Board of Directors

Patricia Caesar (Treasurer) is President of the Caesar Consulting Group, a strategy consulting firm that provides business planning, organizational, leadership and resource development, and executive search services to nonprofit organizations, foundations and individual philanthropists. Her clients represent a broad range of issues and interests, including human rights, social enterprise, social media, public policy, healthcare and education. She currently serves as a board member at Facing History & Ourselves National Foundation and the CUE Art Foundation. She was also a founding board member of God’s Love We Deliver and the Faith Center for Community Development.

An actor nearly all his life, Gael García Bernal began performing in stage productions with his parents in Mexico, and made his major feature film debut in Alejandro Gonzalez´s Amores Perros, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2000. He has gone on to star in more than 17 movies and has continued to perform in plays in Mexico, England and beyond. García Bernal made his directorial debut with Deficit, a low-budget feature film shot in Mexico and has directed several short films since then, including The Invisibles for Amnesty International.
 
In 2005 he founded the film production company Canana with Diego Luna and Pablo Cruz. They have produced many films including the critically acclaimed Sin Nombre. Together, they also run the Ambulantedocumentary film festival that travels extensively around Mexico and is branching out to other Latin American countries. García Bernal is a committed supporter of human rights causes and has long supported WITNESS including as a co-host for our 2006 annual Focus For Change gala.

Michael J. Hirschhorn is the Executive Director of the International Human Rights Funders Group (IHRFG). From 2003-08, Michael was Executive Director of the Coro New York Leadership Center and from 1995-2001 served as Executive Director of the Literacy Assistance Center in New York City. From 2001-03, Michael worked as a non-profit strategy consultant, primarily in the fields of education, human rights, and leadership development. Earlier, he was an Assistant to the Chancellor of the NYC Public Schools and a Visiting Non-Profit Executive at Yale's School of Management. Michael serves as President of the trustees of the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, and also serves on the boards of Just Vision, Breakthrough, American Jewish World Service and several other education and rights-related organizations. Michael received his BA from Yale University in 1981 and his MBA & MSW from Columbia University in 1989.

Amy Robbins serves as the Executive Director of The Nduna Foundation, her family foundation, which focuses efforts and investments on improving the lives of children everywhere.  In particular, the Foundation focuses on improving nutrition and food security, supporting those who work diligently to treat and eliminate pediatric HIV/AIDS in developing countries, on conservation and wildlife restoration efforts in the US and in Africa, and encouraging and empowering others to believe that improving this wonderful world is not only possible, but also that it is our privilege and responsibility to be able to do so.  The Foundation provides advice and counsel, humanitarian aid and direct investment with select, chosen partners in its efforts.
 
Ms. Robbins, a dedicated philanthropist, businesswoman, and mother of four young sons, recently received Unicef’s Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award for her support and transformative leadership in countries such as Niger, Ethiopia, Sudan, including Darfur, and Somalia.  Ms. Robbins has not only provided humanitarian aid, but has also co-invested with in-country business partners for local production of life-saving nutritional supplements.  Additionally, Ms. Robbins co-founded the Mercury Fund for Emergency Response to provide Unicef with a readily accessible pool of dedicated resources in the critical early stages of humanitarian crises and emergencies.
 
Ms. Robbins was a Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Glenview Capital Management, an $8 billion New York-based, multi-strategy hedge fund until 2004.  Prior to forming Glenview, Ms. Robbins spent 8 years with First Chicago/Bank One in Corporate Banking in their Chicago, New York and Hong Kong, China (SAR) offices.
 
Ms. Robbins serves on the Boards of Directors for the USFund for Unicef, The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Millenium Promise, KIPP Academy Charter Schools, The Allen-Stevenson School, and Teach for All. Ms. Robbins is actively involved with The Elders, the Robin Hood Foundation, The Acumen Fund, International Medical Corps, The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and Human Rights Watch, among others.

Mike Volpi is a partner in the London office of Index Ventures, focusing on investments in the Internet, telecom/networking and media sectors. He also contributes to the firm’s later stage growth fund. Mike began his career at Hewlett Packard's optoelectronics division. He then moved to Cisco Systems where he was Senior Vice President & General Manager of the Routing and Service Provider Technology Group, where he led Cisco's business for the Service Provider market, and was also responsible for all of Cisco's routing and access products. In 2007, this was an $11 billion business for Cisco. Mike also served as the company's Chief Strategy Officer, where he was responsible for Cisco's corporate strategy as well as business development, strategic alliances, advanced Internet projects, legal services, and government affairs. During this tenure, Mike was instrumental in the creation of the company's acquisition and investment strategies, as Cisco acquired more than 70 companies during his tenure. Most recently, Mike was the CEO of Joost – an innovator in the field of premium video services delivered over the internet. He has master's and bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Mike currently serves on the boards of Groupspaces, Sonos, Storsimple and VMOps.