Presenter biographies

(in alphabetical order by last name)

Olga Alexeeva (plenary speaker - full-page profile)

Evelyn Arce-White (Colombian-American, Chibcha descent), is Executive Director for International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP). She has been with IFIP since 2002, where her main responsibilities are to strategically increase membership, design and develop session proposals for grantmakers' conferences, develop materials for the website and listserv, develop newsletters and research reports, and secure funds for the organisation. Ms. Arce-White previously taught high-school courses that included Science, Horticulture and Independent Living Curriculum in Lansing, NY. She also worked as a Communications Consultant for the Iewirokwas Program, a Native American Midwifery Program, and coordinated the American Indian Millennium Conference held at Cornell University in November 2001. She has contributed as a diversity consultant for Cornell's Empowering Family Development Program Curriculum.

Ellen Barclay is president of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, a US philanthropic leader and network of 32 regional associations of grantmakers, which supports philanthropy across the US. The Forum's national initiatives and member programmes include New Ventures in Philanthropy, Building Grantmaker Effectiveness and Accountability, a nation-wide Knowledge Management initiative, and a variety of professional development programmes for staff of regional associations. Before joining the Forum in early 2005 she was the deputy executive director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), which administers the Fulbright Scholar Program conducted in 150 countries. Before that, Ellen served as executive director of the American String Teachers Association, a music education association. From 1988-1998, she was the director of conference services and procurement and director of professional education services for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Marge M. Barro is currently the Executive Director of the League of Corporate Foundations. Her Development Management career spans over a decade's worth of experience, having been the Executive Director of various non-profits, including the Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation, the Katutubong Filipino Foundation and the Bishops-Businessmen's Conference-Livelihood Foundation. She holds a Masters in Development Management degree from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). Marge continues to volunteer for various causes and advocates alternative lifestyle products as co-founder of Gifts and Graces Fair Trade Foundation, a marketing arm for livelihood products of various NGOs and communities.

Zuzana Bartošová is the Head of the Corporate Philantropy and CCI department for the Czech Donors Forum. Development and support of philanthropy have been the principal concerns of her professional career, activities which she continues to develop during her stay with the Donors Forum at the corporate, community and foundation level. She was responsible for the introduction of the LBG method - Standard Responsible Company and a founder of the Association of Foundation Funds in the Czech Republic. She is a member of LBG International/LBG method - measuring the effectiveness of corporate philanthropy. She authored the publications Guidebook to Corporate Philanthropy and Measuring and benchmarking as a strategic part of CSR.

Filiz Bikmen is the Executive Director of TUSEV (Third Sector Foundation of Turkey), which aims to strengthen the legal, fiscal and operational infrastructure of the non profit sector in Turkey. In addition to managing foundation programmes and operations, her thematic expertise areas are policy and law reform for civil society, research on civil society and giving, and developing mechanisms to increase the flow of resources to the non profit sector. Filiz has also been a trainer on fundraising for the NGO Center at Bilgi University, and served as a short term expert for various EU projects relating to civil society development as well as NGO-Public Sector cooperation. In 2006 she was awarded the Emerging Leaders International Fellowship from the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at The Graduate Center (City University of New York) where she produced a study on the global practice of community foundations and implications for Turkey.

Catherine Brown is an Australian lawyer and management consultant who has specialised in philanthropy since 1999. She has a special interest in the development of community foundations (often via the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal), research into emerging issues in philanthropy, governance and organisational development, particularly supporting the start up of foundations and other NGOs which philanthropy (such as The Myer Foundation) is seed funding. Prior to establishing her consulting company, Catherine worked as a CEO of an operating foundation and as an in-house lawyer and senior executive with two large human service NGOs. Before that, she was a lawyer in corporate and general practice in Melbourne and in commercial litigation in London.

