity Building and Grants Manager for USAID’s Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society project (2014–2018) where she led efforts to build the capacity of civil society organizations in governance, financial management, procurement, project management and fundraising.
Pim Albers– Pim is a global expert in the field of justice sector reform projects, global, regional and local justice sector performance indicators, measurement and evaluations of judicial reforms, rule of law programs and court quality assurance programs. He is an advisory member International Consortium for Court Excellence (responsible for the development and promotion of court quality systems in the world (http://www.courtexcellence.com) and one of the founders of the International Framework for Court Excellence (IFCE.) Pim has been collaborating with Millennium Partners for over a decade, and currently advises on several rule of law projects involving court and other judicial reforms.
Ecaterina Televca – Ecaterina has over 19 years of professional experience in software architecture, design, development and implementation for various governmental information systems. These include case management systems, and an array of e-government systems from permitting to tax and health systems. Ecaterina and her company Intellia Software Solutions joined the Millennium Partners team in 2020 to provide technical assistance on Millennium Partners’ projects involving e-governance and integrated case management systems.
Nilantha Alexander – Nilantha is the former finance manager for Millennium’s Civil Society Rule of Law Initiative (CSI.ROL) in Sri Lanka and currently provides finance, grants and procurement management and oversight for Millennium’s rule of law projects, particularly the Feteh Activity in Ethiopia. He provides oversight on all procurements, subcontracts and grant making and ensures the appropriate policies and procedures are in place.