Governance

Biography

Rana has more than twenty years of experience in business and non-profit sectors. She currently serves as the Secretary General of the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV). Prior to TUSEV, Rana was the Director of Programs and International Relations at the Sabanci Foundation. Rana is a board member of BCSDN. She served as Governing Council member of EFC from 2013 to 2017 and as National Advisory Group member of TACSO from 2014 to 2017. She is a contributor to Alliance Magazine. She earned a BS in Business Administration from Bosphorus University and an MBA from Yale School of Management.

Biography

Degree and PhD in theoretical physics. After earning a Master’s Degree in Economics he worked supporting research groups in attracting and managing competitive funds at EU level. He also worked for the Italian National Agency for Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes and as Innovation Manager. Alberto has gained many years of experience in the non-profit sector, in particular in the fair trade movement. He joined Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation in 2013 and was appointed Secretary General on 27 July 2018. He is board member of Collegio Carlo Alberto, REAM sgr, EASSH

Biography

Rosa Gallego is Director for International Relations and Community Foundations at the Spanish Association of Foundations (AEF). Since September 2020, she is in the lead of the programme to support the creation of community foundations, in collaboration with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and Daniel&Nina Carasso Foundation. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Candid. She is also part of The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society’s Senior International Fellows Program. Between 2015 and 2020 she has been a member of the Board of Directors of WINGS and, from 2009 to 2017, she chaired Dafne. Previously to the foundation sector, she worked in the education field at the American Field Service in Spain and UK and in responsible tourism as Secretary-General at International Young NatureFriends in Brussels. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Complutense University and an Advanced Management Programme from Esade Business School. She studied International Business at the Hanzehogeschool in Groningen (Netherlands) as an Erasmus grantee.

Biography

Ida Kenny serves as Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships,at the European Climate Foundation (ECF). She has dedicated most of her career to building sustainable and well-funded organisations deand her professional experience spans climate, adaptation and bio-diversity, higher education and human rights. Prior to joining ECF in 2018, Ida was Director of Philanthropic Partnerships at Open Society Foundations. She also served in a variety of roles at INSEAD. Ida speaks English and French and she earned her MA and BA in her native Dublin, back in the day. Most of all Ida enjoys etching and printmaking when time allows.

Biography

Jean-Marc Pautras joined the Centre Français des Fonds et Fondations, the French national association of foundations, as CEO in June 2019. He was the managing director of the non profit department between 2004 and 2019 at the French bank Crédit Coopératif, leader of the non profit sector in France. He was Deputy director of Admical from 1997 to 2004. He is also teaching sponsorship courses at Nanterre University. Jean-Marc is a board member of several associations : Territoires de Musiques / Eurockéennes de Belfort (former President during 6 years), ESS France, Associations des anciens du CHEE / ENA. Jean-Marc studied Economics at the University of Reims, and Hasselt (Erasmus) and passed the « cycle des hautes études européennes» diploma of l’ENA (The French National Administration School).

Biography

Since 2008 Ms. Thöm has been the legal advisor of the Volkswagen Foundation. She heads the unit for Legal Affairs and Policy, Cooperation with Foundations and Associations. In addition, she functions as a member of the executive boards of two smaller Foundations. After completing her studies in jurisprudence at universities in Jena and Berlin, Ms. Thöm started her professional career as legal advisor at the European department of a social security benefits office for the building industry. After that, she worked as the deputy head of the legal department in the office of a district administration. Photo credit: Philip Bartz

Biography

Nevgül Bilsel Safkan graduated from the Austrian High School in 1989, the İstanbul University School of Business Department of Business Administration in 1993, and the Boğaziçi University Executive MBA Program in 2003.

Starting her career as an auditor at Arthur Andersen, she worked in the CFO and General Manager positions for leading companies. Spending 11 years of her career with the Sabancı Group, Nevgül Bilsel Safkan started to work as the General Manager of Sabancı Foundation in September 2018. She is also the Vice President of the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TÜSEV) and a member of the Executive Board of the Education Reform Initiative (ERG). In 2021, she was granted the title of Zero Project Ambassador for a period of 4 years by the Essl Foundation which is based in Austria and works globally on disability rights.

Nevgül Bilsel Safkan is married with one child.

Biography

Silke joined the Robert Bosch Stiftung as Senior Manager to the Board of Management in 2017, working closely with the boards on strategic realignments and governance of the foundation. In her current role, which she moved on to in 2021, she is responsible for international philanthropy and sustainability within the future issues and foundation development team that reports directly to the CEO. She monitors trends and debates within philanthropy in their relevance for the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the role the foundation plays in shaping the sector. Together with the programme teams, Silke aims to further develop the foundation’s grantmaking practices. She’s also coordinating the foundation’s activities to reduce its carbon footprint. Before joining the Robert Bosch Stiftung, Silke has been working for the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in London and Stockholm.

