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Our Team
The challenges our clients and partners face are usually complex and varied. Therefore, we are building a varied and experienced community of practitioners. Our core dedicated Institute team—and our broader network from inside and outside Monitor—blends individuals with different types of training, expertise, and life experience. Our practitioners are passionate about their work, proficient in using a common set of tools and tradecraft, and also have specialized areas of knowledge. As of fall 2008, the Institute core team consists of:
MANAGEMENT
Katherine Fulton is a partner of Monitor Group, and president of the Monitor Institute, the Group entity dedicated to helping innovative leaders develop and achieve sustainable solutions to significant social and environmental problems. She has spent three decades chronicling and catalyzing social change as a leader, strategist, teacher, editor, writer, speaker and advisor.
Katherine is passionately interested in how private resources can be used more effectively to create public good, and in recent years, her work has increasingly focused on how philanthropy and social investing can adapt to a rapidly evolving global context. She has advised many of this generation’s leading philanthropists and foundations, given dozens of major speeches about the future of philanthropy, and co-authored the noted publications, Investing for Social and Environmental Impact: A Blueprint for Catalyzing an Emerging Industry, Looking Out for the Future: An Orientation for Twenty-First Century Philanthropists, On the Brink of New Promise: The Future of U.S. Community Foundations, and What If? The Art of Scenario Thinking for Nonprofits.
Katherine’s work draws upon diverse life experiences. In her 20s, she co-founded The Independent, an award-winning investigative newspaper in North Carolina, which won her both a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and a foundation prize for community service. After leaving journalism in the early 1990s, she worked as a consultant and later as co-head of the practice at Global Business Network, another Monitor Company, where she helped leaders in more than a dozen industries question their assumptions and adapt more skillfully to changing circumstances. She serves on numerous governing boards, including those of Monitor and the Natural Capital Institute, as well as the advisory boards of the Acumen Fund, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University. Now a resident of northern California, Katherine has deep roots in the American south, where generations of her own family taught her the importance of philanthropy and community service.
Barbara Kibbe is Monitor Institute’s vice president of client services, based in San Francisco, and a partner at Monitor. She has over twenty-five years of experience in social change and philanthropy as an executive, consultant, grantmaker, and foundation program director, and Barbara was twice selected by the Nonprofit Times for its annual list of the fifty most powerful and influential people in the nonprofit sector. Prior to joining Monitor, Barbara served as vice president for program and effectiveness at the Skoll Foundation and, prior to that, as the director of the Organizational Effectiveness and Philanthropy Program at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, where she directed a total of $100 million in grants aimed at enhancing the capacity of foundation grantees and promoting greater effectiveness in the field of philanthropy. She also founded Harder+Kibbe Research and Consulting, a leading advisory services firm that worked with community, family, and corporate foundations, as well as a wide range of health, human service, and cultural organizations.
Barbara is the coauthor of two books—Succeeding with Consultants and Grantmaking Basics—and her essay “Reflections on the Journey” is included in the 2004 collection Funding Effectiveness: Lessons in Building Nonprofit Capacity. She is a founder of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO), a group of more than 700 funders dedicated to building knowledge, promoting learning, and encouraging dialogue on nonprofit and grantmaker effectiveness. Barbara recently concluded terms on the boards of GEO, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and Fieldstone Alliance.
Dr. Tony Siesfeld is a partner of Monitor Group and has over 20 years of experience in for-profit and not-for-profit advisory work. He is also the Director of Research Design and Analysis, Monitor Group's marketing research and analysis group. He works out of the Institute's Cambridge office where he focuses on education, measurement and evaluation, and bringing leading practices from for-profit businesses to organizations in the social sector.
Prior to joining the Institute, Tony developed extensive expertise in strategic marketing analysis and consulting, performance measurement, and customer-decision modeling. His work has emphasized the link between how customers think, feel and behave and the optimal strategic and operational choices for businesses and other organizations. His work has been noted in Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He has contributed to publications such as the Journal of Strategic Performance Measurement, Strategy and Leadership, and Forbes ASAP, as well as to the publications of organizations such as Sloan Foundation, the Brookings Institution, and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Dr. Siesfeld holds a B.S. (summa cum laude) from the University of Vermont and, from Stanford University, an M.S. in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Psychology. He enjoys bicycling, kayaking, international travel, and teaching.
PRACTITIONERS
Stuart Burden works out of the Institute's San Francisco office and has twenty years of experience in private and corporate philanthropy. His passion for justice, equality, and human rights fuels his pursuit of lasting solutions to complex social problems. Stuart's work at the Institute concentrates on advancing best practices and next practices in philanthropy -- in the US and globally.
Prior to joining the Monitor Institute, Stuart developed and implemented funding strategies as a senior executive, program director, and senior program officer for Levi Strauss & Co., the Levi Strauss Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. In addition, he has managed both policy- and community-level initiatives at the Ford Foundation and the New York Foundation. Presently, he serves on the boards of the International Women's Health Coalition, the Stanford Alumni Association, and the National Sexuality Resource Center. From April 2000 to January 2003, Stuart was invited to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, crossing both the Clinton and Bush administrations. Stuart travels between San Francisco's independent coffee houses and enjoys yoga, practicing Portuguese, and taking long bike rides.
