Our Team
Alphonse C. Bassene
President / Chief Executive Officer
From August 2020 to November 2023, Alphonse served as Director of Operations for Casamance Healthcare Systems, Inc. (CHSI), overseeing all day-to-day operations from the organization’s inception in North America to its realization in Africa. In November 2013, Alphonse was promoted to the role of President/CEO by his peers in the General Assembly.
Alphonse spent almost two decades in the hospitality and service industries in casino and hotel businesses across the U.S. He understands that the future of each company is behind every customer and applies the same philosophy toward every operation within Casamance Healthcare Systems, Inc.
He received his BA with honors from the American University of Hotel & Motel Association. He is certified in the tribal gaming industry, where he spent many years working as an assistant manager for finances.
Alphonse served for two terms (2013-2017) as the Chairman of the Union des Casamançais et Sympathisants de Washington (UCSW), based in Washington, DC, and also as the General Secretary of the Senegalese Catholic Association of America (SCAA).
Today, Alphonse sits as a member of the Board of Directors of FONGAD INVEST.
Louis Valentin
Director of Operations - Europe
Louis serves as the General Secretary of Casamance Healthcare Systems Inc. (CHSI) and Operations Coordinator for Europe.
Louis VALENTIN has dual citizenship Senegalese and French where he currently lives in Paris. He studied philosophy and theology with the Jesuits in Africa.
He came to pursue a master's degree in diplomacy and international relations in Paris. Next, he obtained two master's degrees, one in political sciences and one in political philosophy.
For sixteen years he taught in a secondary school while being a prefect of studies. He has been involved with Le Korsa NGO in France and in Senegal for several years as Cultural Director.
Marie Louise Diémé
Director of Operations- West Africa
Marie Louise Diémé was born in Ziguinchor Senegal where she attended both her primary and secondary education. She later taught at St. Pius X College in Edea, Cameroon, then went to the Catholic University of Lyon and got the DUER (University Diploma of Religious Education).
In pursuit of more education, she finally went to the University of Sunderland in England where she successfully completed her Bachelor of Art in Business Administration.
Marie Louise is currently the director of a nursery having on her care children aged 0 to 3 years old. She serves as Casamance Healthcare Systems Inc's director of operations in West Africa, a direct contact with the hospitals in Casamance
Caroline A. Thiam
Treasurer and Operations Director - Africa
Caroline Thiam is CHSI's Treasurer and Operations Director based in Dakar. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. she obtained a Diploma in Hotel and Motel Management 1998 at the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute, Lansing Michigan Diploma of Technical Studies in Computer Networking from MATC-Milwaukee Area Technical College.
She specialized in gender which upon her return to Senegal she held the position of gender officer for the organization Paz y Desarrollo and Enda Tiers Monde. As a member the National Council for Audiovisual Regulation in Senegal (CNRA),she represented women's associations.
She is currently the Gender Officer and in charge of monitoring food security and nutrition projects and programs in the National Food Security Council (SE-CNSA) since 2019.