Our Team

Norma leads Open Philanthropy's work on global aid policy and advocacy. Her previous work experience includes time at the Hewlett Foundation, USAID, the Global Innovation Fund, GiveDirectly, Innovations for Poverty Action, and Mathematica Policy research. Norma received a BA from Bryn Mawr College and a Master of Public Policy from UC Berkeley.

Sam joined Open Philanthropy in February 2022. Before starting at Open Philanthropy, he was a poker dealer by trade and served as a union representative for other poker dealers in Washington State. He has a B.A. in Economics and Music from Wesleyan University.

Nisha leads the Business Operations team at Open Philanthropy. Before starting at Open Philanthropy, she co-founded a furniture and design consulting company. Prior to that, she built and led cross-functional design, strategy, and management teams serving a range of impact-driven clients in the technology, education, and non-profit sectors. Nisha has a BA in Political Science and a Masters in Architecture from the University of Michigan and currently serves in her town government in Marblehead, MA.

Chris supports Open Philanthropy’s work on biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. He previously completed a PhD in evolutionary genetics at Harvard University, and he is an alumnus of the Johns Hopkins Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative and the Council on Strategic Risks Fellowship for Ending Bioweapons Programs. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant in McKinsey & Company’s Boston office.

Rebecca joined Open Philanthropy in June 2021, after graduating from Tufts University with a BA in Economics and International Relations and a minor in English. She has a background in effective altruism organizing, in particular helping to run the EAGx conference series, and has interned with The Humane League and the Cambridge Public Health Department.

Asya joined Open Philanthropy in April 2021. Previously, she worked as a researcher at AI Impacts and as a trader and software engineer at a cryptocurrency hedge fund. She has a BA in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT.

Alexander leads Open Philanthropy’s Global Health and Wellbeing work, which includes causes across scientific research, policy advocacy, and global development. As a cofounder of Open Philanthropy, he led our initial process for selecting focus areas and hiring and training program officers within them. Previously, Alexander worked as a researcher at GiveWell, conducting evidence reviews and cost-effectiveness analyses for potential top charities. He has a B.A. in philosophy and an M.A. in education policy from Stanford University. You can hear him discuss our work on this episode of the 80,000 Hours podcast, or read more in this interview in The Browser.

Damon joined Open Philanthropy in September 2022. His research focuses on potential risks from pandemics and from biotechnology. He previously worked as a research scholar at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, where he studied existential risks, and prior to that he completed his PhD in physics at Princeton University.

Lewis leads Open Philanthropy’s strategy for Farm Animal Welfare. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked as Policy Advisor & International Liaison to the CEO at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Prior to that, he was a litigation fellow at HSUS, a law student, and an associate consultant at Bain & Company. He has a B.A. from Harvard University in Social Studies and a JD from Yale Law School.

Alex joined Open Philanthropy in January 2022. He works on identifying the most promising opportunities to make new vaccines, drugs, and other health technologies available to people in low- and middle-income countries. Before joining Open Philanthropy, he worked for the Clinton Health Access Initiative on malaria elimination and improving access to vaccines.

Emma joined Open Philanthropy as a Program Associate in September 2022. She recently graduated from Oxford with an MPhil in Economics. Her research focused primarily on development and spatial economics - including mapping informal settlements across sub-Saharan Africa at scale for the first time. Prior to her MPhil, Emma worked at the Boston Consulting Group in Johannesburg. She has also been a Research Fellow for Charity Entrepreneurship in London.

Britney joined the Operations team in May 2023. Previously, she worked in operations at a housing start-up building accessory dwelling units, and as an English teacher in Japan. Britney graduated from San Diego State University with a B.A. in Urban Studies.

Cash joined Open Philanthropy in November 2021. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked as a researcher at Animal Charity Evaluators, where he conducted charity evaluations and reviewed grant applications. Cash received a B.A. in Individualized Study (concentrating in the History and Philosophy of Environmental Political Economy) from New York University, where he co-founded the Effective Altruism at NYU student club.

Joseph joined Open Philanthropy in September 2018. His research focuses on risks to humanity’s long-term future. He’s also a doctoral student in philosophy at Oxford University. He has a BPhil in Philosophy from Oxford University and a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University.

