Judy began working with community organizing and social justice groups in Chicago in the 1980s, before serving as a public information officer and a regional director at Amnesty International USA, a development officer at the Center for Community Change, and an organizational consultant to scores of nonprofits around the country. She was executive director at the Environmental Support Center, and executive director of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America.
Judy was first introduced to philanthropy while on the staff of the Crossroads Fund. Later she led the national grantmaking program at the Funding Exchange and served on the boards of directors of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, the Black Philanthropic Alliance and other philanthropic institutions. She is currently vice-chair of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation.
Besides the Noyes Foundation board, Judy also serves on the boards of Commonweal (Bolinas, CA), and Coming Clean, Inc. A graduate of Northwestern University, Judy has certificates in nonprofit leadership from Naropa University, Rockwood Leadership Institute, and the East Bay Meditation Center.
Deputy Director at the Biodiversity Funders Group, Bill has primary responsibility for working with representatives of approximately 100 grantmaking institutions on global terrestrial and marine conservation issues. He staffs the Land & Freshwater Conservation Program, the Marine Conservation Program, and the Conservation Science Program. He also assists in planning and conducting briefings for grantmakers on a wide range of biodiversity conservation issues, including the Biodiversity Funders Group Annual Meeting. Prior to joining the Biodiversity Funders Group, Bill was a program manager at the Council of State Governments and held positions with the US government and the State of Utah. He has academic degrees in both natural resources management and business administration.
Paige Brown is the Program Director for the Climate and Energy Funders Group at Biodiversity Funders Group where she works with funders to facilitate collaboration and expand the field of climate and energy philanthropy. Paige Brown most recently served as the Senior Program Manager for the Natural Assets and Environmental Equity program at the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) where she focused on natural asset-based strategies that both improve environmental stewardship and promote economic development. Previously, she was the Climate Change Program Director at Redefining Progress (RP), where she led the successful effort to promote auctioning permits under trading, rather than giveaways. Before RP, Ms. Brown was a research analyst at the World Resources Institute, where she worked on incentive-based measures for biodiversity protection. Ms. Brown served as a lead author on an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the role of forests and land use change in climate change, which led to her receiving a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
Amanda received a dual M.A. in Latin American Studies and Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico. Before that, she spent four years in Colombia working with Peace Brigades International and Witness for Peace. Her Master’s thesis research focused on the social and environmental effects of the North American mining industry in a fragile wetland ecosystem in Colombia.
Albert holds a BA in Business Administration, is a Certified Public Accountant, and has recently graduated with a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. As a management and administration professional, he worked for over three years in public accounting providing auditing and tax services to numerous non-profit organizations. He also worked in corporate governance, investment management, and organizational development. As an international relations practitioner his focus was to develop and synthesize an understanding of the interdependencies of economic development, international politics, energy, human rights, and environment, with the purpose of shaping better policymaking and resource allocation.
Eglé is a biologist with 10 years experience in the design and management of collective impact initiatives. Before joining the Biodiversity Funders Group, she worked as Regional Coordinator at Fundación Ciudadanía Inteligente (FCI), where she led the transfer of advocacy abilities and tools to over 130 activists and decision makers in 10 Latin American countries through the School of Advocacy and LabCívico methodologies. Eglé also co-led the Kanan Kay Alliance, a multisectoral collaboration initiative that achieved official protection of 16,000 hectares of marine ecosystems in the Mexican Caribbean. She has worked as Organizational Development Coordinator in Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI) and as Program Officer at the Mesoamerican Reef Leadership Program. Eglé is an active member at the boards of COBI and FCI. She has special interest in sharing diversity, equity and inclusion good practices at her work spaces.
Alison Wright joins Biodiversity Funders Group’s team following consultancies with the Protectors Fund of RSF Social Finance and Tamalpais Trust. Alison previously worked as a consulting lawyer with Environmental Defender Law Center, and she served as a legal extern at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San José, Costa Rica. Alison began her career at Global Greengrants Fund, where she worked on the programs team for seven years; she has also worked with Fondo Acción Solidaria, a Mexico environmental and social justice grantmaking organization. Alison holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a JD from Seattle University School of Law.
Prior to joining Biodiversity Funders Group, Dina was engaged in program coordination, writing, and advocacy efforts with various nonprofit organizations including Career Ladders Project, Karuna Training, and the Pachamama Alliance. She holds an M.A. in International Human Rights with a concentrations in Sustainable Development and International Administration and Law from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and undergraduate degrees in Philosophy with a Peace and Conflict Studies certificate, and Environmental Policy and Assessment.
In her spare time, she serves on the board and volunteers for a San Francisco-based Korean Adoptee organization called AKASF, is a member of a progressive/radical Korean Adoptee activist group called “Rad KADs,” and is learning mindfulness practices for social and environmental justice activists through the East Bay Meditation Center’s Practice in Transformative Action training.
Gerald until recently concurrently worked as the facility manager/ webmaster with the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. He also spent several years as the webmaster for the Oakland Museum of California, as well as various roles with the City of Oakland. Prior to becoming interested in technology and design, Gerald had an over 20 year career in professional theater, including serving as the production manager for the University of Delaware’s Professional Theater Training Program, as well as the Oakland Ensemble Theater. He has a BA in Theater/Film production from Columbia College Chicago, and has done postgraduate work in Media Studies. He has recently been active in local politics, focusing particularly in the areas of affordable housing and mass transportation.
Megan joins the Biodiversity Funders Group following her work with a range of global and domestic NGO’s in both policy oriented and philanthropic roles focusing on strategic partnerships, programmatic preparedness and fund development. With a strong knowledge of environmental policy and international doctrines, Megan holds a master’s in Environment and Development from the University of Edinburgh as well as a bachelor’s in communication studies from the University of San Francisco. She has extensive experience working with foundations and individual donors as well as deep research on urban mobility in Indian megacities. Through her work, Megan continues to explore the inter-dependencies between pressing environmental concerns and present-day development pressures, especially as they relate to climate change and energy demand.