Executive Team

Hamse Warfa, Program Officer: Hamse Warfa was born in Somalia. He moved with his family to the United States in 1994, after escaping Somalia’s civil war and spending almost three years living in a refugee camp in Kenya. He attended Crawford High School in San Diego, graduated from San Diego State with a degree in political science and received a Master of Science in Organizational Management and Leadership from Springfield College. Since 2008, Warfa completed an advanced graduate-level certificate programs on the Foundations of Conflict Analysis and Preventing Deadly Conflcits from the United States Institute of Peace. As program officer with Alliance Healthcare Foundation, he manages grants, providing technical assistance to grantees and prospective grantees.

Prior to his current position, he spent eight years as Associate Executive Director for Horn of Africa, a refugee assistance organization whose mission is to provide culturally and linguistically relevant services to East African refugees and immigrants. He continues his affiliation with Horn of Africa region as a founding president of the Institute for Horn of Africa Studies and Affairs. From 2006 to January 2010, Hamse was the chairperson for the San Diego Refugee Forum, a professional association of organizations and advocates serving all populations fleeing violence and persecution and taking refuge in San Diego. In 2009, San Diego Metropolitan Magazine selected Hamse as one of San Diego’s outstanding young business and civic leaders.