Dianis has served as a lawyer, professor and civil rights advocate in the movement for racial justice. Hailed as a voting rights expert and pioneer in the movement to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, Dianis leads Advancement Project National Office’s work in combating structural racism in education, voting, policing, criminal justice and immigration.

Dianis was raised in Hollis, Queens by two Harlem natives – one, an educator and community activist; the other a veteran of the nation’s segregated Army. It was this upbringing that sparked Dianis’ passion for civil rights. Her protest of racism as a student at the University of Pennsylvania and survival of job discrimination prompted Dianis to pursue a career in movement lawyering. She later graduated from Columbia University School of Law, received a Skadden Fellowship and went on to become the Managing Attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.

Since joining Advancement Project at its inception in 1999, Dianis has worked with grassroots organizations to wage successful campaigns using litigation, advocacy and communications. Dianis authored groundbreaking education reports including: Opportunities Suspended and Derailed: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, detailing the unnecessary criminalization of students by their schools. Advancement Project National Office’s work with grassroots partners significantly helped decrease student suspensions and arrests in Denver, Baltimore and school districts throughout Florida.

Dianis helped start Advancement Project’s Voter Protection program during the election debacle in Florida in 2000, representing the NAACP. In the ensuing two decades, the organization partnered with grassroots and national organizations to thwart voter suppression efforts like strict voter ID requirements, cuts to early voting, the closure of polling locations and felony disenfranchisement. Advancement Project National Office is proud to be a founding member of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, recently credited with the historic passage of Amendment 4 to the Florida’s state constitution. The measure automatically restores the voting rights of those with prior felony convictions.

Judith Browne Dianis was awarded the Prime Movers Fellowship for trailblazing social movement leaders and was named one of the “Thirty Women to Watch” by Essence magazine. She serves on the Board of Directors for Friends of the Earth and the Skadden Fellowship Foundation.

Judith Browne Dianis lives with her family in Maryland and is a proud basketball mom.

Director of Programs Chantias Ford leads in the development, execution, and evaluation of Trust-Based Philanthropy Project's educational programming, webinars, and cohorts. In this highly collaborative role, she delivers action-oriented, transformative learning opportunities to philanthropy professionals looking to uplift trust-based philanthropy values and practices.

Chantias comes with a strong diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) background, and brings a wide array of philanthropic expertise, having worked as a practitioner in a philanthropy-serving organization, funder (program officer), consultant, evaluator, grantee, and grant writer. Chantias most recently came from PEAK Grantmaking, where she led educational programming, thought leadership, and peer engagement for PEAK's diverse membership of grants managers and philanthropic professionals.

Chantias is passionate about building community, using research and data for impact, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She earned her BA in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and her M.Ed in Learning, Diversity, and Urban Studies from Vanderbilt University. She is originally from Huntsville, Alabama, and enjoys music, traveling, and spending time with her affectionate cat. Chantias currently resides in Lenapehoking (Lenni-Lenape) native land, currently known as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Yi-Ching Lin serves as the Vice President of Learning at Philanthropy New York, a trusted community of nearly 300 philanthropic organizations. PNY develops forward-thinking guidance, programming, and advocacy to address the unique challenges of philanthropy and convenes funders to strengthen ties across the sector. In her role, Yi-Ching directs and evaluates PNY’s program strategy, working with PNY members, partners, and staff to develop and implement the organization’s educational programs and events. Prior to her role at PNY, Yi-Ching served in positions related to film, youth leadership and development, advocacy, higher education, social services, and applied music across NYC's five boroughs. Yi-Ching holds a Bachelor of Science from Emory University and a Master of Arts from New York University. As a professionally trained artist, Yi-Ching enjoys writing, photography, and making music in her free time.

David J. Maurrasse, Ph.D. is the Founder and President of Marga Incorporated, a consulting firm founded in 2000 providing strategic advice and research to philanthropic initiatives and community partnerships. Marga coordinates and leads the Race and Equity in Philanthropy Group (REPG), which is a network of foundations addressing policies and practices on racial equity and various aspects of equity and inclusion. Marga also coordinates and leads the Anchor Institutions Task Force, an action-oriented learning community promoting the role of anchor institutions in mutually transformative community partnerships.

Between 2000 and 2023, Dr. Maurrasse held numerous faculty and research positions at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Climate School, and others. During the mid to late 1990’s, Dr. Maurrasse was an Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Yale University. In the late 1990’s, he was a Senior Program Advisor at the Rockefeller Foundation in the Building Community grantmaking portfolio. Dr. Maurrasse has published numerous books, including Strategic Community Partnerships (2021), Philanthropy and Society (2020) and Beyond the Campus: How Colleges and Universities Form Partnerships with Their Communities (2001) among others. He has spoken at many events on how philanthropy and anchor institutions harness their resources through mutually transformative collaboration to strengthen communities and solve pressing societal issues. He is an Emeritus Trustee at Bucknell University and on the Board of SBH Health System. Dr. Maurrasse and Marga Inc. are members of the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a Doctorate in Sociology from Northwestern University.

Huong Nguyen-Yap joins NCG as its Vice President for Equity and Justice, where she will be leading the organization’s internal and external efforts towards racial equity. This includes leading initiatives to bring NCG into closer alignment with its vision for racial equity and collaborating with the team to drive transformative change within the philanthropic sector.

She most recently served as senior program director at Women’s Foundation California, leading the foundation's grantmaking and convening strategy to advance racial, gender, and economic justice. Her work in philanthropy also includes time at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR). Before working in philanthropy, she spent a decade working in community, with a specific focus on working with and building power for young people. After transferring from De Anza College, Huong earned her BA in Asian American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and Master of Social Work from San Jose State University.

When she’s not working, Huong enjoys spending time with friends and family often sharing a meal, traveling, and watching sports. Huong currently calls Oakland home where she lives with her husband and two young kids. Huong also spends her time as an active member of the Hella Heart Oakland Giving Circle and an advisor to the Yuri Kochiyama Solidarity Project.

Alexander Rossides brings extensive experience as a social entrepreneur, business executive and investor to GPN. Mr. Rossides has led both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. He has experience managing the growth of organizations, raising capital, developing affiliate networks and partnerships, and developing systems and technologies that enable information and knowledge sharing. Mr. Rossides served as the CEO of Interactive Video Technologies (IVT), a company he helped found and grow into a leading provider of online video technology that was successfully sold. Prior to IVT, he served as Managing Director of Digital Evolution Venture Capital (DE), where he managed the operations of the firm, raised investment capital for portfolio companies, oversaw investments in healthcare, technology and media companies and served as a Board member in a number of DE portfolio companies. Prior to DE, Mr. Rossides served as a management consultant at Towers Perrin in the strategy and organizational effectiveness practice, where he focused on client engagements in the public, health and financial sectors.

In the social sector Mr. Rossides´ focus has been in the areas of civic engagement, and youth education and development. In 1990 Mr. Rossides founded and led the Corporate Community Initiative, a non-profit organization in New York City devoted to facilitating corporate volunteerism and delivering management assistance to nonprofits. In 1997 he initiated a college assistance program for students in inner-city Boston. Mr. Rossides has served in numerous volunteer and advisory positions with other nonprofits. He received his BA from Dartmouth College in 1986 and his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1996.

Nancy is a natural collaborator who is energized by meeting new people, listening to their challenges and helping them find solutions that both honor where they are and help them expand their experiences. Nancy began her nonprofit career at Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which ignited her passion for working in the nonprofit sector. Her subsequent professional moves took her to Washington, D.C., Miami and Atlanta where she built her career focusing on programming and capacity building for nonprofits.