Matt joined Open Philanthropy in November 2022 where he works on ways to safely accelerate scientific progress and innovation. Matt is a senior fellow at the Institute for Progress, where he was previously Senior Innovation Economist. He taught economics for several years at Iowa State University, and worked on science policy at the US Department of Agriculture after obtaining a PhD in economics from Iowa State University. He is the creator of the living literature review New Things Under the Sun, which he continues to maintain as part of his work at Open Philanthropy.

Dylan joined Open Philanthropy in January 2022. In his previous role, he worked as an operations contractor for The Centre for Long-Term Resilience, and did undergraduate research in bioethics, neuroscience, and computer science education. He has a B.A. in philosophy from San Diego State University.

Ajeya is a Senior Research Analyst at Open Philanthropy. She’s currently thinking about the likelihood that powerful AI systems may be misaligned, and what technical work may help to reduce that risk. Previously, she worked on estimating when transformative AI might be developed, estimating the expected returns to funding across different longtermist cause areas, and thinking about how worldview diversification could be implemented in budget allocation. She joined Open Philanthropy in July 2016 as a Research Analyst. Ajeya has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley, where she founded the Effective Altruists of Berkeley student group and taught a course on effective altruism.

Max joined Open Philanthropy in November 2022. Previously, he worked in research and project management roles at several organizations in the effective altruism community, including the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research and Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute. He has a master's in mathematics from Heidelberg University.

Tom joined Open Philanthropy in January 2020. He’s currently working on assessing arguments that transformative AI might be developed relatively soon, which is an input into how much capital should be allocated to the potential risks from advanced AI focus area relative to other areas. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, Tom worked as a Data Scientist for education technology startup BridgeU and taught science at a UK comprehensive school. He has a Masters in Physics and Philosophy from the University of Oxford.

Sam joined Open Philanthropy in October 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he led the Behavioral Analysis team within the UK's COVID-19 Taskforce, and previously worked at Channel 4 and McKinsey & Company. He has an MSc in Economics for Development and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Peter works to identify new issue areas where Open Philanthropy could have high impact, and to prioritize Open Philanthropy’s giving across causes in policy, scientific research, and global development. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, Peter was a graduate student at the London School of Economics (LSE) and a researcher at Stanford and MIT Sloan, focusing on the economics of public goods. Before that, he analyzed currency markets in Bridgewater Associates’ research department and was a product manager in Bridgewater’s Systemized Intelligence Lab. Peter holds an MSc in Economics from LSE and a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Princeton.

Lukas joined Open Philanthropy in September 2022. He's currently conducting research on what we can do to reduce potential risks from advanced AI. Previously, he was a research scholar at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute. He has a B.S. in computer science from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Meiko joined the Operations team in March of 2022. Before joining Open Philanthropy, she worked at Oasis for Girls, an education non-profit that partners with girls of color in San Francisco; while there, she facilitated the ENVISION: Career Exploration program. Meiko graduated from Stanford University in 2019 with a B. A. in Urban Studies.

Aaron joined Open Philanthropy in January 2022, after spending three years working on content at the Centre for Effective Altruism. He’s helped to run a variety of projects in the EA community, including the EA Forum and EA Newsletter; he also co-founded Yale University’s student EA group. Outside his work in effective altruism, he’s a passionate Twitch streamer and semi-professional gamer who placed second at the 2020 Magic: the Gathering world championship.

Lauren works on finding new cause areas for Open Philanthropy to fund. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, she was a PhD student in political science at UC San Diego. She holds a MA in political science from UC San Diego, MS in physics from UC San Diego, and a BS in physics from Caltech.

Glen joined the grants team in April 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he was a Vetting and Grants Management Fellow at GlobalGiving, where he conducted due diligence and facilitated the grants process for community-led nonprofits around the world. He has a B.A. in international studies from American University

Martin joined Open Philanthropy in September 2022. He works on identifying opportunities to improve farmed animal welfare. Previously he worked at the Paul Ramsay Foundation, and prior to that with IDinsight in Zambia and Malawi.

Santosh joined Open Philanthropy in January 2022. He leads Open Philanthropy’s grantmaking in South Asian Air Quality. Prior to this, he was a Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, working with the Initiative for Climate, Energy and Environment. Before that, he worked as the Associate Director—Research at the India center of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, and did post-doctoral fellowships with J-PAL South Asia and Evidence for Policy Design. He has a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

Paige graduated from Yale University in 2007 with a BA in Economics, and from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2012 with an MBA. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, she worked at Bain & Company in management consulting, leadership development, and executive coaching.