Noah Flower works out of Monitor’s San Francisco office and has over five years of experience analyzing complex social systems for governmental, philanthropic, and commercial clients. At the Monitor Institute, his work has addressed a range of topics, including social innovation, networks, social media, and the changing context for philanthropy. He is also the editor of the Institute’s blog, Working Wikily, about the opportunities for using new technologies and networked strategies that emphasize openness, collaboration, and leverage to achieve greater social impact.
Before joining the Institute, Noah worked with the Global Business Network and Monitor 360 to adapt scenario planning and systems thinking approaches to help clients understand how the changing global context will affect American national security. One public example of his work was the set of 25-year scenarios for the future of China, summarized in Business 2.0 in August 2006. Noah graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2004, where he earned his degree in philosophy and won high honors for an undergraduate thesis on moral character. A San Francisco native, he can often be found enjoying the woods on a mountain bike or snowboard.
Jessica Freireich works out of the Institute’s New York office and has more than a decade of experience addressing strategic issues in a range of corporate and nonprofit contexts. As a Monitor consultant, she has advised commercial clients in the beverage, pharmaceutical, and transportation industries on increasing growth through more effective marketing, operations, and organizational dynamics. She has also worked extensively with social entrepreneurs to develop growth plans and performance goals, both as a consultant and as a portfolio manager at New Profit Inc., the venture philanthropy fund that partners with Monitor.
Jessica recently spent a year managing global strategic planning for Save the Children, an international humanitarian aid organization, as a Harvard Business School Leadership Fellow. She also spent time in Sri Lanka working at a local nongovernmental organization to help entrepreneurs restart their businesses after the tsunami. Jessica holds an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in history and literature from Harvard College, where she graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. A native New Yorker, Jessica can’t imagine a backyard better than Central Park.
Gabriel Kasper works out of the Institute’s San Francisco office and has deep experience as a strategist working with foundations, corporations, and social change organizations. For the last fifteen years, he has focused primarily on the practice of philanthropy itself, helping funders understand emerging patterns of innovation and adapt to the changing context for their work. Before joining Monitor in 2004, he was the program officer for philanthropy at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, where he was responsible for developing the foundation’s strategy for increasing the effectiveness of philanthropy as a field and managing its grantmaking in that area. Gabriel also spent two years managing neighborhood programs at the Berkeley Community Fund, an affiliate of the East Bay Community Foundation. He has more than a decade of experience as a consultant, providing applied research, program design, and strategic advising services to foundations and nonprofits and working with corporations and international agencies in the telecommunications, electric utility, and development banking industries.
Gabriel is co-author of the 2005 report On the Brink of New Promise: The Future of U.S. Community Foundations and has published numerous articles on such topics as the future of philanthropy, social innovation, networks and social media, diversity, technology in the nonprofit sector, community development, and the growth of philanthropy in communities of color. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wesleyan University and holds a master’s in city planning from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also a captain of the men’s ultimate frisbee team.
Allan Ludgate has worked for Monitor for ten years. Based out of the firm’s New York office, he splits his time between Monitor Institute and Monitor’s core commercial consulting practice. Allan focuses on leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and strategies for growth with both his corporate and non-profit clients. He also leads the partnership between Monitor’s New York office and the Robin Hood Foundation, supporting its efforts to end poverty in New York City.
Prior to joining Monitor, Allan was chief financial officer of Festival Marketing, an event marketing and concert promotion agency. He also spent a number of years working as a professional jazz trumpet player. Allan holds a B.S. (magna cum laude) from New York University and an M.B.A. (first in class) from New York University’s Leonard Stern School of Business. He lives in the Bronx with his wife and two sons and spends his free time running up and down mountains and teaching yoga.
Heather McLeod Grant works out of the Institute’s San Francisco office and has more than fifteen years of experience with high-impact nonprofits and foundations as an executive, founder, board member, speaker, and consultant. She teaches at Stanford University and is the co-author of Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, which was named a Top Ten Book of 2007 by the Economist, A former McKinsey & Company consultant, Heather co-founded Who Cares, a national magazine for young social entrepreneurs published from 1993-1999.
In addition to her book, Heather has been published in the New York Times, Inc., the American Prospect, and Alliance; has appeared on CNN and NPR; and speaks widely at industry conferences. She serves on the advisory boards of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the National Civic League, and the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Heather holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and an B.A. from Harvard College and resides in the Bay Area with her husband and daughter.
Taylor Oatis is based in the Institute’s San Francisco office and has broad experience advising government, for-profit, and nonprofit clients. As a part of Monitor’s commercial consulting practice, he worked on projects in the biotechnology, financial services, and telecommunications industries to address issues related to corporate strategy, marketing, and organizational effectiveness. He has also worked on engagements with government agencies, helping them apply corporate and academic best practices to the analysis of international security issues, and with nonprofit clients, providing strategic advice and business planning assistance on efforts to use social media tools to reform traditional government systems and processes.
