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Who We Are:

Experts


Our Experts: Innovation and Experience in Action

Experts

Experts By Issue Area

Global Health   
Energy & Climate 
U.S.-UN Relations  
Women & Population   

 

The UN Foundation works on a diverse portfolio of issues including global health, energy and climate, women and population, and U.S.-UN relations.

For more information on our experts or to arrange for an interview with them, please email press@unfoundation.org.  

 

GLOBAL HEALTH

 

Devi Ramachandran Thomas

Director, Shot@Life
Devi Ramachandran Thomas joined the UN Foundation in May 2011 as Director of Shot@Life, to manage the campaign and oversee the daily programmatic, communications, marketing, and fundraising needs of the campaign.

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Kevin Starace

Executive Director, Global Health Innovation
Kevin Starace, Executive Director, Global Health Innovation, specializes in private sector partnerships, global health policy and strategy and development finance at the United Nations Foundation.

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Anita Sharma

Senior Director, Millennium Development Goals Initiatives
Anita Sharma is the Senior Director of Millennium Development Goals Initiatives at the United Nations Foundation.

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Radha Muthiah

Executive Director, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
Radha Muthiah is Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, where she leads efforts to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.

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Christopher Helfrich

Director, Nothing But Nets
Christopher Helfrich is the Director of the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets, a global, grassroots campaign to raise awareness and funding to fight malaria, a leading cause of death among children in Africa.

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Elizabeth (McKee) Gore

Vice President, Global Partnerships
Elizabeth Gore is the Vice President of Global Partnerships for the United Nations Foundation, currently managing partnership and cause marketing strategies implemented in programs and campaigns of the United Nations.

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Andrea Gay

Executive Director of Children's Health
Andrea Gay is the Executive Director of Children's Health at the United Nations Foundation, where she oversees projects to improve the survival and health of children in developing countries, particularly those under five years of age. She joined the UN Foundation when it was created in 1998.

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ENERGY & CLIMATE 

 

Mohamed T. El-Ashry

Senior Fellow
Mohamed T. El-Ashry is Senior Fellow with the UN Foundation and Facilitator of the Global Leadership for Climate Action (GLCA) which he organized in 2007. Its membership includes 13 former Presidents and Prime-Ministers and 12 other global leaders.

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Melinda L. Kimble

Senior Vice President
Melinda Kimble is a Senior Vice President, overseeing our International Bioenergy Initiative. She joined the UN Foundation in May 2000.

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Richenda Van Leeuwen

Executive Director, Energy and Climate, Energy Access Initiative
Richenda Van Leeuwen is Executive Director, Energy and Climate, Energy Access Initiative, overseeing the UN Foundation's work on energy access. She joined the UN Foundation in 2010 from Good Energies, a global renewable energy investment company. A sought out speaker on energy access and poverty issues, she has over 20 years of executive management experience with the UN, private sector and non-profits on several continents.

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Mark Hopkins

International Energy Efficiency Director
Mark is an internationally recognized expert in energy efficiency, with more than 30 years of experience in policy and program development. He is the former Executive Vice President of the Alliance to Save Energy, where he developed an international program that helped to improve energy efficiency in 20 transitional and developing countries.

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Leslie Cordes

Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships
Leslie Black Cordes is Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships for the Foundation where she is responsible for developing new relationships with the philanthropic, international donors, and private sector communities. She previously held positions with the Environmental Protection Agency, the non-profit Alliance to Save Energy, the US Agency for International Development, and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

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Reid Detchon

Vice President for Energy and Climate
Reid Detchon is the Vice President for Energy and Climate at the United Nations Foundation. He is also the Executive Director of the Energy Future Coalition, a broad-based non-partisan public policy initiative supported by the UN Foundation that seeks to bring about change in U.S. energy policy.

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U.S.-UN RELATIONS

 

Peter Yeo

Vice President for Public Policy
Peter Yeo joined the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Campaign in February 2009 with over twenty years of legislative, analytical, and management experience, including senior roles on Capitol Hill and in the State Department.

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Gillian Sorensen

Senior Advisor and National Advocate
Gillian Martin Sorensen, Senior Advisor at the United Nations Foundation is a national advocate on matters related to the United Nations and the United States-United Nations relationship, addressing audiences as diverse as Rotary International and the Air Force Academy; university students; staff and Members of Congress; journalists and leaders of civil society.

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Susan Myers

Vice President, UN Relations
Susan Myers is the UN Foundation's Vice President for UN relations. Ms. Myers has served as Executive Director of the New York office of the United Nations Foundation since 2000. As a member of the Foundation's leadership team, she provides overall guidance and participates in the development of long-term strategy for the organization.

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Robert Skinner

Associate Director, New York Office
Robert Skinner is the UN Foundation's Associate Director of the New York Office. In this role, he assists in managing daily operations and activities of New York staff in conjunction with the Washington, DC office.

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Patrick Madden

Executive Director, UNA-USA
Patrick Madden was named Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America in February 2011.

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WOMEN & POPULATION

 

Dr. Alaka Basu

Senior Fellow, Reproductive Health
Dr. Alaka Basu is a social demographer with strong interests in public health. Dr. Basu has published widely in the areas of reproductive health and family planning, gender and development, child health and mortality, and the context and politics of population policy.

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Maureen Greenwood-Basken

Executive Director
Maureen Greenwood-Basken is the Executive Director of the Universal Access Project and the Director of Policy Initiatives in the Women and Population Program of the United Nations Foundation. The Universal Access Project works to achieve universal access to reproductive health, which leads to healthier women, stronger families, and more stable, prosperous communities.

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Seema Jalan

Director, Universal Access Project & Policy
Seema Jalan is Director of the Universal Access Project and Policy, Women and Population, at the United Nations Foundation. In this role, she leads the strategic and business planning processes for the initiative and oversees the management of the U.S. policy angles.

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Mayra Buvinic

Senior Fellow, Womens Economic Empowerment
Mayra Buvinic, an internationally recognized expert on gender and development and social development, is a Senior Fellow both with the UN Foundation and Vital Voices.

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Kathy Calvin

President and Chief Executive Officer
Kathy Calvin is President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation. Her career has spanned work in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. She is a passionate advocate for multi-sector problem-solving, U.S. leadership on global issues, and the inclusion of women at all levels and in all sectors.

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Emily Courey Pryor

Senior Director
Emily Courey Pryor is the Senior Director of Women and Girls Initiatives for the Women and Population team at the UN Foundation.

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SPECIAL ADVISORS

 

John W. McArthur

Senior Fellow
John W. McArthur is an international development economist and Senior Fellow with the UN Foundation.

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CAMPAIGNS & INITIATIVES