Planning Committee Members
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Betsy McNamaraPrincipal, Senior ConsultantBetsy McNamara serves as Consultant to the Transforming Birth Fund, a donor advised fund of the New Hampshire charitable Foundation. Betsy's career has focused on fundraising for community-based nonprofits. She has raised tens of millions of dollars for organizations in education, human services, affordable housing, the arts, and land conservation. Betsy has worked with the Transforming Birth Fund since 2006. In her role as consultant, she serves as the content expert, solicits and reviews proposals and recommends funding to the donor. The Transforming Birth Fund has awarded $6.5 million to support its vision, that all women have access to the level of maternity care they want and need, and maternity care systems support them in doing so.
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Kara WilliamsDirectorKara Williams is Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Allyn Family Foundation. She has over 20 years designing and directing large, complex community health projects. Kara was previously Senior Program Office at the Health Foundation for Western & Central NY, where she led the Foundation's early childhood policy and capacity building portfolios. She has also directed clinical service delivery, health promotion and policy advocacy programs, and managed community based participatory research. Kara is a 2014 Grantmakers in Health Terrance Keenan fellow and a 2009 Fellow of Robert Wood Foundations Ladder to Leadership program.
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Stephanie TelekiDirector, Learning and ImpactStephanie Teleki is CHCF's Director of Learning and Impact. She partners with the foundation's program teams to support organizational impact. Stephanie also leads the foundation's portfolio in maternity care as part of CHCF's focus on high-value care. This maternity portfolio includes a statewide initiative to lower the rate of unnecessary low-risk, first birth c-sections; work to improve mental health care; and work exploring the advancement of midwifery care in California. Prior to joining CHCF, Stephanie was a policy analyst in the health unit of RAND Corporation, has held research and management positions at Kaiser Permanente, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
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Lisa Kane LowPresident, Associate Professor, Associate Dean Lisa Kane Low was inducted as president of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) in 2016. She has been active in ACNM for nearly 30 year as chair of the Division of Standards and Practice and leads the Healthy Birth Initiative subcommittee. Lisa is the Associate Dean for Practice and Professional Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan School of Nursing (UMSN) and a U-M associate professor of Nursing, Women's Studies, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her Research focuses on evidence-based practices to promote optimal childbirth outcomes. Lisa was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2014.
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Joanna LauenSenior Program OfficerJoanna Lauen is a Senior Program Officer at the Irving Harris Foundation where she leads its grantmaking and field leadership in reproductive health, rights and justice by identifying opportunities to advance the Foundation's broad interest in achieving more equitable outcomes for children and families. In her tenure at IHF she spearheaded the Foundation's shift to a justice framework in its reproductive health and rights portfolio, redirecting the bulk of its investments in this area toward organizations and initiatives led by and for communities most affect by reproductive oppression. She is a past co-chair of FRE's women of Color Working Group. Prior to her position at the Irving Harris Foundation, Joanna was a Policy Analyst for the San Francisco Department of Human services where she worked on a range of issues including child welfare, housing and homelessness and early education.
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Monica T. BrownProgram Officer Monica T. Brown is Program Officer for the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York. Before joining the Health Foundation, Monica spent more than 14 years with the American Red Cross serving Erie and Niagara Counties, beginning her tenure as coordinator of the Women's HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Initiative. She then served as the director of the HIV/AIDS Services Department and the organizations director of community programs in 2013. In that role, Monica was responsible for providing oversight for all Red Cross community programming in western New York.
Monica has also served as co-vice president of the Western New York Ryan White Care Network from 2000-2013 and was co-chair of the Emerging Issues Committee and Finance Subcommittee of the New York State HIV Prevention Planning Group from 2006-2010. |
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Alexandra DelValleSenior Program DirectorAlexandra DelValle oversees Groundswell's grantmaking. She brings more than 10 years of experience advancing social and reproductive justice within grassroots and national advocacy organizations. Prior to joining the Groundswell Fund team, Alex served as the program director at Third Wave Foundation, a national feminist foundation dedicated to supporting youth-led efforts for reproductive and gender justice. Previously, Alex advocated for brownfield redevelopment, waterfront revitalization, and freedom from environmental toxins as the deputy director of UPROSE, a Brooklyn-based environmental justice organization. She has supported international movements for maternal health through her work with the Averting Maternal Mortality and Disability (AMDD) program at Columbia University. Alex also served as a community mobilization coordinate at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. Alex is currently on the board of the Funders Network on Population, Reproductive Health and Rights, and co-chairs its Women of Color Working Group.
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