Cherie Abbanat

Cherie is a lecturer at DUSP and in the Department of Architecture where she has been teaching for over fifteen years. Cherie lectures on policy, non-profit management, post-disaster rebuilding in New Orleans and Haiti, and the need for grassroots initiatives. 

As a practitioner, Cherie joined Haiti Projects Inc., a 501 (c)3 non-profit, in 2013 as its CEO to transform Haiti Projects from a fledgling non-profit into a growing social enterprise. Cherie successfully turned Haiti Projects around financially and the non-profit is ready to grow. Haiti Projects boasts 4 employees in the US and close to 90 employees in Haiti. Haiti Projects operates a women's sewing cooperative, a women's health clinic that focuses on family planning, health and hygiene, and a community library. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, Haiti Projects plans to build a new community multi-purpose center in 2015.  

As a Haitian American, Cherie is passionate about empowering women in Haiti and throughout the world.

Cherie has her undergraduate degree in Economics and French from Simmons College and her Masters with a concentration in Environmental Policy and Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MCP '97).