Team | Embrace Global

At Embrace Global, our culture is built on six core values: warmth, collaboration, accountability, optimism, resilience, and empathy. We approach every interaction with kindness and respect, work across teams and borders to achieve more than we could alone, and hold ourselves to our commitments while continuously learning and growing. We believe our work is a marathon, not a sprint, which means we prioritize people alongside mission. We are optimistic about what's possible, honest about the challenges ahead, and grounded in the belief that lasting change comes from listening to, and learning from, the communities we serve.

Melody Westen, CEO

Melody Westen joined Embrace Global as CEO in January 2025, bringing more than two decades of nonprofit leadership across global health, conservation, and social services. She previously served as Executive Director of Akashinga, an INGO driving female-led conservation across Africa, and held senior roles at the International Rescue Committee and Back on My Feet. Across these organizations, she has built sustainable infrastructure, diversified funding, and led teams through rapid shifts in context, funding, and strategy.

At Embrace Global, she is navigating a pivotal moment in the organization's growth, advancing national-scale partnerships with ministries of health, expanding support to conflict-affected regions, and steering the organization toward its goal of reaching 5 million babies by 2035. Her leadership is grounded in the belief that a proven model, deployed at scale, can close the gap between where a baby is born and whether that baby survives.

Outside of Embrace, Melody is a long-distance runner, a certified Rescue Diver, and avid snowboarder. She believes that embracing adventure and personal growth are inseparable from good leadership.

Amy Cotter, Global Strategy Director

Amy Cotter is a global health strategist and organizational leader with extensive experience helping mission-driven organizations translate ambitious visions into clear strategies, sustainable growth, and high-impact programs across low- and middle-income countries. She spent nearly a decade at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) working on global maternal, child, and newborn health, and later held a senior leadership role at a technology nonprofit overseeing a global vaccine cold chain program during COVID-19. As an independent advisor, she partners with governments, multilaterals, and NGOs on strategy, growth, and partnerships, and advises Embrace on long-term strategy and program direction. She holds an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA from Duke University.

Lauren Gilliss, Senior Program Manager

Lauren Gilliss is a global health program manager and monitoring and evaluation specialist with a decade of experience helping mission-driven organizations strengthen impact measurement, translate data into strategy, and scale evidence-based programs across low- and middle-income countries. She has supported nonprofits and government agencies to manage multi-country health system strengthening portfolios, design evaluation frameworks, and build trusted partnerships with stakeholders across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Her commitment to health equity was shaped early in her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia, where she worked alongside community health workers and district health officials to support maternal and child health services.

She holds an MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a BA from the College of Wooster. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, watercolor painting, knitting and crocheting, and playing tennis.

Yvonne Mukenda, Technical Advisor

Yvonne Mukenda is a registered nurse and midwife with nearly a decade of clinical experience across Zambia's leading teaching hospitals. She began her nursing career in 2017 at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, where she worked in the Women and Newborn Hospital's Hormonal and Gynecological Department, before moving to Ndola Teaching Hospital in Internal Medicine. Drawn to pursue a deeper specialization, she completed a Bachelor of Science in Midwifery at the University of Zambia in 2025, where she discovered her passion for neonatal care and recognized the critical gap in neonatal nursing within Zambia's healthcare system.

She is currently advancing that mission through a Master's in Neonatal Nursing and Neonatology, also at the University of Zambia. Yvonne joined the Embrace Global team in 2026 as a Technical Advisor and Trainer. Outside of work, she enjoys playing volleyball, running marathons, and seeking out new adventures.

OUR TEAM

Crystal Batson, Director, Executive Operations

Crystal Batson is an operations and organizational leader with more than 25 years of experience helping teams, people, and processes work better together. As Executive Director of Operations at Embrace Global, she helps strengthen the systems and day-to-day operations that support the organization’s mission, while working across teams to turn priorities into action and keep initiatives moving forward.

Before joining Embrace, Crystal spent more than a decade with the Better Business Bureau, where she held leadership roles in operations, customer experience, and community relations. Her experience includes team leadership, process improvement, CRM implementation, project management, and building systems that help organizations operate more effectively.

Crystal is passionate about people and believes strong relationships, thoughtful processes, and a willingness to jump in wherever needed are at the heart of a healthy organization. She brings a collaborative, solutions-focused approach to her work and is proud to support Embrace’s mission of helping give every baby a healthy start.

Vijay Vittal, Senior Director of Manufacturing, Quality, Regulatory

Vijay Vittal is a medical device engineering leader with more than 20 years of experience in systems engineering, product development, and technical leadership across complex, regulated medical technologies. As Senior Director of Manufacturing, Quality & Regulatory at Embrace Global, he works closely with the Embrace team and manufacturing partners in India to help make Embrace’s solutions affordable, reliable, and accessible to the communities that need them most. His experience spans systems engineering, product development, risk management, verification and validation, design transfer, and regulatory compliance.

Before joining Embrace, Vijay was a Director of Systems Engineering at Danaher, following engineering and leadership roles with GE HealthCare, Baxter, and Siemens. Throughout his career, he has worked across Engineering, Regulatory, Product Management, Manufacturing, and global R&D teams, supporting the development and commercialization of medical technologies including IVD diagnostics, ultrasound imaging, X-ray systems, and renal care.

Vijay is passionate about using engineering and technology to make high-quality healthcare more accessible. He believes that meaningful impact comes from developing solutions that are not only technically sound, but also reliable, affordable, and practical to deploy where they are needed most. Outside of work, he enjoys listening to music and exploring technology through DIY projects.

Rose Padva, Media and Marketing Assistant

Rose Padva is the Media and Marketing Assistant who has worked with Embrace Global since a capstone project in her class at Temple University in the fall of 2025. What started as coursework led to an internship and eventually an invitation to join the team.

Rose plays a role in cross-team communication and media outreach; her work also spans social media planning, content creation, and marketing. Her passion to connect communities to like-minded organizations is what drives her day to day.

Rose was adopted internationally and needed medical assistance as a child, an experience that showed her early how much access to care can depend on where a person is born. That understanding is part of why Embrace Global's mission resonates with her: no baby's chance at a healthy life should be determined by geography, finance, or geopolitics.

Team