Duke Sanford School of Public Policy

Phil Buchanan is President of the Center for Effective Philanthropy and was the first chief executive of the organization. At CEP, Phil has built a research team, secured funding, developed a research agenda, and managed the development and introduction of new performance assessment tools. Under his leadership, the organization has grown into the leading provider of comparative performance data to large foundations and other grantmaking institutions. CEP’s research reports have shaped practice and understanding among foundation CEOs and trustees, and its assessment tools have been used by 200 foundations located in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Israel. The organization has been credited with bringing the voice of grantees and other stakeholders into the foundation boardroom and with contributing to an increased emphasis on clear goals, coherent strategies, and relevant performance indicators as the necessary ingredients to maximize effectiveness and impact. Phil was named to the Nonprofit Times 2007 and 2008 “Power and Influence Top 50” list. He holds an MBA from Harvard University and received his undergraduate degree in Government from Wesleyan University.

Michael Edwards is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos in New York and the author of "Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World," published this month by Berrett-Koehler. You can follow him on Twitter @edwarmi and via his website at www.futurepositive.org. From 1999 to 2008 he was the director of the Ford Foundation’s Governance and Civil Society Program and previously worked for the World Bank, Oxfam, and Save the Children.

Kathleen P. Enright is the president and CEO of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. GEO is a national coalition of grantmakers who understand that grantmakers are successful only to the extent that their grantees achieve meaningful results. Therefore, GEO promotes strategies and practices that contribute to grantee success. While with GEO, Kathleen (with the GEO board of directors) has developed a compelling vision and cohesive strategy for the organization, led GEO through a merger, supervised the development of a host of products and services and forged high-profile publishing and other partnerships.

Kathleen speaks and writes regularly on issues of nonprofit and grantmaker effectiveness at national and regional gatherings of executives and trustees. Publications include "Investing in Leadership: Inspiration and Ideas from Philanthropy’s Latest Frontier" and "Funding Effectiveness: Lessons in Building Nonprofit Capacity."

Previously, Kathleen served as the group director, marketing and communications, for BoardSource, where she was responsible for developing and implementing an organization-wide marketing and communications strategy, building and maintaining a consistent and recognizable brand, supervising the promotion of all products and services, and building public awareness of the importance of strong nonprofit boards. Kathleen joined BoardSource as editorial manager, where she supervised the production of new publications and resources. She later became assistant director of communications, where she served as a primary media spokesperson, providing information and public comment to journalists on an array of nonprofit issues.

Prior to joining BoardSource, Kathleen was a project manager for the National Association of Development Organizations Research Foundation, where she directed a Ford Foundation funded project to encourage collaboration between nonprofits and local governments.

Kathleen serves as chair of the board of Fieldstone Alliance and on the advisory board of the Center for Effective Philanthropy. She previously served on Independent Sector’s Building Value Together Committee and the selection committee of the Washington Post Nonprofit Excellence Award. In 2007, Kathleen received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the George Washington University Chapter of Pi Alpha Alpha, a public administration honor society. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s of public administration from the George Washington University.

Peter Frumkin is Professor of Public Affairs and Director of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. His research and teaching focus on nonprofit management and philanthropy.

Frumkin is the author of articles on all aspects of philanthropy, including the formulation of grantmaking strategy, the changing profile of major individual donors, theories of philanthropic leverage, the professionalization movement within foundations, and other topics. He has lectured on philanthropy at meetings of grantmakers across the country and served as a consultant to foundations and individual donors on strategy and evaluation. His book "Strategic Giving: The Art and Science of Philanthropy" was published by the University of Chicago Press. It has been touted by reviewers as the “benchmark text for the field” and “the most penetrating exploration of contemporary philanthropy now available.”

Frumkin is the author of "On Being Nonprofit" (Harvard University Press, 2002). This book considers the changing roles and responsibilities of nonprofit organizations in American democracy and the evolution of public policies shaping the sector’s growth. He is the co-editor of "In Search of the Nonprofit Sector" (Transaction, 2004), which examines the blurring boundaries between government, business, and nonprofit sectors. He has also authored numerous articles on topics related to nonprofit management, including ones focusing on compensation policies in nonprofit organizations, the impact of fundraising strategies on nonprofit revenue generation, and the effects of public funding on nonprofit mission definition.

