Staff
Elie Hassenfeld | Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Elie graduated from Columbia University in 2004 with a degree in religion, and spent the next several years in the hedge fund industry. He co-founded GiveWell in mid-2007.
Natalie Crispin | Senior Research Manager. Natalie graduated from Swarthmore College in 2009 with a degree in economics. She joined GiveWell in July 2009.
Devin Jacob | Technical Project Manager. Devin graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005 with a B.A. in history. He received an M.A. in history from New York University in 2012 after five years in the history Ph.D program. In addition to teaching history to college students, he has worked as a bibliographer, used book seller, geology lab assistant, and commercial salmon fisherman. He joined GiveWell in September 2014.
Catherine Hollander | Senior Research Analyst, Outreach Focus. Catherine graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in history. She has worked as a journalist covering economics and health care for National Journal, and as editorial director for Beacon, an independent funding platform for journalism. She joined GiveWell in May 2015.
Andrew Martin | Senior Research Analyst. Andrew graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2009 with a B.A. in English and received an M.P.A. from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2015. He joined GiveWell in August 2015.
Tracy Williams | Senior Marketing Analyst. Tracy graduated from Stanford University in 2015 with a B.A. in political science. He joined GiveWell in September 2015.
Ahmed Alkhatib | Donations Specialist. Ahmed graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2011 with a B.S. in marketing. He has experience in strategic planning, international relations, and nonprofit administration. Ahmed is passionate about humanitarian aid provision and aviation. He joined GiveWell in March 2016.
Aaron Kavanaugh | Office Manager. Aaron graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2012 with a B.A. in anthropology. He spent the next several years working for the STD Control Branch at the California Department of Public Health. He joined GiveWell in August 2016.
Isabel Arjmand | Senior Research Analyst. Isabel graduated from Stanford University in 2016 with a B.S. with honors in management science & engineering. She studied global development and public health in Cape Town and Barcelona. She joined GiveWell in September 2016.
Erin Wolff | Donor Relations Associate. Erin graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013 with a B.A. in psychology. She spent the next several years working at an insurance and benefits brokerage firm. She joined GiveWell in March 2017.
Caitlin McGugan | Senior Fellow. Caitlin graduated from Williams College in 2009 with a B.A. in economics and mathematics & statistics. After working in economic consulting for several years, she earned a Ph.D in economics from Princeton University with a research focus on health interventions in developing countries. She joined GiveWell in September 2017.
Charlene Abellana | Controller. Charlene graduated from San Francisco State University in 2011 with a Bachelors in business accounting. Upon graduation, she worked as an auditor specializing in Alternative Investment Funds at Rothstein Kass and KPMG. She then worked on investments and philanthropic funds in the family office of Eric Schmidt before joining a hedge fund in San Francisco. Charlene joined GiveWell in September 2017.
Nicole Zok | Research Analyst. Nicole graduated from Whitman College with a B.A. in English. She began doing contract work for GiveWell in April 2015 and joined GiveWell as a Research Analyst in November 2017.
Whitney Shinkle | Director of Operations. Whitney graduated from Princeton University in 1999 with a major in history and certificate in women’s studies. She earned her Master’s degree from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She has worked on education, food security, conflict management, anti-human trafficking, and economic development initiatives both domestically and internationally. She has also been an adjunct professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. She joined GiveWell in April 2018.
Ben Bateman | Head of Growth. Ben graduated from Lewis & Clark College in 2009 with a major in English literature. He spent the next several years in tech growing Indiegogo’s consumer electronics business before leading the company’s expansion into China. He joined GiveWell in June 2018.
Olivia Larsen | Research Analyst, Outreach Focus. Olivia graduated from Williams College in 2017 with a B.A. in English and economics. She is currently on leave from Yale School of Management, where she is pursuing an MBA. She joined GiveWell in September 2018.
Taylor Smith | Content Editor. Taylor graduated from Middlebury College in 2012 with a B.A. in philosophy. He began doing contract work for GiveWell in March 2014 and joined GiveWell as a Content Editor in September 2018.
Robin Dey | Content Editor. Robin graduated from the University of Southern California in 2017 with a B.S. in business administration. He began doing contract work for GiveWell in May 2017 and joined GiveWell as a Content Editor in September 2018.
