The GGPN draws advice, strategy and networks from the following Council of Advisors
Bruce Lowry, Skoll Foundation
Caroline Kronley, Tinker Foundation
Eli Sugarman, Hewlett Foundation
Emma Belcher, Ploughshares Fund
Irene Braam, Bertelsmann Foundation
Jeff Ubois
Jennifer Kitt, Climate Lead
Jon Bellish, Shuraako Capital / Cashmere Fund
Jonah Wittkamper, GGPN / NEXUS / AIC
Kate Landon, Ban Ki-moon Foundation
Kojo Annan, Kofi Annan Foundation
Matt Reeves, Aga Khan Foundation
Meg Caldwell
Nathalie Delapalme, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
Bruce Lowry, Skoll Foundation
Bruce Lowry oversees policy and global security work at the Skoll Foundation. A former diplomat, Bruce brings a policy lens to questions of scale, a key focus for all Skoll philanthropic activities. His remit includes, among other issues, nuclear proliferation, Middle East conflict, and emerging technology threats, as well as several initiatives in the climate sphere carried forward from the Skoll Global Threats Fund (SGTF). Bruce originally joined the Skoll Foundation in 2008 as communications director, then helped inaugural president Larry Brilliant launch SGTF in 2010, taking on a policy and advocacy role. Bruce ran the nuclear nonproliferation program and oversaw SGTF’s MidEast conflict work, while also playing a leading role in the launch of the Climate Advocacy Lab, SGTF’s primary climate effort which went independent in 2017. Bruce helped conceptualize and launch two funder collaboratives, Climate Nexus, on climate communication, and N Square, an initiative to bring new players into the nuclear nonproliferation sphere. While SGTF sunset at the end of 2017, Bruce is still on the advisory boards of all three efforts. Bruce also served for a period of time at SGTF’s interim president. Prior to joining Skoll, Bruce spent nearly a decade in the technology sphere with Oracle and Novell, largely in communications roles. He had a 14-year stint as a diplomat in the U.S. State Department, serving overseas in Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, and Italy, and in various economic roles in Washington, D.C., working on, among other issues, the G-7 process, Middle East peace, European regional issues, Ukraine, and nuclear safety. Bruce holds a B.A. in International Relations from Pomona College and a M.A. in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He’s a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and a Founding Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research. Bruce chairs the board of Cazadero Music Camp. A recovering French Horn player, he is now learning the Scottish smallpipes. He also enjoys playing low-key pickup soccer.
Caroline Kronley, Tinker Foundation
Caroline Kronley is the president of the Tinker Foundation, which funds civil society organizations in Latin America in the areas of governance, education, and natural resource management. Previously, she worked as the Managing Director for Strategy at the Rockefeller Foundation, leading development of new programmatic initiatives. Earlier in her career, she was a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners as well as Booz & Company where she served a broad range of clients on strategy and organizational performance. Caroline worked for a number of years in Mexico, where she oversaw strategic planning activities for a microfinance institution. In this role, she designed and led marketing, partnership, training, and program evaluation initiatives. Caroline graduated from Haverford College with a degree in History and a concentration in Latin American studies and holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Eli Sugarman, Hewlett Foundation
Eli Sugarman is Director of the Cyber Initiative at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. He leads a ten-year, $130 million grant-making effort that aims to build a more robust cybersecurity field and improve policy-making. He also serves on the Executive Board of the CyberPeace Institute and International Advisory Committee of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. Previously, he was a consultant and strategist to private sector and nonprofit leaders. From 2009 to 2014, Eli was senior director at an emerging markets advisory firm based in Washington, D.C., where he provided strategic counsel on international policy, regulatory, and business matters to clients globally. He has served as a foreign affairs officer at the U.S. Department of State, where he focused on international security issues. Eli regularly speaks and writes about cybersecurity, government surveillance, data privacy and internet governance in leading media outlets. A San Diego native and graduate of Middlebury College, he holds a J.D. from Stanford University Law School.
