Our Team 

FOUNDER & SENIOR STRATEGIC ADVSIOR

Salva supports the U.S. and South Sudan teams as Chief Strategy Director, located in South Sudan with appearances in the United States. Salva supports the U.S. and South Sudanese teams offering his counsel to increase operational efficiency. He also works to build strategic operational and funding relationships in South Sudan, the U.S., and around the world.
Read more about Salva

WFSS COUNTRY DIRECTOR

Ajang, more commonly known as AJ, serves as Country Director, overseeing projects at the WFSS compound in Wau, as well as new sanitation projects. He is also our coordinator for government relations and collaborative partnerships and co-chairs our Leadership Council in Wau. Also one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan, he came to the U.S. in 2000, settling in Dallas and working for Samsung. In 2013, AJ joined WFSS as an intern on our drilling team. He quickly established himself as a valuable team member and also has served as assistant drilling manager and Associate Country Director before becoming Country Director for WFSS.

WFSS TECHNICAL ADVISOR

Ater, known to all as "Lion," serves as Technical Advisor, overseeing all drilling, well rehab, and hygiene projects and programs. He co-chairs our South Sudan Leadership Council, comprised of all managers in South Sudan. A former “Lost Boy” of Sudan, Lion met WFSS Founder Salva Dut in a refugee camp and relocated to the U.S. in 1996, working for Samsung in Texas. In 2008, Lion joined WFSS as a drilling team manager. After expanding his technical and leadership skills, Lion now serves as Technical Advisor and leads our Well Rehabilitation Team. Watch an interview with Lion here.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Shannon Hesel serves as Executive Director of Water for South Sudan, bringing over 15 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, program strategy, and partnerships. Her career has spanned global and domestic contexts, with a focus on expanding access to education, economic opportunity, and community-driven development.

Shannon has held leadership roles at organizations including the International Youth Foundation and Room to Read, where she advanced large-scale youth development and literacy initiatives. She has worked across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the U.S., leading programs, managing complex grants, and building partnerships that deliver measurable results.

A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Guyana, Shannon began her career co-developing public health curricula and WASH infrastructure with local educators and health workers. She is a certified project manager and collaborative leader, committed to turning vision into action and advancing WFSS’s mission to deliver clean water and hygiene access across South Sudan.

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

With over a dozen years of experience in nonprofit and client-service startup fields, Emily brings expertise in simplifying complexity and driving strategy. 

Her experience as a microfinance field intern in Uganda broadened her understanding of the complex cycle of poverty and the transformative power of education. As an AmeriCorps Member, she addressed food insecurity and nutritional access, witnessing the power of policy and funding on community well-being, sparking her commitment to purpose driven work.

Emily thrives at the intersection of people and systems, ensuring projects run smoothly for all stakeholders. A certified project manager, she finds success working with teams that positively impact lives. Emily joined WFSS in 2025.

ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST

Denise is responsible for budgeting, reconciliation, payroll, out-of-state charity registrations, and revenue management to maximize fundraising efforts and fund more work in South Sudan. She has extensive experience in hospitality, focusing on general management, project management, business development, marketing, software and systems upgrades, product development, and finance. Denise joined WFSS in 2025.

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

Elissa manages development initiatives and communication strategies. She graduated from SUNY Brockport with a degree in Interpersonal and Organizational Speech Communications and Health Science.

Previously she attended MCC where she was a member and VP of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Project, and chaired the 2nd Annual Walk for Water in support of WFSS. She previously worked at the National Kidney Foundation and joined WFSS in 2018.

DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS LEAD

Kat Griffin runs on equal parts creativity and caffeine — a high-energy digital marketer who genuinely loves her work. With over 15 years of experience (and 20 years of freelancing hustle), she's helped everyone from manufacturing to startups find their voice online and turn it into real results.

Her sweet spot? Taking a brand's vision and running with it, through SEO, content, email, digital ads, graphic and web design — whatever it takes to engage, educate, and move people to action. Kat doesn't just check boxes; she builds the strategy behind them, always with an eye on the budget and a deadline she actually intends to meet.

Process improvement and helping others aren't just bullet points on Kat's resume, they're what drives her. She brought her wide skill set to Water for South Sudan in 2025 because great marketing can do more than sell things, it can change things. And that's the kind of work that gets her out of bed in the morning.

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

Ben joined Water for South Sudan in 2026, supporting the organization's database systems, standard operating procedures, and donor stewardship. He is currently pursuing a degree in Management Information Systems, building on a career spent improving systems across food, fuel, and now water.

Ben spent several years in operations  and sales management roles within the food distribution and electric vehicle charging industries, along with a consulting engagement supporting a small business through online sales platform adoption and wholesale/retail fulfillment process improvements. Across each of these roles, his focus remained consistent: connecting people to reliable systems, whether that meant sourcing food from local farmers, expanding clean energy infrastructure, or now, advancing sustainable water access in South Sudan.

Coming from a for profit background, Ben has consistently sought out mission driven work, and views his role at WFSS as a natural extension of that path: applying systems thinking to a mission of lasting consequence.

Outside of work, Ben enjoys live music, mushroom foraging, reading, trying new recipes in the kitchen, and gardening at his home and community garden.