Though Nancy is originally a New Yorker, her parents are from the Caribbean Island of Haiti. Immediately after graduating from college, she spent six months working there to learn more about her family’s culture and about living in a developing country. That proved to be an enlightening immersion experience, with lessons that carry over to her work today. Nancy is a graduate of Georgia State University and received a master’s degree in international development education from Florida International University. As transplants from Atlanta, Georgia, Nancy, her husband Rick and daughter Madison are reluctantly becoming outdoorsy people, taking advantage of all the beauty in the Northwest!

Héctor Sánchez-Flores is the executive director of the National Compadres Network (NCN), where he leads the organization’s work to promote methods that build upon the cultural and personal assets of people and communities, especially for young men of color, to intervene and prevent violence, truancy, teen pregnancy and other life-limiting outcomes for children, teens, and their families. NCN currently operates in numerous program areas, with the support of federal, state or private grants. Hector has represented NCN in most areas of its work, including: Working with judges, probation officers and others in the justice or social services systems to change how trauma-affected youth are served; Through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, teaching legislators in San Francisco firsthand about the importance of traditional “healing circles” as an overlay to traditional justice-system approaches; Coordinating NCN school trainings in districts with especially intractable truancy, suspension rates or other issues, which focus on altering the entire school’s approach to trauma-affected students; Increasing availability and training for La Cultura Cura and healing circles programs for women and families Working on The California Endowment’s Sons and Brothers initiative in 22 locations that have been identified as having among the most intractable problems with boys and men of color failing to positively integrate into schools, families or community. Serving the White House initiative My Brother’s Keeper, as one of many organizations helping the Obama Administration’s find ways of improving outcomes for young men and boys of color. Hector is author/co-author of the brown paper “Lifting Latinos Up By Their ‘Rootstraps:’ Moving Beyond Trauma Through A Healing-Informed Framework for Latino Boys and Men. “ Prior to joining NCN, Héctor served for 12 years as a senior research associate with the Institute for Healthy Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. Before that, he oversaw the development of innovative prevention programs that engaged diverse segments of the community and stakeholders in Santa Barbara County. Héctor resides in San José, California with his wife, Lucila Ramos-Sánchez and two children, Diego & Sophia. Héctor is first generation Mexican-American, and is bilingual-literate in Spanish.

Laura Smith is Vice President of Programs & Learning at Philanthropy Ohio where she guides the strategy and implementation of professional development programming for foundations, corporate giving programs and professional partner members across the state of Ohio. In her role she manages virtual and in-person programming offerings for members as well as contributes to the organization’s leadership and strategy on equity. Prior to joining Philanthropy Ohio, Laura served as Senior Program Officer with the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, a nonprofit health services corporation based in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In this role she managed grantmaking portfolios on healthy aging and food access in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Laura began her career serving in Product Management with The Reynolds & Reynolds Company where she served as a trustee on the Board of the Reynolds & Reynolds Associate Foundation.

Laura holds a master of public affairs degree from Brown University in Providence, RI and a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in Athens, OH with focuses on global leadership, communications and French.

Marcus F. Walton joins GEO with over a decade of practice in both nonprofit management and the ontological learning model. He specializes in operationalizing conceptual frameworks; racial equity facilitation and training; leadership and management strategy; stakeholder engagement; program development and navigating philanthropy.

In his previous role as Director of Racial Equity Initiatives for Borealis Philanthropy, Marcus lead the Racial Equity Initiatives team and worked in partnership with 18 nationally-networked, philanthropy-serving grantee organizations to move past the “transactional” nature of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to a unified movement which prioritizes strategies that close gaps in access to opportunity, resources and well-being (across all categories of gender, identity, sexual orientation, class and ability).

Before that, Marcus served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE), where he oversaw its operations, HR and staff development functions, including the overall strategy, conceptualization and administration of racial equity programming. Prior to ABFE, he combined his organizing experience and passion for public service in the role of Program Officer of Community Responsive Grantmaking with the Cleveland Foundation and Sr. Program Officer with Neighborhood Progress, Inc.

Marcus is a Newfield Network-trained ontological coach, with additional training in the Action Learning systems coaching model. He promotes coaching as a tool for personal mastery, racial equity & systems change, social sector excellence and transformation within marginalized communities.

Marcus received a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Bowling Green State University and has continued graduate studies in public administration at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Public Policy as well as Rutgers University’s School of Public Affairs and Administration.

Amanda Andere has spent over fifteen years working in the nonprofit and public sector as a leader committed to racial equity, social justice, and housing affordability through advocacy for systemic change. Prior to joining Funders Together to End Homelessness as their CEO, she served as the CEO of Wider Opportunities for Women, a national advocacy organization. Currently, she serves as a board member of the United Philanthropy Forum, the James Madison Political Science Alumni and Co-Chair of A Way Home America, a national movement to end youth homelessness. She is also a member of the steering committee for The Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding. Previously she served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University teaching Nonprofit Management, Executive Director of FACETS, and Vice President of Cornerstones; who have similar missions of preventing and ending homelessness and breaking the cycle of poverty.

Leon T. Andrews, Jr. brings to Equal Measure more than 25 years of policy, management, and leadership experience. He guides Equal Measure's vision, commitment to racial equity and intersectionality, and strategic planning. He also advises projects on their racial equity focus, including engagements with PolicyLink, the Boston Foundation, the City of Philadelphia's Anti-Violence Community Grants Program, and the Aspen Institute Criminal Justice Reform Initiative's Justice and Governance Partnership.

Leon most recently served as the inaugural leader of the National League of Cities' Race, Equity, And Leadership (REAL), which started as a CEO initiative and became a department within the organization. As the founder of REAL, Leon led NLC's strategy to help its members respond to racial tensions in their communities and address the historical, institutional, and systemic barriers that further inequity and racism in our nation's cities. During his time at NLC, where he also served as program director and senior fellow for NLC's Institute for Youth, Education & Families, Leon raised and managed over $25 million from foundations and corporate partners and provided direction to city officials and community leaders around the country on strategies for health and wellness, youth and workforce development, education reform, and civic engagement.

Prior to his tenure at the National League of Cities, Leon completed a research fellowship at the Forum for Youth Investment. He has also worked with the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, the United States Public Interest Research Group, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, YouthBuild Pittsburgh, the Development Corporation of Columbia Heights, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and as an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University. He has served as board chair for the National Recreation and Parks Association and ChangeLab Solutions. He currently serves as board chair for Evident Change and as a board member for the National Network for Youth.

Jamani is ABFE's Manager of Membership and Networks. She is an Afro-Indigenous, Queer, community organizer, network weaver, and social change strategist who has committed her life's work to advancing Black liberation, decolonial healing and abolitionist praxis. For the last decade, Jamani has organized the frontlines of struggles against policing, imprisonment, state surveillance, and environmental racism. She has worked with numerous non-profits, foundations and grassroots organizations across California, Georgia, and New Jersey to shift material conditions for people most vulnerable to interpersonal and state-sanctioned violence.

Jamani loves spending time outdoors and is passionate about building practical skills for outdoor preparedness and climate resiliency. In her free time she loves to connect with the elements, make herbal medicine, and leads camping trips and healing outdoor experiences for Black folks.

