Meet the Changemakers
The MenCare Changemakers are influential stakeholders from business, the media, culture, civil society, governments and more, working together to understand how we achieve health and wellbeing for men and boys together with women and girls, and how to solve some of the biggest problems facing men, boys, and manhood around the world today.
The Changemakers
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Sam Browne
Spoken Word Poet
Sam Browne
Spoken Word Poet
Sam Browne is a spoken word poet from Southend, Essex, who originally set out to be a stand-up comedian until he realised all his jokes rhymed and none of them were particularly funny. So he pivoted to poetry, and things started to click. Since then, Sam has developed an online following of over 100,000 followers across all platforms and tens of millions of views. He has won awards for his activism work and has one numerous prestigious poetry slams. At just the age of 21 Sam Browne is helping reshape the way young men think about masculinity and feminism one poem at a time.
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Giovanna Lauro
Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Equimundo
Giovanna Lauro
Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Equimundo
Giovanna has more than 20 years of experience advancing gender equality and preventing gender-based violence, with a focus on transforming harmful masculinities. As Equimundo’s Deputy CEO, she leads global research and program strategy. Previously, she was Associate Director of the Women and Population Programme at the United Nations Foundation and conducted research at the London School of Economics. A native of Italy, Giovanna is fluent in English, French, and Spanish, and serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster youth in the United States.
“Let’s choose care over fear; speaking up for equality over silence; and let’s do it together!”
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Ana B. Moreno
Technical Secretary, Global Alliance for Care
Ana B. Moreno
Technical Secretary, Global Alliance for Care
Social anthropologist and journalist with over 30 years of experience in public policy, international, and local sustainable development projects.
Specializes in defining and implementing collaboration platforms and multi-stakeholder alliances, participating in intergovernmental processes, and designing advocacy and outreach strategies for sustainable development and resource mobilization.
Notable roles include serving as Coordinator for the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) and the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum (2012-2018), as well as Director of the UN-Habitat Office for Brunei-Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
Additionally, has held key positions with the Barcelona City Council, Spain’s Ministry of Industry, T ourism and Trade, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
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Trenesa Stanford-Danuser
Chief Communications Officer and Chief of Staff, Catalyst, Inc.
Trenesa Stanford-Danuser
Chief Communications Officer and Chief of Staff, Catalyst, Inc.
Trenesa Stanford-Danuser is a strategic communications and organizational leader whose work sits at the intersection of leadership, inclusion, and culture change. As Chief Communications Officer and Chief of Staff at Catalyst, she helps shape the vision, voice, and strategy of one of the world’s leading organizations advancing women and inclusive workplaces. Trenesa spent 25+ years in luxury beauty, fashion and retail, including 14 years at The Estée Lauder Companies, launching and building a global portfolio of skincare, beauty, and haircare brands across markets worldwide. Throughout that career, she was doing inclusion work long before anyone called it that. She co-founded a groundbreaking initiative with CoverGirl to serve African American consumers when the industry wasn’t yet asking the question. She negotiated directly with indigenous palm oil farmers in Honduras on behalf of a prestige haircare brand.
At Saks Global, she helped lead a landmark collaboration with First Nations communities, including a ceremonial unceded land acknowledgment gift supported by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in alignment with Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation initiative. That journey, from the frontlines of one of the world’s most aspirational industries to the current work of workplace equity, informs everything she brings to Catalyst, where she helps elevate CEO Jennifer McCollum’s newly launched book Men at Work: The Roadmap to Gender Partnership. Like the MenCare Changemaker Journey, Men at Work challenges narrow definitions of who gets to lead, who gets to care, and what real partnership looks like in practice. As one of Equimundo’s 100 Changemakers, Trenesa is honored to stand with a global community committed to making caring manhood the new normal. Her core belief: real progress happens when we invite people into the work of change with authenticity, accountability, and courage.
“When people care for you and cry for you, they can straighten out your soul.” — Langston Hughes
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Howard Taylor
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lumos Foundation
Howard Taylor
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lumos Foundation
Howard Taylor is the CEO of the Lumos Foundation, where he works to advance children’s rights and end the institutionalization of children worldwide. With a background in international development and social justice, he focuses on driving systemic reform to ensure children grow up in safe, family–based care. Howard collaborates with governments, civil society, and global partners to strengthen child protection systems and promote policies that prioritize care, dignity, and long–term wellbeing.
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Taveeshi Gupta
Director of Research, Evaluation, and Learning, Equimundo
Taveeshi Gupta
Director of Research, Evaluation, and Learning, Equimundo
Taveeshi is Director of Research, Evaluation, and Learning at Equimundo and a global expert on gender equality, masculinities, and the transformative power of care. Her research bridges developmental psychology and social change, advancing equitable caregiving and challenging harmful gender norms worldwide. She has advised the United Nations, OECD, APEC, and Movember, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Lancet Commission on Violence against Women and Girls. Her widely cited work, featured in The Guardian and NPR, explores issues such as the “manosphere,” men’s isolation, and the redefinition of masculinity through care.
“When we meet boys and men with genuine care – acknowledging their vulnerabilities and strengths – we create space for transformative change, because supporting men’s health uplifts everyone.”
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Ramya Subrahmanian
Chief: Research on Gender Equality, Child Rights and Protection, UNICEF Office of Strategy and Evidence – Innocenti
Ramya Subrahmanian
Chief: Research on Gender Equality, Child Rights and Protection, UNICEF Office of Strategy and Evidence – Innocenti
Ramya Subrahmanian is an international gender equality and child rights expert with over thirty years’ experience working with NGOs, within academia and with the UN. Currently she leads the Gender equality, child rights and protection research team at the UNICEF Office of Strategy and Evidence – Innocenti, with a portfolio that includes gender, care, social and family policy; violence against children and women, migration and displacement, child marriage, child labour, and children’s care reform. Previously she was Executive Director of Know Violence in Childhood, a global learning initiative that collaborated with 140 researchers on the evidence on effective strategies to prevent violence against children. Prior to that, she has worked as a Social Policy specialist at UNICEF India and has been a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex where she also co-directed and taught the MA Programme in Gender and Development. She is passionate about working across sectors, across institutions, and across actor networks to find innovative and impactful ways to drive and sustain change.