Clare Brooks is currently Director, Network Development at Community Foundation Network (CFN) UK, where she has worked in a number of roles since 1999. For eight years prior to this, she worked in Central and Eastern Europe in both a grant-making and fundraising capacity. Clare also has a background in the auction world, having worked with Christies International, Geneva. She serves on a number of national and international advisory Boards that relate to both the grantmaking and philanthropy development fields.

CJ Callen is the Director of Effective Philanthropy at Northern California Grantmakers in the USA. CJ has worked for the Tides Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation and has managed her own consulting business. As a public policy advocate, she founded the organisation Youth Making a Change (Y-MAC). She is a Board Member of Changemakers and Destiny Arts Center; serves as Advisory Board Member of the Foundation Center's San Francisco Branch; and is a member of the Children's Fund Citizen's Advisory Committee of San Francisco.

Bernardino Casadei has since 1997 designed and managed the Community Foundations Project at the Cariplo Foundation in Italy. In this role he is responsible for the establishment of community philanthropy in Italy through the creation and support of community foundations. To better perform these tasks, the Foundation has developed a fully integrated web-based IT system that is allowing the Italian community foundations to provide high quality services with little staff and at a very low cost. Previously Bernardino was the General Secretary of the Centro Studi Augusto Del Noce for philosophical studies.

Magdalena Ciobanu is the Executive Director of the Romanian Donors Forum and has over seven years of experience in public administration and civil society development. She has worked closely with Romanian and foreign consultants, local and central government officials, and public and private institutions in the following areas: philanthropy; community development; public services/infrastructure; local budgets; municipal credit; rural development/institutional assessment; citizen participation; training sessions on organisational management; micro, small and medium sized enterprises; a distance learning regional workshop on instruments for enhancing citizen participation in governance; and a local statistical system. She is also a trainer for organisational management.

Derrick Feldmann is the Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations for The LEAGUE Powered by Learning to Give. He has over nine years of nonprofit experience in fundraising, public relations, consulting, and programme management. He has served as the national membership representative for a nonprofit membership organisation, and assisted in major capital campaigns for a large professional fundraising consulting firm. Derrick is responsible for developing and nurturing international and national partnerships, fundraising from foundations and government through grants, and developing new opportunities in electronic technologies and corporate sponsorship

Barry Gaberman (plenary speaker - full-page profile)

Caroline Hartnell has been the editor of Alliance Magazine since 1998. Alliance is a quarterly magazine focusing on philanthropy and social investment across the world. It is published by Allavida, a UK-based NGO that works internationally, mainly in South East Europe, Central Asia and East Africa. Caroline is currently a Synergos Senior Fellow. Before 1998 she worked as a freelance editor for a variety of non-profit and commercial publishers and carried out editing training.

John Harvey is Executive Director of Grantmakers Without Borders, a funders' network promoting social change grantmaking for the developing world. Prior to joining Grantmakers Without Borders, John was Associate Director of Grassroots International, which supports human rights and development work in conflict regions around the world. John also worked for many years at Oxfam America. John has lived in France and Belgium and has traveled extensively thoughout the global South. While living in India for a year, John visited and worked with a variety of grassroots women's organizations to learn about gender in development.

Winsome Hawkins served as VP, Community Programs and Initiatives for The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Inc. in the US from 1989 – 2002. She managed the Foundation's grantmaking portfolio, directed major children, youth and family initiatives and provided leadership for a variety of community initiatives. She has held leadership positions in the US national philanthropic community, including Chair, Neighborhood Small Grants Network, board member - Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families, Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities and the Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth. She is the author of the COF's Community leadership curriculum. Winsome currently serves on the board of the Association of Caribbean Community Foundations and is a member of the WINGS-CF Advisory Committee.

