Jana Elkadri Joins ShelterBox USA Board of Directors

Media Contact: Jeremy Jacobs, Communications Director, [email protected]

International disaster relief organization ShelterBox USA announced today that Brookfield, Wis., resident and chief financial officer Jana Elkadri has joined its Board of Directors.

ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and other life-saving aid items to individuals and families who have lost everything in disasters and conflicts. Known for its iconic green box, it has served more than 2.5 million people in nearly 100 countries since its founding 23 year ago.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jana to our board,” said ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray. “With more than 113 million people displaced around the world due to disasters and conflicts, the need for our work is growing, and we are working to scale up our programs and responses. Jana’s deep financial expertise – including in the NGO sector — will help us reach more of the world’s most vulnerable who have lost everything in an instant.”

Stability for children is so important…having a place you can go home to is a very big deal.”

Elkadri is currently a Chief Financial Officer at Cathedral Capital Inc. She said ShelterBox’s mission — “No one without shelter after disaster” — deeply resonated with her because of her family’s experience fleeing Lebanon during its civil war when she was young.

Elkadri was born in Michigan when her parents were displaced by the war. As a child, however, her family returned, then left Lebanon several times due to the 15-year conflict.

“We moved back and forth constantly. We lived in other family members’ homes and in other countries, due to the conflict,” Elkadri said. “We would have to pack one suitcase and drive in the middle of the night.”

ShelterBox works with local partners and communities to assess the needs and provide critical aid items after typhoons, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, and in conflict zones. Its customizable aid packages can include tents and other shelter options, home repair kits, solar lanterns, cook sets, warm clothing, stoves, and other items.

A rapidly growing part of ShelterBox’s work is in conflict zones. Last year, for example, ShelterBox launched multiple programs that have helped more than 50,000 people displaced by the war in Ukraine. It also currently worked in Ethiopia and has been delivering air in Syria for more than a decade – work that earned ShelterBox nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 and 2019.

It has also recently responded to the catastrophic earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and devastating floods in Pakistan. ShelterBox has ongoing programs in Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Somalia, and Yemen.

Elkadri has previous experience in the nonprofit world, serving at CFO of the local Habitat for Humanity chapter for three years. She said the type of stability ShelterBox provides is pivotal for families in conflict areas and after disasters. She knows because she frequently didn’t have it growing up.

“Stability for children is so important. It was really difficult for me to go to new schools, a new place, makes new friends, understand the culture and try to fit in,” Elkadri said. “Having a place you can go home to is a very big deal.”

About ShelterBox

Since 2000, ShelterBox has provided shelter and life-saving items following more than 300 disasters in nearly 100 countries. ShelterBox responds urgently to earthquake, volcano, flood, hurricane, cyclone, tsunami, or conflicts. It works with local partners and individuals to customize each response, which can include a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, a water filtration system, emergency lighting, and other tools for survival. ShelterBox was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 and 2019. ShelterBox USA is based in Santa Barbara, California.