This spring, two new books by Frumkin will appear: "Serving Country and Community" (Harvard University Press), which examines the effectiveness of the national service programs AmeriCorps and VISTA, and "The Essence of Strategic Giving: A Practical Guide for Donors and Fundraisers" (University of Chicago Press). Prior to coming to the LBJ School, Frumkin was an associate professor of public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Frumkin worked as a foundation program officer, as a nonprofit manager, and as a program evaluator in both nonprofit and public agencies. Frumkin received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago.

Stanley Katz is President Emeritus of the American Council of Learned Societies, the leading organization in humanistic scholarship and education in the United States. Mr. Katz graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1955 with a major in English History and Literature. He received his M.A. from Harvard in American History in 1959 and his Ph.D. in the same field from Harvard in 1961. He attended Harvard Law School in 1969-70. His recent research focuses upon the relationship of civil society and constitutionalism to democracy, and upon the relationship of the United States to the international human rights regime. Formerly Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor of the History of American Law and Liberty at Princeton University, Mr. Katz is a leading expert on American legal and constitutional history, and on philanthropy and nonprofit institutions. The author and editor of numerous books and articles, Mr. Katz has served as President of the Organization of American Historians and the American Society for Legal History and as Vice President of the Research Division of the American Historical Association. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Newberry Library, the Social Science Research Council, the Copyright Clearance Center, and numerous other institutions. He also currently serves as Chair of the American Council of Learned Societies/Social Science Research Council Working Group on Cuba. Katz is a member of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the American Antiquarian Society, the American Philosophical Society; a Fellow of the American Society for Legal History, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Society of American Historians; and a Corresponding Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He has honorary degrees from several universities.

Gara LaMarche is a Senior Fellow at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. From 2007 to 2011, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Atlantic Philanthropies, an international grantmaking foundation dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people. Atlantic focuses on four critical social challenges: Aging, Children & Youth, Population Health, and Reconciliation & Human Rights. Programs funded by Atlantic operate primarily in Australia, Bermuda, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States, and Viet Nam.

Before joining Atlantic in April 2007, Mr. LaMarche served as Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Institute (OSI), a foundation established by philanthropist George Soros. Mr. LaMarche joined OSI in 1996 to launch its U.S. Programs, which focus on challenges to social justice and democracy.

Mr. LaMarche previously served as Associate Director of Human Rights Watch and Director of its Free Expression Project from 1990 to 1996. He helped build the organisation’s work in the United States and on lesbian and gay rights; conducted human rights investigations in Egypt, Cuba, Greece, and Hungary; and wrote reports on freedom of expression issues in the 1991 Gulf War, Miami’s Cuban exile community, and the United Kingdom. He was Director of the Freedom-to-Write Program of the PEN American Center from 1988 to 1990, when PEN played a leading role in campaigns to lift Iran’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie and challenged restrictions on arts funding in the United States.

He served in a variety of positions with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Mr. LaMarche first became associated with the ACLU in 1972 at age 18 as a member of its national Academic Freedom Committee. He was the Associate Director of the ACLU’s New York branch and the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. At the Texas ACLU, he led campaigns to provide adequate representation for death row inmates and oppose discriminatory treatment of persons with AIDS in the early days of the epidemic.

Mr. LaMarche is the author of numerous articles on human rights and social justice issues, which have appeared in publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Nation, American Prospect, Huffington Post, Texas Observer, and Wharton Magazine, and is the editor of "Speech and Equality: Do We Really Have to Choose?" (New York University Press, 1996). Mr. LaMarche teaches a course on philanthropy and public policy at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service and has been an adjunct professor at New School University and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Mr. LaMarche has been recognised as a “Good Guy” by the Texas Women’s Political Caucus and as a Voice for Justice by the Fifth Avenue Committee. He has received the John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service from Bard College, the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Progressive Leadership Award from USAction, the President’s Award from the National Council of La Raza, the Champion Award from the Center for Community Change, and the Hope Award from Providence House. From 1988 to 1989, he was a Charles H. Revson Fellow on the Future of the City of New York. He has also served as a judge for the Sundance Documentary Fund, the PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award, the ACLU’s Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty, the Roosevelt Institute’s Four Freedoms Award, and the Lodestar Foundation’s Collaboration Prize.

