WOMEN FUNDING SOCIAL IMPACT
It really is all about the company you keep. And why.
Women form relationships with those we admire and trust—we just don't have time to waste. Here you'll find expertise in one place. Catalytic Women keeps the very best company.
Catalytic Women is a consortium of philanthropy professionals who bring practical experience to helping individuals, companies and foundations create giving strategies for maximum impact in their communities and world.
Advisors to Catalytic Women offer a breadth and depth of experience unparalleled in philanthropic advising. Their talents and insights are an integral part of our work, and an essential component of programs of unparalleled quality and client service that is highly personalized.
As Managing Partner of Wealth Legacy Group, Ms. Bouchard is a specialist in building strong, lasting relationships among stepfamilies. For over 20 years Emily has worked with children, individuals and couples, focusing since 2004 on helping them build skills to overcome significant challenges of wealth and blended families. In 2003, she founded Blended-Families, LLC, where expert coaches make a positive difference in the lives of thousands of families. A leading expert in the field, Emily has been featured on numerous TV and Radio shows including The Today Show and NPR, and has been quoted in print around the world, in publications such as Newsweek and The New York Times.
Ms. Bouchard earned a B.A. with honors in the Psychological and Sociological Development of the Child from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington. Along with her coaching practice, she has authored several ebooks and speaks on issues related to wealth psychology. Her book, co-authored with Paul Hood, entitled Estate Planning for the Blended Family (Self-Counsel Press) will be released in April 2012.
Mr. Guglielmo is a nationally recognized business-owner advisor, speaker and author. His 20+ years of experience helping business owners to leverage the value of their business to protect family and dreams have established him as a trusted advisor to his clients, their families, and their attorneys, accountants and other advisors. His advocacy of business owners led him to co-found The Owner’s Academy based at Babson College and The Exit Planning Exchange, which are supported by both business owners and professional advisors across the U.S.
Having begun his professional career at the Securities and Exchange Commission as a Finance Attorney, Mr. Guglielmo later became a tax attorney, earning a reputation for his holistic and creative approach to strategic wealth transfer planning. He received a BA from Colorado College, a Juris Doctorate from Arizona State College of Law and studied for his LL.M. in Taxation at Boston University.
Ms. Hamilton is a founder of InKnowVision, a multi-disciplinary, advanced planning team and processing office dedicated to serving professional advisors and their high net worth clients. InKnowVision serves boutique firms whose individual clients' net worth exceeds $20M, requiring advanced estate planning and complex tax planning.
As a consultant, Ms. Hamilton coaches estate planning attorneys, RIA firms and CPAs on how best to introduce advanced estate and tax planning services to their sophisticated, busy clientele. She employs a four-step process to help planners guide families of wealth more holistically, gaining clarity with planning goals. Ms. Hamilton and her talented team have provided for over $1B in current and future charitable gifts for over 900 families across the country.
Dennis Jaffe is a professor of organizational systems and psychology at Saybrook University in San Francisco, and an advisor to families about family business, governance, wealth and philanthropy. His most recent book, Stewardship in your Family Enterprise: Developing Responsible Family Leadership Across Generations, is proudly listed by Catalytic Women in our members-only library as a resource.
Dr. Jaffe has co-authored Working With the Ones You Love: Building a Successful Family Business, Working With Family Businesses: A Guide for Professional Advisors, as well as management books Rekindling Commitment, Getting Your Organization to Change and Take this Work and Love It, and more than a hundred management articles. In 2005 Dr. Jaffe was awarded the Beckhard Award for service to the field from the Family Firm Institute. He received his BA degree in Philosophy, MA in Management, and Ph.D. in sociology, all from Yale University, and is a licensed psychologist.
As Senior Relationship Manager for ImpactAssets, Safia Kryger-Nelson works to build and deepen relationships with key investors and donors, as well as their advisors. She is leading the effort to expand the Impact Assets Giving Fund, a unique donor advised fund that multiplies the impact of current grantmaking with tailored investments that work for maximum social and environmental benefit—while also earning a return to increase future giving potential.
Ms. Kryger-Nelson has extensive professional experience in financial distribution. Prior to joining ImpactAssets, she worked for The Bank of New York, London, in institutional sales of foreign exchange options, as well as for Dresdner RCM Global Investors, San Francisco, in global sales and marketing. She holds a Master of Laws in international commercial law from University of Copenhagen and a Master of Laws in European law from University of Paris, Panthéon-Assas. A native of Copenhagen, Ms. Kryger-Nelson speaks Danish, Swedish, French and German.
Hope Neighbor is CEO of Hope Consulting, a boutique strategy firm focused on the social sector. Hope Consulting works with the world’s leading foundations and nonprofits, to craft strategies for maximum social change. Clients and funders range from the Rockefeller Foundation to Population Services International. Prior to Hope Consulting, Ms. Neighbor worked as a strategy consultant with Marakon Associates and in numerous leadership roles at the World Bank. At the World Bank she played an integral role in the design and supervision of a $270M loan and grant portfolio. Her country experience spans Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Latvia, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia. As a field coordinator for the International Rescue Committee in Burundi, she led the delivery of emergency relief services to over 40,000 internally displaced people. Early in her career, Ms. Neighbor worked for the Chief Economist of the World Bank, and as a Peace Corps health volunteer in Cameroon.
