Governance

Biography

Àngel Font i Vidal holds a PhD in Economics (Barcelona Ramon Llull University) and a Degree in Chemistry (Barcelona University). He also has a diploma in Business Management from EADA. He began his career as environmental engineer, and subsequently joined Intermón Oxfam where he held different management positions, first in programs serving as Latin America Desk Officer and after as a Deputy Director, where he was liaison officer with Oxfam, and strategic planning manager. He funded the Un Sol Món (One World) Foundation financed by Caixa Catalunya, where he runs job placement, social entrepreneurship, and social housing and microfinance projects. In 2010 he joined the “la Caixa” Foundation, in different management positions. Currently is the Corporate Director of the CaixaResearch Institute and Research and Health in Portugal. In May 2020 he assumed the Presidency of Philea on behalf of the “la Caixa” Foundation.

Biography

Carola Carazzone is Secretary General of Assifero, the Italian membership association of family, corporate and community foundations, since 2014. She also serves as Advisory Board member of Ariadne, ECFI (European Community Foundations Initiative), Alliance Magazine Editorial Board, the PCC Philanthropy Coalition for Climate, and of Ashoka Italy. Carola moved to the philanthropy sector after fifteen-year professional experience in human rights based approaches to development programs across 18 countries. She worked with civil society organizations for the promotion and protection of human rights (especially social and economic rights, child rights, rights of persons with disabilities and gender equality), at both national and international level. She is an Italian lawyer specialized in human rights at the René Cassin International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg and holds and International Master in Development Economics and International Cooperation from the University of Pavia. In 2017 she was a Senior Fellow with the Centre on Philanthropy and Civil Society at the City University of New York.

Biography

Christina Lambropoulou is the Chief Financial Officer of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, responsible for the oversight of all the financial activities of the Foundation. She has been with the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation since 2009. Prior to joining, Mrs. Lambropoulou was employed in the retail banking division of Citibank in Greece where she has served for 24 years. During her period of employment with Citibank she has served in a number of capacities in the areas of Financial Control, Marketing, Product Development, Sales and Distribution Management. In her last role with Citi she was the Head of Wealth Management and Distribution, responsible for the development and sales of Deposit, Investment and Insurance products as well as the management of Citi’s branch network and alternative sales channels. Mrs. Lambropoulou holds a BA degree in Applied Mathematics and Operations Research from Harvard University.

Biography

Axelle Davezac spent 15 years of her career in various large industrial groups, as chief financial officer. Then she decided to join the philanthropy sector as CEO of the ARC Foundation for cancer research (2005-2016). She was also treasurer of Comité de la Charte (2006-2012) and Board director of both Institute of Managers associations and foundations (IDAF) and Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire de Strasbourg (2011-2016). She has been a member of the board of directors of the French Foundation Center (CFF), from 2015 to 2021. In September 2016, Axelle Davezac joined Fondation de France as CEO and became vice-president of France générosités (union of the charity organizations in France), a mandate that had already been entrusted to her from 2007 to 2013. In 2019, she became Vice-President of the European Foundation Centre (EFC) and now sits on the Board of Directors of Philea and the Board of Alliance Publishing Trust.

Biography

Secretary-general (since 2012) and Secretary to the Board (since 2005). Rui Esgaio joined the Gulbenkian Foundation in 1999 as advisor to the Office of the President, becoming Director of this Office in May 2001 (until 2015). Graduating in Economics from the Catholic University of Portugal and with a post-graduate qualifications in Development and International Cooperation and in Financial Analysis. Also made the Advanced Management Program of INSEAD in 2013. He began his professional career under the auspices of the project “Building the Competitive Advantages of Portugal”, run by Harvard Professor Michael Porter, having also held the post of Assistant to the Secretary of State for Agro-food Production before later serving as Assistant to the Secretary of State for Agricultural Markets and Agro-food Quality.

Biography

Dr. Hedin is the CEO of Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. She received an MA in American History from the University of Notre Dame, USA in 1990, and a PhD in history from Stockholm University in 2002. Previously a Museum Director, she has worked at the Nobel Museum, the Vasa Museum and the Uppsala University Museum. Dr Hedin’s own writings has dealt with Swedish liberalism, the history of the Nobel prizes, the history of science, and various aspects of public history. She has also worked with public history in radio and on TV, programme committees and numerous conferences and symposia. Dr Hedin was appointed Life Member of Clare Hall College (Cambridge University) in 2006 and received an Honorary Doctorate in Technology from Uppsala University in 2012. She has served on several Museum Boards nationally and internationally, and is currently on the Board of Philea.

Biography

Carol Mack is CEO of the Association of Charitable Foundations, the UK’s membership association for foundations and grant-making charities. ACF’s mission is to support foundations to be ambitious and effective in the way that they use their resources for social good. Chair of the Wales Funders Forum, Carol’s previous roles include working at the charity regulator, in a grassroots mediation charity, and in business. She was a founding trustee of the National Emergencies Trust and Vice Chair of Tree Aid. In her spare time, she enjoys learning Welsh in order to keep up with her bilingual daughters.