Kayce Ataiyero is the Chief External Affairs Officer at the Joyce Foundation, where she oversees the Foundation's strategic communications, the Journalism Program and the Lend A Hand community grants fund. She is also a member of the Foundation's leadership team.

Ataiyero has extensive experience in communications, journalism and politics. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2018, she served as director of external affairs for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where she led communications and community engagement. She has also led communications for U.S. Congresswoman Robin Kelly, the Illinois Governor’s Office and the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office.

As an award-winning journalist, Ataiyero previously worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune, The Raleigh News and Observer, Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post.

Kayce has a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. She is board chair of Media Impact Funders, a national organization that advances the work of a broad range of funders committed to supporting media in the public interest. She also serves on the board of Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, an organization committed to the unfinished business of our nation’s civil rights movement. She is a Leadership Greater Chicago Daniel Burnham Fellow, was named one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Illinois by Women We Admire, a Notable Black Leader and Executive by Crain’s Chicago Business and one of Chicago’s most influential Black leaders by The Chicago Tribune. She also at one time was general manager of the Chicago Steam, a minor-league basketball team.

Deborah Aubert Thomas serves as the president and CEO of United Philanthropy Forum. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from over 30 years in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. She is committed to leading and equipping philanthropy to be effective partners for change in their communities.

Prior to her appointment as president and CEO of the Forum, Deborah served as president and CEO at Philanthropy Ohio. She also served as the organization's vice president of programs & learning from 2014 – 2019, providing vision and oversight for all Philanthropy Ohio local, regional, and statewide educational programs. In addition, she led the organization’s strategy to apply a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens to examine and execute its learning and networking programs.

Before joining Philanthropy Ohio, Deborah served as director of grants and programs at the Princeton Area Community Foundation, where she provided strategic leadership to implement a $1 million annual competitive grantmaking program. She also designed and implemented educational programs for donors and nonprofits, including the development and launch of a giving circle for The Fund for Women and Girls utilizing a participatory grantmaking process.

During her career, Deborah has worked at Girls Inc.; the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University, both teaching and administration; and Women & Philanthropy, where she coordinated their diversity internship program. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York; a Master of Arts from the Steinhardt School of Education, New York University; and a Master of Science from the Milano Graduate School, New School University.

Deborah values her service on many boards and her role as a volunteer, currently serving on the board of directors for Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). She formerly served on the boards of United Philanthropy Forum and the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio. She is a member of the Columbus chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc. and the parent affinity group MOSAIC at Columbus School for Girls.

Deborah resides in Bexley, Ohio, with her husband L’Quentus Thomas, and their youngest child. Her eldest is currently a Midshipman at the United States Naval Academy. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, music, film, food, travel, and creative pursuits in the community with her extended chosen family.

Kara is an Indigenous leader who has dedicated her career to working for positive change and Indigenous students and families. She was the Founding Principal of the Albuquerque-based Native American Community Academy (NACA) and has more than 25 years of experience in Indigenous Education leading the effort to bring families at the forefront of community-led school design and by drawing upon the strengths of the community in which she serves to create a transformative mission and vision for NACA. In 2014, Kara founded the nation's first network solely dedicated to Indigenous Education - NACA Inspired Schools Network who supports communities dedicated to creating schools of Excellence and Relevance in Indigenous Education. She was recognized by President Obama as one of 100 top social innovators in the nation, Kara is a Paraha Fellow, Broad Fellow, and Ashoka Fellow and served to establish the first office of Identity, Equity and Transformation as the New Mexico Public Education Department Deputy Secretary of Identity, Equity, and Transformation to build a statewide focus on Equity and CRL education prior to founding One Generation. She serves and works to support early-stage innovations that build sustainable solutions for Indigenous communities, Indigenous Education, and Indigenous Leaders who are poised to impact systems change in senior-level roles in the government, philanthropic and nonprofit sector. She has also been recognized with the Zia Award for University of New Mexico alumni for distinguished service in the field of education, as a "Woman of Influence'' by Albuquerque Business First, as a recipient of the New Mexico Ethics in Business Award, and as a recipient of the Excellence in Educational Leadership Award sponsored by the University Council for Educational Administration. Her volunteer roles have included serving as an advisory board member for Harvard Urban Principal Center, New Mexico Now, Explora Children's Museum, and Learning Alliance New Mexico, Education Reimagined, Currently, she serves as a board member for the New Mexico Dream Team and Emerita Member of the NACA Inspired Schools Network, Food Corps and Appleseed New Mexico, and an Equity Advisor to the NM Public Education's Statewide Language and Culture Division.

Kelly Brown is CEO and Principal Consultant at Viewpoint Consulting, which provides program design, research, and strategy support to nonprofits, philanthropic organizations and individuals investing resources to strengthen underserved communities. Her work assessing approaches for collecting and using demographic data to strengthen impact and advance equity has made her a leader in the field.

Ms. Brown has over 25 years of experience in the philanthropic/social sector. She was the Director of the D5 Coalition, a five-year effort to advance philanthropy through diversity, equity and inclusion, Director of Programs and Evaluation at Marguerite Casey Foundation, and Grants Director at the Vanguard Public Foundation. She also served as Administrative Director at TransAfrica/TransAfrica Forum.

Kelly has an M.B.A from the Haas School of Business at the University of CA, Berkeley, a B.A. in Sociology and African/African American Studies from the University of CA, Santa Barbara and was a Sloan Foundation Public Policy Fellow at Princeton University's School of International Affairs.

Sai Bryant (she/her) is the Programs Associate for Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy. She is a community-oriented learner who believes that people are entitled to their livelihood and is committed to doing her part in dismantling the oppressive systems that prevent liberation. She earned her degree in Social Work with a minor in Child and Family Studies from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. There she had the opportunity to be a part of multiple incredible organizations. Most recently, she worked with the Highlander Research and Education Center in Jefferson City, TN, where she assisted a program called Seeds of Fire which brings together youth-led and youth-centered groups and individuals organizing for social justice across the Southern and Appalachian region.

In her free time, she takes on creative pursuits, such as creative writing, painting, and struggling to draw. She loves watching good movies and reading interesting books. She tries her best to stay connected to her friends and family, who are immensely important to her.

Dr. Lily Bui provides strategic direction, thought leadership, and partnership coordination in support of developing engagement strategies to increase climate justice and equitable disaster preparedness, relief and recovery funding across the region and state.

Prior to her role at SoCal Grantmakers, she served in positions related to climate and disaster resilience in higher education, applied research, public policy, media, impact investing, and consulting in coastal communities across the Pacific and Caribbean regions. She received her PhD ('20) in urban planning and a master's ('16) in comparative media studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned a dual bachelor's in International Studies and Spanish from the University of California Irvine.

As Funders Together's first Chief Strategy Officer, Stephanie leads the implementation of the organization's overall strategy to end homelessness through a racial and housing justice framework. Previously, she served as the Director of Membership and Programs and led programming to push philanthropy to center racial equity in their homelessness and housing work. In this Director position, Stephanie also successfully designed a membership strategy to expand the organization's network and diversify its revenue streams. While at Funders Together, Stephanie also supported HUD through an Intergovernment Personnel Act (IPA) assignment, where she helped the agency on activities related to President Biden's Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. 

Before coming to Funders Together, she worked at Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO), managing peer learning programs for foundation CEOs and senior leaders and designed and led workshops across the country on effective grantmaking practice. Prior to GEO, Stephanie managed a day center for people experiencing homelessness and later served as their communications director.

Outside the office, Stephanie serves as a co-chair of the Cherry Blossom Giving Circle, which seeks to raise funds and awareness that will support local nonprofits working to uplift the lives of the region’s AAPI communities, grow anti-racism efforts, and build cross-racial solidarity. Stephanie earned her master of public administration with a concentration in nonprofit management from George Washington University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

Laura Collier (she/her) is the Chapter Liaison for Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy. Laura is a thoughtful, relationship-oriented leader with over six years of experience in the philanthropic sector. Laura formerly served as tri-chair for the EPIP Michigan Chapter and enjoyed creating spaces for emerging leaders to deepen their expertise in philanthropic practice and connect with peers. She now works closely with EPIP chapter leaders across the country to strengthen their work and provide robust professional development opportunities.

Laura’s work in the philanthropic sector has focused on racial equity and organizational development. In her previous role with the Council of Michigan Foundations, Laura implemented a philanthropy-focused mentoring program and managed a state-wide Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Michigan grant.

Laura is a native Michigander and graduate of Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s in Arts and Humanities. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and is a member of the Boston Alumnae Chapter. When she’s not working to advance equity in philanthropy, she enjoys volunteering in her community, reading, and spending time with loved ones.

Juston Cooper (JC), is the Director of Networks and Partnership at ABFE- A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities. A Denver Colorado native, Juston received his bachelor's degree from Metropolitan State University and master's in public administration from the University of Colorado at Denver. His varied career has a proven track record working with at-risk youth, implementing high fidelity wraparound services for families and grassroots advocacy for underserved communities. Juston has been instrumental in the public sector with an extended career building and mobilizing political power in communities at the local, state, and national level. Having been directly impacted by the criminal legal system himself, Mr. Cooper believes it's essential to understand the systemic issues and barriers that contribute to oppressing communities. The movement for reform is deeply embedded in my DNA. It is who I am as a person and professional. Mr. Cooper is humbled to be a part of the ABFE experience and team and welcomes the opportunity to advance ABFEs' mission.

Through her passion and enthusiasm for supporting Native students, Diana has been a key driver in expanding NIEA's work beyond the halls of the U.S. Capitol to communities across Indian Country. She has helped shaped broader teacher hiring initiatives, created more opportunities for visits to tribal communities, acquired millions in grant funding for NIEA, testified before the US Congress in support of Native education, and inspired professional trust and collaboration among staff, colleagues, organizations and Native nations across the country. Her work has ensured that Native students have the best possible outcomes and educators have the best possible resources to support their efforts. Cournoyer directs the staff in carrying out the organization's Strategic Plan which includes: Advocacy; Building Tribal Education Capacity; Culture Based Education; Skilled Teachers and Leaders; Establishing Educational Standards, Assessments, and Accountability; and Post-Secondary Success.

Rose David brings almost 20 years of experience working with rural and urban Native communities throughout the United States, collaborating with a diverse field of community-level stakeholders to support a broad spectrum of projects and initiatives at the community, regional and national level.

Rose has an extensive background in program management, grant and organizational oversight, facilitation and culturally appropriate training and technical assistance (T/TA) for Tribal communities and the federal government: SAMHSA, DOJ, DOD, EPA, ANA, FEMA, and CNCS. Rose has provided T/TA for Tribal communities and organizations seeking to develop and maintain prevention and evidence-based practices and programs through culturally based holistic methodologies and provided assistance in developing collaborative strategies between federal, state, and Tribal entities on strategic planning, coalition building, and evidence-based programs. Rose was the AmeriCorps State and National Subject Matter Expert (SME) for AmeriCorps State and National staff and programs on Tribal initiatives.

As the Director of Tribal Nations Initiative, she is looking forward to creating public and private funding opportunities to support healthy and resilient Tribal communities and building meaningful relationships with our Tribal partners and stakeholders. She holds a B.A. in Native Studies with an Emphasis in Traditional Ecological Knowledge and First Nations Economic Development from Trent University.

As the membership manager, Bo manages various sectors in our GEO membership department. Bo also offers front-line customer service to members, including assistance with access to members-only content online, administrator for our GEOlist serve, Fundraising for our Leadership Circle program, grant processing and so much more.

Prior to joining GEO, Bo worked on the membership team at the American Physical Therapy Association as a Member Services Coordinator, where he helped as first point of contact for all member needs. Bo played an intricate role in their receiving the "Best Customer Service Award for 2018. Bo studied Psychology at Howard University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Liberty University as a Cum Laude Graduate.

Matthew L. Evans is the Forum’s Senior Director of Public Policy. Matthew brings to the Forum more than 16 years of public policy, advocacy, government relations, and external affairs experience and has been instrumental in the Forum's expansion of its public policy work. Specifically, Matthew has led the push toward incorporating the idea of philanthropy using its collective voice and influence to address issues that impact communities and promote systems change via active engagement in the advocacy and public policy process.

Prior to joining the Forum, he was Director of Public Policy & Special Projects for the Southeastern Council of Foundations (now Philanthropy Southeast), where he worked to ensure the legislative and regulatory success of the philanthropic sector in the South. Before he began leading advocacy efforts on behalf of the philanthropic sector, most of Matthew's professional career has been shaped in Washington, D.C., having held multiple positions that gave him direct experience in working with elected officials, corporations, and associations, leading advocacy efforts for several national organizations.

Throughout his time in philanthropy, Matthew has served on the public policy committees of the Forum, Independent Sector, and the Council on Foundations. Currently, he is the Vice Chair of the Nonprofit VOTE Board of Directors and serves as a member of the organization's National Leadership Council. He also is a member of the Funders Committee Census Initiative Leadership team. Matthew holds an Executive Certificate in Philanthropic Leadership from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Tennessee State University, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee.

Director of Programs Chantias Ford leads in the development, execution, and evaluation of Trust-Based Philanthropy Project's educational programming, webinars, and cohorts. In this highly collaborative role, she delivers action-oriented, transformative learning opportunities to philanthropy professionals looking to uplift trust-based philanthropy values and practices.

Chantias comes with a strong diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) background, and brings a wide array of philanthropic expertise, having worked as a practitioner in a philanthropy-serving organization, funder (program officer), consultant, evaluator, grantee, and grant writer. Chantias most recently came from PEAK Grantmaking, where she led educational programming, thought leadership, and peer engagement for PEAK's diverse membership of grants managers and philanthropic professionals.

Chantias is passionate about building community, using research and data for impact, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She earned her BA in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and her M.Ed in Learning, Diversity, and Urban Studies from Vanderbilt University. She is originally from Huntsville, Alabama, and enjoys music, traveling, and spending time with her affectionate cat. Chantias currently resides in Lenapehoking (Lenni-Lenape) native land, currently known as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Kamau Franklin is the founder of Community Movement Builders, Inc. Kamau has been a dedicated community organizer for over thirty years, beginning in New York City and now based in Atlanta. For 18 of those years, Kamau was a leading member of a national grassroots organization dedicated to the ideas of self-determination and the teachings of Malcolm X.

He has spearheaded organizing work in various areas including youth organizing and development, police misconduct, and the development of sustainable urban communities. Kamau has coordinated and led community cop-watch programs, liberation/freedom schools for youth, electoral and policy campaigns, large-scale community gardens, organizing collectives and alternatives to incarceration programs. Kamau was an attorney for ten years in New York with his own practice in criminal, civil rights and transactional law. He now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and two children.

Daphne Frias is a 26-year-old activist. As an unapologetic Latina, she is committed to highlighting the diversity of her community. Daphne has Cerebral Palsy, and uses a wheelchair to ambulate. She is fiercely proud to be a loud champion for disabled people. Active in the fight against gun violence and for voting rights, Daphne has been fighting the climate crisis as well. Her work deconstructs the silos between disability and the climate crisis with a public health approach. She was featured as a key panelist at the New York Times Climate hub in a conversation moderated by Emma Watson. Most recently she was appointed to the Natural History Museum's Generation Hope advisory board where she has helped to highlight the voice of young activists across the museum's content. Daphne recently served as a head accessibility consultant for The March to End Fossil Fuels in New York which gathered over 75,000 people. She has no intention of backing down until the health of our earth is secure. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Teen Vogue, NPR, Vice, Elle, among many others.

As VP of Influence, Aleda leads Candid's thought leadership, strategic coalitions, and campaigns to increase Candid's collective impact and support a stronger social sector. She directs the Influence teams, including Communications and Brand Awareness, Development, Partnerships, and Partnership Operations. In close collaboration with the CEO and executive team, Aleda is responsible for creating and executing Candid's influence strategy, defining how Candid shows up in the world - what we say, how we say it, and who we partner with.

Aleda is passionate about making connections, solving problems, advocating for resources, and shifting power structures. She began her career in advocacy as a program assistant at the General Federation of Women's Clubs in 2004, later served as sales and membership coordinator for Institutional Investor and worked with North Star Planning and Evaluation Consultants as a researcher. Aleda joined Candid via the Foundation Center in 2013 as a development associate, and with the evolvement of her strong leadership skills, advanced to development manager, director, senior director of development, and associate vice president of development.

Aleda holds a B.A. in international studies from American University and a master's degree in urban planning from Hunter College with a focus on community advocacy. In her spare time, Aleda is active in community and electoral organizing, and enjoys spending quality time with family.

Lauren Gentry (she/her) is Development Manager for Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. In this role, she works closely with the Director of Membership & Development and the Membership Specialist to strengthen GEO's community of grantmakers and to advance its mission of transforming philanthropy in service of nonprofits and communities.

Previously, Lauren worked as the Development Manager at Metro Theater Company in St. Louis, where she actively led conversations on equity and diversity and helped to elevate its national profile, and as a School Administrator for the Boston Ballet, where she supervised and trained part-time staff and supported school operations. Lauren has also worked as a freelance grantwriter, supporting organizations dedicated to serving young people in need.

Lauren holds a Master of Science in Arts Administration with a Certificate in Fundraising Management from Boston University and a Bachelor of Art in Global Studies with a focus on anthropology and East Asian studies from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In pursuit of her loves for both the performing and literary arts, Lauren reviews international literature and currently serves on the nonprofit board of the Big Muddy Dance Company, as a member of the Feminist Press' Young Feminist Leaders Council, and as an ambassador for Archipelago Books. She remains actively engaged with the St. Louis community as a member of the St. Louis Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and as a voice in the budding Community Centric Fundraising movement.

Tanya Gulliver-Garcia brings practical, academic, lived and philanthropic understandings of disasters to her work as Center for Disaster Philanthropy's director of learning and partnerships. In this role, Tanya oversees the development of educational materials including the Disaster Philanthropy Playbook, the Measuring the State of Disaster Philanthropy report and the webinar series. Tanya works to maintain relationships with disaster response and recovery organizations to help support the needs of CDP's back-office clients.

Tanya is a self-described "disaster junkie" who is passionate about ensuring the most marginalized and oppressed in our communities are able to recover and build resilience. Her work is grounded in principles of equity and an understanding of how the intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, class and other identities affect the lives of individuals and their families/communities.

Marcus Iannozzi graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and has over 20 years of experience implementing communications and marketing strategies for the public and nonprofit sectors. Entrepreneurial in spirit, but a poet at heart, Marcus firmly believes that business can be done differently. He has grown Message Agency from a solo practice to a thriving social enterprise with the sole mission of providing nonprofits, universities, foundations, and governments with the tools and resources they need to impact the greater good.

Shaena Johnson is a former GUTC Fellow and brings years of experience in philanthropy and LGBTQ movements, particularly in the U.S. South to her work as the Interim Out in the South Project Director. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Shaena brings over 15 years of organizing and advocacy experience as well as her extensive work in the community focusing on issues facing LGBTQ youth in the juvenile justice system. Shaena investigated conditions of confinement for incarcerated youth and supported defense attorneys with zealous advocacy and investigation for court-involved youth in New Orleans as a Youth Advocate and later the LGBTQ Program Coordinator at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana and as an Investigator at the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights. Shaena is also the former Co-Director of BreakOUT!

Danielle serves as the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project's Senior Manager of Partnerships and Programming, where she supports a robust network of trust-based Ambassadors & partners. Prior to her role at the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, Danielle served as the Manager of Strategic Programs and Partnerships at Groundworks New Mexico, where she steered collaborative philanthropy initiatives, cultivated organizational partners, and provided programming for grantmaker members. She brings nearly a decade of experience working with grantmakers and philanthropy serving organizations to reimagine and reshape the sector.

Earlier in her career, Danielle developed and implemented programs for regional and national philanthropic infrastructure organizations including the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, the Council of Michigan Foundations, and the National Center for Family Philanthropy. Her career began by working with organizations to promote youth-led philanthropy. Danielle earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a Master of Public Administration degree in Nonprofit and Philanthropy Leadership from Grand Valley State University. On the weekends, you can find her reading, cooking, or searching for her next favorite podcast. Danielle resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico on the traditional, unceded homelands of the Tiwa, Tewa, Diné, and N'de peoples.

With more than 30 years of experience in program management, youth development, higher education and philanthropy, Kyle has proudly made a career in education focused on student advocacy and college attainment. As Grantmakers for Education's external affairs director, Kyle is expanding and deepening the organization's partnerships to generate resources, create programs and establish connections that align with the current and future needs of our members. Kyle is dedicated to ensuring that all learners, his own children included, are supported and prepared for higher education and life. Kyle holds a master's degree in administration from the University of Notre Dame and a bachelor of arts degree in political science at the University of Indianapolis. In his spare time, Kyle is an avid track and field enthusiast and also enjoys traveling and exploring new cultures.

Michelle Mayorga is a leading expert in Latino public opinion, and has spent two decades in progressive politics - recruiting, managing, and training candidates and organizers at all levels.

She has also worked with advocacy and nonprofit groups like Equis Research, Progressive Caucus PAC, Sierra Club, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' BOLD PAC.

Michelle routinely moderates Hispanic focus groups on issues ranging from reproductive rights to crime and policing for candidates and organizations in Florida, California, Washington, Montana, Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma, and throughout the Southwest. Through her work with Equis Research, the largest Latino political research project of the 2020 and 2022 cycles, Michelle studied the gender divide within the Latino electorate. Michelle's experience conducting research in communities of color has helped elect Rep. Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-7), every justice on the New Mexico Supreme Court, seven judges on the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and leaders in Native American communities. She has also worked on successful independent expenditure campaigns supporting Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Gov. Jared Polis, Rep. Maxwell Frost, and, through her work with the Democratic Association of Secretaries of States, the Secretaries of State for Arizona and Nevada.

Prior to joining GBAO, Michelle worked on the ground organizing voters around the country. She served as the National Field Director of Planned Parenthood, and had national field organizing roles at the AFL-CIO, DCCC, The Democratic Party of New Mexico, and the DNC. She was also appointed to the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service under Secretary Tom Vilsack in the Obama Administration.

Kari McCann Boutell (she/her/hers) joined the Iowa Council of Foundations as President in 2015. Kari works directly with the Board of Directors and oversees organizational activities including program development and management, membership recruitment and retention, as well as education and outreach for the purpose of strengthening and growing philanthropy in Iowa. An Iowa native, Kari brings her lived, rural experience, passion for place-based leadership, and collaborative spirit to the network each day.

Kari has a bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management from the University of Northern Iowa and a graduate degree in philanthropic studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Prior to joining the ICoF, Kari was the Director of Nonprofit Partnerships & Grantmaking at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque.

Kari serves on the United Philanthropy Forum Board of Directors, Creative Adventure Lab Board of Directors, University of Northern Iowa Nonprofit Leadership Alliance Advisory Board, University of Northern Iowa Leisure, Youth and Human Services Advisory Council, and is a Co-Chair of a United Philanthropy Forum Peer Community. Kari is a Jr. Achievement classroom volunteer and participates in a local Women’s Giving Circle, where she participates on the Grantmaking Committee. Kari also provides consulting services for nonprofits and supports youth philanthropy across the state and nationally.

Kari lives in Dubuque with her husband and two children. Her earliest memory of formal philanthropy dates back to eighth grade when she joined her local youth philanthropy group.

Sarah Napoli is the learning services director at the Disability and Philanthropy Forum. From 2019-2023, she acted as the lead disability inclusion project officer within the people and culture Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity team at Open Society Foundations (OSF), where she developed and facilitated disability inclusion learning and embedded proactive disability inclusive practices throughout the global network. In addition to OSF, she has over 20 years of experience teaching and conducting training on social justice and advocacy in higher education and nonprofits, most recently as the director for the inaugural Center for Inclusion at Manhattanville College and as the assistant head of Goodricke College at the University of York, England. She specializes in facilitating engaging workshops and designing curriculum that challenge and encourage participants to foster a culture of inclusion.

She holds two MA degrees, one in social justice in intercultural relations from the SIT graduate institute and one in applied human rights from the University of York.. She identifies as a proud disabled person and enjoys chatting about Geek culture-all things fantasy and sci/fi and her former life as a hip hop researcher and dancer. Her research on how hip hop creates human rights identities was recently published in the University of Michigan press text, For the Culture: Hip Hop and the Fight for Social Justice.

She has conducted workshops and training all over the USA and in the world, including Japan, Guatemala, throughout Europe, South Africa, and Canada.

Mareeha co-creates initiatives with partners aimed at transforming philanthropic culture and practice. She is an experienced facilitator, speaker, and program designer leveraging results-based leadership skills and a data informed practice rooted in equity.

Before joining GEO, Mareeha managed leadership programs at Independent Sector, where she worked on a broad portfolio, including nonprofit governance and ethics, racial equity, fellowships, peer learning, online learning, leadership cohorts, and awards. Prior to this, she started her career in foreign affairs, working to meet the needs of the American-Pakistani population at the Embassy of Pakistan.

Mareeha is passionate about food justice, racial equity, and building community in her Eckington neighborhood of Washington, D.C. She currently serves as board chair for Common Good City Farm working to meet their purpose of working with neighbors in nurturing a sustainable community space grounded in food justice, education, and connection.

Katie Oran is Climate and Disaster Resilience Manager at Northern California Grantmakers and Philanthropy California, a statewide alliance among Northern California Grantmakers, SoCal Grantmakers, and Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties. She supports the development of regional and statewide climate and disaster strategies around funders coordination, education, advocacy, and public/private partnerships, with a particular focus on accelerating climate justice and equitable disaster resilience and recovery.

She brings with her experience in climate adaptation, disaster response, land use planning, climate justice organizing, and wildfire mitigation. She served as a CivicSpark AmeriCorps fellow with the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, helping her hometown build more sustainable affordable housing. She has held roles with the Community Wildfire Planning Center, New America's Future of Land and Housing program, and 350.org. She also worked one fire season directly responding to wildfires as a clerical technician, supporting several Incident Management Teams across the State.

Katie's research, writings, and work on climate and disaster resilience have been published or featured in Places Journal, Business Insider, the New America Weekly, NPR, as well as in the Journal Frontiers in Forest and Global Change.

Katie earned a Masters's Degree in Regional Planning from Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, where she wrote her thesis on the potential for a managed retreat to be utilized as a form of wildfire mitigation in the State of California. She holds a B.S. in Planning, Policy & Law from State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Based in Davis, Katie is always trying to escape the heat and playing with her sweet dog, Dolly Parton.

Kukua Osei-Gyamfi joined the Women's Funding Network in 2023 as the Data and Insights Technical Program Manager. With a passion for technology and philanthropy, Kukua brings over 7 years of experience in the field to her role.

Before joining WFN, Kukua served as an Implementation Consultant at SmartSimple, where she was responsible for constructing grants management systems and safeguarding data for various philanthropic organizations specializing in research organizations. Her journey with SmartSimple began when she worked as a Grants Specialist at the District of Columbia Bar Foundation, where she played a pivotal role in transitioning the organization's grants management system to SmartSimple. Prior to that, Kukua gained valuable experience at the Potomac Health Foundation, which fueled her enthusiasm for philanthropy and grants management.

Kukua earned her Bachelor's degree in Health Science with a concentration in Public Health from Old Dominion University.

Glenisse was born, raised and lives in Puerto Rico where she leads a multi-passionate life learning, teaching, challenging others and being challenged. She also loves technology, nature, adventure, but above all, she lives to inspire people to take action and to help them find their purpose.

Upon graduating from Electrical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico's Mayagüez campus (UPRM), Glenisse began working with Kodak and later with Motorola, who granted her a scholarship for a Master's degree at Georgia Tech. For the next 17 years, Ms. Pagán worked at Lucent Technologies and Cisco Systems in a career that started as Systems Engineer and ended as a Business Developer Manager in charge of teams throughout all of Latin America. During this tenure Glenisse proved her impeccable integrity, leadership, analytical prowess and ability to work in a matrix organizational structure.

In 2011 Glenisse refocused her energy by offering personal and business consulting for clients in the construction, legal, retail and philanthropy sectors. She is the co-founder of Harimau Conservation, a nonprofit focused on empowering communities through conservation and education programs in Indonesia and Puerto Rico. Harimau won the Innovation prize at Fundación Banco Popular's hackathon for developing a tool that calculates the contribution made by natural resources to an economy. Of note is Harimau's significant contribution to Puerto Rican communities devastated by Hurricane María in 2017 through the installation of 41 water purification towers.

Glenisse has been a consultant to NetHope, a humanitarian organization working with the community-based initiative of Information as Aid. In 2018, she began working as Chief Operating Officer for Filantropía Puerto Rico (then called Foundation Network of Puerto Rico) and in 2019 she was named its Executive Director.

Angela Patton is the CEO of Girls For A Change, a nonprofit whose mission is to prepare Black girls for the world and the world for Black girls. Based in Richmond, Virginia, she has been fighting for systemic and cultural change on a national scale for 25 years. Her TED talk has been viewed over one million times and her co-authored book, Finding Her Voice, has helped thousands of Black girls to navigate and thrive in diverse environments. The documentary she co-directed, Daughters, premiered and won the Festival Favorite and Audience Favorite: U.S. Documentary awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024, and will premiere on Netflix this summer. Angela is a seasoned speaker, community activist, and uncompromising advocate for listening to Black girls’ brilliant ideas about how their lives and communities can be made more just and beautiful and making it happen.