Ms. Neighbor received a MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and a BA in Public Policy Analysis from Pomona College. She has been named an Emerging Leader by the National Council for Community Economic Development.
Lisa Parker brings 25 years of experience in philanthropy and nonprofit management, to serve philanthropic families raising the next generation of savvy givers. As President and Executive Director of the Lawrence Welk Family Foundation, she has led the Foundation's initiative to seed the youth giving movement, creating youth philanthropy programs for the family's fourth generation. As founder and principal of San Francisco based Family Circle Advisors, Ms. Parker leads a talented team that works with philanthropic families, crafting deeply meaningful giving experiences to engage and inspire each generation. With the birth of her own children she embarked on a decade of study into the childhood roots of altruism and compassion resulting in the creation of on-line resources, workshops and other tools to support parents in raising the Generous Generation™.
Ms. Parker is certified by 2164, a division of The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies in New York, as a consultant to multi-generational families and has been trained as a legacy advisor by Inspired Legacies. In addition, she serves as an advisor and board member to numerous organizations building and expanding the philanthropic sector. She writes and speaks extensively on raising The Generous Generation ™, youth philanthropy, new models of giving and family philanthropy throughout California, the US and the UK, and has been quoted in multiple publications including Town & Country and Alliance Magazine.
After graduating from UCLA, Phi Beta Kappa, Ms. Parker interned with the Council on Foundations in Washington D.C. and went on to become the Los Angeles Program Director of the Community for Education Foundation, a youth empowerment and entrepreneurship program in South Central Los Angeles.
Author and journalist Jennifer Reese has served as a reporter for Fortune magazine in Washington D.C. and New York City, and as the book critic for Entertainment Weekly. She has freelanced extensively for publications including the New York Times, the Stanford Business School Magazine, Via, Slate and Salon.com. Her blog, The Tipsy Baker, chronicles life’s rich flavors and ironies. In 2011 she published her first book, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter with Free Press.
Ms. Reese received a BA from Stanford University. For five years, she served on the board of the nonprofit National Book Critic’s Circle, including in the role of treasurer.
Kat Rosqueta is the founding Executive Director of The Center for High Impact Philanthropy and Adjunct Faculty of the School of Social Policy and Practice (SP2) at the University of Pennsylvania. Before accepting her appointment at the Center in the Spring of 2006, Kat was a consultant with McKinsey & Company, where she served clients in the areas of strategy development, capability-building, and post-merger management. While at McKinsey, she led several employee volunteer initiatives to support consultant involvement on nonprofit boards.
Prior to joining McKinsey, Ms. Rosqueta worked in community development, nonprofit management, and venture philanthropy. She served as a founding team member of New Schools Venture Fund; founding director of Board Match Plus, a San Francisco program dedicated to strengthening nonprofit boards; and program manager of Wells Fargo’s Corporate Community Development Group.
After graduating from Yale University, Ms. Rosqueta received her MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She has held numerous volunteer and civic leadership positions including board president of La Casa de las Madres (San Francisco’s oldest and largest shelter for battered women and their children), chair of the United Way’s Bay Area Week of Caring, and co-founder and executive committee member of the Women’s MBA Network.
Elizabeth Share has been helping donors and nonprofits increase the impact of their work in communities worldwide for over 25 years. Her private clients include the Isabel Allende Foundation, Khaled Hosseini Foundation, Chez Panisse Foundation, Grace Family Foundation, CompassPoint, and Nepalese Youth Foundation.
Prior to founding her own philanthropic advisory practice, Ms. Share worked in the nonprofit sector as a social worker and in the for-profit sector as a financial analyst. She served for ten years as Vice President of the Autodesk Foundation, the corporate foundation of the world leader in software for computer-aided design. In that role, she oversaw all operations and grantmaking, and collaborated with the president on major programmatic, strategic, personnel, and funding decisions. Ms. Share also facilitated a network of corporate funders—including Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Charles Schwab, Arthur Andersen—enabling them to share crucial information and develop collaboratively funded philanthropic initiatives.
As a board member of CompassPoint, the premier technical assistance provider to San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley nonprofits, she led the organization’s board/staff Technology Task Force and played a key role in the merger of the Support Center for Nonprofit Management (San Francisco) and the Nonprofit Development Center (San Jose). Ms. Share currently serves as principal of Wise Giving and as Development Director for Bread & Roses. She is board Vice President for Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael (CA), serves on the advisory board of Beyond Differences, and is a Senior Advisor with New Philanthropy Advisors. She received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Founder and medical director of Black Bag, Dr. Christopher Sidford provides affluent individuals and families with immediate guidance on medical care, regardless of their location in the world. He is an expert resource to families and their advisors about critical health considerations when traveling or managing multiple properties.
