Our Team

“To say that TPW was transformational is an understatement. TPW fundamentally changed my life.”

Elliott is a founding general partner of the White Sand Investor Group, LP, a fifth generation investment partnership of the Chicago-based Donnelley family. As an investor of both his personal and family’s assets, he has increasingly focused on the nexus between investment for financial return and investment for social and environmental impact. From 1989-1991 Elliott lived and worked in Beijing at the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics; he now travels to China monthly, where he spends a good deal of his time working to promote best practices in philanthropy and impact investing. In China, Elliott serves as an advisor to a number of international and domestic organizations and in 2012 he helped launch the China Philanthropy Forum, where he serves as a member of the organizing committee. He has appeared as a speaker, moderator and facilitator at a number of conferences including the Bo Ao Forum, The San Ya Forum, The UBS Art of Philanthropy Conference in Beijing and The US-China Philanthropy Summit. In addition to his work in China, Elliott serves on the board of Stanford’s Global Project Center, The LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation, the World Affairs Council of Northern California, and Synergos – where he is also a member of the Global Philanthropist Circle. He attended The Philanthropy Workshop West from 2006 to 2007 and served as Co-Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2011. Elliott graduated from Yale University in 1988 with a B.A. in history.

Sapphira Goradia is the Executive Director of the Vijay and Marie Goradia Foundation. As Executive Director, Sapphira leads the Foundation’s efforts to improve health and educational outcomes in India through the support of innovative, measurable and scalable initiatives. Prior to assuming her role at The Goradia Foundation, Sapphira worked for a number of NGOs focused on the prevention and treatment of both acute and chronic diseases, including UNAIDS and Population Services International. She holds a BA from Pomona College and a Masters of Public Health from The George Washington University. Sapphira serves on the advisory board of Pratham USA and the board of directors of the global health NGO SightLife. She also serves on the board of directors of Dasra and Women Moving Millions.

Lauren B. Cramer is a Trustee of Syracuse University, and Chair of the College of Visual and Performing Arts Advisory Council, and on the Boards of National Dance Institute, and Park Slope Community Help, Inc., a local Brooklyn soup kitchen and resident home for young mothers.  She has also served as an officer and director of numerous civic and charitable organizations in a pro-bono capacity, advising both private foundations and public charities in issues relating to administration and law. She has served as a guest lecturer at New York University and Syracuse University.  Lauren is a partner at the law firm of McLaughlin & Stern, and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1997. Her areas of concentration include trust and estate administration, and tax-exempt organization work, focusing particularly on public charities and private foundations as well as general corporate and litigation work. She received a B.A. degree in political science from Northwestern University in 1987 and a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law in 1994. Prior to graduation from Syracuse, she pursued a career in finance and nonprofit administration. Lauren’s community and professional affiliations include the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York State Bar Association.

Casey Box is Director of Land is Life, a global network on the frontlines of safeguarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect lands, cultures, and biodiversity for all humanity. He is Young Alumni Trustee at New York University, as well as a member of the NYU Langone Health Board of Trustees and the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study Dean’s Council. Box serves on the board of the Inova Health Foundation and has been named an abc* fellow on the Americas Business Council. He is the managing member of Kellar Investments LLC and treasurer of the Kellar Family Foundation.

Traci Maddock is a leading digital strategist and social media architect specialising in identifying and realising authentic partnerships between brands, causes, global talent and celebrities.

Traci is a technology and brand advisor to Merian Ventures, a VC fund investing in women-led innovation in Cyber, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and consumer-facing technologies. In 2019, she received certification from Oxford University in Artificial Intelligence and is a mentor to the Abbey Road Red’s successful tech and music accelerator programme. Traci is an advisor to the non profit organisation, The Caring Family Foundation.

As a strategic consultant to Kin Partners, a global talent, sports and entertainment agency specialising in talent IP, Traci advises some of the most influential people, properties and events in Entertainment, Fashion, Arts and Sport, Traci defined the strategy for David Beckham’s entire digital and social media presence over the last decade and has worked extensively with talent including Victoria Beckham, Lewis Hamilton and Andy Murray.

With a track record of innovation & creativity forming global partnerships with Google, Instagram, Facebook, Tencent, Weibo and TikTok, Traci has built considerable expertise in the commercial sector advising on global brand strategies for L’Oreal, Adidas, Skype, Diageo, KING, most recently defining the worldwide launch for David Beckham’s MLS soccer franchise, Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami.