Derek is Open Philanthropy’s Director of Grants Management and oversees our grantmaking logistics, including finance and legal operations. He’s been with Open Philanthropy since July 2017. Prior to his time at Open Philanthropy, he spent six years in a variety of roles at Reasoning Mind, an education nonprofit that developed digital math programs based on international pedagogy and best practices. Derek graduated from Indiana University. In his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling, playing tennis, and spending time with his wife, friends, and family members.

Amanda joined Open Philanthropy in March 2018. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, Amanda worked as a staff attorney, specializing in farm animal issues for The Humane Society of the United States. Before that, Amanda clerked for Judge Stefan R. Underhill of the District of Connecticut. Amanda has a B.A. in English and Sociology from Wesleyan University and a JD from Columbia Law School.  

Sai joined Open Philanthropy in May 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, Sai spent over ten years in corporate legal practice, most recently as General Counsel for TripActions, Inc. Sai has a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a B.S. from Columbia University.

Leena joined the Grants Management team in April 2019. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, she worked as an Account Executive at Blackbaud, Inc., where she helped nonprofit organizations marry strategy with technology to achieve strategic initiatives. She also served the nonprofit sector as a consultant, software instructor, and database administrator. Leena graduated from Middlebury College with a B.S. in Psychology.

Isabel joined Open Philanthropy in April 2022. Prior to that, she has been a research fellow at Forethought Foundation, a doctoral student in Economics at UCLA, and a research assistant at the Federal Reserve. Isabel has an MA in Economics from UCLA and a BA in Economics, Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science from Rutgers University.

Holden sets the strategy for and oversees all longtermist cause selection, prioritization, and grantmaking at Open Philanthropy, including our work on global catastrophic risks. He co-founded GiveWell in 2007, and began co-developing Open Philanthropy (initially called GiveWell Labs) in 2011. He has a degree in Social Studies from Harvard University.

Ajay supports Open Philanthropy's work on biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. He previously worked on projects related to machine learning, healthcare, and life sciences at AWS and at Grand Challenge, Amazon's moonshot lab. Prior to that, he was Co-founder and CTO at Somatic Labs, a company developing wearable devices for customers ranging from NASA to Fortune 500 companies.

Ray joined the global health research and development team in February 2023. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy he worked for the Clinton Health Access Initiative, UNICEF, DFID & Innovision Consulting and has lived in DR Congo, Ethiopia & Bangladesh. He holds an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from London School of Economics & London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Eric is a member of Open Philanthropy's Salesforce team leading out project management, prioritization, and stakeholder requests. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, Eric worked for Lucid Software as the Manager of Business Systems where they led and mentored a team of six Salesforce admins. Before joining Lucid, they worked in higher education as a Salesforce Architect for the University of Utah College of Nursing. Here they implemented an admission application and faculty review process, and a faculty course workload management system. In a previous career, they made maps. Eric has earned three master's degrees: an MA in Geography from Arizona State University; a Master of Public Administration from California State University, Long Beach; and an MS in Information Systems from University of Utah. They live in Salt Lake City, UT for the time being and will be moving to Valencia, Spain in the second half of 2023. They enjoy spending time with their three cats and finding the perfect cup of coffee.

Molly joined Open Philanthropy in January 2021. Before taking this role, she was the head of International Humanitarian Law at the American Red Cross. Prior to that, she served as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army, where she still serves as a reservist. Molly has a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Abhi joined Open Philanthropy in September 2022. He works on investigating the most promising opportunities to reduce the suffering of farm animals, with a focus on the development and commercialization of alternatives to animal products. Previously, he worked as a researcher studying the cost structure of meat alternatives. Prior to that, he worked on the investment teams at venture capital funds Lever VC and Ahimsa VC. He has an MMS from Yale School of Management & HEC Paris, and a BSocSc from Singapore Management University.

Rafael joined Open Philanthropy in September 2022, where he helps the Global Health and Wellbeing Cause Prioritization team find new cause areas to fund. He is also a PhD candidate in Public Policy at Harvard, and previously worked as a research fellow at Harvard's Center for International Development and a JPA and consultant at the World Bank. He holds an MPA-ID from Harvard University, an MSc in Economics and a BSc in Molecular Sciences from the University of São Paulo.