Peter Hero has been the President and CEO of Community Foundation Silicon Valley since 1989; it has current assets of nearly $1 billion USD and annual grants exceeding $100 million USD. Fortune Magazine recently noted that: "It is Peter Hero, more than anyone else, who has shown Silicon Valley how to give...by channeling the area's distinctive culture into an unusual brand of charity: demanding, ambitious, self-conscious, creative, even risky — everything you'd expect from Silicon Valley." Peter is on the Boards of Directors of The Skoll Foundation, eBay Foundation, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and the American India Foundation. He Chairs the World Bank Advisory Committee on Community Foundation Development, and is a Synergos Foundation Global Fellow. Prior to this position, Peter was President of the Maine College of Art.

Jane Humphries is Director of CF-LINKS, Community Foundations of Canada's professional development programme and oversees the creation and implementation of skills training workshops; on-site consultations; mentoring and coaching programmes; and strategic planning and Board leadership development for Canadian community foundations. Recently Jane oversaw a project which strengthened the capacity of community foundations in their work with youth, professional advisors, neighbourhoods, community outreach and media, which resulted in six new resources for grantmakers. Jane was Executive Director of The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation (Ontario, Canada) for nine years and brings to her work that local experience and knowledge.

Lenka Ilanovska has been the Executive Director of the Slovak Donors' Forum since 2004. The Donors' Forum is an association of grantmaking organisations which award grants and redistribute financial support to the Slovak non-governmental organisations. Between 2003 and 2004 she worked on external contracts with different organisations and major companies, organising events such as conferences, workshops and seminars. She also worked for a major political think-tank, Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA), at first as a program coordinator and since 2001 as executive director, managing the association, overseeing budgeting and financial management, as well as public relations and fundraising.

Norman Joseph Q. Jiao (Oman) is currently the executive director of the Association of Foundations (AF). AF is a national network of NGOs and foundations whose 144 members are in various programs such as community development, governance, entrepreneurship and livelihood, education and training. AF's services to its members include networking, databanking, training and capacity building. Oman has been in social development work for 18 years and was formerly the executive director of the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines Foundation, which recruits, trains, and sends young graduates to far-flung areas in the country to serve as teachers, parish workers and NGO workers. He is also the Chairperson of the Committee on Institution and Capacity Building (CICB) of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), an umbrella organization of 10 national and regional networks in the country with around 2,500 NGOs, foundations and cooperatives. He is also Board Chair of the Philippine Development Assistance Programme (PDAP) and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC) and the Federation of People's Sustainable Development Cooperatives (FPSDC).

Rob John first trained as a research chemist and held posts in the USA, Switzerland and Ethiopia. Then came a career change – he worked for 15 years in refugee and international development throughout Africa and Asia. This period included managing emergency programmes in Sudan, Iraq and Eritrea; the repatriation of Cambodian refugees; community development in Vietnam and helping create a microfinance bank in Zambia. In 2000 Rob became Director of WIN, a UK-based foundation, arguably the earliest known example of a "venture philanthropy" fund. In 2004 he advised Ashoka on the launch of its UK programme, and since 2005 has been a freelance consultant and Visiting Fellow at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University. He is Director of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA), and consults with a number of venture philanthropy funds and social enterprises.

Ruth Jones is Executive Director of Social Venture Partners International (SVPI), the network of Social Venture Partners across North America. Prior to joining SVPI, Ruth was Manager of Operations at Community Foundations of Canada, and General Manager of Philanthropy Australia, the membership association for Australia's private, family, corporate and community foundations. Initially trained as a journalist, Ruth has extensive experience in the public and private sector in media and communications and was Chief Executive of the Australian Film Institute for five years, before deciding to focus on working within the philanthropic sector.

Chit U. Juan is CEO of the Figaro Coffee Company and VP for Marketing and Business Development, League of Corporate Foundations. Chit established the Figaro Coffee Company in 1993 with friends and fellow coffee lovers. She founded the Figaro Foundation Corporation in 1999 as Figaro's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm. She also co-founded the Association of Filipino Franchisers in 2001, in an effort to promote entrepreneurship and franchising in the Philippines. The following year, the National Coffee Development Board was formed as a presidential task force and Chit was appointed as its co-chair. She continues this day to promote and advocate Philippine coffee and takes CSR to heart through various advocacies related to her coffee company.

