Board of Directors

Elizabeth S. Maguire, President

Ms. Maguire has served as president and CEO of Ipas since 1999. Since her arrival, Ipas has quadrupled its resource base and greatly enhanced its technical leadership, field presence, geographic scope, and impact. Ms. Maguire brings 37 years of professional experience and commitment to the population and reproductive-health field, including over two decades with USAID’s population assistance program. She served as the Director of USAID’s Office of Population from 1993 to 1999 and was on the U.S. delegation to the landmark 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) as well as the 1999 five-year review of ICPD. Ms. Maguire led USAID’s population program in the development of new initiatives in family planning and reproductive-health service delivery, postabortion care, policy, research and evaluation, women’s empowerment, and gender equity. Ms. Maguire received eight USAID Special Honor Awards for policy and program innovations, including the Distinguished Career Service Award. She is also the recipient of the Population Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Her previous positions included serving as Acting Director for International Programs at the Population Reference Bureau in Washington, D.C. and as a translator/broadcaster for Francophone Africa at the Voice of America. Ms. Maguire has traveled widely in all regions (82 countries) and has extensive field experience in North and sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia. She has U.S. and Irish citizenship and has lived in England, France, and Italy. She is fluent in French, proficient in Spanish, and has a working knowledge of Portuguese and Italian as well as some Arabic. Ms. Maguire has served on numerous boards and advisory committees and is currently ex-officio member of the Ipas Board of Directors, Chair of the Board of WomanCare Global, and a founding Board member and Co-Chair of the Safe Abortion Action Fund. A frequent speaker at U.S. and international conferences, Ms. Maguire is also the author of numerous articles and reports. She has an MA in Sociology/Demography from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Terence Kominski, Secretary/Treasurer
Mr. Kominski brings 35 years of experience as a financial and operations officer for various domestic and multinational companies, including work in Europe, South Asia, Latin America, Canada, Nigeria, and the People’s Republic of China. He has first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced by women in developing countries from his experience living in Pakistan as well as his work in other countries. In addition, Mr. Kominski was plant manager of the largest U.S. vitamin and soft capsule manufacturing facility and Chief Financial Officer of a $20 million pharmaceutical technology firm conducting business in 40 countries. Mr. Kominski earned an MBA at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

William P. Phoenix, Member
Mr. Phoenix is a Managing Director at Mistral Equity Partners.  Mr. Phoenix has extensive experience as a provider of all forms of capital to non-investment grade companies. Prior to joining Mistral, Mr. Phoenix was a Managing Director of Trimaran Capital Partners, L.L.C.  Mr. Phoenix spent a good portion of his career in various capacities at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), beginning in 1982.  He was a Managing Director of CIBC Capital Partners where he focused on mezzanine transactions and private equity opportunities.   While at CIBC, he also had management responsibilities for Acquisition Finance, Mezzanine Finance, and the Loan Workout and Restructuring businesses.  Mr. Phoenix is Chairman of the Board of Urban Brands, Inc. and is a member of the Board of Directors of Shearer's Foods, Inc., Worldlynx Wireless, and Brite Media Group LLC. Mr. Phoenix received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and his M.B.A. from the University of Toronto. He is a graduate of the Leadership New York Program.

Francine Coeytaux, Member
Francine Coeytaux, founder of the Pacific Institute for Women's Health, is a public-health specialist with extensive experience in the development and evaluation of family planning and reproductive-health programs. She is best known for her work on comprehensive reproductive-health services, abortion, and new reproductive technologies. Prior to founding the Pacific Institute, she was an Associate at the Population Council in New York where she initiated a worldwide program to address the problem of unsafe abortion, collaborated on the public introductions of NORPLANT and RU 486, and helped develop reproductive-health activities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most recently, she directed the multi-year, multi-million dollar Emergency Contraception Funding Initiative for the Compton Foundation. Ms. Coeytaux is a women’s health advocate and an experienced researcher, combining both qualitative and quantitative skills, and has published extensively. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Engender Health, based in New York City; Women’s Dignity, based in Dar Salaam; and the Center for Genetics and Society, based in San Francisco. She has consulted for many organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the World Bank, and the Compton Foundation and served on the State of California’s Advisory Committee on Human Cloning. Ms. Coeytaux is a citizen of France and of the United States and speaks French and Spanish fluently. She has lived in Tunisia, Peru, Nicaragua, Switzerland, and the United States, and has worked extensively in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. She has a BA from Stanford University and an MPH from UCLA.

Marie Bass, Ex-Officio Board Member
In 1986, Marie Bass co-founded the public policy and political consulting firm of Bass & Howes in Washington, D.C. The firm and its clients were in the forefront of many of the major political and public policy advances for women in the 1990s, including family and medical leave, women’s health research, breast cancer research funding, and reproductive health and rights. The firm was acquired by a large public relations and advertising agency in 2002 and Ms. Bass retired in 2004. During this period, Ms. Bass’s role in directing the Reproductive Health Technologies Project from its inception was widely praised as instrumental in establishing broad-based, multi-disciplinary support for innovative – though often controversial – technologies such as medical abortion, emergency contraception, and microbicides for prevention of HIV/AIDS in women.  Prior to founding Bass & Howes, Ms. Bass served as National Political Director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, Director of the district office for U.S. Representative Michael Barnes (D-MD), Campaign Director for ERAmerica, and coordinator of the Progressive Constituency Network. She was a founding member of EMILY’s List and a former board member and board chair of Women’s Policy Inc. She currently serves on the board of directors of Ipas and formerly chaired the board for two terms. Ms. Bass is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (1971), majoring with honors in English Literature and French. She also attended George Washington University and the University of France in Toulouse.

Key Leadership Staff

Ms. Frano brings to WomanCare Global more than 30 years of regulatory, clinical, quality, and technical activities related to potential developmental and marketed products. Ms. Frano has extensive experience in directing all Regulatory and Quality (GMP, GLP, GCP, GXP) activities for the development and marketing of compounds/products, including the transferring of manufacturing facilities and evaluations of contract manufacturers. She has developed and implemented regulatory strategies for new submissions and line extensions, including IND's, NDA's, sNDA's, ANDAs, MAAs, CTXs, 510Ks, and CE Marks including 505(b)(2) applications. She has organized and conducted meetings with regulatory authorities, expert consultants, and regulatory attorneys and served as the regulatory member of due diligence teams for in-licensing, investors, and potential partners. Ms. Frano has served in leadership positions in the Quality Assurance or Regulatory divisions with BioVascular, Inc., Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Women First HealthCare, Searle, Pharmacia, Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals, Premier Health Alliance, Smith & Nephew Solopak, and KV Pharmaceutical Company. Ms. Frano has a BA degree in Business from Northeastern Illinois University, a MS degree from Temple University’s School of Pharmacy and a MBA from Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois.