Anouska Cheddie , President

Anouska Cheddie is Associate Vice President of Major and Principal Gifts at the Environmental Defense Fund, where she leads high-impact fundraising strategies and engages some of the organization’s most significant donors. As an expert in major gifts, philanthropic strategy, and donor engagement

Anouska has held senior development roles at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Climate Central.  She has built and stewarded transformative relationships with donors, developed strategies to deepen philanthropic engagement, and helped strengthen fundraising programs to support organizational growth and impact.

Joanne Sandler, Board Treasurer

Joanne Sandler is an international gender equality policy leader, academic, and commentator with decades of experience advancing women’s rights and social justice globally. She served as Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and has held senior leadership roles across the UN system, including overseeing global efforts on women, peace, and security following UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Throughout her career.

Joanne has worked with governments, civil society organizations, feminist movements, and international institutions to strengthen gender-responsive policies and institutions. Her work spans feminist leadership, organizational change, global policy, and strategies to advance gender equality and women’s rights.

Nina Sawhney, Board Secretary

Nina Sawhney is the Program Director of the McNulty Foundation, where she leads program strategy, grantmaking, and major partnerships. She oversees the McNulty Prize, recognizing individuals of extraordinary moral courage who are driving breakthrough solutions to the world's most pressing challenges, and has cultivated an ecosystem of support designed to amplify their visibility, elevate their stories, and build lasting community.

Nina advises a global network of community partners, participates in funder collaboratives around climate justice and civic participation, and provides strategic guidance to programs accelerating women and young leaders. She has deep experience in designing programs from the ground up, and has worked as an impact consultant for the UN Global Compact, Unilever and numerous nonprofits and social enterprises focused on gender justice and sustainability. She has previously lived in Mumbai, where she designed leadership programs and trained school leaders with the Akanksha Foundation.

Tesmerelna Atsbeha

Tesmerelna Atsbeha is a Senior Fellow at the Global Women’s Institute at George Washington University and a member of the secretariat team for the GBV Funder Forum. A donor organizing advisor and practitioner, she has over 20 years of experience advancing gender equity through philanthropic strategy, multi-donor collaboration, and field-building, with a focus on gender-based violence prevention and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

During nearly a decade at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, she designed and governed major multi-donor platforms, including the Gender-Based Violence Funders Forum and Fondo Autonoma, helping mobilize over $500 million in collective investment. Tesmerelna advises funder networks and private philanthropies on strategy and serves in leadership and advisory roles with several global gender justice initiatives. She holds degrees from Brown University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Teachers College, Columbia University.

Nayana Chowdhury

Nayana Chowdhury is the Chief Executive Officer of Breakthrough India, where she leads efforts to make gender-based violence unacceptable through large-scale social and behavioral change. With over 15 years of experience across philanthropy and program leadership, including roles at Tata Trusts and the IKEA Foundation, she brings a unique perspective as both a funder and implementer.

Since joining Breakthrough in 2018, Nayana has played a key role in shaping the organization’s strategic direction, with a strong focus on working with adolescents as catalysts for generational change. Under her leadership, Breakthrough continues to strengthen its programs, expand partnerships, and deepen its impact in advancing gender equality and transforming social norms

Sangeeta Chowdhry

Sangeeta Chowdhry is a feminist leader in the philanthropic and nonprofit social justice sector with two decades of experience advancing gender equality and economic and environmental justice globally and in the United States. Most recently, she served as Executive Director of Common Counsel Foundation and previously as Interim Vice President at Global Fund for Women, where she led global program strategy, movement-led grantmaking, resource mobilization, and alliance building.

Her work has spanned women’s leadership, climate justice, gender-based violence prevention, workers’ rights, safe water and sanitation, sustainable livelihoods, and microfinance with organizations including the Gates Foundation, Acumen Fund, American India Foundation, and CARE India. She has served on several nonprofit boards and holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Smruti Govan

Smruti Govan is Legal Director of Human Rights and Sustainable Sourcing at PepsiCo.  She has over 12 years of experience in corporate social responsibility and human rights and has led partnerships across diverse sectors.

Smruti manages PepsiCo’s global human rights due diligence programs for suppliers and integrates human rights within relevant corporate practices at PepsiCo. Previously, Smruti managed corporate responsibility at PVH Corporation, co-founding a $10 million fund for women in global value chains and managing various human rights initiatives, including a global training program.  She has previously worked for Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), where she helped manage their global digital and financial literacy program for 37,000 female supply chain workers, and for Bloomberg LP within their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data team.

Mallika Dutt, Emeritus

Mallika Dutt is the Program Director of Gender Equity and Governance at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the founder of Breakthrough. A longtime advocate for gender equity and human rights, she has advanced social change through narrative strategy, storytelling, movement building, philanthropy, and intersectional approaches to justice. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the 2016 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, Mallika is a graduate of NYU Law School and Columbia University’s School of International Affairs.