Stephan Guyenet | Senior Fellow. Stephan graduated from the University of Virginia in 2002 with a B.S. in biochemistry. He then completed a Ph.D in neurobiology at the University of Washington studying neurodegenerative disease. As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, he studied the neurobiology of obesity and became interested in public health. Since his postdoctoral work, he has been a science writer and consultant, bringing research to a general audience and helping organizations such as GiveWell and Open Philanthropy Project rigorously evaluate evidence for the public good. He began doing contract work for GiveWell in September 2017 and joined GiveWell as a Senior Fellow in September 2018.
Grace Hultquist | Research Analyst. Grace graduated from Stanford University in 2016 with a B.A. in human biology. She began doing contract work for GiveWell in March 2018 and joined GiveWell as a Content Editor in September 2018 and then as a Research Analyst in May 2019.
Stephanie Stojanovic | Major Gifts Officer. Steph graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2008 with a B.A., and from the University of Sydney in 2011 with a LL.B. She spent the next several years working in development for arts and education nonprofits. She joined GiveWell in April 2019.
James Snowden | Senior Research Analyst. James graduated from the University of Oxford in 2011 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics, and holds an M.Sc in philosophy and economics from the London School of Economics. His previous experience includes several years working as a strategy consultant, and as a researcher at Giving What We Can and the Centre for Effective Altruism. He began doing consulting work for GiveWell in March 2017 and joined GiveWell as a Senior Research Analyst in May 2019.
Tom Adamczewski | Research Analyst. Tom graduated from the University of Oxford in 2018 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. He joined GiveWell in May 2019.
Michael Eddy | Senior Advisor. Michael was most recently Vice President of Analytics at Global Innovation Fund, a $200M fund taking a venture capital approach to scaling evidence-based innovation. Previously he co-founded Instiglio, a non-profit improving the effectiveness of poverty-fighting programs using results-based financing instruments—tying over $300M to measurable results in its first 5 years. In addition, he's worked for MIT's Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in India & South America, the World Bank in South Sudan, and the Government of Bhutan. Michael holds a masters (MPA/ID) from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA from Tufts University. He joined GiveWell full-time in June 2019.
Kameron Smith | Content Editor. Kameron graduated from Indiana University in 2014 with a B.A. in anthropology. They earned an M.Ed. in counseling and personnel services from the University of Louisville. They joined GiveWell in August 2019.
Alex Cohen | Senior Fellow. Alex graduated from Indiana University in 2009 with a B.A. in economics and mathematics. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and spent three years as the Director of Learning and Evaluation at a private foundation based in Indianapolis. He joined GiveWell in September 2019.
Alicia Weng | Research Analyst. Alicia graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018 with a B.S. in economics. She joined GiveWell in September 2019.
Gaby Quintana | Operations Associate. Gaby graduated from Stanford University in 2015 with a double B.A. in art history and English. Through her work in arts and education nonprofits in the Bay Area, she developed an interest in nonprofit management and using philanthropy to create meaningful and long-lasting change. She joined GiveWell in September 2019.
Kimberly Huynh | Content Editor. Kimberly graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in environmental engineering and an M.S. in mechanical engineering through a dual-degree program. She is currently a Ph.D student in environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research area focuses on greenhouse gas emissions from wetlands. She started as a Summer Research Analyst in June 2019 and joined as a Content Editor in September 2019.
Willa Gruver | Operations Assistant. Willa graduated from Carleton College in 2018 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. She joined GiveWell in September 2019.
Teryn Mattox | Senior Fellow. Prior to joining GiveWell, Teryn spent 12 years as a public policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. In addition to conducting primary quantitative research, her work at RAND included managing two evidence-based practice clearinghouses, writing dozens of systematic reviews of child and youth-serving programs, and first-authoring several reports aimed at using evidence to inform policymaking. Prior to RAND, Teryn was an Associate Consultant with Bain and Company. Teryn holds an MPA/ID from Harvard Kennedy School. She joined GiveWell in September 2019.
Marinella Capriati | Senior Research Analyst. Marinella graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics in 2009, before completing a B.Phil and D.Phil in philosophy, also at Oxford. She then worked as a researcher at the Centre for Effective Altruism and as a Research Director at Founders Pledge. She joined GiveWell in October 2019.
Jim Bobowski | VP of Marketing. Jim graduated from the University of Richmond in 1994 with a BS in business. He received his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002. He has worked as a consumer marketer for over 20 years, helping build brand and growth teams at Capital One, Netflix, and multiple early stage startups. He joined GiveWell in November 2019.
