Mary Kante, a public health program director, travels to Antananarivo, Madagascar.  Here, Mary manages programs in HIV Prevention, Malaria Prevention and Case Management, and Safe Water, which each have small funding envelopes. With a team of four health program managers, she grows those projects and launches new ones to establish a portfolio with an annual budget of more than $4 million.

From supporting one country, Mary is promoted to lead malaria technical advisement for 13 French-speaking countries, from a new base in Nairobi, Kenya, to ensure technical quality, and expanded funding by more than $200 million.

Mary returns to Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley for the birth of her son, Abraham, after eight years in Africa. Recognizing and appreciating the grounded, relatable, and trustworthy values of her Midwestern roots, Mary accepts a series of consultancy offers that allow her to remain “at home” while continuing the work that she loves in Africa. 

During these years, Mary further integrated her Midwestern values alongside her signature approach of purposeful focus on quality, thoroughness, and delivery of ambitious results within complex and time-sensitive contexts. 

Mary ventures to Minneapolis to design a program to deliver malaria diagnosis and case management services through strengthening of Mon and Kayin health services in Myanmar, which receives funding from the Global Fund. 

Mary continues to support the work of the American Refugee Committee, now Alight, from her home in Wisconsin and designs new program proposals which receive funding to significantly expand primary health care services for refugees in Darfur, Sudan – increasing the number of available primary health clinics from 17-30.

Mary returns to her hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to continue her global work from home.

Mary leverages her field experience and technical expertise to focus full-time on writing proposals and managing submissions, raising more than $225 million from highly competed U.S. government, private foundation, and multi-lateral funding mechanisms to significantly scale-up malaria, HIV, family planning, social and behavior change, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions.
 

With Ministries of Health in five countries, Mary develops and implements innovative insecticide treated mosquito net (ITN) programs to reinforce health systems for sustainable malaria prevention impact. 

As the only full-time staff member in year one of a global United States President’s Malaria Initiative program, Mary leads a ten-fold increase in global budget buy-ins and directly supported program growth and delivery of more than seven million ITNs. 

Mary launches Eau Claire Consulting, founded in the belief that the world will be a better place if talented social impact and public health experts can easily collaborate with trusted colleagues to secure timely and affordable technical, programmatic, and business development advice. 

Grounded in Midwestern values of integrity, relatability, and the drive to succeed whatever the obstacles – Eau Claire Consulting supports six new clients to overcome their most pressing constraints, ensure funding for their most promising and effective interventions, and deliver effective and high-quality program results.