Emma Belcher, Ploughshares Fund
Emma Belcher is President of Ploughshares, a public foundation dedicated to reducing the threat of nuclear weapons. Under her leadership, Ploughshares builds and sustains the field of researchers, advocates, and policy experts working to prevent nuclear war and reduce global nuclear arsenals. Increasingly, that field-building treats nuclear danger as inseparable from the climate, technological, public-health, and democratic pressures that shape it — a through-line of initiatives Ploughshares helps lead, including Women Transforming Global Security (with The Elders and Horizon 2045) and the Nuclear Futures Fellowship. Before her 13 years in philanthropy, Emma built a career in government and international affairs, serving as a national security and international affairs advisor in Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, following earlier service as a public affairs officer at the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC. She went on to hold fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations and Harvard University’s Belfer Center and earned her doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is a frequent public commentator on nuclear risk, including a widely viewed TED talk, “3 Questions We Should Ask About Nuclear Weapons.”
Irene Braam, Bertelsmann Foundation
Irene Braam joined the Bertelsmann Foundation as executive director for North America in April 2016. She is also the first vice president and board director of the Bertelsmann Foundation Board of Directors. Irene is an experienced lawyer and media expert, and worked for over ten years with the Bertelsmann company. She began as director of government relations of the Brussels Liaison Office in 2005 and became senior vice president of government relations in September 2011. Irene developed, among other things, a European platform for global discussion about the digital transformation of the media world. The series was held in Brussels, Berlin, Madrid and London. Not only did she represent and position Bertelsmann’s interests in the EU, she also promoted Bertelsmann in other cultural and social events in Brussels, such as UFA Film nights, previews of Fremantle Media’s productions, exhibitions and public panel discussions. After studying law at Maastricht University, the Dutch native began her professional career in 1998 in the music industry. Irene was head of international, legal and business affairs at Naïve Records in Paris, in charge of business development for Midbar Tech Ltd. in Tel Aviv, and served as both director of public policy and government affairs, and director of legal and business affairs at the Universal Music Group in London and Brussels. Irene is a native speaker of Dutch, and also speaks English, German, French and some Spanish.
Jeff Ubois, Formerly with MacArthur Foundation
Jeff Ubois joined the MacArthur Foundation in 2011 to build what became the Discovery grants program, and has since worked in the Foundation’s American Democracy, Philanthropy, and 100&Change programs. Previous to his time at MacArthur, Jeff worked for organizations focused on digital media and innovation, including UC Berkeley’s School of Information Management and Systems, the Internet Archive, the Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision, and the Preserving Digital Public Television Project at Thirteen/WNET. In the 1990s, Jeff worked as a journalist covering new technology, and co-founded a Silicon Valley startup, Omniva, which was funded by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. Jeff attended New College in Sarasota, Florida for undergraduate studies, and as joint inventor, has five U.S. patents related to information management. Jeff is a frequent public speaker, and has published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Nation, First Monday, the Journal of Digital Information, and other journals, summarized at http://www.ubois.com. He currently serves on the boards of the Kahle/Austin Foundation, which supports access to digital information; Humanity 2050, which explores challenges of complexity and the human future; and QuestionCopyright.org, a Chicago-based organization supporting free culture and expression.
Jennifer Kitt, Climate Lead
Jennifer Kitt is the founding president of Climate Lead where she leads the organization as it builds a model to harness philanthropists’ interest, passion and generosity to increase philanthropic funding for the most profound challenge of our time. As an advisor to donors and a trusted strategic partner for organizations working to address the climate crisis, she is focused on building a community to bring new donors into the climate space to fund promising, far-reaching solutions. Jennifer brings more than 20 years of experience working with philanthropists, corporations and foundations to fund high-impact causes. She also brings decades of experience in community building, philanthropic collaboration and complex problem solving. Prior to joining CL, Jennifer was the chief development officer for Stanford University’s Medical Center Development, Stanford’s largest fundraising team with more than 140 staff focused on serving both the School of Medicine and the Stanford Health Care clinical system. At Stanford, Jennifer worked closely with distinguished faculty and University leaders, trustees and members of the Stanford Medicine boards. She helped grow fundraising during her 7+ years there from $150M annually to more than $300M annually for fundamental research, clinical research, and research and clinical buildings, including the new Stanford Hospital. Before Stanford, Jennifer served in senior management roles at UC Berkeley, including leading development programs for Parents, Reunions and Campaign Regions. Prior to working in higher education, she was a Senior Attorney for IBM, where she learned to think strategically, solve complex problems and build partnerships even in tough negotiations. Jennifer earned her doctor of jurisprudence and bachelor of science degrees at Georgetown University. Jennifer serves as a fundraising consultant to several faith organizations in the Episcopal diocese and Jewish congregations and is a board member at Synapse School in Menlo Park. As the mother of two boys, Jennifer is focused every day on the responsibility of our generation at this moment in time to heal planet Earth.