Sheryl Petty, Ed.D., Founder & CEO of Movement Tapestries, has worked in organizational development, systems change, deep equity, education, and field building for nearly 30 years. She currently consults with national and international philanthropic institutions, nonprofits/NGOs, government agencies, colleges and universities on comprehensive equity transformation processes and field alignment. She has designed and facilitated equity-driven strategy and planning processes with thousands of practitioners, staff, community members, advocates and boards across the U.S. and other countries.

Her skills include equity-driven change process design and facilitation, cross-sector field-building, strategy development, alliance building and network development, equity assessment and analysis, qualitative research, visioning, and executive coaching. Her work has focused on promoting aligned approaches across individuals, organizations and sectors. She also has a long history of supporting individuals and groups in developing awareness practices, socio-emotional competencies, and mindfulness as core capacities, particularly in addressing emotionally complex and often tension-filled change processes seeking to embed equity. Some of her publications in the areas of deep equity, systems change, contemplative practice, and leadership have included:

• A Change Management & Deep Equity Primer: What, Why, How & Nuance, 2023
• Systems Change & Equity: Pathways Toward Sustainable Impact, Beyond “Eureka!” 2020
• Toward Love, Healing, Resilience & Alignment: The Inner Work of Social Transformation & Justice, Non-Profit Quarterly (NPQ)

Dr. Petty was also a Principal Associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, was a Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, and was Adjunct Faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University where she taught on Leadership, Systems Change & Equity. She holds a bachelors in Mathematics, a masters in Systematic & Philosophical Theology, and a doctorate in Leadership & Change. She is a certified yoga asana instructor, and is ordained and teaches in indigenous African-based (Yoruba/Lucumi) and Tibetan Buddhist (Vajrayana/Nyingma) traditions, which she has practiced for over 25 years. She is also the Founder and Spiritual Director of Ocha Dharma, an emerging international community of practice at the intersection of African-based and Yogic Buddhist wisdom.

Lorraine has worked in social justice philanthropy for nearly 20 years, in the areas of LGBTQ rights, gender justice, racial justice, immigrant rights, anti-violence organizing strategies, and housing and the foreclosure crisis. She is the co-founder and director of Funders for Justice. She has also consulted and partnered with a number of grassroots social justice community-based organizations across the US, in the areas of fundraising strategies, organizational development, safety and security practices, and coalition-building, and has served on several non-profit boards.

Sally Ray brings more than 29 years of experience working in the nonprofit world and a passion for community and social service to her current role as the Center for Disaster Philanthropy's director of domestic funds, and previously as director of strategic initiatives and the director of the Hurricane Harvey Recovery Fund.

In her current role with CDP, Sally oversees grantmaking for several domestic disaster funds, including the CDP Atlantic Hurricane Season Fund, the CDP California Wildfires Recovery Fund, the CDP Colorado Wildfires Recovery Fund, the CDP Disaster Recovery Fund and the U.S. grantmaking for the CDP COVID-19 Response Fund.

Sally is a sought-after speaker on strategic topics of long-term recovery funding, support for trauma-informed care after a disaster, funding grassroots organizations to build community resilience and supporting organizational and community capacity for recovery after a disaster. She has been a speaker for National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), the Federal Emergency Management Association and local, state and regional disaster-related conferences and training.

Sally is also familiar with the long-term effects of a disaster on a community after working with disaster response and recovery organizations throughout Oklahoma. While with the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, Sally helped organizations address children and families' significant mental health needs following the Moore tornado and other devastating storms. Her efforts on behalf of survivors made her keenly aware of how long it often takes communities to recover from disasters. Through her prior work as the regional chief development officer for the American Red Cross of Central and Western Oklahoma, she developed a deep awareness of those who struggle to return to "normal" or a "new normal" after a disaster.

Bayoán has dedicated his professional and personal life working towards equity focused solutions for historically marginalized communities as a community organizer, policy advocate and most recently, as a philanthropic change maker.

After graduating from Boston College in 2006, Bayoán began his career as a labor organizer leading campaigns to unionize airport newsstand and food service works in Newark, NJ and New York, NY. Prior to his transition to Los Angeles, Bayoán was a community organizer and planner at the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Boston working on sustainable economic development, food justice, and community land trust initiatives.

After receiving his Masters of Public Policy at Tufts University, he moved to Los Angeles and spent a year at the East LA Community Corporation (ELACC) working on affordable housing development and supporting the advancement of a new community land trust with residents of Boyle Heights and East LA. Subsequently, he served as the Co-President of the newly formed community land trust, Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre. After ELACC, he shifted to the foundation space as the Senior Project Manager at the Liberty Hill Foundation leading working on environmental health and justice programmatic efforts across Los Angeles County. While living in Oaxaca, México he was hired at Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) to develop a new Power Building & Justice grantmaking strategy and heading HIP's Multi-Racial Democratic Building work.

Malena Rousseau, Ph.D. is an experienced social science researcher and program evaluation professional with expertise in qualitative research (but she does quantitative work too!), data collection and analysis, and technical writing. She is dedicated to using her research skills to support community changemakers in maximizing the impact and effectiveness of their programs. Malena centers justice, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of her work, with an emphasis on highlighting the voices and lived experiences of communities of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and those who are traditionally under-represented in research and policymaking spaces.

Malena grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and earned a B.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from Duke University and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, respectively. She has worked on anthropology and public health research projects in the US and abroad, including completing her dissertation research in the Andes of Ecuador. Malena also has extensive professional experience in working with nonprofit and philanthropic organizations

Shannon Rudisill is the first Executive Director of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, assuming the position in November 2016. Under her leadership, ECFC is pursuing a strategy of growth and strategic engagement with partners across philanthropy to build capacity for supporting policies and practices that help young children and their families thrive.

Prior to joining ECFC, Shannon was the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development at the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Shannon served on the Obama Administration's senior leadership team for early childhood programs, setting strategy for ACF programs such child care and Head Start, as well as programs jointly administered with the U.S. Department of Education, such as the Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge and the Preschool Development Grants. She is especially proud of the $500 million Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership grants which will bring higher quality early care and comprehensive services to thousands of infants and toddlers from families in poverty.

From 2009-2014, Shannon was the Director of ACF's Office of Child Care (OCC). OCC administers the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which provides over $5 billion per year to States, Territories, and over 500 Tribal communities to provide child care for about 1.5 million children each month. At OCC, Shannon tirelessly pursued strategies to make child care work better for families and to ensure that children are served in safe, healthy, and nurturing early learning and afterschool programs. Under her leadership, the Obama Administration’s principles for child care reform were reflected in the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant for the first time in almost 18 years.

Eduardo currently serves as Research Scientist at NORC's Center on Equity Research. He received his doctorate in political science from the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in the social and political effects of racism and discrimination. He has published a variety of academic articles and research reports via avenues such as the Journal of Politics in Latin America, Community Development, and The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity.

Yadira Sánchez is the co-founder and is currently serving as the Executive Director of Poder Latinx, a civic and social justice organization, dedicated to building a sustained progressive voting bloc of Latinxs in battleground states while strengthening the political power of the Latinx community. Yadira has previously served as the Development Director for Mi Familia Vota, where she helped raise over $20 million and expanded the number of strategic partnerships with major organizations and allies to increase year-round civic participation within the Latinx community. She has been instrumental in campaigns such as Fast for Families for immigration reform while at working at SEIU, and is an active board member of three nonprofits: Dialogue on Diversity and Family Values @ Work Action, and Western Resource Advisors as well as sitting on the managing committee for Democracy Partners.

