Leadership Serving Global Grant Operations
World Class Leadership Team
Phuran Philanthropic services clients who underwrite or fund a wide range of charitable grant programs, economic development projects, medical research trials, and direct aid operations throughout the world. To best serve our clients, Phuran Philanthropic has assembled a world-class senior leadership team. The collective knowledge and experience of our senior leadership staff is unique, and is unsurpassed in the grant assurance services sector.
Meet our senior leadership team . . .
David Fernandez
President, Founder, Majority Interest Partner
David Fernandez founded Urbano Philanthropic in 1992.
From the first, David has provided the industry standard for pre-award grant vetting and post-award compliance. For over thirty years, David has assisted private charitable trusts in their efforts to ensure that their charitable gifts will be utilized responsibly, ethically, effectively, and in accordance with their intended purpose.
To this day, David meticulously oversees every aspect of service delivery. Although the company has grown over the years, and we’ve changed our name to Phuran Philanthropic Strategies, we’ve never deviated from David’s original philosophy that we surpass the high expectations of our clients, and ensure that we keep our promise to provide the most meticulous and best researched application vetting and compliance oversight in the industry.
David was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and immigrated to the United States in 1979, after completing a B.A. from the University of Madrid (Spain) in Economics.
Daniel Barquess
Managing Director, Minority Interest Partner
Daniel Barquess joined Urbano Philanthropic in 2002.
Prior to joining the Phuran management team, Daniel worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF Bank) as a Senior Economist, specializing in economic development in emerging markets.
Daniel later owned and operated Barquess Intermediary Consulting, a private research consultancy providing investment strategies for private and government entities investing in South American and Central African economic development projects.
Daniel has previously served as a resident consultant for Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for over ten years, and has fostered solid working relationships with governmental bodies, world leaders, and global aid programs throughout the world.
Daniel has a B.A. in Marketing from Ball State University, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
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Emmanuel Ibrahim
Director, Global Development Grants
Emmanuel Ibrahim joined Urbano Philanthropic in 1998.
Prior to joining the Phuran Philanthropic management team, Emmanuel worked for over a decade with the African Development Bank (AfDB) as a loan officer and grant compliance officer. Emmanuel also previously worked for Oxfam International, providing aid logistics coordination and grant assurance services, and served as the Oxfam liaison to the Council of the European Union.
Emmanuel has a B.S. in Agricultural Sciences and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
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Ayasha Muhammed Khan, Ph.D.
Director, Research Grants Oversight
Ayasha Khan, joined Urbano Philanthropic in 2012.
Prior to joining the Phuran Philanthropic management team, Ayasha worked as an Analytical Chemist for Ittehad Chemicals Ltd, and for over ten years as a pharmaceutical researcher for Hamdard Pharmaceutical Laboratories in Karachi, Pakistan.
Ayasha is a former faculty member of the College of Medical Technology, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
Ayasha has a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Karachi and a Ph.D. of Biological Sciences from the University of Punjab.
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Mark Lugar
Chief Financial Officer
Mark Lugar joined Phuran Philanthropic in 2020.
Prior to joining PPS’s senior management team, Mark served as our Director of Project Grants for five years, specializing in budgeting, forensic accounting, audit, and economic development grant vetting.
For nearly a decade Mark worked in the insurance industry as a fraud investigator, and has over ten years experience in grant administration.. Mark has previously served as a Senior Auditor with the Oliver Wyman Group and Finance Director with Euro-Funding.
Mark has a B.A. in Economics and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Cape Town (South Africa).
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Mary Williams-Smith
Director, Client & Trustee Relations
Mary Smith joined Phuran Philanthropic in 2011.
Prior to joining the Phuran Philanthropic management team, Mary served as one of our contracted research partners for three years, specializing in program grant vetting and oversight.
Mary has previously worked in the public relations sector, and served as an Account Executive for Grayling-Manchester.
Mary is the daughter of a US military officer, and was raised in England and Saudi Arabia; consequently Mary speaks Arabic (MSA), and is also proficient in Portugese.
Mary has a B.S. in Public Relations from Florida A&M University, and a B.A. in Economics from City University of London.
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Matt Harris
Interim Director, Information Technology
Matt Harris joined Phuran Philanthropic in 2018.
Prior to joining the Phuran Philanthropic management team, Matt served as one of our contracted research partners for over six years, specializing in technology and infrastructure grant review.
For over two decades, Matt worked in the computer technology and telecommunications industries. Matt previously served as an Applications Engineer for TSMC, and a Senior Project Director for Deutsche Telekom AG, managing both Information Technology and Product Development Teams.
Matt has an M.S. of Computer Science from California State University, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University.
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Ella Li, J.M.
Resident Consultant, International Law
Ella (Wang Xiu Ying Li), has been our resident legal consultant since 2017.
Prior to joining the Phuran Philanthropic management team, Ella served as one of our contracted research partners for over three years, specializing in Pacific Rim development grants.
Ella previously worked as a legal researcher with Oxfam International, and the Canadian Audit & Accountability Foundation.
Ella is fluent in Chinese-Cantonese, Chinese-Mandarin, English and French.
Ella has a Law Degree from China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, China. Ella emigrated to Canada from mainland China in 2006, and currently resides in the U.S.