Prior to joining Monitor, Taylor worked as a teacher with Citizens Schools, an extended learning program based in Boston. He also worked in East Asia as the program assistant on an academic seminar investigating comparative political economy. Taylor graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College, where he earned a B.A. in international relations. He now lives in San Francisco, and spends whatever time he can in the mountains.
Dana O'Donovan has more than fifteen years of experience in consulting and non-profit management. In her work at the Institute's Cambridge office she focuses primarily on developing entrepreneurial scaling strategies for nonprofits and is also strengthening the team's approach to human assets. She recently re-joined the Monitor Institute after spending three years at Teach For America as Vice President of Strategy in the Human Assets group, where she led the organization’s efforts in human assets strategy, goal setting and measurement, planning and compensation. In her twelve years as a consultant, Dana’s practice has focused on helping not-for-profit and non-governmental organizations with issues of strategy and implementation, based in her experience in strategy development, organizational and activity system strategies, organizational design, and opportunity identification and execution.
Dana is the board chair of the DREAMS Center for Arts Education, a North Carolina-based after-school youth development organization, and serves as a board member of Wilmington Health Access for Teens, which provides accessible and affordable physical and mental health services for teens. She also serves on the Wilmington Regional Morehead-Cain Selection Committee. Dana was a Morehead Scholar at The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors and Highest Distinction with a B.A. in English and Anthropology. She lives in Wilmington, North Carolina with her husband and daughter.
Diana Scearce works out of the Institute’s San Francisco office and has over a decade of consulting experience as a strategist and process facilitator across sectors. Diana’s practice focuses on helping social change organizations, networks, and multi-stakeholder groups increase their impact through collective action. Her work draws on experience with strategy development, scenario thinking, experiential learning design, and training across a variety of established and emerging industries, with a focus on the social sector. Since early 2007, Diana has led a partnership with the Packard Foundation to explore how networks can facilitate greater philanthropic effectiveness.
Prior to joining the Institute, Diana was a practitioner at Global Business Network (GBN), another Monitor company. Her work at GBN focused on long-term thinking and strategy development for nonprofits and foundations and included co-authoring the publication What If? The Art of Scenario Thinking for Nonprofits (2004). Diana has also spent several years teaching and studying in India and Japan. She holds a master’s in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a master’s in Asian religions from University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, and she is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar College. Diana lives in San Francisco with her husband and son.
Owen Stearns works out of the Institute’s Cambridge office and has more than fifteen years of experience as a consultant and leader dedicated to social change. In his ten years as a consultant, Owen has focused on issues of strategy, organizational change, and leadership development with nonprofit organizations, governments, and corporations. He draws on his experience in a wide range of management, governance, and advisory roles in the social sector and his training as a coach for Monitor’s innovative Leadership Model Building program, which helps senior leadership teams work more cohesively and effectively.
In addition to his experience at the Institute, Owen has also been a consultant in Monitor’s commercial practice, as well as with the Foundation Strategy Group. On the operational side, Owen was co-director of The City School, a nonprofit leadership development program for high school students in Boston, and currently serves as the founding board chair of Excel Academy Charter School, a top-ranked public school in Massachusetts that serves largely Latino students. Owen was part of the inaugural City Year corps before receiving his B.A. in American studies from Amherst College. He currently lives and runs in Boston with his wife, Molly, and dog, Louie.
ADMINISTRATIVE
Avon Swofford, Monitor Institute’s business and operations manager, works out of the Institute's San Francisco office. She has an extensive background in project management, program design, systems development, organizational due diligence, and fundraising, with nearly twenty years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Before joining the Institute, Avon worked as a program officer at the Skoll Foundation, where she helped develop the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. She has also worked in the Organizational Effectiveness and Philanthropy Program at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and was a program associate in health at the Irvine Foundation.
Prior to moving into philanthropy, Avon worked in public, women's, and reproductive health. She designed the initial evaluation system for the Los Angeles citywide Homeless Youth and Juvenile Prostitute Program and worked with numerous nonprofits, including Planned Parenthood, the Los Angeles Free Clinic, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Exploratorium. Avon was raised in the Appalachian Mountains, graduated from Duke University with a B.A in English, and is an experienced writer and editor. She has a black belt in martial arts; has published several science fiction stories; and is now actively engaged in training her pony, Bo, to drive a cart.
Fabiana Tice is the executive assistant to Katherine Fulton and Barbara Kibbe, supporting them with their schedules, travel, speaking events, and general day-to-day responsibilities. She also helps manage many of the Monitor Institute’s internal systems. Prior to joining the Institute, Fabiana worked in Internet marketing, managing client accounts for n247 Marketing and Price Grabber. She has a B.A. in environmental science from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Originally from North Carolina, Fabiana has lived in San Francisco for only a year and is enjoying exploring the different neighborhoods of the city.
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