Natalya Kaminarskaya graduated from Moscow State Pedagogical University in 1994 and received her master's degree in economics from Moscow International University in 1998. In 2001, she interned with the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at The Graduate Center (City University of New York). For the past six years, she has worked in the non-profit sector. During her employment with the Charities Aid Foundation, Ms. Kaminarskaya was a manager of a project aimed at creation of community foundations in Russia. Since 2001, she has been the Donors Forum Executive Secretary. She is also a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Worldwide INitiative for Grantmakers Support. She has authored a number of publications on philanthropy development.

Bill King has worked for the Minnesota Council on Foundations since 1987. He has managed the Council's education and professional development programs, strategic planning efforts, race and diversity initiatives and special projects, and was appointed president in 2000. Prior to joining the Council, Bill worked in various positions in the nonprofit, philanthropic and community service sector. He was a consultant in grant review and program development with several corporate and private foundations, primarily under contract with Northwestern National Life Insurance Company and the Medtronic Foundation. He also spent six years as division manager for community development at the Greater Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce and six years with the American Red Cross Blood Services Program in the area of donor development. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, and previously served as a board member for Philanthrofund Foundation, a community foundation serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities in the Upper Midwest.

Carolina Langan is currently the General Coordinator of Grupo de Fundaciones (GDF) - Foundations Group, a non profit civil association created to mobilise funds strategically and effectively for public welfare purposes in Argentina. Previously she was Executive Director for several years of Puentes, an NGO devoted to promoting equal opportunities for underprivileged children. She is a sociologist and has a Masters in Administration and Public Policy. She has contributed to several areas of research at Buenos Aires University. Carolina is the author of the Social Investment Guide, a GDF institutional publication released in 2005.

Shannon Lawder is Regional Director, Central/Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia, at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a US private, grantmaking foundation promoting a just, equitable, and sustainable society in the US and select regions of the world. Lawder oversees the Foundation's annual $12 million USD grantmaking program promoting citizen engagement and philanthropy development in 14 countries throughout the CEE/Russia region. Additionally, Lawder is responsible for the Foundation's Special Initiatives – International program area, which supports philanthropy efforts throughout the world, primarily through community foundations and global membership organizations. Prior to joining the Mott Foundation in 1995, Lawder was International Program Director at the Olga Havel Foundation in Prague, Czech Republic, where she coordinated international assistance programs to help people with disabilities and chronic illnesses in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Andrew Lawson has been Development Officer for Community Foundations at Philanthropy Australia since 2002. In this role he has also served as a WINGS-CF Advisory Committee member for Australia and New Zealand. In 1999 Andrew took on the part time role of Executive Officer to assist in the formation and subsequent development of the Geelong Community Foundation. Previously, Andrew worked for Huyck Corporation for 16 years in various manufacturing and marketing roles. He was the Managing Director of Huyck Australia in Geelong, worked in the Corporations Head Office in Raleigh, North Carolina (USA) and was the President and General Manager of Huyck Canada for two years.

Martin Lehfeldt is the President of the Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF), which serves 360 community, corporate, family and independent members in 11 US states. During his nine-year tenure, the SECF has established the only leadership development program of its kind in the country for young/new foundation leaders, played a major role in developing The Philanthropy Index for Small Towns and Rural Areas, greatly extended its programmes and services for members, and launched a special initiative to promote greater foundation accountability. Martin's career has included service as a newspaper reporter, foundation program officer, college development officer and president of his own consulting firm. He writes and speaks frequently about the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, and his monthly newsletter column, Thinking about Things, is widely read throughout the country. He also was a contributor to An Agile Servant: Community Leadership by Community Foundations and currently is completing a book of essays titled Notes from a Non-Profitable Life.