“To achieve gender equality we need to focus on understanding both the relational and structural aspects of inequalities between boys and girls, and men and women, and find ways to address them through transforming how we relate as humans, how we care collectively, and how we collaborate intentionally for more equal and just societies.”
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Hannah Phillips
Respectful Politics Policy Manager, The Jo Cox Foundation
Hannah Phillips
Respectful Politics Policy Manager, The Jo Cox Foundation
With a decade of experience in the public sector and academia, Hannah is an expert in advancing gender equality. Currently, she leads The Jo Cox Foundation’s policy development and advocacy to address abuse in public life and strengthen democracy. Her unique background spans local, national and international policy. She has significant experience advising and implementing strategic priorities, including at the United Nations and UK House of Commons. Originally from Scotland, she pursued her undergraduate studies at Harvard University. While also working, she studied for her MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities at the London School of Economics and completed her DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford.
“We can change institutional cultures for the social good through collaborative action.”
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Alanna Williams
Vice President and Managing Director, American Institute for Boys and Men
Alanna Williams
Vice President and Managing Director, American Institute for Boys and Men
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Tea Trumbic
Manager: Women, Business and the Law, World Bank Group
Tea Trumbic
Manager: Women, Business and the Law, World Bank Group
Tea Trumbic leads the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) project at the World Bank. WBL produces data and evidence on how laws, policies, and their implementation affect women’s economic opportunities across 190 economies, with a strong focus on informing World Bank operations, policy dialogue, and reform design. Since joining the World Bank in 2006, she has worked on flagship indicators covering taxation, credit information, agribusiness, trade, and gender. She previously worked at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia and the International Monetary Fund, and holds degrees in economics from Stanford University and the London School of Economics.
“Advancing women’s economic opportunities requires engaging men as partners in care, work, and reform.”
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Dr. Chloé Lewis
Deputy Director of Research, Evaluation, and Learning, Equimundo
Dr. Chloé Lewis
Deputy Director of Research, Evaluation, and Learning, Equimundo
Chloé is Deputy Director of Research, Evaluation, and Learning at Equimundo. For over 15 years, her work has focused on gender and armed conflict, with a particular emphasis on addressing and preventing sexual and gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Before joining Equimundo, she was a Senior Research Associate with Oxford’s Global Security Programme and a Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government. She has collaborated with organizations including the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, the World Bank, and the U.K. Ministry of Defence. Chloé co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Masculinities, Conflict and Peacebuilding.
“More unites us than divides us. In these fractured times, we must believe this now more than ever.”
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Jordan Stephens
Creative, Musician, Author
Jordan Stephens
Creative, Musician, Author
Jordan Stephens is a creative, musician, and author, best known as one half of the chart-topping duo Rizzle Kicks. Jordan is also an established actor, having made his debut as the lead in the London stage production of Entertaining Mr Sloane. On television, he has appeared in series such as The Ex-Wife (for two seasons), Starstruck, and Catastrophe, alongside film roles in Teen Spirit and Star Wars: Rogue One. He also hosted the ITV2 show Don’t Hate The Playaz for four series.
By speaking openly about his own mental health struggles, Jordan has become a leading voice in raising awareness and tackling stigma. His #IAMWHOLE mental health campaign reached over 120 million people online and was mentioned in the UK Parliament. He published a children’s book, The Missing Piece, a personally inspired story about joy and connection, and his first book for adults, Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak and Dogs.
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Allison Tummon Kamphuis
Vice-President of Communications: Global Citizenship (Community Impact, Equality & Inclusion, Environmental Sustainability), Procter & Gamble
Allison Tummon Kamphuis
Vice-President of Communications: Global Citizenship (Community Impact, Equality & Inclusion, Environmental Sustainability), Procter & Gamble
Allison Tummon Kamphuis is the Vice-President of Communications, Global Citizenship at Procter & Gamble (P&G). With a 30-year career at the company, she leads the Global Citizenship Communications team, driving P&G’s efforts to be a positive force through partnerships with public, private, and non-governmental organizations. Her work spans critical initiatives in Community Impact, Equality &; Inclusion, and Sustainability, including the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program and global disaster relief efforts.
Allison serves on the IOC Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission and the Board of Directors for All In Together. She is also a member of corporate councils for Save the Children and CARE. Previously, she held R&D Clinical Operations leadership roles in P&G’s pharmaceutical division. Allison holds an MBA from Xavier University and a BS in Nursing from McMaster University. She resides in Ohio with her husband and two daughters.
“On my journey, I’ve seen time and again that true impact isn’t achieved alone. My commitment is to forge novel partnerships, channeling collective energy to create positive change together.”
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Ashley Kolaya
Executive Director, Mental Health Storytelling Initiative
Ashley Kolaya
Executive Director, Mental Health Storytelling Initiative
Ashley Kolaya is the founding Executive Director of the Mental Health Storytelling Initiative (MHSI), a coalition of 80+ entertainment, mental health, and philanthropic organizations working to shape how mental health is portrayed in media and culture. MHSI operates as a translation layer between the full ecosystem of social and mental health knowledge — research, clinical practice, community organizations, and people with lived experience — and the storytellers who shape culture. The goal is to ensure that what’s true and hard-won about human experience actually makes it into the stories reaching millions of people.
With more than 15 years of experience at the intersection of storytelling and social impact, she has built initiatives that help creators and institutions better understand, engage, and move their audiences. At TED, she built the global youth voice platform, TED-Ed Student Talks, and served as the founding Director of Curation and Coaching for TED Masterclass, where she coached speakers and developed programs to help leaders communicate ideas that shape culture. Her background is in civic engagement education.
“The stories boys grow up watching shape the men they become — stories that make room for vulnerability, connection, and belonging are the ones we need more of, and we’re building the infrastructure to make sure they get made and seen.”
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Dean Peacock
Founding Co-Director, Global Coalition for WHO Action on Firearm Violence
Dean Peacock
Founding Co-Director, Global Coalition for WHO Action on Firearm Violence
Dean Peacock has been involved in work for gender equality, violence prevention, and health equity for the last three decades. He is a commissioner with the Lancet Commission on Global Gun Violence and Health and an expert advisor to the Global Taskforce on Halving Global Violence. Dean is affiliated with the University of Cape Town’s School of Public Health, the Gender Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, and the Violence, Inequality and Power Lab at the University of San Diego. He has co-founded and co-created many local, national and global initiatives, including the Men Overcoming Violence Youth Program, Sonke Gender Justice, the MenEngage Alliance, the MenCare Campaign, the Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace Initiative, and the Global Coalition for WHO Action on Firearm Violence where he is the co-director. His work has been published widely and he has used the arts extensively, including documentary films, photo exhibitions, murals and photo-voice.
“Acknowledging that most men do in fact care deeply about their families, friends and communities opens up so many exciting possibilities for what we can all do together to build a more just, equitable, peaceful and sustainable world.”
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Dr. Darby Saxbe
Professor of Psychology, University of Southern California (USC)
Dr. Darby Saxbe
Professor of Psychology, University of Southern California (USC)
Darby Saxbe, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and tenured professor of psychology at the University of Southern California.
She has published over eighty scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and secured major research grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. She earned awards from the American Psychological Association and the Society for Research in Child Development and was a Fulbright fellow. Dr. Saxbe received her PhD in clinical psychology from UCLA and her BA in English and psychology from Yale University.
Her research focuses on the transition to parenthood, particularly the neural and hormonal underpinnings of fatherhood. She integrates neuroscience and psychology to explore how close connections shape health and wellbeing.
When she is not doing research, she plays guitar in an all-mom indie rock band and writes the Substack newsletter, Natal Gazing.
“When men step into their full potential as care providers, it’s good for children, societies, and men’s own health, well-being, and sense of meaning and purpose.”
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Gary Barker
President, Chief Executive Officer, Founder, Equimundo
Gary Barker
President, Chief Executive Officer, Founder, Equimundo
Gary is CEO and co-founder of Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice and a global leader in engaging men and boys for gender equality. He co-founded MenCare and MenEngage, created the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), and leads the State of the World’s Fathers reports. Formerly Executive Director of Instituto Promundo in Brazil, he has advised the United Nations, World Bank, and governments worldwide. Named by Apolitical among the 20 most influential in gender policy, he is an Ashoka Fellow and Voices of Solidarity Award recipient. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
“True democracy asks more than casting a ballot; it demands that each of us – especially as men – step into the roles of caregivers, connectors and collaborators, so our communities don’t just survive but flourish.”
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Richa Gupta
Chief Executive Officer, Labhya
Richa Gupta
Chief Executive Officer, Labhya
Richa is a teacher-turned entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Labhya, an India-based education non-profit that impacts the wellbeing of 2.4 million children.
Richa is a DRK Entrepreneur, a Mulago Fellow, and was featured in the Forbes Asia 30U30 list. Richa serves on the board of Global Fund for Children. She is one of the 17 United Nations Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Richa has a Master’s in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she also served as an Equity & Inclusion Fellow, Harvard Ministerial Leadership Fellow and Education Entrepreneurship fellow.
“To not feel like you are alone. To feel a sense of purpose and belonging. To feel complete. Today these are seen as luxuries. We need to create a world where this is a reality for every child.”
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Richard V. Reeves
President, American Institute for Boys and Men
Richard V. Reeves
President, American Institute for Boys and Men
Richard V. Reeves is the founder and president of the American Institute for Boys and Men(AIBM). Before founding AIBM in 2023, Reeves was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. While at Brookings, he focused on policies related to economic inequality, racial justice, social mobility, and boys and men.
Reeves is the author of several books, including “Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why it Matters, and What to do About It” and “Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That is a Problem, and What to do About It.”
Inspired by his own experiences as a father and policy expert, Richard founded AIBM to bring awareness to the challenges facing boys and men today and to develop evidence-based solutions.
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Brian Heilman
Senior Research Fellow, Movember Institute
Brian Heilman
Senior Research Fellow, Movember Institute
Brian Heilman is a Senior Research Fellow at the Movember Institute of Men’s Health and a global expert on masculinity, men’s health, fatherhood, and violence prevention. With more than 15 years of experience, his research examines how social norms shape men’s health, caregiving, and relationships, and how healthier, more connected models of manhood can benefit families and communities broadly. He has led and contributed to influential work including The Man Box, State of American Men, and State of the World’s Fathers, and is co-author of Movember’s The Real Face of Men’s Health (2025). His current research explores what it looks like for men to thrive, and how misperceptions about what other men think and expect can hold them back from getting there. He regularly represents Movember’s research in national media and policy settings, and collaborates with academic, nonprofit, and government partners across the globe.
“What excites me most right now is that we’re starting to understand not just what holds men back, but what it actually looks like when men thrive: as individuals, as partners, as fathers, and as friends. That’s the research and advocacy I want to do, helping unlock ways of being for men that bring the most good into the world.”
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Melissa Wong Oviedo
Regional Technical Lead – Latin America and the Caribbean, Equimundo
Melissa Wong Oviedo
Regional Technical Lead – Latin America and the Caribbean, Equimundo
Melissa is a Regional Technical Lead at Equimundo, overseeing international projects with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. She brings extensive experience in preventing violence against women and children, advancing women’s economic empowerment, and promoting human rights. Previously, she worked with Plan International Peru and Innovations for Poverty Action, collaborating closely with grassroots, rural, and Indigenous communities across Latin America.
“To teach is to show what is possible; to learn is to make yourself possible.” — Paulo Freire
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Dr. Matthias Eck
Program Specialist: Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality, UNESCO
Dr. Matthias Eck
Program Specialist: Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality, UNESCO
Dr. Matthias Eck is a Program Specialist in the Section of Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality at UNESCO. He has worked with the Global Education Monitoring Report, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and UNICEF, leading on knowledge products, technical advice to ministries of education and project implementation.He played a key role in the design of SDG4. He has a lead-role in the two KIX projects “Lifting barriers: Educating boys for gender equality” and “Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE): Bridging the local, national and global”.Matthias is co-author of the “Education 2030 Framework for Action” and of global reports such as “Leave no child behind: Global report on boys’ disengagement from education” and “The Price of Inaction: the global private, fiscal and social costs of children and youth not learning”. His research work has been published with Routledge and in peer-reviewed journals. He has acted as a peer reviewer for academic journals, including from Springer Nature.“I believe that if we focus on promoting positive masculinities through education, we can support boys to achieve their full potential and to become who they want to be, while creating a more gender-equitable world.”