Sabrina Pourmand works with philanthropists and entrepreneurs to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. She has significant experience in the Global South as an international humanitarian crisis responder and proven experience implementing and delivering upon high growth revenue strategies. 

Today, she focuses her time as an executive advisor to start-ups and social impact organizations in the areas of revenue growth and operations, digital-forward marketing, recruiting, and governance. She is an expert in campaign mobilization, strategic partnerships, and developing and leveraging creative campaigns. Previously, she raised and managed a $250 million portfolio in response to the earthquake in Haiti, merged and integrated different affiliates at Habitat for Humanity, and led a $40 million emergency humanitarian response for Syrian refugees.

Sabrina is currently on the advisory board for Onda, a global community for the conscious traveler. She is also a trustee for Founders Pledge, a zero-cost, end-to-end solution for charitable giving built for entrepreneurs. She holds a Masters in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco, a Bachelor’s in Political Science from University of California San Diego and has been named the Young Nonprofit Professional of the Year for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Milton is an expert social impact advisor. Currently, he guides members of The ImPact, a group of visionary families committed to aligning their assets with their values towards their impact investing goals. Prior, he was responsible for executing the ”Beyond the Bay” and Eastern Region strategies that seek to support Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s role as global social enterprise and the premier philanthropic partner for charitably minded individuals and corporations. He has also held senior roles at Epic Foundation, TED Talks, and Bank of America Charitable Foundation.

At Epic, he worked closely with the founder and CEO to grow its network of charitable minded entrepreneurs in North America. While at TED, Milton helped fortune 500 companies share their best ideas with the world. During his first tenure at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, he advised companies on their philanthropic strategies including SAP, Dolby, SanDisk, LinkedIn, Texas Instrument, Stub Hub, and Intuit to name a few. At Bank of America Charitable Foundation, he was responsible for crafting and executing the community and employee engagement strategy for the San Francisco Bay Area.

As the son of Jamaican immigrants, Milton has a personal commitment to poverty alleviation and developing partnerships that maximize resources and achieve greater impact.

Milton holds a Psychology Degree from The University of Hartford where he captained the Men’s Soccer Team.  He’s been a keynote speaker at many events such as the International Olympic Committee International Woman’s Day Celebration. He sits on the Boards of several nonprofit organizations including, The International Center for Research on Women, We are Family Foundation, Equality League, and  SEEDs of Africa.  He’s also on the New York Committee for the Human Rights Watch. In 2018, Milton was selected as University of Hartford College of Arts and Sciences Alumni of the Year and was inducted into his High School Hall of Fame.

He currently lives in Hyannis, MA where most Saturday mornings, you can find him playing or watching soccer.

Andrew joined Community Foundations Canada in 2013 and became CEO in 2017, following a six-year tenure as Vice-President of Finance for the London Community Foundation and his long-standing service as a finance and regulatory expert for Canada’s philanthropic milieu. Now at the head of the community foundation movement, Andrew is working closely with the Community Foundations of Canada Leadership team, Board and foundations in Canada and abroad to help the philanthropic sector transform, innovate and meet the new challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. An increasingly active public speaker, Andrew is helping raise awareness for how the philanthropic sector’s convening power, leadership and action around targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals can help Canadian communities reach their full potential. 

Outside of Community Foundations of Canada, Andrew has been highly active in the nonprofit community for 15 years, serving on numerous boards including Community Living London and Art for AIDS International. In 2014, he was appointed to the Board of the Southwest Local Health Integration Network by former Minister of Health, Deb Matthews. In 2015, he was among 250 selected emerging leaders to participate in the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference. He recently joined the Board of WINGS, the global network of grantmaker associations and philanthropic support organisations.

With a background in education in economics and commerce, Andrew obtained his chartered accountant designation in 2002 and began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as a manager in the Assurance and Advisory Group.

David is the President and Co-founder of the Texas Signal, the largest progressive media entity in Texas. He focuses on strategic partnerships, business growth, and policy for the organization. Previously, David served as Senior Advisor to Beto O’Rourke for his 2022 Gubernatorial campaign, and he also worked on Beto’s Presidential and Senate races as well. David graduated from Georgetown University, majoring in Government and Political Theory, and received a Masters degree in International Political Economy from Stanford University. David is on the boards of Texas Future Project, New Leaders Council (National Board), NextGen America, VoteSimple, Global Americans, Chicken and Egg Pictures, AAPI Victory Fund, Center for Asian American Media, Friends of the National Asian Pacific American Museum, and The Philanthropy Workshop. In his free time, David is an avid aquarist and is on his 7th generation of neocaridina shrimp.

