People
Advisors
Emma Belcher
President, Ploughshares Fund
Emma is the President of Ploughshares Fund. Prior to that, Emma spent nearly a decade leading the MacArthur Foundation’s Nuclear Challenges grantmaking program. There, she developed foundation’s Nuclear Challenge Big Bet team—from ideation to management of a nearly million budget. She also served as an advisor in Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on national security and international affairs.
Yordanos Eyoel
Founder and CEO, Keseb
Yordanos is an Ethiopian-American democracy entrepreneur who is the Founder and CEO of Keseb. Keseb is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization building an ecosystem for cross-country innovation to turn the tide against authoritarianism and advance inclusive and resilient democracies. She was previously a Managing Partner at New Profit, where she launched the Civic lab, a venture philanthropy initiative to invest in innovative solutions building civic trust and a strong civic culture in America.
Lewis Bollard
Program Director, Farm Animal Welfare, Open Philanthropy
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), was a litigation fellow at HSUS, 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.
Nancy Hey
Director, Evidence and Insight; Lloyd’s Register Foundation
Nancy Hey is the Director of Evidence & Insight at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, where she is establishing the organization’s Global Safety Evidence Centre. She previously worked as the Executive Director of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, the UK’s national body for wellbeing evidence and practice, aiming to understand what governments, businesses, communities, and people can do to improve wellbeing.
John Lavis
Director, McMaster Health Forum
John is a Professor at McMaster University and directs the McMaster Health Forum, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed Policy. He works with policymakers globally to harness research evidence and stakeholder insights to strengthen health and social systems. He is Co-Lead of the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges and the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making.
Nitin Pai
Co-Founder and Director, Takshashila Institution
Nitin Pai is the co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, a think tank and school of public policy in Bangalore. He is an expert on the intersection of technology and geopolitics and spent over a decade as a technology sector policymaker with the Singapore government. Nitin is on the boards of Jal Seva Foundation (WaterAid India) and the Government of Karnataka’s Vision Group on Higher Education.
Dan Perez
Director, North America, SRI Executive
Dan is the Director for North America at SRI Executive. He has over 15 years of experience in executive search and strategy consulting, primarily serving international NGOs, governments, and multilateral organizations. Prior to SRI Executive, he held roles at Egon Zehnder, Booz Allen Hamilton, and was the Executive Director for America’s Impact. Dan is on the Board of Directors for Atlas Corps and holds a MPA from Columbia University.
Jaan Tallinn
Founding Engineer, Skype
Jaan is a founding engineer of Skype and Kazaa. He co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and the the Future of Life Institute and philanthropically supports other existential risk research organizations. Jaan is a partner at Ambient Sound Investments, an active angel investor, and has served on the Estonian President’s Academic Advisory Board.
Jenny Xiao
Partner, Leonis Capital
Jenny is a Partner at Leonis Capital, a research-driven venture capital fund backing early-stage AI companies. Jenny is also a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI) and previously worked as a researcher at OpenAI and the Future of Humanity Institute. Her PhD work at Columbia University drew on the fields of AI, economics, and policy and focused on the global AI landscape and national AI capabilities.
Team
Ian David Moss
CEO
Ian David Moss is CEO and founder of the Effective Institutions Project. Over the course of more than two decades, he has partnered with dozens of grantmaking foundations and philanthropic families to design impactful programs, allocate resources effectively, and collaborate productively toward a thriving future. All told, his work has guided the distribution of more than $250 million in grants and spending to improve people’s lives worldwide.
Conrad Helminger
Senior Associate
Conrad is a Senior Associate at EIP supporting research, monitoring, and prioritization across institutions and issues. He holds a MA in International Political Economy and is also a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, researching global shifts in power, norms, and institutions.
Ella McIntosh
Chief of Staff
Ella is the Chief of Staff at EIP. She supports Ian and the team on strategic initiatives and ensures that the organization’s systems run effectively. She was one of EIP’s first employees and holds a MSc in International Social and Public Policy from the London School of Economics.
Spencer Orenstein
Senior Research Manager
Jeremiah Stanghini
Senior Program & Partnerships Manager
Jeremiah is the Senior Program & Partnerships Manager at EIP. He has a decade of leadership within the Canadian government as a ‘Free Agent,’ where he managed high-profile projects, including an award-winning AI initiative. His expertise in geopolitical forecasting as a ‘Superforecaster’ is complemented by nearly ten years as an Adjunct Professor teaching organizational behavior at George Mason University.
Latisha Harry
Senior Strategist
Faye Crawford
Fellow
Faye is an fellow with EIP focusing on expanding AI governance learning. She is an undergraduate Economics student at Minerva University interested in global development, with experience in journalism and research.
Juliana Eberschlag
Intern
Juliana is an intern with EIP, focusing on operations and external relations support. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Philosophy at Queen’s University in Canada. After graduation, she is interested in pursuing work related to AI governance and the development of high-impact organizations.
Board of Directors
John Abodeely
CEO, Houston Arts Alliance
John Abodeely is CEO of the Houston Arts Alliance where he oversees an $15M annual grantmaking portfolio, $5M in public art and design projects, and the nation’s only local disaster resilience and recovery program for the cultural sector. He previously worked for the US federal government as Acting Executive Director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. For two years, John served on the board of the nonprofit that operated EIP during its incubation phase.
Gaia Dempsey
Special Advisor, Metaculus
Gaia Dempsey is an accomplished entrepreneur and technology executive with a passion for driving innovation and social impact. As the founder of 7th Future, she leads a research consultancy dedicated to building scalable innovation models. Gaia also mentors aspiring charity founders through Charity Entrepreneurship, was a Schmidt Futures Innovation Fellow, and served as a Special Advisor to Metaculus.
Nadia Gomes
Social Impact Strategist
Nadia Gomes is a social impact strategist with two decades of experience in global philanthropy. For nearly eight years Nadia led, mentored, and supported the Strategic Planning team at Open Society Foundations, serving the entire $1b+ organization working across a global network in 100+ countries. She currently serves as a strategy advisor and has most recently been supporting executives at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Leslie Gross
Managing Director Americas East, Forward Global
Leslie Gross is a Partner at Advantage Insights Group, where she advises high-net-worth donors and organizations on philanthropy. She has spent her career crafting solutions for high-profile and high-stakes challenges at the intersection of public policy, the private sector, and philanthropy, including as President Obama’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Chief Counsel, U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Andrea Ordóñez Llanos
Senior Research Fellow and former Director, Southern Voice
Andrea Ordóñez Llanos is a senior research fellow and former director of Southern Voice, a network of over sixty think tanks from across the Global South. She oversees and contributes to the production of evidence-based research authored by Global South experts.
Ian David Moss
CEO, Effective Institutions Project
Ian David Moss is CEO and founder of the Effective Institutions Project. Over the course of more than two decades, he has partnered with dozens of grantmaking foundations and philanthropic families to design impactful programs, allocate resources effectively, and collaborate productively toward a thriving future. All told, his work has guided the distribution of more than $250 million in grants and spending to improve people’s lives worldwide.
Dave Orr
Director of Engineering for AI Safety and Alignment, Google DeepMind
Dave Orr is a board member and past chair of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the United States. He has worked at Google for more than a decade and leads AI an alignment team at Google DeepMind.