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Zeina Hilal
Responsable de programme Gender and Youth, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
Zeina Hilal
Responsable de programme Gender and Youth, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
Zeina Hilal is a senior leader at the Inter–Parliamentary Union (IPU), where she works to advance inclusive, representative, and gender–equal parliaments worldwide. With extensive experience in parliamentary strengthening and democratic governance, she supports national legislatures to become more responsive to the needs and rights of all citizens. Zeina is particularly recognized for her leadership on gender equality, including efforts to increase women’s political participation and promote institutional reforms that make politics more accessible and equitable.
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Luciano Ramos
Executive Director, Instituto Mapear
Luciano Ramos
Executive Director, Instituto Mapear
Luciano Ramos is the Executive Director of Instituto Mapear and holds a degree in History. He is recognized as one of the most active voices in Brazil on issues related to masculinities and fatherhood, working to promote gender equity and prevent violence. He has supported governments in Brazil and across Latin America in implementing public policies that engage men in reducing gender-based violence. Luciano coordinated the First Report on Black Fatherhood in Brazil, highlighting the intersection of gender and race as a central analytical and strategic framework. In several Brazilian states, he has developed and advised Reflective Groups for Men Who Have Committed Domestic Violence, focusing on preventing reoffending. He has worked professionally with the World Bank, USAID, UNICEF, UNFPA, and other international agencies. Luciano also collaborates with Brazilian educational systems to promote positive masculinities from early childhood onward.
“Working with boys and men is a historic urgency in building a truly equitable society — and without confronting the racial dimension, there can be no real transformation and no new social history.”
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Felicity Mulford
Research Manager, Centre for Information Resilience (CIR)
Felicity Mulford
Research Manager, Centre for Information Resilience (CIR)
Felicity Mulford leads work tackling Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and partners with academics to test AI systems. Through this work, Felicity combines her commitment to gender equality and gender-informed tech development with data-driven insights to strengthen evidence and empower communities.
At the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), she leads a TFGBV programme in Ethiopia (evidence gathering, community building, and designing youth-led toolkits) and research on gendered abuse in the 2024 US elections. She spearheads the organisation’s annual “16 Days of Activism Against GBV” campaigns and the “Gender Lens” initiative – a dedicated hub for investigating and exposing Gender-Based Violence through digital investigations.
Felicity is a Hillary Rodham Clinton Global Challenges Scholar and worked with international lawyers to investigate war crimes. She holds a BA and two MAs (International Relations & Law), with multiple publications and academic awards. Beyond work, Felicity manages a music event to raise funds for various charities.
“For a world without violence we must redefine strength: not dominance, but care.”
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Michael Feigelson
Chief Executive Officer, Van Leer Foundation
Michael Feigelson
Chief Executive Officer, Van Leer Foundation
Michael Feigelson has spent the last 11 years as a dad and the last 25 working on policies and programmes for new parents and children. He currently serves as Chief Executive at the Van Leer Foundation, a Dutch organization working worldwide with scientists, policymakers and business leaders on parenting and early childhood. The foundation has been focused on this since the early 1960s, making it one of the oldest global organizations dedicated to making sure all children (and parents) get a good start in life.
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Colette Bailey
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), WOW – Women of the World
Colette Bailey
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), WOW – Women of the World
Colette is CEO at WOW – Women of the World and a creative producer, with an established history and over 25 years experience of leading SME organisations and teams in the UK. Previously she was Artistic Director and CEO of Metal (2002-2021) and Managing Director at the Royal Society of British Sculptors (1998-2022). Her work has always been purpose-driven, creating arts programmes that are underpinned by social change, community participation and nurturing talent within people of all ages.
She is a passionate advocate for the transformational power of the arts to create change – for both people and places – and equally passionate that access to culture should be available to everyone. All her work to date has been to find ways to advocate for, develop and deliver this.
“Time and again I have seen first hand how the arts can transform possibilities for people, places and ideas. A warm welcome; exposure to a multitude of stories; feeling represented; and multiple entry points for getting involved can really begin to shift embedded behaviour, foster understanding and change hearts and minds in a way that traditional education or doctrine does not.”
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Cathy Morgan
Director of Secondary Prevention, England Department of Health and Social Care
Cathy Morgan
Director of Secondary Prevention, England Department of Health and Social Care
Cathy Morgan is a Senior Civil Servant and Director of Secondary Prevention at the Department of Health and Social Care in England. She brings 30 years’ experience across the UK Civil Service, with a career focused on shaping health and social care policy through major legislative, strategy and delivery roles. Cathy leads England’s first-ever Men’s Health Strategy, working across central and local government, the NHS, the voluntary and community sector, academia and industry to drive system-wide change and reduce health inequalities.
Cathy also leads the implementation of England’s HIV Action Plan which aims to eradicate the transmission of HIV in England by 2030 and has responsibility for a portfolio of analytical and behavioural science programmes focused on preventing ill health alongside multiple policy teams delivering key government priorities, including cardiometabolic health, sexual and reproductive health, and screening. She lives in Suffolk, England, with her husband, daughter and two sons.
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Galen Lamphere-Englund
Team Leader, Christchurch Call Foundation
Galen Lamphere-Englund
Team Leader, Christchurch Call Foundation
Galen is a senior advisor and consultant with over 15 years’ experience at the intersection of counter-terrorism, conflict prevention, and technology. He leads efforts to address online and AI-related harms linked to extremism, advising governments, tech platforms, and international organizations. As Team Leader at the Christchurch Call Foundation and co-founder of the Extremism and Gaming Research Network, Galen focuses on building safer digital ecosystems and protecting those who work to keep them secure. He has worked in more than 30 countries and is committed to creating a more inclusive, resilient, and joyful world—both online and off.
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Jim Milne
Deputy Director: Strategy, Planning, and Management, Gates Foundation
Jim Milne
Deputy Director: Strategy, Planning, and Management, Gates Foundation
Jim Milne is a global social impact leader with more than 25 years of experience advancing global health and development initiatives across the public, private, and social sectors. He serves as Deputy Director, Strategy, Planning and Management in the Gender Equality Division at the Gates Foundation, where he partners with senior leaders to set strategy, steward complex investment portfolios, and embed evidence and learning into decision-making.
Jim’s work advances gender-equitable norms, women’s leadership, adolescent and youth outcomes, and sexual and reproductive health equity. He brings deep experience aligning global strategy with regional and local priorities, ensuring execution reflects lived realities and delivers sustainable, long-term impact. Earlier in his career, Jim advised public and private sector organizations on strategy, organizational change, and performance improvement. He brings a deep commitment to evidence, partnership, and collective action to advance wellbeing for men and boys in parallel with progress for women and girls.
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Peter Baker
Chief Executive, Global Action on Men’s Health
Peter Baker
Chief Executive, Global Action on Men’s Health
Peter Baker is a leading advocate for men’s health with decades of experience in public health, policy, and communication. Now Chief Executive at Global Action on Men’s Health, he previously served for 12 years as Chief Executive of the Men’s Health Forum (England and Wales) and later led HPV Action UK, a coalition that successfully secured gender-neutral HPV vaccination in the UK. Peter was a consultant to the European Cancer Organisation for five years and received the Royal Society for Public Health’s 2018 award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Health. He lives on the south coast of England with his partner and has three children, all of whom are now grown up.
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Paula Peláez
Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, IDB Invest
Paula Peláez
Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, IDB Invest
Paula Pelaez leads the Economic Opportunities work at IDB Invest, advancing a more inclusive and sustainable private sector across Latin America and the Caribbean. Her work focuses on shifting market systems and business practices to expand economic opportunity, with emphasis on gender equality and social inclusion. With more than 20 years of experience working at the intersection of private sector and international development, Paula partners with companies and financial institutions to address structural barriers, reshape incentives, and embed inclusion into core business and investment decisions. Her expertise spans inclusive finance, sustainability strategy, and the design of innovative financing mechanisms that translate social commitments into measurable outcomes at scale. Paula has worked across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from York University (Canada) and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia).
“Expanding agency and building systems of belonging.”
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Holly Milburn-Smith
Co-Executive Director, City Hub and Network for Gender Equity (CHANGE)
Holly Milburn-Smith
Co-Executive Director, City Hub and Network for Gender Equity (CHANGE)
Holly Milburn-Smith (she/her) is Co-Executive Director of the City Hub and Network for Gender Equity (CHANGE), where she leads a global network of municipal governments advancing gender-equitable urban policy. She works closely with city leaders across six continents to strengthen local approaches to caregiving infrastructure, gender-based violence prevention, and the use of gender data in policymaking. Holly joined CHANGE in 2021 from the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs in the City of Los Angeles and brings over a decade of experience in international collaboration and community development, with a focus on turning research and partnerships into implementable local policy. Her prior work spans gender equity, inclusive education, workforce development, and initiatives serving justice-impacted communities. Holly is a Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar and an Aspen Institute Rising Leader in Foreign Policy (2022). She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons, where she is regularly reminded that care is, indeed, infrastructure.
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Charlie Marshall
Head of Communications & Marketing – WOW – Women of the World
Charlie Marshall
Head of Communications & Marketing – WOW – Women of the World
Charlie is a strategic communications and marketing expert, with 20 years’ experience working across the cultural and charitable sectors. She specialises in purpose-driven work, digital strategy and brand leadership. As Head of Communications and Marketing at WOW – Women of the World, she is responsible for building its global reputation as a joyful, creative movement championing gender equality through arts-driven activism. Before joining WOW, Charlie worked at theatre companies and led-communications for place-led cultural projects.
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Felipe Ramos
Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer, PapodeHomem/Instituto PDH
Felipe Ramos
Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer, PapodeHomem/Instituto PDH
Felipe Ramos is co-founder and COO of PapodeHomem and Instituto PDH, organizations dedicated to transforming masculinities and promoting gender equity in Brazil and beyond. With over a decade of experience working with major corporations, governments, and international organizations, Felipe leads the design and implementation of programs that engage men as allies in building more equitable, inclusive, and emotionally healthy environments. He is also a producer of impactful documentaries, including O Silêncio dos Homens and Precisamos Falar com os Homens?, developed in partnership with UN Women, which have reached millions and helped shape public discourse on masculinity. Currently, he leads the global project Meninos: Sonhando os Homens do Futuro, focused on boys’ development and the prevention of gender-based violence. As a father, Felipe brings a deeply personal lens to his work, connecting research, storytelling, and practice to drive cultural transformation.
“Cultural transformation begins when men stop being spectators and become part of the solution.”
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Freddie Feltham
Filmmaker and Digital Storyteller
Freddie Feltham
Filmmaker and Digital Storyteller
Freddie Feltham is a filmmaker, digital storyteller and host of political podcast ‘What’s Left?‘. After making several documentaries investigating the world of Andrew Tate and his impact on young men, Freddie has written in The Guardian and appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. As a political strategist, Freddie was a key part of the Labour Party’s digital campaign, creating content in the ‘first TikTok election’. He now hosts his own show, with fellow Labour campaigner Jovan Owusu Nepaul, speaking to fellow progressives on how best to navigate an increasingly polarised and extreme political landscape.
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Dr. Rosemary Morgan
Associate Professor: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr. Rosemary Morgan
Associate Professor: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Rosemary Morgan, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) where she holds the Edgar Berman Professorship in International Health. Dr. Morgan is recognized as a specialist in gender analysis in health and health systems research, interventions, and programs. Her work spans research, teaching, and policy engagement to examine how gender norms, roles, and relations shape health and health system experiences and outcomes, and to advance more equitable, people‑centered health systems for all. Dr. Morgan co-directs the Gender and Health Track in the Global Health Summer Institute and coordinates the Gender and Health Certificate at BSPH.
“Gender equality cannot be achieved without challenging and changing norms that harm men and those around them.”
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Lisa Pusey
Director of Engagement and Impact, Champions of Change Coalition
Lisa Pusey
Director of Engagement and Impact, Champions of Change Coalition
Lisa Pusey is a gender equality and human rights expert with over 25 years experience leading complex gender equality initiatives, in Australia and internationally.
Over the past 10 years, Lisa has held various roles at the Champions of Change Coalition, working with the CEO to support, grow and execute the strategy. As Director of Engagement and Impact, Lisa co-leads the program workstream and engagement with the Coalition’s ~250 CEO Members.
Prior to joining Champions of Change, Lisa was adviser to Elizabeth Broderick (former Sex Discrimination Commissioner) at the Australian Human Rights Commission, and has worked in several international women’s human rights organisations where she worked closely with United Nations expert bodies to advance gender equality.