Valerie S. Lies has been President and CEO of the Donors Forum of Chicago (US), a regional association of grantmakers, since 1987. The Forum has a membership of over 200 foundations and corporations and approximately 1,300 nonprofit Forum Partners. It operates the second largest philanthropic library in the country serving more than 15,000 individuals annually through three locations. Prior to her joining the Donors Forum, Ms. Lies was Vice President of the Public Education Fund, a national grantmaking foundation located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She joined the Otto Bremer Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1974 as a program associate and became its first Executive Director in 1977, a position she held until 1981. Ms Lies is a steering committee member of the Chicago Global Donors Network and WINGS.

Dr Michael Liffman (BA hons. Melb; M.Sc [Social Admin], LSE; PhD, Melb) is founding Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Philanthropy and Social Investment at Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia. The Centre offers professional education in grantmaking in Australia and beyond. Michael has a background in social policy and research, community work, and philanthropy, and was CEO of one of Australia's leading private foundations, The Myer Foundation, and President of the Australian Association of Philanthropy. He is a member of the International Network on Strategic Philanthropy. His publications include A Tradition of Giving: Seventy-five Years of Myer Family Philanthropy, Melbourne University Publishing, 2004.

Elmer H. Lighid has served as Programme Officer of International Council on Management of Population Programmes (ICOMP) since 2000, and is mainly responsible for the organisational effectiveness portfolio. This portfolio covers sustainability, governance and competency building projects. He also manages the small grants programme of the Asia Pacific Alliance – a regional network aimed at mobilizing resources and support for reproductive health initiatives in Asia-Pacific. Previously, he worked as a program officer of the Institute On Governance, a Canadian NGO, where he managed a governance project in the ASEAN region. Before moving to Malaysia, he was the project manager of an ADB-project on integrated community health in the Philippines. Elmer has written several modules and manuals on different management topics and is currently writing a book on NGO sustainability.

Henrietta Marrie is Program Officer for Northern Australia and Melanesia for The Christensen Fund (USA). Born and raised in the Aboriginal community of Yarrabah in Queensland (Australia), Ms. Marrie has held academic posts at a number of Australian universities, including at the Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Participation, Research and Development at the James Cook University of North Queensland, and the Centre for Indigenous History and the Arts at the University of Western Australia. Through her research and work in legislation and policy development, she has supported the Aboriginal movements in the arena of arts and cultural heritage, and in the recognition of Aboriginal rights to land and for the protection and recognition of traditional knowledge. Ms. Marrie has served on a number of government committees and inquiries, and acted as a consultant to government bodies including Environment Australia, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Wet Tropics Management Agency.

Janet Naumi Mawiyoo has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF), the only public foundation in Kenya, since 2004. She has been in the development sector, initially with the Kenya Government in both Ministry of Culture and Social Services and Ministry of Technical Training and Applied Technology for seven years. She spent a year with the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) in their technical assistance programme before doing 15 years with Action Aid International (an international NGO which works with local partners to fight poverty and injustice worldwide), where she rose from a Programme Officer in 1990 in the Kenya programme, to being the Country Director of Action Aid International Tanzania, where she worked for five and a half years before joining KCDF.

Donnell Snite Mersereau is Director of Community Foundations for the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF). She is responsible for the management and implementation of services to the state's 56 community foundations and has a special focus on standards, regional marketing and visibility initiatives and government partnerships. She also manages Midwest Community Foundations' Ventures (a supporting organisation of CMF) with direct oversight for the National Community Foundation Research and Development Incubator, Mott Regional Marketing Initiative for Iowa, South Carolina and Maryland, and collaborative initiatives within a three-state region. Donnell has travelled throughout North America and Europe providing technical assistance to emerging and existing philanthropic support organisations. She is a member of TCFN and the Council on Foundations’ National Marketing and Standards Action Teams.