Parker Blackiston | Operations Associate. Parker graduated from Wake Forest University in 2007 with a B.A. in economics and a Minor in English. He comes to GiveWell with a background in corporate finance having spent his career to date at General Electric, Deloitte Consulting, and Nielsen. Parker followed GiveWell out of personal interest for seven years before joining in November 2019.
Miranda Kaplan | Content Editor. Miranda graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2004 with a B.A. in liberal arts. She spent several years as a freelance editor, working on consumer magazine content, academic texts, and nonprofit reports in addition to doing contract work for GiveWell, before becoming a staff editor at the food website seriouseats.com. She joined GiveWell in November 2019.
Jason Anderson | Donor Engagement and Retention Specialist. Jason graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and has since completed significant coursework toward an MS in Strategic Communication at Columbia. After spending his early career growing a major retail customer loyalty program, he spent time as a marketing consultant before a tour of duty at Columbia Business School in communications and later donor relations. He joined GiveWell in January 2020.
Jeremy Rehwaldt | Content Editor. Jeremy completed a B.A. at Macalester College, an M.T.S. at Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in religion at Vanderbilt University. He has 20 years of university teaching experience and 25 years of experience as a freelance copy editor. He joined GiveWell in June 2020.
Justin Loiseau | Senior Research Analyst. Justin graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2012 with dual B.A.'s in economics and environmental studies. He received an M.A. in economics from the University of Auckland in 2014. He has held various research, expansion/scale-up, and policy roles at Living Goods, MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Innovations for Poverty Action, and The Motley Fool. He joined GiveWell in July 2020.
Neil Buddy Shah | Managing Director. Buddy was most recently CEO and Founding Partner of IDinsight, a global data analytics, research and advisory organization that helps governments, NGOs and foundations maximize their social impact using data and evidence. He previously worked at the World Bank and MIT’s Jameel Poverty Action Lab. Buddy holds an AB in economics from Harvard, an MD with special distinction in global health policy from Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and an MPA in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves as visiting faculty for Harvard Kennedy School’s executive education program Leading Social Programs, and is a former Echoing Green Fellow. He joined GiveWell in July 2020.
Madison Stieg | Content Editor. Madison Stieg graduated from Hamline University in 2016 with a B.A. in English with a concentration in professional writing. They joined GiveWell in July 2020.
Julie Faller | Senior Researcher. Most recently, Julie was the Director of Research for a social enterprise focused on reducing domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Previously, Julie designed randomized control trials to improve policy and public service provision, and worked as a strategy consultant to nonprofits. Julie has conducted academic research in Uganda, Ghana, and Mali, and holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University and a B.A. in international relations from Stanford University.
Other contributors
John Birchall | Website Technical Support. John Birchall made his first web page in 1997, for internal use while on the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary. After building his first Drupal website in 2008, he quickly started building and supporting Drupal and Wordpress sites professionally, and took over support of GiveWell's sites in 2012. He studied at King's College London and UCL (Ph.D in ancient Greek, 1996), and is a member of the English Bar.
David Roodman | Senior Advisor. David graduated from Harvard College in 1990 after majoring in theoretical math. He spent eight years at the Worldwatch Institute, rising to Senior Researcher, and eleven at the Center for Global Development, where he became a Senior Fellow. David spent academic year 1998-99 in Vietnam on a Fulbright. In 2013, he served the Gates Foundation as a Senior Economic Advisor. David has written two books, The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment and Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance.
Board of Directors
Holden Karnofsky | GiveWell Co-Founder (Vice Chair). Holden graduated from Harvard University in 2003 with a degree in social studies, and spent the next several years in the hedge fund industry. He co-founded GiveWell in mid-2007. Holden is the Chief Executive Officer of Open Philanthropy.
Elie Hassenfeld see bio above.
Timothy Ogden (Chair) is Managing Director of the Financial Access Initiative, a research center focused on financial services for low-income households around the world, and an adjunct professor at NYU-Wagner. He is also founder and executive partner of Sona Partners, a thought leadership communications firm, and a senior fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program. Formerly, he was managing director of the US Financial Diaries project, Chief Knowledge Officer of Geneva Global, a philanthropy advisory firm, and a vice president at Gartner.
Cari Tuna is the President of Good Ventures, a San Francisco-based charitable foundation. She is also the President of Open Philanthropy.
Julia Wise is Community Liaison at the Centre for Effective Altruism. She writes about effective altruism at Giving Gladly.
See a list of former board members here.