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Sara Qasem
Sara Qasem
Sara Qasem is a Palestinian poet, community advocate and educator based in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her writing moves between memory, testimony and resistance– exploring what it means to carry homeland, grief and belonging across diaspora. Through poetry, essays and public speaking, Sara works to ensure diasporic stories are neither silenced nor forgotten, believing that language can serve as both archive and lifeline.
Sara’s work has been published and performed across Aotearoa– frequently speaking on issues of identity, community and justice. Alongside her creative practice, she contributes to advocacy and policy conversations through her work connected to The Christchurch Call and wider community initiatives addressing hate and violence.
Guided by her experience as a Palestinian and Muslim woman, Sara writes toward collective memory and survival, holding space for grief while working to ensure the conditions that enable hatred and violence are not repeated.
“Stories and dialogue are how we refuse erasure– and how we make sure the conditions that give rise to violence are not allowed to grow again.”
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Eyrún Þórsdóttir
Managing Director and Board Member, Reykjavík Global Forum
Eyrún Þórsdóttir
Managing Director and Board Member, Reykjavík Global Forum
Eyrún Þórsdóttir is the Managing Director of the Reykjavik Global Forum and a member of its Board. Based in Iceland, the organization is dedicated to advancing women’s leadership globally by increasing the number of women in leadership positions worldwide. Eyrún has been part of the Reykjavik Global team since its inception in 2018, playing a role in shaping the Forum’s growth and global impact.
The Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders, hosted under the theme “Power, Together!”, convenes influential women and their allies from across the world to exchange ideas, spark solutions, and drive progress toward equality. The Forum has become a premier platform for global collaboration, bringing together leaders from politics, business, civil society, academia, the arts, and media. Each year, the invite-only gathering welcomes 500 global leaders and is co-hosted by the Government and Parliament of Iceland, a country recognized globally for its leadership in equality.
Eyrún holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Gender Studies and an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Iceland. Her work is driven by a strong commitment to inclusive leadership and advancing representation across sectors.
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Julia Munroe
Policy Officer, Metropolis
Julia Munroe
Policy Officer, Metropolis
Julia serves as a Policy Officer in Metropolis, specialising in local care policies, mainstreaming gender equality, and local feminist agendas in large cities and metropolitan areas. Her role involves leading international city-to-city policy exchanges, developing knowledge and toolkits and supporting the International Fund for Metropolises: Local Care Systems.
Hailing from South Africa, she has a background working with local government, international cooperation and grassroots organisations in Cape Town, Barcelona, and internationally. She previously held positions with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), and the City of Cape Town. She has a Joint Masters degree in Urban Studies from the Universities of Brussels and Vienna and a Bachelors (Hons) in Social Anthropology from the University of Cape Town.
“Gender equality is not only about who holds power, but who has the right to be supported; where tenderness is strength, and care is a shared public good.”
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Laura Addati
Policy Specialist: Women’s Economic Empowerment, International Labour Organization (ILO)
Laura Addati
Policy Specialist: Women’s Economic Empowerment, International Labour Organization (ILO)
Laura Addati leads global policy research and technical assistance on care policies and gender equality at work at the ILO, the only tripartite specialized agency of the United Nations, bringing together governments, employers, and workers to advance decent work and social justice. She contributed to the ILO’s work leading to the adoption of the Resolution concerning decent work and the care economy in 2024 and coordinates implementation of its follow-up Plan of Action.
Laura has more than 20 years of experience across the UN system at global and regional levels in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. She has authored major ILO reports, policy tools, and initiatives on the care economy, maternity protection, parental leave, childcare, work-family policies, and decent work for care workers, in support of gender equality, labour rights, social protection and the world of work.
“Care work, paid and unpaid, is essential to all other work. It is the foundation of decent work, equality, and social justice. When care is valued, shared, and supported, everyone thrives. It is time to place care at the centre of policies and workplaces.”
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Jude Kelly
Founder Director, WOW – Women of the World
Jude Kelly
Founder Director, WOW – Women of the World
Jude Kelly CBE is one of the UK’s most powerful cultural leaders. She is an award-winning creative, a business leader and mentor, and a celebrated global champion of equality, with a particular focus on intersectional gender equity. In 2018, she founded The WOW Foundation as a force for change. WOW – Women of the World began as a festival created at London’s Southbank Centre in 2010 where Jude was artistic director for 12 years. Now an independent charity, WOW has seeded a global movement with activity in 45 locations across six continents and reached 5 million people.
She has received many awards and accolades, including BBC’s Most Powerful Women in the Arts. She is an inaugural member of Connected Women Leaders, sits on the Global Advisory Board of Pathfinders Presidents Council and the Advisory Board of Julia Gillard’s Global Institute for Women Leaders. Her TED Talk ‘Why women should tell the stories of humanity’ has had over 1m views. She has given keynote talks to business, governments and global leaders, including at UNESCO, COP 22, CHOGM 2022 and at the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos.
“The campaign is called MenCare because it affirms we are born as a species to seek care, and we’re also wired to care. As people take part in this initiative, they should expect to feel challenged and inspired; and they should feel an obligation that they have to act.”
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Seán Cooke
Chief Executive Officer, Men’s Development Network
Seán Cooke
Chief Executive Officer, Men’s Development Network
Seán Cooke is the Chief Executive Officer of the Men’s Development Network (MDN)and has been since October 2018. MDN is a developmental organisation working with and engaging men and boys on their health, wellbeing, gender equality and ending gender-based violence. Sean has over 30 years’ experience working in Community and Voluntary sector in Ireland, both at front line and senior management level.
Previous experiences include working in Youth and Community programmes in some of the most disadvantage communities in Ireland. Seán is passionate on communicating the transformational model to engaging men and boys ensuring an invitational and a strengths-based approach is applied.
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Glenn Gillis
Co-Founder and CEO, Sea Monster
Glenn Gillis
Co-Founder and CEO, Sea Monster
Glenn Gillis is co-founder and CEO of Sea Monster, and a globally recognised thought-leader on impact games and immersive technologies. With a Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town and over 25 years as a senior executive, consultant, and entrepreneur, Glenn brings commercial rigour to the intersection of play, storytelling, and social change. As Chairperson of Games for Change Africa, Glenn helps shape the continent’s fast-growing games ecosystem, championing the power of games as catalysts for social impact and economic growth across Africa. As co-founder and chair of the not-for-profit social enterprise Relate, he has also helped generate over $5.3 million in employment opportunities and charitable donations across South Africa.