Mr. LaMarche serves on the boards of StoryCorps, the White House Project, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and the Leadership Council of Hispanics in Philanthropy.

A Westerly, Rhode Island, native, Mr. LaMarche is a graduate of Columbia College at Columbia University in New York.

Dr. Paul C. Light is NYU Wagner's Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service and founding principal investigator of the Organizational Performance Initiative. Until joining NYU, Dr. Light served as the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, founding director of its Center for Public Service, and vice president and director of the Governmental Studies Program. He has served previously as director of the Public Policy Program at the Pew Charitable Trusts and associate dean and professor of public affairs at the University of Minnesota's Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

Light has written 18 books, including the award-winning "Thickening Government" and "The Tides of Reform." He is also a co-author of a best-selling American government textbook, "Government by the People." His research interests include: bureaucracy, civil service, Congress, entitlement programs, executive branch, government reform, nonprofit effectiveness, organizational change, and the political appointment process.

Sally Osberg is a recognized leader in the social sector for her work in advancing the field of social entrepreneurship. As President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, she leads the foundation’s team in identifying and supporting innovators who are pioneering effective, sustainable solutions to global challenges.

Currently, Sally sits on the boards of the Oracle Education Foundation and Partners for Sustainable Development. She formerly has served as a member of the board and as President of the Association of Children’s Museums, on the boards of the American Association of Museums and Women and Philanthropy and on both the Silicon Valley chapter and national boards of the American Leadership Forum.

A leader in the social sector for more than 25 years, she was formerly Executive Director of the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, which she guided from its inception to national recognition as a model in the museum field and the broader arena of informal learning.

Sally has held adjunct faculty positions at Hamilton College and Utica College of Syracuse University, where she was also Co-director of the Writing Center. As Managing Editor for the Center for California Public Affairs, she oversaw the publication of reference works in the fields of consumer and environmental affairs.

Sally earned her M.A. in literature from the Claremont Graduate School and her B.A. in English from Scripps College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1998 she received the John Gardner Leadership Award from the American Leadership Forum, and in 1999 the San Jose Mercury News named her as one of the “Millennium 100,” recognizing her as one of the key individuals who have shaped and led Silicon Valley. In 2006 she was inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame.

Ellen Remmer is a recognized leader in the field of strategic philanthropy. As President and CEO, Ellen guides the strategic direction of The Philanthropic Initiative and champions the promotion of more effective philanthropy in the U.S. and around the globe. Ellen has been with TPI since 1993 and has developed many of TPI’s signature donor learning programs and speaks internationally on the subjects of strategic giving, family philanthropy, and women as donors. Ellen has been featured in publications ranging from the "Wall Street Journal" and "Forbes" to the "Chronicle of Philanthropy" and "Town & Country."

Edward Skloot is Director of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society and Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University. In June 2007, he retired as President of the Surdna Foundation, a family foundation headquartered in New York City. He was the first CEO of the $1 billion (2007) foundation and held this position beginning in 1989.

Before coming to Surdna, Skloot was founder and president of New Ventures, a nonprofit consulting firm that assisted other NGOs in earning income as a complement to fund-raising. Begun in 1980, New Ventures was the first organization to promote “social entrepreneurship.” Skloot wrote the early literature and helped create the field of social enterprise. He has also served in senior posts in state and local government.

Skloot serves on the boards of directors of Independent Sector; Venture Philanthropy Partners, a group of venture capitalists helping youth-serving organizations in the Washington, D.C. region; Citizen Schools, an after-school program located in seven states; the Partnership for Palliative Care; and TROSA, the largest residential therapeutic community in North Carolina. He is a member of the advisory boards of the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit consulting firm affiliated with Bain and Co., and of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS Center) of Stanford University.

Skloot has written and spoken widely on the subjects of nonprofit management, social venturing and sectoral leadership. Surdna has just published a compilation of his recent speeches in a book called "Beyond the Money." He also was the principal writer and editor of "The Nonprofit Entrepreneur," published by the Foundation Center.

Barry Varela directs the Teaching Case Writing Program of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society. Before coming to Duke, he was the project editor for the Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers with Visual Impairments, an initiative of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill. He has also worked in trade book publishing and as a self-employed editor and writer. He holds a B.A. in English from Grinnell College.