Michelle joined Open Philanthropy in September 2022 as the Farm Animal Welfare team's first science-focused Program Associate. She has a PhD from the University of Guelph's Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, during which she focused her dissertation research on fish behaviour and welfare. She has also previously worked with Rethink Priorities on their Moral Weight Project as a farmed fish welfare consultant, and has contributed to Canada's National Farm Animal Care Council's Farmed Salmonid Code of Practice as a fish welfare scientist. Aside from her doctorate, Michelle also has an MSc (Biology: focused on salmonid ecology) from the University of New Brunswick's Canadian Rivers Institute, and a BScH (Specialization in Biology) from Queen's University.

Jia Li joined the Operations team in June of 2022. Before joining Open Philanthropy, she completed sustainability-related internships and a fellowship with Evergreen Strategy Group, a policy communications firm. Jia Li graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Management and Marketing, and a minor in Environmental Studies.

Martin joined the Operations team in September 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he spent ten years working as an immigration paralegal for New York City-based law firms, most recently as a Business Immigration Supervisor at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP.

Evan joined Open Philanthropy in September 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked as the COO at One for the World, a community organizing non-profit which raises money for GiveWell's recommended charities. He has a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Villanova University.

Eddie joined the Grants Managements team in April 2023. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked in a variety of nonprofit operations roles and, before that, as a corporate lawyer for a London firm. He has a degree in modern and medieval languages from the University of Cambridge.

Luke joined Open Philanthropy in 2015. He leads our grantmaking on AI governance and policy. Previously, as a Research Analyst and then a Senior Research Analyst, his investigations spanned a wide range of topics, particularly the social sciences, global catastrophic risks, animal consciousness, and forecasting. Before joining Open Philanthropy, he was Executive Director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in Berkeley, California.

Rocio graduated from St. John’s College in 2008 with a BA in Liberal Arts, and from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College in 2015 with an MS in Public Policy and Management. She has worked as a bilingual technical editor, a bilingual legal assistant, a Business English teacher abroad, and in strategy and operations at a food innovation startup.

Emily joined Open Philanthropy in April 2021. She is also a doctoral student in Economics at Oxford University. Previously, she worked at DeepMind, Uber, and TGG Group. She has a BSFS in International Political Economy from Georgetown University and an MPhil in Economics from Oxford University.  

Alessandra joined the Grants Management team in January 2023. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, she worked in strategy and operations at a cybersecurity startup. She has an MBiochem (Hons) in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.

Matthew leads the development and management of Open Philanthropy’s Salesforce platform. Before joining Open Philanthropy, he served as CRM Product Manager at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), where he oversaw Salesforce system architecture. Prior to that, he coordinated Columbia Law School’s pro bono program, and helped nonprofit clients get the most out of Salesforce as a consultant at Cloud for Good. Matthew enjoys participating in the open source Salesforce.org community, and serves as a leader of the NYC Salesforce Developer Community Group. In 2019, Salesforce awarded him MVP status for his community contributions. Before working with Salesforce, Matthew spent over a decade in the field of performing arts administration. He holds a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from West Virginia University, and lives in New York City, where he enjoys vegan junk food and seeing almost any kind of live performance.  

Javier joined Open Philanthropy in 2021. His work supports Luke Muehlhauser’s grantmaking in the area of AI governance and policy. He’s been involved in effective altruism since 2018, especially through his local community in Spain. He holds a double BSc in Physics and Mathematics. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he interned at CERN and worked as a freelance “mathy tech person” for two years.

Kate joined Open Philanthropy in 2022. Previously, she was the Faculty Records Coordinator at California College of the Arts. She has also worked as Community Manager for Calm.com, a mindfulness and meditation app, and as a contributing writer for A&E Television. She received a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.F.A. from Mills College.

Matt joined Open Philanthropy in February 2023. He holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering Science with a specialization in machine learning from the Technical University of Munich, where he co-organized Munich’s EA group. Prior to joining the Open Phil team, Matt ran a 10-week ML bootcamp to upskill people interested in working on AI safety.

Nick joined Open Philanthropy in July of 2022. Previously, he worked at Paylocity as an Implementation Manager, focusing on process improvement initiatives and the small client experience. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with degrees in Marketing and Italian.

Ilva joined Open Philanthropy in April 2023. Previously, she worked in a variety of roles managing and developing operations for Effective Altruism projects, and as a Treasurer for her local nonprofit. Ilva has a B.A. in International Business Management from Anglia Ruskin University.