Biography

Educated as banker and lawyer, international development specialist with a Master of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a doctorate in International Studies from the Graduate Institute Geneva, Matthias has worked in multiple UN organizations, led the Geneva Advocacy work of Amnesty International, and build up the Europe Office of a major US education non-for profit. Matthias also teaches international relations and serves on several boards. Currently he leads Global Innovative Partnerships at the Lutheran World Federation, a major international faith-based actor, and builds finance innovations and created a new foundation separate from LWF but financed by it, the Stiftung Olivenzweig.

Biography

Daniela Castagno joined in 2010 Fondazione CON IL SUD, where she is in charge of Institutional and Philanthropic Partnerships: greater impact can be achieved by building collaborations with other national and international organisations, foundations, CSOs, NGOs.

Daniela moved to the philanthropy sector after living and working for over ten years in different Middle Eastern countries as a development expert for international organizations (UN, EU, ILO, Italian MoFA). She worked with civil society organisations, local and international institutions, and other funders on human development programmes and debt-for-aid swaps.

Graduated in Economics from Turin University, she studied at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce e Technologie de Toulon, and she holds a MSc in Development Studies from SOAS – University of London. In 2020 she was a Senior Fellow at the Centre on Philanthropy and Civil Society at the City University of New York.

Biography

Madeleine Clarke is founder of Genio, which manages philanthropic and public funding and provides capacity-building for scaling successful citizen-centred innovations – social and environmental. Genio works at national and EU levels and is a trusted partner of government agencies, EU institutions and international foundations. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the ESF Social innovation + Initiative; chairs the Steering Group for the establishment of a National Centre for Social Innovation in Ireland; and is on the Steering Committee for the King Baudouin Foundation’s European Programme. Madeleine has been Chairperson of the European Venture Philanthropy Association, Board Director of Social Venture Partners International, and was the Inaugural Chairperson of the Children’s Rights Alliance in Ireland. Previously Madeleine held a number of leadership roles as a professional psychologist, manager, and consultant to philanthropic, government and social service providing organisations. She holds an M.A. Psychology, and M.Sc. [Econ.]

Biography

Kalle Korhonen is Director of Funding at Kone Foundation, one of the biggest private grantmaking foundations in Finland. He is responsible for all the grants awarded by the foundation, which supports humanities, social sciences, and environmental research, as well as all fields of art, including artistic research.

Korhonen’s background is in cross-disciplinary academic research. His PhD, from 2003, combines historical and linguistic approaches to the cultural heritage of Greco-Roman Sicily. Afterwards, he has collaborated with biologists in looking at the diversification of languages from an evolutionary perspective. He was University Lecturer in Classics at the University of Helsinki from 2007 until 2012.

At Kone Foundation, Korhonen started in 2012 as Head (later Director) of Research Funding. Since January 2021 he has been responsible for art funding, too. This line of work is compatible with his long-time interest and networks in contemporary art, especially visual arts, performing arts, and music.

Biography

Shannon Lawder directs the Mott Foundation’s Civil Society program. Based in the London office, she provides overall guidance for Civil Society grantmaking in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the United States. Lawder joined the Foundation’s office in Prague in 1995 as a program officer responsible for grantmaking in Russia and Ukraine. She subsequently served as regional director for Central and Eastern Europe until she was promoted to program director in 2008. She also managed a grant portfolio focusing on improving the effectiveness of global philanthropy and non-profit support organisations. Prior to joining Mott, Lawder was international program director at the Olga Havel Foundation in Prague. Lawder has served on the Governing Council of the European Foundation Centre and the boards of WINGS and the Alliance Publishing Trust, and she is currently a board member of the Global Greengrants Fund.

Biography

Regional Director Europe at Porticus (2017-today). Professional in philanthropy, civil society support, analyst, author, former Minister of Education.

Worked with Václav Havel’s Forum 2000 Foundation, then as adviser on social cohesion in the European Parliament. Later became a Member of Czech Parliament and of the Government as the Minister of Education (2006-2010). He worked as analyst at Glopolis (Prague Global Policy Institute) and as advisor on advocacy to Open Society Foundations (inclusive education). 2014-2017 he focused on supporting changemakers in CEE with Ashoka, world largest network of social entrepreneurs. Founder of several initiatives and CSO‘s. Graduated in Political Science and Comparative Studies of Religions. Lectured around Europe and Asia on education, civil society, transitions to democracy, green economy and human rights. In 2017 joined the global philanthropic entity Porticus as Regional Director for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, since 2020 acting as Regional Director for Europe.

Biography

With more than 17 years of experience at ONCE Foundation, where she is currently in charge of Alliances, Social and International Relations. She holds a Law Degree, a Master in Management of Foundations and other non-profit entities and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from IESE Business School.

After working for the public as a consultant, she assumed different positions to promote inclusion and equal opportunities mainly for people with disabilities, but also regarding the monitoring and promotion of policies and regulations to guarantee the Rights and Economic sustainability of the Disability, Foundation, Social Economy Sectors at national and European level.

Among her responsibilities, she develops strategic projects in the field of social innovation and promotes relationships and alliances with legal operators, social providers, international organization, public institution and social investment platforms.

Willing to take the potential of philanthropy to a higher level and tackle the difficult challenges we are facing, she is committed to share her expertise, promote mutual peer-learning and enhance the benefits of transnational cooperation.