“Games are the digital continuation of humanity’s oldest cultural technology. When we understand play as fundamental human behaviour, not entertainment novelty, we unlock its real potential to engage, educate, and transform.”
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Caroline Hayes
Technical Specialist on Digital Strategies, Equimundo
Caroline Hayes
Technical Specialist on Digital Strategies, Equimundo
Caroline is Senior Technical Specialist on Digital Strategies at Equimundo, leading efforts to address harmful masculinities online and promote healthy, caring digital engagement. She oversees the LinkUp Lab and guides the design, implementation, and evaluation of digital-first interventions across research, programs, and advocacy. Caroline builds institutional capacity, forges partnerships with digital creators, tech leaders, and policymakers, and represents Equimundo in global forums on digital safety and gender justice. Previously, she worked with the White House Gender Policy Council and the U.S. Department of Justice on gender-based violence prevention, and served in the U.S. Peace Corps.
“I’m certainly no Luddite.” — J.G. Ballard
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Sindy González Tijerina
Early Childhood Manager, FEMSA Foundation
Sindy González Tijerina
Early Childhood Manager, FEMSA Foundation
Sindy González Tijerina has been part of the FEMSA Foundation team since 2012 and currently serves as Early Childhood Manager. In this role, she leads strategic initiatives focused on strengthening early education and preschool education, as well as empowering parents, promoting positive parenting practices, and supporting caregiver well-being. Her work also centers on advancing public spaces designed from a child- and caregiver-centered perspective, and on strengthening the early childhood ecosystem through the advocacy of effective public and corporate policies.
Firmly convinced that lasting change is built collectively, Sindy actively promotes cross-sector collaboration. Her purpose is to contribute to the construction of a more humane and equitable world—one in which every child can fully develop and thrive, regardless of their context or gender.“Children are the greatest treasure we have as humanity. Every one of them, regardless of their context or gender, deserves the opportunity to fully develop, flourish, and thrive.”
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Dr. Emma Fulu
Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Equality Institute
Dr. Emma Fulu
Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Equality Institute
Dr. Emma Fulu is a feminist activist, researcher, and entrepreneur who has dedicated her life to advancing gender equality and ending violence against women and girls. She is the founder and CEO of the Equality Institute, a global organisation dedicated to creating a more just and inclusive world that has worked in more than 30 countries. Emma has led some of the world’s largest studies on violence against women, including at the United Nations, and co-founded VOICE, supporting women and girls in crisis settings. A TEDx speaker and writer with a PhD from the University of Melbourne, she brings together data, storytelling, and lived experience to inspire change. Emma has advised governments, UN agencies, and global brands, and her work has been featured on Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, and beyond. She believes deeply in the power of evidence, activism, and bold communication to create lasting change.
“I believe what we focus on expands, so even when we are working to stop extremism and harm, we must do so by centring love, care, and our shared humanity.”
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Pedro Pessanha
Artist and Researcher
Pedro Pessanha
Artist and Researcher
Pedro Pessanha is an artist and researcher from Rio de Janeiro, with a master’s degree in Contemporary Art Studies from UFF. His work seeks to understand what allows Black rhythms, buried by various attempts at erasure, to continue resonating in the bodies of the city of Rio de Janeiro. His artistic practice develops works across various media, including paintings and urban interventions, as well as ongoing research in comics and illustration, investigating how the specificities of these medias can contribute to the construction of unique narratives.
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Fidèle Rutayisire
Founder and Executive Director, Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC)
Fidèle Rutayisire
Founder and Executive Director, Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC)
Fidèle Rutayisire is Founder and Executive Director of the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC), a leading organization advancing gender equality and preventing gender-based violence through gender-transformative approaches that engage men and boys as allies in justice and social change in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in community-based programming, policy advocacy, and social norms transformation. Fidèle is a certified researcher and master trainer on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence with the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), working across twelve African countries to strengthen peace, governance, and human rights.
Through RWAMREC’s programs, he has supported communities to transform power, care, and relationships reducing violence, increasing men’s caregiving, strengthening women’s agency, and improving family wellbeing. His work connects grassroots realities with national, regional, and global advocacy, ensuring that women’s lived experiences and survivor-centered approaches shape justice systems, public policy, and healthier forms of masculinity.
“I have seen men put down violence and pick up their children; that simple act of care can change the future of a whole generation.”
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Jonathan Njus
Senior Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Jonathan Njus
Senior Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Jonathan Njus is a Senior Program Officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, whose mission is to support families and communities in improving life outcomes for vulnerable children. Jonathan serves on the national leadership team, who guide strategy and grantmaking to advance more equitable food, health, education and employment access for working families. He also leads the Expanding Equity initiative for the foundation, which is partnering with private sector companies to build workplaces that are inclusive of all workers.
Prior to joining the foundation, Jonathan was appointed to the Obama Administration, where he served as a senior policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Labor, helping to strengthen low-wage workers’ rights and protections. His career has been grounded in ensuring that workplaces are fair and safe for all workers, especially women, and elevating the role of men as allies toward that end.
“Men are key to building a more caring and less violent world by simply showing up better in their own individual spheres of influence.”
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Dr. Alex Blower
Founder, Boys’ Impact
Dr. Alex Blower
Founder, Boys’ Impact
Dr. Blower is an author, researcher and global thought leader on issues related to masculinity, inequality and education. Since completing his doctoral research which focused inequality and access to university for white working-class boys in the West Midlands in 2020, he has been a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, talking on issues related to inequality and the experience of young working-class men in education. In 2023, he founded Boys’ Impact, a UK-wide network of educators who are committed to taking an evidence-based approach in closing the gap in educational outcomes for young men who are eligible for Free School Meals. Regularly commenting on issues related to masculinity and inequality in education for media outlets such as the BBC, LBC and The Times, his first book, Lost Boys: How Education is Failing Young Working-Class Men, was published last summer.