Otis works to identify new cause areas where Open Philanthropy could have high impact, particularly in policy and global development. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy in 2021, he was a political donor advisor and worked at BlueLabs, a campaign analytics firm, managing their Campaign Modeling team. Before graduate school, he also spent a year at McKinsey & Company. Otis has a PhD in economics from MIT, where he studied the political economy of development, working primarily in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. He also holds a BA in economics and public policy from Stanford.  

Luca joined Open Philanthropy in December 2021. Previously, he was a research scholar at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, a research assistant at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and briefly acted as a policy advisor to the UK Government’s Office for Artificial Intelligence. Luca has a BA in economics from the University of Cambridge.

David supports Open Philanthropy with in-depth reviews of evidence on empirical questions, such as "Do alcohol taxes save lives?" and "Does immigration reduce pay or employment for natives?" David worked at the Worldwatch Institute for nine years and the Center for Global Development for eleven. After a time with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he became an independent consultant in 2014, and soon began working with Open Philanthropy on that basis. He became an employee in 2015. David holds a degree in theoretical mathematics from Harvard, and spent an academic year on a Fulbright in Vietnam.

Eli joined Open Philanthropy in June 2020. Previously, he was Director of Engineering at Mentor Collective, a Boston educational technology company. He graduated in 2015 from Oberlin College, where he studied computer science and creative writing.  

Joey joined the Grants team in June 2021. He graduated from George Washington University with a B.A. in International Affairs in 2019, and has worked as an Immigration Paralegal for Mayer Brown LLP and as a parliamentary debate coach for his former debate team at GW.

Jason joined Open Philanthropy in April 2022. He works to identify new areas where Open Philanthropy could have high impact and also helps to prioritize across existing causes. Before joining Open Philanthropy, Jason was a Senior Research Manager at Rethink Priorities, where he worked on animal welfare and global health and development issues. He holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jake graduated from Villanova University in 2013 with bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he served as an Infantry Platoon Leader in the US Army and, most recently, was an Assurance Manager with PwC. He joined Open Philanthropy in February 2022.

Sam joined Open Philanthropy in February 2022. Before taking this role, he was an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP in their Environment, Land & Resources practice group. Sam earned a JD and a Master of Environmental Studies from Penn, as well as a bachelor’s in Politics from Princeton.

Kasey joined Open Philanthropy in August 2022.  Previously, he was a software engineering intern at Amazon and co-led the EA club at Northwestern University, where he graduated with a BA in Computer Science.

Jamie joined Open Philanthropy in January 2023. Previously, he worked as a Policy Associate at J-PAL North America and as a Monitoring & Evaluation Officer at the Adonis Musati Project. Jamie holds a BS in Economics from Tulane and a Master’s in Economic Development from the University of Cape Town.

Harshdeep joined Open Philanthropy in August 2021. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked as a consultant for Mercy For Animals in the government affairs and public policy team. Prior to that, he was an associate at PLR Chambers, a law firm specializing in regulatory and policy affairs. He has a B.B.A., LL.B (Hons.) from Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar.

Chris joined the Global Health and Wellbeing team as a Strategy Fellow in January 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked as a freelance strategy consultant, and previously at OC&C Strategy Consultants in London. Chris has bachelor's degrees in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Oxford and in Economics and Mathematical Sciences from the Open University; he completed his Masters in Public Health at Imperial College London.

James joined Open Phil in July 2022. He spent his last 5+ years as a researcher and program officer at GiveWell, where he led the organization’s work on policy and advocacy. Before GiveWell, he worked at the Centre for Effective Altruism and as a strategy consultant. He holds a B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University and an M.Sc. in philosophy and economics from the London School of Economics.

Andrew leads Open Philanthropy’s work on biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. He previously spent five years at the Future of Humanity Institute (University of Oxford), where he worked as a program manager and later as Director of Research, developing programs across the institute (including those in biosecurity and systemic risk). Prior to that, he was a researcher at a personalized medicine startup. He holds a PhD/DPhil in Zoology from the University of Oxford and is an alumnus of the Johns Hopkins Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative.  

Chris joined Open Philanthropy in 2016. He is focused on identifying and evaluating potential philanthropic opportunities in various aspects of basic and applied scientific research. Chris has been a professor at UC Berkeley, Stanford University, and Michigan State University. He has published more than 230 research papers in biochemistry, and in cell and molecular biology. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London and has received numerous awards for his scientific contributions. He has a Ph.D in genetics and a B.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Alberta.  