Anuradha Mittal (plenary speaker - full-page profile)

Monica Mutuku, Secretary of the East Africa Association of Grantmakers, has over 30 years of experience in the planning and design of development programmes geared toward community participation and empowerment. She has served as Assistant Director of the Nairobi City Council's Housing Development Department, Project Officer of UNICEF's Urban Basic Services Project, and Chief Executive of the Kenya Community Development Foundation, which is the first and only community foundation in Kenya. Her significant contribution to community development has earned her the Woman of the Year award in 2000 from the American Biological Institute, and more recently she received a nomination for the Exceptional Women of the 21st Century award.

Liam O'Dwyer is Chief Executive of the Irish Youth Foundation, an independent charitable trust dedicated to supporting children and young people facing adversity in their lives. It has an annual grant allocation of approximately 1 million euros. Prior to joining the Irish Youth Foundation in 1998, Liam was the Secretary General of the European Confederation of Youth Clubs and the assistant chief executive of the National Youth Federation. Currently, he is chairman of Philanthropy Ireland and the Children's Rights Alliance and also a board member of The Bridge Project (an alternative to custodial care for young offenders), The Children's Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin and of The Ark, a Cultural Centre for Children. Liam is a member of the Irish Institute of Training and Development and a former board member of the Irish Film Centre.

Won Soon Park is Executive Director of The Beautiful Foundation which serves as a national community foundation in South Korea. Before that, from 1995 to 2004, he was with the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, first as Secretary General and then as Executive Director. From 1992 to 1993 Won Soon Park was a Visiting Fellow, Harvard Law School Human Rights Program (US). Also in the academic realm, he was Professor, Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies in 1994 and Visiting Professor, Stanford University (USA). Profesionally, Won Soon Park has also held positions as an editorial writer and a public prosecutor.

Monica Patten is the President and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada, the member organisation for Canada's 155 community foundations. Previously a Vice President of United Way of Canada - Centraide Canada, and Executive Director of Ottawa's Volunteer Centre, Monica brings much knowledge and experience in the voluntary sector. She is the Chair of the Voluntary Sector Forum and serves on several boards of directors, including the Canadian Human Rights Foundation. Internationally, Monica has helped with development of community philanthropy in numerous countries, among them Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Thailand and the Philippines. She is Chair of WINGS' Coordinating Committee and the Management Committee of WINGS Global Fund for Community Foundations. She also serves on the board of CIVICUS and is a member of the International Committee of the Council on Foundations (USA). Monica is a Senior Fellow of the Synergos Institute.

Pareena Prayukvong was Project Manager of Community Foundation Thailand from 2004-2006. She has been inspired to learn about the community foundation concept after spending seven years in fundraising for three organizations. Her past experiences in banking and fundraising helped her to lead efforts in promoting the concept of high impact community philanthropy, including her background in resource mobilisation models and the mutli-sector partnerships. Currently, she continues to promote local and corporate philanthropy and volunteering as Secretariat Manager of The NETWORK for business and NGO partnerships for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific, with the support of Asian Development Bank, GSK Biologicals Ltd., and Kenan Institute Asia.

Felicitas C. Rixhon is the Executive Director of the Philippine Center for Population and Development (PCPD), a private Philippine foundation. At PCPD, she oversees its grantmaking program (in support of policy research integrating population and development issues, advocacy, and program and project models) and its revenue generating operations. From 1995 to 2005 she was the Executive Director of the Consuelo Foundation, Inc. (formerly the Children and Youth Foundation of the Philippines). Ms. Rixhon has been involved actively with the Pagtabangan BaSulTa, an umbrella of NGOs joining Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi officials and private sector representatives in jointly rehabilitating these three poverty-stricken provinces. Ms. Rixhon is a member of the Board of the Association of Foundations and a Consultant to the International Youth Foundation (Baltimore, USA).