Abby has worked over twenty years in philanthropy, early-stage non-profit and for-profit social ventures, environmental conservation and sustainable community development in developing countries. She is excited to bring these perspectives to bear in support of mission-oriented organizations with The Giving Practice (TGP).

Prior to joining TGP, Abby helped develop grantmaking strategies and review grant and early-stage impact investment opportunities to catalyze social innovation, entrepreneurship and the launch and growth of triple-bottom-line companies around the world and across the Pacific Northwest with The Lemelson Foundation and as a philanthropic advisor. In the first decade of her career with the United Nations and other international environmental organizations, Abby focused on stakeholder engagement to influence environmental policy.

Abby earned her M.Sc. in Environmental Science from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She also holds a B.Sc. in International Politics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. In her free time, Abby enjoys growing food in her garden, singing with her family, dancing with her husband or finding ways to get outside.

Mark has been a consultant to foundations, philanthropy associations, and other nonprofit organizations for the past two decades. At The Giving Practice, Mark helps clients make an impact through strategic planning, collaborative inquiry, group facilitation, influence strategy, research and development, and tool and visual design. He’s developed specialized expertise in supporting philanthropy serving organizations in strategy, business modeling and practice development. Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in government and a master’s degree in public policy, both from Harvard University. He lives in the Seattle area and will talk about his son, Dash, for as long as you will let him.

Mark’s prior experiences include directing the Philanthropy Awareness Initiative, serving as The James Irvine Foundation’s first director of communications, working for a public affairs agency and directing projects for the civil liberties group People For the American Way.

Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in government and a master’s degree in public policy, both from Harvard University. He lives in Seattle and will talk about his son, Dash, for as long as you will let him.

Sharmin serves as Forefront's Director of Racial Equity Collective. She brings with her experience in government, non-profit and corporate environments. After earning her bachelor's degree in finance at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Sharmin worked as a Pricing Leader at GE Healthcare where she helped expand rural healthcare in Bangladesh. In 2016, she broke barriers by becoming the first Asian American, non-Christian, and also first immigrant to serve on Hanover Park's City Council. There, she drafted the diversity, equity, and inclusion ordinance, championed language access, and focused on increasing public-private partnerships to better serve the community. As vice chair of the National League of Cities Human Development Committee, she gave a Capitol Hill Briefing to emphasize local economic impact of immigrants. Sharmin continues to work as a community leader, as part of Illinois' second largest school district's Unite U-46 Campaign developing recommendations on equitable education. In 2023, she led Unite U-46's campaign in passing $179M bond referendum with a large majority of votes. She serves as an advisor to suburban newspaper, Daily Herald's Editorial Board and she was an Associate Director at Volunteers Association for Bangladesh focusing on increasing access to quality rural education.

Justice Shorter is a skilled organizer/facilitator, Disability Justice amplifier and senior advisor on issues at the intersection of race, disability, gender, climate, and crises. She is a national expert on disability inclusive disaster protections, emergency management and humanitarian crises/conflicts. In more recent years, Justice served as a Disability Integration Advisor with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, deploying frequently to disaster areas across America and its territories.

Megan serves as Catalyst's president & CEO, providing strategic leadership and partnership to the entire Catalyst staff, board, members, and community partners. Megan oversees Catalyst's facilitation of collaborative efforts among its funder members and other stakeholders; leads the production of philanthropy and impact investing skills-building and issue based learning; and spearheads Catalyst's work related to championing equity and opportunity. She strengthens Imperial and San Diego County communities through shared learning and pooled and aligned funding strategies, and initiatives fiscally sponsored by Catalyst.

Megan brings 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic fields to this role, having most recently served as Executive Director of San Diego Coastkeeper where she built partnerships among the nonprofit, business, and public sectors to advance environmental goals across San Diego County. Megan received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University and her Masters in Business Administration from Yale School of Management. She serves on the California Dignity for Families grant advisory committee at Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, the racial equity committee at the United Philanthropy Forum, and the board of trustees at the Museum of Us. She previously served on the board of directors of Hope Horse Ranch, United Way of San Diego County; advisory council for The San Diego Foundation's Center for Civic Engagement; and the Port of San Diego Environmental Advisory Committee.

Born in El Paso, Ananda Tomas, 32, spent her childhood in Texas before moving to New Mexico for high school and her early college years. After attaining her Bachelor's in Sociology and Social Work, she traveled the country working for AmeriCorps before finding her place in electoral campaigns during the Change Corps program. She moved to San Antonio, Texas in 2015 to be closer to family, where she served as a Regional Field Director for the Bernie 2016 campaign and later gained experience in community organizing at Texas Organizing Project. Ananda graduated with her Master's in Political Science from UTSA in 2020 and has since dedicated her time to political activism fighting for racial justice and against police brutality. She is the Founder and Executive Director of ACT4SA, currently Bexar County's first advocacy organization to focus solely on police reform and reimagining public safety.

Kenita Williams joined the Southern Education Foundation in 2017 and serves as the Chief of Staff and Director of Leadership Development. In her role, Kenita works to strengthen existing programs, leads on key strategic initiatives/new pathways for impact, supports the President & CEO in the development and management of organizational strategy and operations, and represents SEF’s values and efforts to key external stakeholders and the public.  Additionally, Kenita oversees SEF’s leadership development portfolio, creating and managing a cadre of fellowship programs and resources designed to cultivate a constellation of change agents to enact policies and practices that lead to a more equitable education system throughout the South.  Kenita brings a wide range of knowledge and critical experience to SEF, having held positions in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Over the course of her career, Kenita served as the Partnerships Manager for Atlanta Public Schools, Senior Program Manager for Public Policy at the Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF), spent several years as a consultant for JFM Consulting Group, and worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative correspondent for then-Senator Barack Obama. Kenita is also a Teach for America (TFA) alumna and spent three years teaching third-grade in Atlanta.

Kenita earned her B.A. in Political Science and History from Yale University, her Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan–Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, a teaching certificate from Georgia State University, and a doctorate of education degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Tyeshia “Ty” Wilson is a community organizer, trainer, consultant and a sought-after speaker on equity in philanthropy, politics, community engagement and leadership. As Senior Director of Community at Philanthropy Together, Ty leads the engagement strategy, connecting with giving circle leaders and members around the world in person and virtually. She also provides 1:1 and group coaching through Launchpad For You and Launchpad For Hosts, Philanthropy Together’s flagship giving circle training program. Raised in Dallas, Texas, Tyeshia has a passion for people, service and empowering the community towards collective action and impact. Prior to joining Philanthropy Together, Tyeshia has worked across sectors as a hospitality manager, a fundraiser and a former local government professional. Serving through a multidisciplinary lens, Tyeshia is involved in numerous volunteer organizations focused on advancing equity in philanthropy, government, and civic life, including Register HER, Our Vote is Our Voice, and Chair-Elect of HERitage Giving Fund, the first Black giving circle in Texas that invests in Black, women-led nonprofits serving women and girls. She holds a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington and an M.S. in Public Leadership with a concentration in Nonprofit and Community Leadership from the University of North Texas at Dallas. In 2022, Tyeshia was an honoree on the annual Black Women Give Back List presented by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, Black Philanthropy Month, and The WISE Fund.