Jon Bellish, Shuraako Capital / Cashmere Fund
Jon Bellish is Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Shuraako Capital, a $34 million private investment platform supporting more than 125 companies across the Horn of Africa. He oversees institutional strategy, governance, and capital allocation for the fund, which operates in partnership with several Nordic development finance institutions and private impact investors. Jon joined Shuraako from One Earth Future Foundation, a $125 million operating foundation where he served for 14 years in senior leadership roles including Executive Director and COO. He led cross-portfolio strategy, governance, and risk management across East Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the United States and helped launch and transition multiple independent organizations. Shuraako was among the initiatives he helped lead and ultimately transition to independence. He serves as Board Chairman and Independent Trustee of the Cashmere Fund, an $18 million regulated Delaware statutory trust, and as a board member of Fundación Paz Sostenible in Bogotá, Colombia. Jon holds a J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and an M.B.A. from Millsaps College. He speaks fluent Spanish.
Jonah Wittkamper, GGPN / AIC / AIC
Jonah Wittkamper is Co-Founder and President of NEXUS, the Global Governance Philanthropy Network and the Amazon (rainforest) Investor Coalition (AIC). He was also the founder of the Healthy Democracy Coalition. The AIC unites investors, donors and corporate buyers to shift economies in the Amazon forest away from deforestation. NEXUS is a global movement of over 6000 young people from 70 countries dedicated to bridging communities of wealth and impact. The Healthy Democracy Coalition was a US national network of philanthropists and allies dedicated to cross partisan philanthropic learning and collaboration. These networks involve people from many of world’s most philanthropic families. Previously, Jonah served as the US Director of Search for Common Ground and was part of Distributive Networks Inc., where he helped to build the text messaging technology used by the 2008 Obama campaign. In 2000, Jonah co-founded the Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) to strengthen youth participation in global decision-making. As the organization grew it merged with TakingITGlobal to form the largest site on the internet dedicated to empowering young leaders, receiving two million hits per day. Earlier in his career, Jonah led an award winning student computing organization, founded two internet startups, and created a corporate social responsibility initiative in one of the world’s largest corporations. He has served as a Co-Founder, board member, or advisor to a number of organizations including Pioneers of Change, the ManyOne Foundation, the L. A. Jonas Foundation, the Millennial Action Project, the Shift Foundation, WISE (Wealthy Individuals – Social Entrepreneurs), and many others. He is an alumnus of Williams College and Camp Rising Sun.
Kate Landon, Ban Ki-moon Foundation
Kate Landon holds over twenty years of experience in nonprofit management and foundation roles, and is passionate about advancing gender, racial, and economic justice within philanthropy and for sustainable development. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation based in NYC, which advances the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement through mobilization of both existing and emerging leaders the U.S. and Americas, with a focus on women and youth. Previous roles include Executive Director of the New Haven/Leon Sister City Project and Vice President of Programs and Institutional Advancement at The New York Women’s Foundation. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Women First International Fund, which invests in women’s leadership in East Africa and India. She holds an M. P. A. in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at NYU and a B. A. in Sociology from Rutgers College.