Shannon E. St. John is the Founder of Second Star Philanthropic Services and a Senior Advisor to the Synergos Institute, positions she assumed in 2006 to focus on promoting philanthropy worldwide. Previously, she led the Triangle Community Foundation (North Carolina, USA) for 21 years. Ms. St. John has worked with or presented to philanthropic organizations in 21 countries on six continents. Her particular topics of expertise are the basics of community foundation/community philanthropy organization development, asset development, donor engagement, sustainability, and promotion of philanthropy. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the World Bank Community Foundation Initiative (which she helped create), a Board Member of the King Baudouin Foundation (US); a member of TCFN, and a Senior Fellow of the Synergos Institute.

Gil T. Salazar became Executive Director of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) in 2001. The first of organisation its kind in Asia, PBSP is a corporate-led social development foundation with more than 200 member corporations. PBSP is the arm of its members in providing organised and professional development assistance to disadvantaged sectors in the Philippines. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Gil served PBSP as Director of Finance and Management Services (he is a Certified Public Accountant), and before that was Director of Special Programs. Gil serves on the board of various non-profit organisations in the Philippines involved in development work. He is currently the Treasurer of the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC), the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) and the Sustainable Economic Activity Development, Inc. (SEAD) and the Vice-Chairman of the Philippine Development Assistance Program (PDAP). He also served as a member of the Leadership Group of United Way International’s project on Global Standards for United Ways.

Gerry Salole is a social anthropologist and development worker whose academic background is in social anthropology and African history. Gerry is currently the Chief Executive of the European Foundation Centre (EFC). He is also the Chairperson of TrustAfrica. Previously, Gerry was the Representative of the Southern Africa Office of the Ford Foundation, based in Johannesburg. Prior to this, he worked as the Director of the Department of Programme Documentation and Communication of the Bernard van Leer Foundation in The Hague. Gerry has also worked for Save the Children Federation (USA) in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, and Redd Barna (Norwegian Save the Children Federation) and OXFAM and UNHCR in Ethiopia. He has written extensively on various aspects of development work.

Lourdes Sanz-Moguel is Community Foundations Coordinator at CEMEFI (Mexican Centre for Philanthropy) with responsibility for promoting and strengthening community foundations in Mexico and to coordinate CEMEFI's Community Foundation Group activities, communications and processes, as well as the Group's national and international relations. She is a member of the Transatlantic Community Foundations Network. Her professional experience has been in the non-profit sector for the past 13 years, including five years as an executive director. Her areas of expertise are in human resources management, organisational change and design, communications, public relations and services. Lourdes has eleven years of teaching experience at two Mexican universities.

Dr. Juree Vichit-Vadakan (plenary speaker - full-page profile)

Mechai Viravaidya (plenary speaker - full-page profile)

Priya Viswanath, Chief Executive of Charities Aid Foundation India and Founder of Catalyst-Social Development Consultants has been working with social development issues in India for over a decade. Her primary areas of focus have been promoting public-private partnerships that have a positive impact on the development landscape in India and promoting and facilitating global giving. She has designed, directed and administered Corporate Community Initiatives for members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the apex chamber of Commerce and Industry in India. Prior to joining CAF India in 2003, she consulted with several leading foundations and bilateral agencies across the world on philanthropy, socially responsible business and diaspora giving.

Jeff Yost serves as President and CEO for the Nebraska Community Foundation (US). With over 180 affiliated funds and $25 million in assets, NCF has reinvested nearly $60 million in Nebraska communities since 1993. NCF is heralded as a national model for its innovative work in empowering community leadership, estimating the intergenerational transfer of wealth to craft community endowment building strategies and linking charitable giving to building greater economic opportunity through entrepreneurship. NCF has been featured in the New York Times and the Chronicle of Philanthropy and is one of six W. K. Kellogg Foundation Entrepreneurship Development Systems grantees to expand its HomeTown Competitiveness efforts.

Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II (plenary speaker - full-page profile)