Lauren Booker Allen (Partner & Head of Impact Advisory at Jordan Park)

Lauren Booker Allen leads the impact advisory practice at Jordan Park, which provides investment management and financial advice to a distinct community of individuals, families, and institutions. Prior to Jordan Park, Lauren was Senior Manager of Impact Investing at Omidyar Network, where she managed investments, strategic partnerships, and thought leadership initiatives to drive the firm’s impact investing and philanthropy industry development efforts globally, often advising individuals, family offices, foundations, entrepreneurs, and asset managers. Previously, Lauren worked at Goldman Sachs in the healthcare investment banking, global compliance, and training and communications groups. Lauren serves on the Boards of Directors for ImpactAssets and BlueMark, is the Vice Chair of the Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF) Pacific Northwest Regional Scholar Advisory Committee, and is an alumni mentor of Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). Lauren earned her BA in American and Urban Studies from Yale University and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Glen joined the Stupski Foundation as CEO in 2015.

Glen previously served as CEO of The Philanthropy Workshop, whose mission was to educate, inspire, and activate a peer network of effective, engaged, and innovative philanthropists. His career in strategic philanthropy started with the founding team of the Global Philanthropy Forum, where he was responsible for launching the first and second Conferences on Borderless Giving. He also served at Human Rights Watch as the deputy director of development for North America, where he had strategic oversight of the Human Rights Watch Council, a network of supporters and opinion leaders committed to raising money for, and awareness of, human rights in five major cities.

Glen has written and published on the role of ethnicity in the formation of political parties and human rights and in the use of political violence and repression in sub-Saharan Africa.

Glen holds a Ph.D. and a Masters from the University of Colorado at Boulder in political science, and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California at San Diego. He currently serves on the boards of Northern California Grantmakers and Article3.org.

Jocelyn Berger is the Engagement Manager, Americas East. Since joining in September 2022 in this newly created role, she is responsible for regional growth and member recruitment and engagement, including local programming and Action Labs.

Previously, Jocelyn served as a Program Officer at the International Women’s Health Coalition, where she supported feminist movement building in the Global South through trust-based grantmaking. Jocelyn earned a Bachelor’s in Sociology, Politics, and Peace & Conflict Studies at Brandeis University, and studied Human Security and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

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Gaby Buentello is TPW’s Communications Specialist. She joined TPW in December 2019 and currently manages TPW’s range of external communications, including email campaigns, social media, blog posts, and video content.

Prior to joining TPW, Gaby held a member services and negotiation specialist role at GLG, an expert network, where she was responsible for liaising between subject matter experts serving as consultants, client representatives, and GLG’s Strategy team to ensure projects could proceed within budget. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from Bowdoin College.

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Joining the team in August 2022, Brady Essmann is responsible for helping shape TPW’s growth strategy . Specifically, she works alongside the organization’s generous partners to curate mutually-beneficial opportunities, unlock resources, and maximize global impact.

Prior to TPW, she executed strategic development and fundraising efforts at charity: water and The African Leadership Group – mobilizing seven and eight-figure commitments in the Global South. She’s also consulted for a number of social impact organizations seeking to scale their growth.

She holds Bachelors of Arts in Strategic Communications, English Writing, and Philosophy from Gonzaga University.

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Marie-Louise Gourlay is TPW’s Managing Director, Europe, having joined the team in May 2015. Marylou focusses on growing and engaging the TPW community within the UK & Europe, as well as leading on regional partnerships & investment.

Previously, Marylou was Head of the CFO’s office at the British Council, focussed on programmes relating to global health, security and education, building on her previous experiences of working with grassroots NGOs in Zambia and India, focussed on education, health & livelihoods at community level. Marylou holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Modern Languages from the University of Bath.

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Shannon Grant is TPW’s Engagement Manager, Americas West. Since joining TPW in September 2022, she is responsible for enhancing member learning and encouraging engagement across the TPW community.

Prior to joining TPW, Shannon was Head of Membership at The Tugboat Group where she helped build a community of mission-driven CEOs. It was in these conversations with female CEOs that she first started to see a gap in the market for female founders raising capital, and starting investing into companies with at least one female founder. In parallel, she is Co-President of The Wharton Alumnae Founders and Funders Association (“WAFFA”), which is designed to help women founders raise capital, and has grown to be the largest community of Wharton Women globally with over 5,000 members. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Franklin & Marshall College and Certificate in Business and Marketing from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

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Leslie Gross is TPW’s General Counsel & Managing Director for Americas East. Since joining TPW in September 2021, she is responsible for growing TPW’s membership, organizational impact, and public footprint.

