The Global Fund for Women is governed by a 16 member board of directors that reflects the diversity of the globe and brings together a wealth of experience in philanthropy, international issues and human rights. A majority of our board members are from countries other than the United States and have been members of either our grantee network or international advisory council.

Officers of the Board

Amina Mama, Chair Nigeria/South Africa
Amina Mama is Chair in Gender Studies at the African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa. She is a widely published feminist scholar and currently serves on the board of directors of the United Nations Institute for Research on Social Development, the African Union Women’s Committee and the Institute of African Studies at University of Ghana.
 
Stans Kleijnen, Treasurer The Netherlands/United States
Stans Kleijnen is an executive coach and management consultant at Orange Canopy, Inc. She is a former vice president of market development engineering at Sun Microsystems and recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women In Industry (TWIN) Award.
 
Dina Dublon, Secretary United States
Dina Dublon serves on the board of directors of Microsoft, Accenture Ltd. and PepsiCo, Inc. She is also on the board of trustees/directors at Carnegie Mellon University, Greenstone Media and the Women''''s Commission for Refugee Women & Children. She is the former executive vice president and CFO of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, and was listed in Fortune as one of America''''s most powerful women in business.
 
Members of the Board

Charlotte Bunch United States
Charlotte Bunch is the founder and executive director of the Center for Women''''s Global Leadership at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey and a Board of Governor’s Distinguished Service Professor in the Women''''s and Gender Studies Department. She is the author of numerous essays and the recipient of several women’s rights and human rights awards, including induction into the National Women''''s Hall of Fame.
 
Myrna Cunningham Nicaragua
Myrna Cunningham, a surgeon, is chair of the Center for Indigenous People’s Autonomy and Development and founder of Casa Museo, a museum and multicultural center dedicated to indigenous and Afro-Nicaraguan art and history. She previously served as the minister of health and governor of the North Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua and Chancellor of the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. In 2002, she received the Pan American Health Organization’s Public Health Heroine of the Americas Award.
 
Abigail Disney United States
Abigail Disney is the founder and president of the Daphne Foundation, which provides operating support to grassroots organizations working with low-income communities in New York City. She serves on the board of the White House Project, the Roy Disney Family Foundation, and serves as Vice Chair of the board of Shamrock Holdings of California.
 
Lydia Alpízar Durán Costa Rica/Mexico
Lydia Alpízar Durán is the incoming executive director of the Association for Women''''s Rights in Development (AWID). She is co-founder and advisor of ELIGE - Youth Network for Reproductive and Sexual Rights (Mexico), and co-founder of the Latin American and Caribbean Youth Network for Reproductive and Sexual Rights. She serves on the boards of the International Council of Human Rights Policy and the International Committee for the Peace Council.
 
Leila Hessini Morocco
Leila Hessini, born in Algeria, now lives in Morocco and serves as senior policy advisor at Ipas, a global organization that promotes women’s sexual and reproductive rights. She has written extensively on the women’s movement in the Middle East and North Africa. Leila serves on several boards that promote women’s human rights.

Boriana Jonsson Croatia/Sweden
Boriana Jonsson brings many years of expertise in women’s human rights and organizing in conflict areas as a result of her work in Macedonia, Croatia and most-recently in Jordan as the Middle-East coordinator for Kvinna till Kvinna (KtK), a Swedish foundation. Boriana is part of the France-based European Feminist Initiative that is currently lobbying for new Defense and Security policies with the European Union and for a new/different Europe. She is fluent in Bulgarian, Swedish, Russian, English and Macedonian/Serbian/Croatian.

Laurene Powell-Jobs United States
Laurene Powell-Jobs is the co-founder and president of the board of College Track, an after-school program providing comprehensive support to high school students who have the desire but lack the resources to attain higher education. Currently, Laurene’s board and advisory affiliations include KQED (PBS), EdVoice; Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
 
Gay McDougall United States
Gay McDougall serves as the United Nations Independent Expert on Minority Issues. She is the former executive director of Global Rights. She has also served on the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. She was appointed the only American member of the 1994 Electoral Commission of South Africa, which facilitated the election of Nelson Mandela.  In 1999 she was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
 
Kavita N. Ramdas India/United States
Kavita N. Ramdas, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, serves on the board of the Women''''s Funding Network. She is also a member of the advisory councils of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, the Women''''s Rights Prize of the Gruber Foundation and Women’s Learning Partnership. She is the recipient of several philanthropic and leadership awards.
 
Mu Sochua Cambodia
Mu Sochua is chairperson of the Peace & Development Institute and the former minister of women''''s and veterans'''' affairs of Cambodia, She is the founder and former director of Khemara, the first local organization for women in Cambodia. She is the recipient of the 2005 Vital Voices Annual Leadership Award.
 
Olena Suslova Ukraine
Olena Suslova, co-founder of the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, is the director and founder of the Women''''s Information Consultative Center (WICC) in Kyiv, Ukraine. Registered in 1995, WICC is one of the oldest NGOs in Ukraine.
 
Zenebeworke Tadesse Ethiopia
Zenebeworke Tadesse is the Managing Editor of the Africa Review of Books. She was the immediate past President of the Council for the Development of Social Sciences in Africa (CODESRIA) and serves on the board of the African Gender Institute of the University of Cape Town. She also serves on the Steering Committee of Gender and Trade in Africa (GERA), and as a member of the Global Advisory Committee, Research Programme Consortium on Women''''s Empowerment.
 
Mayan Villalba The Philippines
Mayan Villalba is the founder and executive director of the Unlad-Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation in Quezon City, the Philippines. She is the former director of the Asian Migrant Centre, Kowloon, Hong Kong. She was a founder and is currently a member of the executive council of Migrants Rights International, Geneva.
 
Sakena Yacoobi Afghanistan
Sakena Yacoobi is the founder and executive director of the Afghan Institute of Learning, one of the largest non-profit organizations in Afghanistan. She is vice president of the board of Creating Hope International. She is the recipient of the 2005 National Endowment for Democracy Award and the 2004 Peter Gruber Foundation - Women''''s Rights Prize