Sostento’s story begins with a group of remarkable individuals who gave their time, grit, and heart to an organization before it had its identity or reputation. These founding members stepped in with unique talents and unwavering belief in the mission—to support frontline health workers serving America’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities. From brand development to startup operations to crisis response and technological innovation, these founding members laid the foundation of what Sostento has become after its first years of development. This section honors their contributions, which continue to shape our culture, values, and approach today.
Jenny Liang – Jenny acted as a creative force for the organization in its early years. She helped develop the Sostento brand through work on its core characteristics, logo and visual identity. When the needs of the public health emergency response grew, she stepped into a consulting role and then became the organization’s Chief Innovation Officer, leading on the design of Sostento’s public health emergency response approach, most significantly pioneering work with rideshare technology that continued post-pandemic.
Dr. David Bray – David was a constant positive force in the first five years of the organization. He encouraged the start-up and helped hone Sostento’s mission at initial formation, highlighting its need in the public health ecosystem. From initial opioid response efforts and into the covid public health emergency response, David helped Sostento coalesce around human ingenuity and technology-meets-data solutions elements. He provided essential governance oversight for the organization through the early years and demonstrated a steadfast belief in the team and its vision
Dr John Baptist Niwagaba – John contributed to the philosophical foundation of the organization, acting as an advisor to the CEO during the start-up efforts. As a practicing medical doctor and frontline health worker himself, he contributed a key perspective on the mission of the organization and held countless hours of leadership discussions with the CEO during the formative phase. Has held a board director position in the organization from 2022 – 2025 and continuously provided an international perspective to the direction and strategic approach of Sostento’s efforts.
Jennifer Estevez – Jennifer contributed deeply to the inception of the organization, and Sostento would literally not exist without her encouragement and contributions at its founding. She helped write proposals that led to the initial funding for opioid response efforts and provided critical support around the organization’s earliest project work. During the onset of COVID-19 she pushed for an all-in approach when the 501c3 determination was received by Sostento in February 2020 and put in countless volunteer hours for the organization. Jennifer officially joined the organization once rapid growth into public health emergency response began, and took on essential administrative and financial functions during the early growth phase. Jennifer became the Chief Operating Officer in 2021 and helped navigate the organization through difficult challenges and co-authored Sostento’s transformative $7.2 million funding proposal for covid workforce support.
Betsy Kalven – Betsy began supporting Sostento during its early opioid response efforts and contributed to the organization’s start-up across multiple areas and functions. When Sostento was hit with the most intense demand for help from providers during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Betsy designed an approach that allowed the Sostento team to help thousands of health workers and tens of thousands of patients access care with our small team. Later she held the position of Chief of Staff and helped Sostento navigate the challenges of a growing organization within a high stress emergency response environment. Betsy set standards and collaborative excellence that has endured and become part of the organization’s culture.
Daniel Acquah – Daniel answered one of the most important calls for help from Sostento at the onset of the public health emergency when the organization’s emergency response phone triage system, HelplineSOS, was buckling under the weight of huge demand. Continued to support the organization’s technology and data effort from 2021 – 2024, playing a critical role in setting up a data system required for Sostento’s multi-million dollar COVID workforce project that supported clinics across the United States. Held the position of Chief Technology Officer during the start-up phase and helped guide the organization through tough growing pains.
Simon Green – Simon contributed to the formation and start-up of Sostento in innumerable ways. He supported the organization in its first days of existence, contributing to opioid response work that allowed the organization to gain traction and grow its reputation. He acted as a literal “jack of all trades” to the organization during the public health emergency response, helping establish the organization’s brand and digital presence, supporting the launch of HelplineSOS with tireless efforts and held growth, communications and marketing roles during the start-up phase. Simon helped lead a pioneering cryptocurrency fundraiser that mobilized essential resources during a pivotal moment in the organization’s covid emergency response efforts.