Prior to joining TPW, Leslie was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security during the Obama Administration, Chief Counsel to former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Partner at Advantage Insights Group, where she leveraged 20+ years as a senior government official, philanthropy executive, civil rights attorney, and nonprofit advocacy director to provide targeted solutions for high-profile, high-stakes challenges at the intersection of policy and politics, including the creation of an international legal defense network for grassroots organizations looking to bring oversight and accountability to authoritarian governments. She is also the steward of her family’s intergenerational philanthropy. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Howard University and her Juris Doctor from George Washington University Law School.

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Renee Kaplan is TPW’s Chief Executive Officer. Formerly she was Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Programs at the Skoll Foundation where she oversaw the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Skoll World Forum, strategic alliances, and communications.

Renee has more than 20 years of business experience in corporate, entrepreneurial, and foundation sectors. Her professional background includes eight years at Microsoft in corporate and international marketing–working directly with executive leadership and spending considerable time in India, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Following Microsoft, she was founder and CEO of an e-commerce startup, FutureWorkplace, Inc., which was eventually sold. As an entrepreneur, she was active in Young Entrepreneurs Organization (Y.E.O.) and was named to the “40 Under 40” list by the Puget Sound Business Journal recognizing the region’s visionary business leaders. After selling her business, she spent six years as executive vice president of the Casey Family Programs Foundation, focusing on improving outcomes for vulnerable children and families in the U.S. Prior to her role at Skoll, she was the principal of RKaplan Consulting and partnered with clients including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Giving Pledge, Trusera Corporation, the Palo Alto Unified School District, Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civic Society, and The White House Council on Community Solutions.

Renee holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Edward R. Murrow School of Journalism (with an emphasis in International Studies) at Washington State University and has a passion for advising entrepreneurs and social ventures. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two sons and is a competitive soccer player.

Jaspar Leahy is TPW’s Program Manager. Since joining TPW in July 2022, she works on TPW’s core program design, logistics, and delivery.

Prior to TPW, Jaspar worked at the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University, where she focused on conflict resolution education programming for both graduate students and professionals as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion organizational change initiatives. She received a Master’s Degree in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University.

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Maggie Neilson is TPW’s Chief Marketing Officer. She joined TPW in December 2021, advising on marketing and communications. Prior to joining TPW, she co-founded and was CEO of Global Philanthropy Group, where she developed and implemented philanthropic strategies for high net worth individuals, celebrities and companies. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington and her Masters in Business Administration from Columbia University.

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Melanie Ormos is TPW’s Global Director of Community. Since joining TPW in 2018, Melanie has worked closely with members on the West Coast and now leads TPW’s global strategy for community engagement including Action Labs, member-led convenings, and curating the TPW Community in creative ways to support greater connectivity, accountability, and collective action.

Prior to TPW, Melanie served as a Philanthropy Advisor at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where she advised individuals and families across the western United States on their philanthropic strategies from governance to grantmaking and sustainable impact investing. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and French from the University of San Diego.

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Rachel Simon is TPW’s Chief Operating Officer. Since joining TPW in September 2016, Rachel has been responsible for operationalizing strategy to ensure the ability of the organization and its staff to execute TPW’s mission.

Prior to joining TPW, Rachel was most recently Director of Operations for CASA for Children of Essex County, where she guided all areas of non-profit operations including fundraising, technology, marketing, finance, data and evaluation, and reporting to support the mission of promoting the welfare of children removed from the homes due to abuse or neglect. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College and her Master of Arts degree from Boston University in International Relations.

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Alisa Tantraphol is TPW’s Managing Director, Americas West. Since joining TPW in September 2021, Alisa has been responsible for driving growth of the TPW community on the West Coast.

Prior to TPW, Alisa managed philanthropic engagement for Magnify Community, engaging and stewarding a growing network of donors to catalyze over $100 million in new philanthropic giving to community-based organizations in Silicon Valley. Alisa received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Studies from Harvard University.

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Laynie Thomas is TPW’s Operations Specialist. Since joining TPW in June 2019, Laynie has been responsible for supporting the organization’s systems knowledge management and serving as an executive assistant to our Chief Executive Officer.