Biography

Jesper Nygård is the CEO of Realdania (since 2073}, a private member based philanthropic association in Denmark, with 775,000+ members, which supports philanthropic projects in field of the built environment and sustainability.

Realdania’s philanthropic focus is on addressing some of society’s major problems through agenda setting initiatives. Realdania works problem driven and its mission is to improve the quality of life through the built environment. Primary in Denmark.

Realdania has since 2000 in average, yearly given out about 735 M€ in philanthropic grants and is amongst the top 5 philanthropic associations/foundations in Denmark.

Jesper is also a member of several boards/committees including Ph ilea member Danish Foundations’ Knowledge Center (Chairman), The Danish Management Society and C40. Jesper is a skilled moderator and active public debater both nationally and internationally, where Jesper advocates for co-creation, building trust, working with complex societal problems, e.g. climate solutions.

Jesper is married to Tine and they’ve two girls.

Biography

Director of the National Foundation for Civil Society Development (NFCSD) since 2003, the NFCSD is a public foundation (with independent management structure) with the main purpose of supporting development of organised civil society in Croatia. In the NFCSD there are 102 employees working in the Foundation’s Headquarter in Zagreb and in regional offices in Osijek, Rijeka i Split as well as in IMPACT – European Center for Cross-Sector partnerships for Sustainable Development in Zadar.

Prior to start working in the NFCSD Cvjetana was first Head of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGO from 1983 till 2003. Before that Cvjetana was a civil servant as Head of Department for Humanitarian Assistance in the Government Office for Victims of War and from 1984-1993, was Community Organizer in one local community in Zagreb with 5.000 inhabitants (organising programmes for children and youth, women, elderly, environment protection etc). As a student Cvjetana established and worked in few youth and cultural civil society organisations.

Biography

Franz Karl currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Management Board of ERSTE Foundation and the Savings Bank Group in Austria. Before this he was a member of the Management Board of ERSTE Foundation where he also served as CEO and Chairman. Franz Karl joined ERSTE Foundation in 2005 as Programme Director for Social Development, building and directing support to social service CSOs in Central and South-Eastern Europe as well as developing the social business and impact investment activities of ERSTE Foundation.

Prior to 2005 Franz Karl held various positions in Caritas Austria (1988-2005), where he last served as Secretary General in charge of International Programmes from 1996 to 2005.

Franz Karl holds a BA in International Studies from Webster University, St. Louis/USA and a Master of Science degree in Development Management from the Open University in England.

Franz Karl serves as Deputy-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Zweite Sparkasse in Austria and on the Supervisory Board of Banca Comerciale Romania Social Finance, a microfinance institute in Romania.

Biography

Alina sees herself as a strategist and a builder of architecture for change, on the basis of 25 years as a leader, researcher and consultant in the non-profit and philanthropy development sectors.

Since 2018, she has been the Executive President of APT and director of the INSPIRE program. INSPIRE offers knowledge and facilitation of communities of practice internationally, including through the Thinkfrastructure annual conference. The aim is to enable the leaders of new community foundations support systems in Africa, Europe and Latin America to discover opportunities and assets and maximize the impact and performance in an increasingly dynamic and demanding context.

Between 2005-2017, Alina served as the development director of ARC, a leading national philanthropy support organization in Romania. Alina was responsible for its strategic and impact design, and later led two innovative programs that helped shape philanthropy infrastructure in Romania & CEE.

Biography

Marion serves as Managing Director of Fondation CHANEL France & Europe, a corporate foundation striving for the creation of the condition for women and girls to be free to shape their own destiny.

With 17 years of professional experience, I have designed and deployed in Europe, Middle East and South America, many projects focused on improving the economic development, social and education of women and girls and the protection of women’s rights within different organizations (UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA and NGOs) living in France, Ecuador, Colombia and Egypt.

Prior to joining Fondation CHANEL, Marion co-founded and served as Managing Director of the umbrella association “Excision parlons-en!” to protect women from sexual and gender-based violence and fight against harmful traditional practices through the creation of a network of knowledge/expertise sharing and of advocacy contents.

Committed to elevating and amplifying the voices of young leaders, Marion launched two national campaigns against Female Genital Mutilations to protect and involve adolescent girls. Marion won the 2018 Femmes En Vue competition – voxfemina.

Biography

Stefano Viglione is the Head of President’s Office, external relations and communications officer and studies and research office coordinator at Fondazione CRC. Throughout the last twenty-three years, his interest in the community brought him to fulfil several roles in public administration. His acts include ten years as mayor and thirteen years of engagement with the Province of Cuneo and as town councillor.

At twenty-one years of age, following a car accident, Stefano was forced on a wheelchair. His disability has never defined his life, rather it let him grow his passions further and pursue his goals. Indeed, he keeps practicing his best-loved sport – skiing – as a retired athlete. Stefano describes himself as a citizen of the world given his upbringing between Italy and the UK, where his mother was from. As an enrichment of his cultural baggage, he counts many experiences abroad during his academic years. Lastly, although most importantly, Stefano is a proud husband and father.