Ashley Hufft joined Unbound in 2022 as chief strategy officer and general counsel. She was named president and CEO in February 2024 after seven months serving in an interim capacity. As president and CEO, Ashley oversees all departments, directs the leadership team, and serves as the primary representative of Unbound both within and outside the organization.

With a strong background in law and human development, particularly in Africa, Ashley has worked extensively with organizations focused on creating sustainable solutions for extreme poverty and food insecurity. Her experience has been far reaching overseas and domestically, involving such areas as agriculture, education, health, infrastructure, gender equality and business development.

Ashley received her B.A., summa cum laude, in anthropology from Harvard College, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She’s a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Ashley lives in Kansas City where she enjoys spending time with her son playing pickleball and other sports, hiking or generally being outdoors. Her other interests include reading, listening to engaging podcasts and enjoying great sushi.

As the director of international programs, Dan Pearson leads the international programs department in its role to monitor the effectiveness and fiscal credibility of Unbound programs overseas. He and the other department members travel extensively to support and evaluate Unbound projects around the world.

Dan has a passion for program evaluation and working with stakeholders to identify goals and measure the impact of the program. He has more than 15 years of experience working with development programs around the world, and has lived and worked in South America, Europe, and Western and South Asia.

Dan has a master’s degree in international affairs from the University of Denver and a master’s in public administration from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He lives in the Kansas City area with his wife, Kristina, and their three children.

Martin Kraus joined Unbound in 2009 as director of finance. He leads a dedicated team that ensures the transparency, accuracy, timeliness and openness of Unbound's financial information. He also directs the Unbound service center, which handles much of the correspondence from sponsored friends and other building-related responsibilities at the Kansas office.

Previously, Martin worked in various financial roles in the accounting, health insurance and transportation industries.

Martin graduated from Rockhurst University with a degree in accounting and is a certified public accountant. He belongs to the Missouri Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs.

Martin is married with three grown children and is enjoying his new life as a grandparent.

Pritha Hariharan serves as Unbound’s Chief of Staff. Previously, she served as international program director for Asia and Africa. She has been with the organization since 2015.

Most of Pritha’s prior work was in the telecommunications and technology industries in several capacities. She holds a bachelor of science in agriculture, earned in India, an MBA from Texas A&M University, and a master of arts in global and international studies from the University of Kansas. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Agile Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and a Six Sigma Green Belt. She is fluent in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Pritha is married with two sons. She was born and raised in India and moved to the U.S. more than 20 years ago. She has lived and worked in India, Canada and the U.S., and has called Kansas City home for more than 15 years. She has traveled to many countries around the world for both business and pleasure.

Melissa Velazquez serves as program director for Latin America. She provides leadership to the teams working throughout the region and supports international evaluation efforts. Melissa joined Unbound in 2008 and dedicated most of her career to building the framework for measuring program effectiveness as an evaluation specialist and international evaluation manager. She stepped into her current role in 2016.

Melissa holds a master's in Latin American and Caribbean studies, with an emphasis in human geography, from the University of Kansas. Her research focused on urbanization and formalization of peri-urban settlements.

As an undergraduate, she studied history, anthropology and indigenous language at the Universidad de Costa Rica and received a graduate fellowship for the study of Brazilian Portuguese in Vitória, Brazil.

Melissa is married with two children. She and her family enjoy exploring Kansas City, particularly through food and music.

Michael Calabria has been with Unbound since 2001, serving for his first eight years as director of finance before moving to the role of planned giving director. He works primarily with people who are interested in making estate gifts and other sizeable donations to support the work of the organization.

Holding a bachelor's degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University, Michael has also completed graduate studies in accounting and finance at the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Dallas. In 2011, he completed graduate courses in Charitable Giving through American University and was certified as a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy. He is a member of the Mid-America Planned Giving Council and a member of the MAPGC Board of Directors. His prior work experience has been primarily in accounting and finance, financial services and sports marketing.

Married with four children, Michael and his family moved to the Kansas City area from Texas in 1999. They enjoy cycling, hiking, nature walks, live music venues, fall harvests at area vineyards and supporting fundraising events for local charities.

Tara Hefner joined Unbound as market development director in August 2019. In her role, Tara leads the development and execution of workplace giving, identifying strategic partnerships to support Unbound.

Prior to joining Unbound, Tara spent almost 20 years working in public relations and corporate communications, most recently at a global, publicly traded company headquartered in the Kansas City metro. Her experience in the for-profit sector helps her understand the unique needs of organizations, leaders and their employees. She has a genuine passion for helping organizations develop their culture and engage their employees in giving back to their communities.

Tara holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Public Relations from Baylor University. Tara is a native of the Midwest, but lived in Texas, New Jersey and California before returning to the Kansas City area in 2006. Tara and her husband, Nick, live in the Kansas City area and enjoy traveling and spending time in their yard and workshop on a variety of projects.

Scott Wasserman and his wife, Anabella, sponsored their first child through Unbound soon after they married in 1988. Since then, they have sponsored numerous children and adults in various countries. Now that their three daughters are adults, they credit Unbound sponsorship with teaching them to see the image of God in all people, especially the poor.

Scott became president and CEO of Unbound in 2013. Prior to accepting this position, he was a guiding presence on the governing board for 15 years, the last 14 as board chair.

A graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Kansas, Scott served on the National Review Board advising the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on policies to protect children. He and Anabella are active leaders in their local diocese and parish.

Scott retired from Unbound on July 31, 2023, after a quarter century of service. He continues to support the organization as CEO emeritus.