Previously she served as Operations Associate at Vinaj, a boutique innovation and investment firm based in Silicon Valley. She assisted in the user experience testing of their digital products as well as helped to manage research for Telosity, their investment fund that aids startups who are harnessing technology to improve mental well-being in young people. Laynie attended East Central University with a focus on business administration.

Sam Underwood is TPW’s Global Director of Programmes. Having joined in October 2018, Sam is currently responsible for leading TPW’s core global content, designed to facilitate strategic learning, connections and action.

Prior to joining TPW, Sam worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) researching and evaluating programmes in refugee camps seeking to prevent gender-based violence. Sam has a Master’s Degree in Human Rights from the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation in Venice, Italy.

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Lisa is one of three owners of the Pacific Investment Corporation, a family-owned real estate holdings and investment company. In addition to several governance roles in the family business, she leads the family foundation as President. The Wolverton Foundation is a Vancouver-based, private family foundation dedicated to elevating exposure to the arts and facilitating artistic programs for those children who would otherwise be excluded from these opportunities. It has facilitated granting with its longtime grantee partner, The Sarah McLachlan School of Music, by providing a permanent home for the school in East Vancouver for over ten years.

In addition to the family philanthropy, Lisa is an active philanthropist and impact investor. She also served on the Board of Directors of UNICEF Canada for six years and the Board of Director of Family Services of the North Shore. She is a former member of the President’s Council of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and resolving deadly conflict. She was also a mentor for the Loran Scholarship Foundation of Canada and currently sits on the Council of Advocates for the Freedom Fund, a UK trust that combats modern slavery. Lisa is also an Associate Member of Toniic, a global impact investing network.

In addition to her role as President of TPW Canada, Lisa was the former Chair of the board of The Philanthropy Workshop (UK and US boards) from 2019 – 2021.

An attorney by training, Tracy brings over 15 years’ experience advising individuals on their philanthropy and championing their causes. She led the Institute for Philanthropy’s successful merger with The Philanthropy Workshop West to create what is today The Philanthropy Workshop, with offices in the UK and US. She was named TPW’s Executive Vice President and then CEO before establishing her own advisory firm, Citizen Philanthropy, in 2017. In this capacity, she serves as senior advisor for global philanthropy networks and affluent, charitable families. Tracy’s chief responsibility is facilitating interactive learning journeys around the world for individuals who are seeking to be more effective in their roles as philanthropist, advocate and partner to organizations on the frontlines of social change. Previously, she served as senior officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, a $5 billion charitable institution based in Washington, DC, and helped launch its new offerings for philanthropists and foundations to collaborate on large-scale collaborative charitable initiatives.

Nadia is the Principal of Roumani Consulting LLC, a twenty-year consulting practice providing a range of services include strategic advising, facilitation, and program and workshop design. She has consulted for and facilitated design thinking and strategy workshops for foundations, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and businesses around the world, including in the Europe, Middle East, North and East Africa, and across North America.

Nadia is currently a Senior Designer with Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design’s (the d.school) Designing for Social Systems Program. At Stanford, Nadia focuses on helping philanthropists and nonprofit leaders become more strategic, creative and effective. She has co-designed a curriculum that integrates design thinking, systems thinking, and strategic planning to help organizations better scope the challenges they want to address by engaging end-users, increasing intra-organizational creativity, and incorporating radical collaboration

In 2015, Nadia co-Founded and Directed Stanford University’s Effective Philanthropy Learning Initiative (EPLI), which aims to help high net worth individuals increase their philanthropic impact. During her time with EPLI, she led several workshops and designed a series of donor-facing resources. She also founded and directed EPLI’s Financial Intermediaries Philanthropy Initiative, in which she conducted field-wide research, created and designed EPLI’s Wealth Advisors Philanthropy Toolkit, and designed and facilitated a sector-wide convening for financial institutions and donor advised funds to improve resources at the intersection of financial advising and philanthropy planning.

Prior to launching EPLI, Nadia was an inaugural d.school fellow in 2012, and in 2014 was named the Walter and Esther Hewlett Design Fellow with Stanford PACS. Nadia is a serial social entrepreneur. Over the past two decades she has launched several organizations and initiatives including the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) with Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz at Columbia University; the Women Leaders Intercultural Program with Ireland’s former President Mary Robinson; Global Policy Innovations Program at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (CCEIA); the Building Bridges Program at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; and the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI) at the University of Southern California.

Nadia received her BA in economics and international relations from Stanford University and her MA in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She currently serves on the boards of the El Hibri Foundation and KQED.