Kojo Annan, Kofi Annan Foundation
Kojo Annan is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and public speaker with an extensive global network and a strong track record of building businesses across international markets. He is the Principal of Vector Global, a family office anchored in two pillars: a regional focus within West Africa and a global interest in innovation, lifestyle, and wellbeing. Guided by the conviction that excellence and unity are the cornerstones of Africa’s future, his work spans infrastructure, technology, sport, and culture. Kojo is the Chairman & Co-Founder of Boardroom One (B1), a sovereign communications platform purpose-built for governments and regulated public institutions. Operating at the intersection of digital sovereignty, national security, and govtech, B1 replaces foreign-jurisdiction cloud infrastructure with nationally controlled communications systems — addressing a structural shift now underway across 60+ governments worldwide. B1 has advanced through national-level architecture reviews and is targeting sovereign pilot deployments in 2026. He is the Chairman & Co-Founder of A10 — a purpose with a brand. A10 is a football-inspired sport and lifestyle brand with a mission to level the playing field for Africa’s youth through curated competition, world-class training, and leadership development. With bold goals to become the #1 African global football brand by 2030 and the #1 African global sport brand by 2036, A10 is backed by former Nike and Jordan Brand design leaders and is already active across Ghana, Nigeria, and beyond. The commercial brand funds the A10 Foundation, which is targeting 1,000 coaches, 1,000 pitches, 10 Centres of Excellence, and 500 scholarships across the continent over 10 years. Kojo is also the Chairman & Co-Founder of Made in Africa (MIA), a luxury group that bridges African high culture with global audiences, led by a team with over 100 years of combined experience in retail, distribution, and fashion. Most notably, in 2002, Kojo co-founded Meridian Port Services (MPS) in partnership with the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority, Bolloré, and Maersk (APM Terminals). MPS is a multibillion-dollar container terminal in Tema, Ghana — the most efficient and technologically advanced port in sub-Saharan Africa — which has created thousands of jobs and completed a $1.5 billion IFC-led financing round. A board member of the Kofi Annan Foundation, Kojo carries forward his father’s legacy through governance, advocacy, and a lifelong commitment to human dignity and global equity. He is a sought-after voice on Africa’s transformation and has delivered keynote addresses at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the UN General Assembly, Caux, and Murdoch University. He has served on the Advisory Board of the Global Institute for Sports and previously served as President of Vevey FC in Switzerland from 2000 to 2004. He holds degrees in Economics and Political Science, is fluent in French and English, and proficient in Yoruba. Kojo is based in Accra, Ghana, with his wife Shanthi and their three children. He is the proud son of the late Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, and a champion of his father’s legacy. Together, let’s leave no one behind.
Matt Reeves, Aga Khan Foundation
Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Matt Reeves is the Aga Khan Foundation’s Global Lead for Civil Society. He has been with the Foundation for over four years. Matt has worked with Pact leading its global capacity development practice and has over 15 years of experience supporting the design, implementation and measurement of civil society strengthening initiatives in over 20 countries. Matt holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Bristol and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He has taught graduate level courses in designing and managing development projects and multi-stakeholder facilitation.
Meg Caldwell, Formerly with the Packard Foundation
Meg Caldwell joined the Packard Foundation’s Conservation and Science program in April 2015 as Deputy Director, Oceans. She retired in 2025. She led the Oceans team where she managed growth in the scale and ambition of their oceans-related grantmaking, provided strategic direction across our subprograms, fostered the increasingly team-oriented approach to this work, and helped to amplify the work of our Foundation and our grantees as a thought leader on ocean conservation issues. Prior to joining the Foundation, Meg directed the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at Stanford Law School. While at Stanford, she also served as the Executive Director of the Center for Ocean Solutions (COS). Meg played a critical role in the creation of COS and led the organization in the development of a Pacific Ocean-wide assessment of the major threats to marine and coastal ecosystems, along with the communities that depend on them—the first assessment of its kind. She also served as a Senior Consultant to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. The Commission ultimately adopted a majority of the recommendations for regulatory reform that were developed by COS. Meg served on the California Coastal Commission from 2004-2007 and 2009-2012, including two years as its chairperson, during which time she also served on the board of the California Coastal Conservancy. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1994, Meg was an instructor at San Jose State University; an associate in the environmental law group of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen; and a Policy Analyst with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco. Meg holds a Bachelor’s in Science in business administration (with an emphasis on economic analysis and policy) from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Nathalie Delapalme, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
Nathalie Delapalme is Executive Director of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. She was previously a French senior civil servant. Her most recent position was Inspecteur General des Finances at the Ministry of Economy and Finance between 2007 and 2010. Prior to this, Nathalie served the French Government as an advisor for Africa and Development in the offices of various Foreign Affairs Ministers, between 1995-1997 and 2002-2007. She also served the French Senate as advisor for the Finance and Budgetary Commission, where she assessed fiscal and public expenditures and policies between 1984-1995 and 1997-2002. She sits on the Board of IFRI (Institut Francais des Relations Internationales). Nathalie is the recipient of a number of awards and honours. She is Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.