Highly regarded by peers and patients alike, Dr. Sidford is a board-certified physician in Emergency Medicine with over twenty years’ experience at leading medical institutions. Before founding Black Bag, he was an attending physician with the world-renowned Lahey Clinic and, as faculty at Brown University, taught emergency medicine and served as attending physician at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital. He began his medical career at Boston City Hospital.
While serving as an officer in the U.S. Navy officer, Dr. Sidford was faculty at the Emergency Medicine Residency training program in San Diego before traveling overseas. The Mojave Desert and the Arctic Circle were just some of the locations that challenged Dr. Sidford to teach and practice emergency medicine in remote and difficult conditions. Later, he helped to open a nuclear-, chemical, and biological-proof hospital on the island of Sicily.
Dr. Sidford is a fellow with the American College of Emergency Medicine, and volunteers at International Medical Equipment Collaborative, an organization dedicated to providing third-world nations with millions of dollars’ worth of used medical equipment. Dr. Sidford received his BS in Chemistry from St. Lawrence University in 1982, and his medical degree from Albany Medical College in 1987.
Ms. Sklar has been a nonprofit development professional for nearly 15 years. She is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and has been quoted in international and local publications including the Wall Street Journal and Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Times. She and her teams have raised a combined $700 million for the benefit of nonprofit organizations worldwide.
Most recently Vice President of Development and Business Services at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, she was responsible for building new financial relationships with individual and institutional donors. In addition, she provided strategic philanthropic services to more than 40 local corporations on social responsibility, global grantmaking, and employee engagement. Before joining the community foundation in 2010, Ms. Sklar was the Senior Director of Development for Second Harvest Food Bank, where she increased fundraising revenue more than 40 percent and grew the number of donors 53 percent.
Prior roles include director of stewardship and development for St. Nicholas Parish and School in Los Altos Hills, where she helped complete a major campaign to grow the school's endowment into one of the largest in the Diocese. She began her career in development at Stanford University's Institute for International Studies.
Ms. Sklar is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Silicon Valley Chapter and served on the board as vice president of education. She is a member of both the Northern California and Silicon Valley Planned Giving Councils. Ms. Sklar received a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley.
As Principal of Catalytic Women Melanie Hamburger is passionate about helping women leverage their intellectual and financial resources for social impact, and the influential role that women now play as majority asset owners in the U.S. She works with a talented team at Catalytic Women to curate innovations in philanthropy and provide resources to women who are influencing their wealth — whether earned or inherited. Catalytic Women is creating the only nationwide peer learning community of women giving at every level and to all issue areas.
Ms. Hamburger's career spans two decades of working with leaders in business and philanthropy, and helping them impact local, regional and global issues. Her expertise spans major gift fundraising for leading nonprofits including The Nature Conservancy, brand management for Procter and Gamble, and corporate finance for Levi Strauss and Co.
Her own children are a reminder of the legacy she wishes to create. Ms. Hamburger holds a BA cum laude from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She and her family live in Mill Valley, California.
Jerry Brown is founder and creative director of Jerry Brown Business Design, a branding and design studio. He is not the Governor of California, nor has he ever run for president, lived in a trailer, slept on the floor or dated a rock star. (Well, at least not a headliner.) What he is, simply put, is a creative paradox: a committed right-brainer who understands business. Catalytic Women is fortunate to have his talents in developing all things brand and web-related. He joins our team from his office in Los Angeles.
Katie Cooney's enthusiasm for community involvement and women’s leadership potential guides her work with all things project-related for Catalytic Women. In managing the content of our members-only online library of nationwide philanthropic resources, she helps identify and empower the unique ways women participate in philanthropy and the nonprofit community as a whole. Ms. Cooney brings an interest for emerging trends in social media and technology, and oversees our viral outreach.
Prior to joining Catalytic Women, Katie worked in leadership roles in publishing, marketing, tutoring, athletic programming and special event management. She received her B.A. in English from Saint Mary’s College of California in 2010 and is currently enrolled in graduate studies at University of San Francisco.
Katy Geisert’s passion for making an impact in the community guides her as Events Coordinator, a critical role in providing member service, sharing best practices with a larger community, and generally creating an atmosphere that fosters social impact while developing meaningful relationships. Her interest in empowering women to make personal and impactful change in society led her to us.
Prior to joining Catalytic Women, Katy worked in Chicago for DRI, a non-profit membership organization, where she assisted with event management and member relations. She’s spent the past few years in the more than full time role of mom to two young daughters. Katy received her B.A. from California State University of Bakersfield, studied in the south of France, and pursued courses in Secondary Education at Cal State Fullerton. She and her family live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Anna Guardiola brings her enthusiasm for social impact and her talents for relationship building to several projects as a highly valued volunteer with Catalytic Women. She's a social entrepreneur at heart, and has worked locally with accelerator and incubator programs for Opinno Open Innovation and HUB Bay Area (where Catalytic Women is proud to be a member).
A native of Spain, Anna moved to California to complete an International Diploma Program, with a Certificate in Project Management, at the University of California Berkeley. She has a B.A. in East Asia Studies from the University of Barcelona, a B.A., and a degree in Scientific Translation and Interpreting from Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona. Bienvenido, Anna!
