Your Event + GlobalGiving Experts = Win

Mari Kuraishi - Co-Founder and President, GlobalGiving Foundation

Seeing the need for a more direct way for small development projects to access capital, Mari worked with Dennis Whittle to found a marketplace for international philanthropy in 2000. Today, tens of thousands of individual donors, as well as many leading companies, use GlobalGiving to donate to hundreds of high-impact organizations.

Before GlobalGiving, Mari worked at the World Bank, where she managed and created some of the Bank's most innovative projects, including the first ever Innovation and Development Marketplaces, and the first series of strategic forums with the World Bank's president and senior management.

In addition to her native Japanese, Mari also speaks Russian, Italian, and French.

Mari's expertise:

• Innovation in development and philanthropy;
• trends in international aid; and,
• creating effective marketplaces for development and social change.

Previous speaking engagements include:

• Independent Sector
• Global Business Schools Network
• Stanford Social Innovation Review
• Global Philanthropy Forum
• Harvard Women's Leadership Network
• Skoll Forum

Dennis Whittle - Co-Founder and CEO

Dennis Whittle is co-founder of GlobalGiving, the world's leading marketplace for international philanthropy.

Prior to founding GlobalGiving in 2000 with Mari Kuraishi, Dennis held a variety of key roles at the World Bank, including creating the Bank's first Development Marketplace.

Dennis' expertise:

• Trends in foreign aid;
• market-based approaches to combating poverty;
• online philanthropy; and,
• his experiences creating development marketplaces.

Previous speaking engagements include:

• Princeton
• Harvard
• UNC
• Oxford
• Foreign aid and philanthropy-related conferences around the world

Donna Callejon - Chief Business Officer

As GlobalGiving's Chief Business Officer, Donna Callejon is responsible for all donor engagement and development of corporate and other strategic partnerships. Under her leadership, GlobalGiving has made it possible for over 100,000 donors to support grassroots projects on GlobalGiving.org and a dozen customized portals. She has led partnership efforts with institutional partners as diverse as Nike, Pepsi, and National Geographic.

In addition to her work at GlobalGiving, Donna serves on the boards of GlobalGiving UK, Women's Funding Network, and the Non-Profit Village in Montgomery County, Maryland. She previously served in leadership roles on the boards of Washington Area Women's Foundation and Business for Social Responsibility.

Previously, Donna was a senior executive of Fannie Mae, having led the company's strategic planning, business development and international consulting efforts, and prior to 1996 ran the core business, including marketing, product development, customer technology and negotiated transactions.

Donna's expertise:

• Corporate social responsibility;
• trends in employee and stakeholder engagement;
• the growing influence of women in philanthropy; and,
• the use of technology in the social sector.

Previous speaking engagements include:

• Council on Foundations annual conference
• Business for Social Responsibility annual conference
• Numerous national mortgage market conferences
• Conducting strategic planning and social media training sessions for non-profits around the country.

Kevin Conroy - Director of User Experience and Product Development

As Director of User Experience and Product Development, Kevin works on improving and developing new features of GlobalGiving's technical infrastructure and enhancing the user experience on GlobalGiving.org.

Before joining GlobalGiving, Kevin was a Senior User Interface Designer and Software Engineer for Hillcrest Labs, where he designed award-winning, next-generation television user interfaces. He also worked as a Researcher in the Accenture Technology Labs where he developed new tools and techniques for software engineering, collaborative development, and service oriented architecture.

Kevin's expertise:

• Software and website development, particularly as relates to online philanthropy;
• user interface design; and,
• Scrum/agile development methodologies.

Kevin has previously given talks at user groups, trade shows, and usability conferences.

Ingrid Embree - Director of Strategic Partnerships

As Director of Strategic Partnerships, Ingrid Embree works with GlobalGiving's partners to implement innovative online philanthropic programs.

Before joining GlobalGiving, Ingrid was Chief Development Officer at the Hispanic College Fund. She has a history of helping organizations meet their operational objectives, develop fundraising capacity, and achieve legislative victories.

Ingrid's expertise:

• Trends in corporate philanthropy;
• Increasing employee engagement through philanthropy; and,
• online fundraising challenges.

John Hecklinger - Chief Program Officer

John is the Chief Program Officer at GlobalGiving and leads GlobalGiving's efforts to become the most effective online platform for thousands of grassroots social entrepreneurs and NGO partners to connect directly with funding sources. John joined GlobalGiving in October of 2005 as Business Development Director, leading the corporate partnership efforts that drove GlobalGiving's growth.

Prior to joining GlobalGiving, John led partnership efforts at CARFAX Vehicle History Reports, creating a network of thousands of content providers in North America. Prior to that, John served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Central African Republic, teaching Literature and Linguistics at the University of Bangui.

John's expertise:

• Grassroots fundraising strategies;
• the impact of online social networking on small organizations;
• international grantmaking basics;
• innovations in international development;
• strategies for monitoring and evaluating grantees in complex environments; and,
• global corporate social responsibility.

Previous speaking engagements include:

• Radio Deutche Welle, for SocialEdge's Peace Corps Entrepreneurs series
• Innovation in Fundraising and NGO's Forum organized by Conexion Colombia in Bogota.

Steve Rogers - Director of Engineering

As GlobalGiving's Director of Engineering, Steve is responsible for information systems, product development and engineering processes.

Prior to joining GlobalGiving, Steve successfully led the engineering team of a web-based software product company from conception, through initial product launch, and several product versions. Steve has wide-ranging computer experience, including mainframe, client-server, and web-based service-oriented expertise. He has worked in diverse industries such as banking, insurance, and real estate.

Steve's expertise:

• Software and website development;
• online philanthropy; and,
• user interface design.