Shankara joined Open Philanthropy in May 2023. He studied Economics at UC Berkeley and subsequently worked as a technical writer for the Center for AI Safety. He also studied Music Production & Technology at Berklee College of Music and has worked as a music producer.

Bastian has been working with Open Philanthropy since September 2018. He previously worked as a buy-side analyst for J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s European Equities team. He holds a BPhil and DPhil in philosophy from the University of Oxford and a BA in philosophy from Cambridge University. During his time at Cambridge, he founded the university’s Giving What We Can chapter.

Anna joined Open Philanthropy in March 2023. Previously, she worked in strategy and operations roles on two California ballot measures, and as a project manager at CovidActNow. She received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and completed a Postbac at Columbia University.

Maura joined the operations team in June 2022. Before joining Open Philanthropy, Maura was executive director of a longstanding social service nonprofit in New Mexico. She previously worked as a hedge fund researcher and financial analyst, and has a B.A. in Economics from Lewis & Clark College.

Danny joined the Operations team in June 2018. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he co-founded Elm Gives, a micro-donation technology platform for emerging donors and effective nonprofits. Prior to that, he served as a Student Programs Associate for the Ocean Discovery Institute. He has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Applied Sustainability from UC San Diego.  

Jacob oversees Open Philanthropy’s science and science policy programs. Previously, he co-founded Pie, acquired by Snapchat. He was a Henry Fellow at Harvard University, and has a B.A. from the University of Cambridge.

Cari co-founded Good Ventures with her husband Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook and Asana) in 2011 and is the foundation’s President. She helps set the strategy and oversee the work of Open Philanthropy, which is the primary basis for Good Ventures’ grant decisions. Previously, Cari was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered a range of topics, including corporate management, the California economy, and enterprise technology. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University.

Rebca joined the Operations team in May 2023. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, she worked as a Senior Project Management Consultant at IBM in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Rebca has a B.S. in Mathematics and B.S. in Philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

James joined Open Philanthropy in August 2022. He previously completed a PhD in structural biology at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, before working on developing antibiotic discovery tools. More recently he was a Research Fellow in biosecurity at the University of Oxford.

Jennifer joined Open Philanthropy in August 2022. She holds a B.S. in Applied Statistics from Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, where she co-founded an Effective Altruism university chapter.

Rachel joined the Recruiting team in July 2021. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, she was the Growth Operations Lead at nate, an intelligent automation startup. Before that, she spent several years working in operations and client management across tech and education. She has a B.A. in International Studies and an M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago.

Chris joined Open Philanthropy in March 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he was a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Board, where he worked on international financial stability. As part of his work at the Fed, he developed an R package, fedmatch, for linking datasets without common identifiers. He’s passionate about reading, and maintains a blog on reading the classics. He graduated with a B.S. in Physics from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2019.

Anna joined the Operations Team in July 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, she served as Director of Human Resources at Buffalo Exchange, guiding the organization on manager development, change management, and organizational restructuring. Throughout her career, she has served as a leader of teams and a mentor to managers. Anna holds certifications from the Society for Human Resource Management and Project Management Institute and graduated from Shimer College in 2006 with a BA in Philosophy.

Emily joined Open Philanthropy in April 2023 and supports Open Philanthropy's Salesforce implementation and user base. Previously, she was the Salesforce Administrator at Boston-based educational non-profit Facing History & Ourselves. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Josh joined Open Philanthropy in June 2022. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked as a full-stack software engineer for Augeo. He has a B.A. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Carleton College.

Heather joined Open Philanthropy in August 2016. Her goal is to identify philanthropic opportunities in transformative basic and applied research that have important societal impact. She was director of the Bakar Fellows Program for faculty entrepreneurs at UC Berkeley, a senior strategic advisor at the Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley, and an assistant professor at Michigan Technological University. She received a B.S. in biology from Michigan Technological University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Oregon Health and Science University, and was an NIH post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University.

Claire leads our grantmaking on effective altruism and does research and makes grants across Open Philanthropy’s efforts to reduce global catastrophic risks. She joined Open Philanthropy in August 2015 as a Research Analyst. Claire has a B.S. and M.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University, where she conducted research related to the science, ethics, and governance of solar geoengineering.  

Philip joined Open Philanthropy in August 2022. Previously, he spent over three years recruiting strategy and transformation leaders as an executive search consultant, and also worked in audit for PwC. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a B.A. in Classics.