Our Network: Arabella Associates

Matthew’s experience within both the environmental community and the faith community provides unique and valuable insight and perspective. Matthew’s background includes training with Green Corps and working with Greenpeace. Matthew directed environmental and rural advocacy and education in Washington, DC for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as national campaign efforts on climate and energy for the National Council of Churches in Christ. Matthew has served as executive director of a multi-sector faith-based coalition and currently directs the Creation Care Fund, which provides financial and technical support to Christian environmental grassroots initiatives. Matthew graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in environmental studies.

Richard has had high-level exposure to and responsibility with a variety of global health and international development issues, including health and public sector economics, public-private partnerships, public advocacy, and high-impact strategy campaigns. During his 29 years at the World Bank, Richard became Principal Operations Officer, served as the Deputy Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme, and was the primary author of a book on the health sector in China and multiple reports on other countries. Richard completed course work and exams for a PhD and holds a Masters in International Public Administration from Syracuse University and a B.A. from Gonzaga University. He has served as an independent consultant for a wide range of international public and private sector clients since 2000.

J.B. is the founding principal of the Education Innovations Group, a consulting practice focused on state education strategies for PreK-12 and postsecondary education. As an Associate at Arabella, J.B. brings expertise in working with states, national and state-based foundations, and advocacy organizations on issues such as curriculum and instruction, school reform, technology services, financial and business services, district and school assistance, early childhood programs, teacher and principal support initiatives and working conditions, accountability and testing, human resources, and connecting social services and public schools. Prior to starting the Education Innovations Group, Buxton served as the Deputy State Superintendent of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI), was senior education advisor to Gov. Mike Easley (N.C.), served as legislative director for the North Carolina State Board of Education, education policy advisor with the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Clinton, and director of policy and research for the Public School Forum of North Carolina.

Marvin has worked in the field of philanthropy over the course of three decades, focusing on issues related to community development, public policy and children’s services reform at the Chicago Community Trust, Leadership Greater Chicago, and the Chicago office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Marvin remains affiliated with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, where he was in charge of the Federation’s Donor Advised Funds Program, which entailed the management of 50 supporting Foundations and more than 800 donor advised funds with combined assets of approximately $500 million.

Marvin has served on the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Chicago, and the University of Texas at Dallas. He currently teaches courses on Civic Engagement and Public Policy at Northwestern University. He received his BA (Political Philosophy) and PhD (Political Science) degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as Masters degrees from Columbia University (Political Science) and the University of Chicago (Social Service Administration).

Tom is an accomplished author and researcher and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University. In 2001, Tom stepped down as Director of Program Evaluation for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where he continues to serve as an advisor to the foundation on program priorities and strategies, as well as their impact. Prior to working at the MacArthur Foundation, he worked with Rainbow Research and was on the faculty of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Tom also served as a staff researcher for a U.S. Senate Committee and was a community organizer in Chicago’s west side neighborhoods. Tom has a B.A. in Psychology, an M.A. in Sociology, and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Urban Affairs from Northwestern University.

Kristen is the founder and president of Spitfire Strategies and has extensive experience conceiving, implementing and managing strategic communications efforts, as well as helping organizations build internal capacity to conduct high-impact communications efforts. She has worked with such clients as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Environmental Education Foundation.

Prior to Spitfire, she was a fellow at the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), where she worked to ban landmines, reform the death penalty and criminal justice systems and reduce the threat of nuclear war. Before her fellowship, Kristen was the president and chief operating officer of Fenton Communications

Doug is a strategic communications consultant. Since 1992, he has helped foundations, nonprofit organizations, and advocacy groups evaluate their communications programs and develop effective strategies. His clients have included the Woodcock Foundation, the World Bank, and Caribbean Community (CARICOM). He has conducted communications research, evaluations, and trainings for projects funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State, and the World Health Organization. Having served as spokesman for Vice President Al Gore, communications director for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and an adviser to other Members of Congress, he brings high-level experience with decision makers to bear on his work with clients who seek to inform policy.

Sam Tucker is an independent consultant who assists environmental foundations and nonprofits craft innovative solutions to conservation challenges. Previously, he managed the Alaska and British Columbia grantmaking portfolio for the Wilburforce Foundation in Seattle. He also spent six years at RealNetworks, Inc. Among several positions there, he was business development manager for RealImpact, a division delivering Web strategy needs to progressive nonprofits. Other professional endeavors included raising butterflies in Costa Rica, and serving as program associate at the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity in New York. Now living in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Sam is a native New Englander who graduated from Colby College with a degree in biology and environmental science.

Christa Velasquez provides high-level guidance to clients in our growing impact investing practice. She works with individual and institutional clients to develop and refine their strategies, identify and structure investment opportunities and evaluate the impact of existing investments. Christa is a recognized leader in the social investing space. She has a strong pipeline of impact investments and an extensive network of experienced impact investors and social entrepreneurs. In her nine years as Director of Social Investments at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, she worked on all facets of social investing, including program design, developing investment strategies, underwriting and structuring investments, and portfolio management. In addition to her work at Arabella, Christa is currently Senior Fellow with the Initiative for Responsible Investment (IRI) at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University. Her work at IRI includes impact investing advocacy and policy, the integration of industry networks More for Mission and the PRI Makers Network, and the development of pay for success models. Christa holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Chicago and an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.

Ann is an advisor to leading domestic and international donor institutions on strategic planning, program development, and evaluation. She has spent her career working on issues of economic and social development, humanitarian assistance, and poverty alleviation both internationally and domestically. Ann served 24 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), overseeing policy development and program implementation throughout the agency, and was the Chief Operating Officer of Save the Children and the interim Chief Executive Officer of EnterpriseWorks. She works with a number of charitable organizations, including the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, Catalogue for Philanthropy, Liberty’s Promise, and CEDPA. Ann is Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and has published on social indicators, health and poverty, women and family in the Arab world and, most recently, foreign aid reform. She has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Sociology and Social Anthropology, an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a B.A. with honors from Wellesley College.

Regine is the executive director of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (a project of the New Venture Fund) and has over 15 years of leadership experience working with nonprofit organizations at the local, national, and international levels. She has sector expertise in disaster philanthropy, humanitarian assistance, global health equity, and leadership development. Prior to CDP, working with the Bill & Melinda Gates and Conrad N. Hilton Foundations, Regine managed the development and execution of over 100 domestic and international grants totaling more than $50 million in the areas of emergency relief, human resources for health, homelessness, and education. Previously, while working at Kaiser Permanente and RAND, Regine conducted public policy research to improve health care services for women, as well as other key demographic segments.

Holly is a consultant on international development and corporate social responsibility. She spent 26 years in the foreign service with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), serving throughout Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. She founded and directed the Global Development Alliance, USAID’s award-winning public-private partnership program, which leveraged $4 billion in private funding to assist the world’s poor.

After graduating with honors in history from Yale and Oxford, Jamie began his career in Washington, D.C. as an award-winning investigative journalist. U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt recruited him to focus conservation policy and communications strategy concerning wildland fire, endangered species, climate change and restorative stream flows. Starting in 2000 he worked seven years abroad as founder of Confluence, a consultancy. His clients include Nelson Mandela, Bechtel, USAID, the World Commission on Dams, the World Conservation Union, and the World Economic Forum. Upon winning a fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs, he has researched, written and lectured extensively on the causes, consequences and politics of running out of water. He incubated pioneering business ventures to remove obsolete dams and harness wave energy for impact-free desalination. He also helped establish new markets to reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, tracked Botswana’s siege of Kalahari Bushmen for his book: Heart of Dryness: A true story about the end of water.