Joan Shifrin cofounded Global Goods Partners in 2005 after serving as the director of community education and outreach at the Global Fund for Children (GFC), a Washington DC-based nonprofit organization that supports community-based education groups that expand opportunities for young people around the world. Before joining GFC in 2000, she served as project manager at Matthews Media Group, a social-marketing firm that develops and implements public education campaigns on health-related issues. Joan is a former marketing manager for an international financial-services division of Citicorp, Inc. She received an MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a BA from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Joan lives in Washington DC with her husband and two daughters.
Catherine Lieber Shimony is the cofounder and codirector of Global Goods Partners and the former director of grant making at American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an independent nonprofit organization founded in 1985 to help alleviate poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the world regardless of race, religion or nationality. At AJWS, Catherine oversaw more than 140 projects within grassroots community-based organizations in 41 countries. Prior to her work with AJWS, Catherine was a United Nations Development Programme consultant, assessing economic programs in sub-Saharan Africa. She served as a consultant to the Americas Society and Council of the Americas and was their senior director of programs for seven years. Catherine was the senior program director for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and an associate with the international headquarters of the YMCA. She received an MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a BA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Catherine lives in New York City with her husband, son, and daughter.
Linda Barnett coordinates Global Goods Partner's school programs. She has more than 13 years of private sector sales and marketing experience. As a Director of Client Relations at The American Express Company, she helped develop an innovative Employee Financial Planning program, which was put into place in many Fortune 500 companies. Later she was Director of Sales and Marketing for Technimetrics, a New York based information services company where she worked both domestically and internationally with large corporations on their information and systems needs.
Jennifer Gootman has ten years experience working with economic development and arts-focused nonprofits and social enterprises. Prior to joining GGP, Jennifer was the deputy director of City Futures, the nonprofit parent of City Limits magazine and Center for an Urban Future think tank. She has also worked as communications director for Art in General, a nonprofit cultural organization in Lower Manhattan, and with Agora Partnerships in Nicaragua, where she planned and implemented a distribution and scaling strategy for a jewelry business that trains and employs disadvantaged youth. She has consulted for the International Rescue Committee, ACCION USA, and Mumbai-based Dial 1298 for Ambulance. In addition to her work in social enterprise, Jennifer designs and produces her own line of jewelry. Jennifer received an MBA with distinction from NYU Stern where she specialized in Finance and Social Innovation and Impact and a BA from Harvard University where she majored in History and Women’s Studies.
As lead of operations at Global Goods Partners (GGP), Sara is responsible for ensuring all operations function smoothly and effectively. Her diverse background offers a combination of experience in the non-profit and corporate sectors. Prior to joining GGP, Sara was the Associate Director of Project Rebirth, a non-profit organization creating a feature documentary film of the rebuild at Ground Zero. In addition to managing the New York and Los Angeles operations at Project Rebirth, Sara coordinated efforts with the National September 11th Memorial and Museum as well as prominent universities to create enduring educational programs about 9/11. Sara started her career as the financial Controller at Nurun, a multi-national interactive ad agency specialized in consumer packaged goods. At The New School in New York, Sara received her Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in visual arts and studies.
Rachel holds a BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and is currently pursuing an MFA in Photography and Related Media at Parsons the New School for Design. Originally from central Pennsylvania, she has been working as a freelance photographer for years. She lives and works in New York City.
Jeremy Hockenstein is a strategic advisor to Global Goods Partners and a strategy consultant for noprofit and private sector entities. A graduate of Harvard University, MIT Sloan School of Management, and a McKinsey & Company alumnus, Jeremy cofounded Digital Divide Data (DDD), a data entry and digitalization service company in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. DDD is an NGO that employs disadvantaged youth, people with disabilities, and abused women, and provides them with a first work experience, a stable income and skills training. As a business, DDD is building an export-oriented IT-enabled services sector in the local economy and is now the largest technology related employer in Cambodia. DDD has been recognized globally by the World Bank’s Development Marketplace Award and in Thomas Friedman’s book, ‘The World is Flat.’
Ms. Marks currently works as a Government Programs Executive on Capitol Hill with IBM in Washington, DC. Prior to joining IBM, Ms. Marks worked for 18 years at Dow Jones Newswires, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal Europe and CNBC as a chief correspondent and bureau chief in several European capitals. As a journalist, she has covered major news events, including the Persian Gulf War, the Northern Ireland Peace Process, European corporate reporting scandals, Russia’s accession to the Group of Eight (G-8), the transition to a single European currency as well as events at NATO, OPEC and the European Union. She has won several awards for journalism, created Dow Jones’ first training program for aspiring journalists and is the author of the Dow Jones style manual. Ms. Marks graduated with a Master’s Degree in International Relations in 1983 from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC and Bologna, Italy. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane University in History and Political Science.
Veronique Pittman is a trustee of the Rainforest Foundation US and Round Hill Hotels and Villas. She is a partner of Rainforest Native, which imports fair trade ecological products from the Amazon rainforest, and an advisory board member of the Green Schools Alliance and Sambazon's Sustainable Acai Project. Veronique is a graphic designer, cook, and adventurer. She is Interested in indigenous rights, biodiversity conservation, green technologies, discovery learning, and women's reproductive health, rights and education. Veronique lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.
Ivan Rebolledo is Advisor for the Americas, to Global Goods Partners. He is a managing partner of TerraNova Strategic Partners LLC, as well as president of the Bolivian-American Chamber of Commerce. He has served with the United Nations system in various capacities and countries: Office on Drugs and Crime; Department of Political Affairs; International Drug Control Programme and UNDP. He co-founded VentureMate.com, an internet start-up company that brought together entrepreneurs in search of capital and investors seeking private equity, via web-based platforms. Prior to joining the UN system, he consulted with the Inter-American Parliamentary Commission on Population and Development and was also Deputy Director, Latin American Affairs at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. He has a graduate degree in Latin American Economic and Political Development from a joint degree program with Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and NYU's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, as well as a BA in Political Science from NYU. He has lectured and published articles on international drug policy, inter-American relations, hemispheric trade issues, Andean politics and economic development. He has appeared on the BBC, CNN International, CNN en Espanol, Radio France International, and other media outlets.