“To truly protect and honour the emotional lives of boys we must challenge the patriarchal culture. And until that culture changes we must create subcultures, the sanctuaries where boys can learn who they are uniquely, without being forced to conform to patriarchal masculine visions. To love boys rightly we must value their inner lives enough to construct worlds, both private and public, where their right to wholeness can be consistently celebrated and affirmed, where their need to love and be loved can be fulfilled”. – bell hooks
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Shruthi Jayaram
Partner Emerita and Senior Advisor, Dalberg Advisors
Shruthi Jayaram
Partner Emerita and Senior Advisor, Dalberg Advisors
Shruthi specializes in strategy for democracy & civil rights. For the past decade, she led the gender equity practice at Dalberg Advisors, where she worked with multilateral clients (e.g., the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General, Spotlight Initiative), civil society organizations (e.g., the National Domestic Workers Alliance, FUTURES Without Violence, the Global Fund for Widows) and philanthropic organizations (several large and small family offices and institutional philanthropies). She serves on the board of Equimundo, Women Donors Network, and Rise Up Together.
“The failure of democracy to deliver for people is at its heart a gendered issue.”
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Anthony Keedi
Masculinities and Gender Technical Advisor, Abaad
Anthony Keedi
Masculinities and Gender Technical Advisor, Abaad
Anthony has been working in Lebanon for the past 19 years piloting and promoting applied theories for Engaging Men in Ending Violence Against Women and Transformative Masculinities in the MENA region. He is a psychologist and also holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies. Some of his notable achievements in his work thus far are as follows: Managed the 1st ever White Ribbon Campaign in MENA; Develops and oversees Research on Masculinities in Conflict settings in Lebanon; Creates and Advises on Advocacy campaigns designed for Men and Boys; Developed several Gender Equality Training workbooks and manuals on Masculinities in MENA; established the 1st psychological rehabilitation clinic for men with abusive behaviors in MENA; and He participated in expert panels for the CEDAW commission as well as on the 1st Human Rights Council Resolution for Engaging Men and Boys to end GBV.
“One day they will look back at my life, when I am long gone and deceased. I pray that they say that ‘the journey he walked was always a path of peace.'”
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Emma Walsh
Chief Executive Officer, Parents at Work
Emma Walsh
Chief Executive Officer, Parents at Work
Emma Walsh is the CEO of Parents At Work and Founder of the Family Friendly Workplaces Initiative, and a leading advocate for gender-equal paid parental leave in Australia. For more than two decades, she has championed the social and economic case for inclusive workplaces, challenging entrenched norms that position care as women’s work. In 2017, Emma co-founded the Advancing Parental Leave Equality Network (APLEN), bringing together employers and advocacy groups to drive national awareness and reform. Through initiatives including the Aussie Dads campaign, she elevated the case for equal paid parental leave and highlighted the powerful link between fathers’ caregiving, women’s workforce participation and long-term gender equality. Emma later led the development of Global National Work + Family Standards and the Family Friendly Workplaces Certification program, establishing a clear benchmark for employer accountability. Her work continues to mobilise business and policy leaders to dismantle barriers, normalise men’s caregiving, and embed care as a shared responsibility.“When we value care equally, we unlock equality for everyone.”
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Alex Lloyd Hunter
Co-Founder, The Dad Shift
Alex Lloyd Hunter
Co-Founder, The Dad Shift
Alex is co-founder of The Dad Shift, a grassroots, dad-led campaign for active fatherhood in the UK. The UK has the worst paternity leave in Europe, and The Dad Shift was launched in September 2024 with a mission to change that. To date, the campaign has mobilised tens of thousands of members of the public and sent paternity leave racing up the media and political agenda. The UK Government is now reviewing parental leave in 2026, creating a once in a generation opportunity to win longer, better paid paternity leave.
Before co-founding The Dad Shift, Alex spent his career working on digital campaigns with charities and the UK Labour Party. As co-founder and CEO of Forward Action, a digital campaigning agency for progressive causes, Alex worked on issues including domestic abuse, assisted dying and climate change. He also launched the “Campaigns By You” platform at online campaigning organisation 38 Degrees, which gives thousands of people the technology to run their own campaigns every year.
“Gender equality isn’t a zero sum game. We need to bring more men into proudly pro-gender equality campaigns that not only benefit women, but benefit them too. Promoting active fatherhood is a key part of this.”
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Adjani Salmon
Writer and Director
Adjani Salmon
Writer and Director
Hailing from Jamaica, Adjani is a writer-director and actor who only writes “what he likes”. As well as an avid reader, he spends his time people-watching, eavesdropping and randomly chatting up strangers, not putting his Architecture degree to good use.
In 2022, the pilot for BBC3’s TV adaptation of his web series Dreaming Whilst Black garnered critical acclaim winning an RTS and BAFTA Award for Breakthrough and Emerging Talent respectively. In collaboration with A24, Season 1 is available globally (including being spotted in an illegal DVD shop in Uganda) with Season 2 out now. Despite his accolades, Adjani is most proud of the fact that he can finally pay rent from his once passion turned profession.
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Celmário Castro Brandão
Coordinator: Men’s Healthcare, Brazilian Ministry of Health
Celmário Castro Brandão
Coordinator: Men’s Healthcare, Brazilian Ministry of Health
Coordinator of the Coordination for Men’s Health Care at the Brazilian Ministry of Health (COSAH/DGCI/SAPS/MS), leading the nationwide implementation of the National Policy for Comprehensive Men’s Health Care, with a particular focus on the pillars of violence prevention, sexual health, reproductive health, and fatherhood and care. He possesses 16 years of experience in the management of the Unified Health System (SUS) and serves as a federal public servant—specifically, a Technologist in Public Health Policy Management. He holds a Ph.D. in Collective Health from the University of Brasília (UnB), where his research analyzed Federal Governance in Primary Health Care Management during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil; a Master’s degree in Collective Health from the same university, focusing on Management Capacity within Municipal Health Secretariats; a postgraduate specialization in Collective Health with a concentration in Primary Health Care Management from the Institute of Collective Health (ISC/UFBA); a postgraduate specialization in Microbiology from the Faculty of Pharmacy at UFBA; and a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from UFBA.
“It is fundamental to understand just how decisive the debate surrounding masculinities—and, consequently, the engagement of men in a broad agenda of care—is for the shaping of public policies aimed at creating healthy societies.”
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Natalie Shoup
Industry and Data Lead, Safe Online
Natalie Shoup
Industry and Data Lead, Safe Online
Natalie Shoup is Industry and Data Lead for Safe Online, a UNICEF-hosted fund focused on child safety and wellbeing in a digital world. She leads research and technology tools efforts across a $100M portfolio. Natalie is pushing forward the launch of a Mental Health Fund, leads a $3M collaborative Research Fund with tech industry and academia, and spearheaded Data for Change – a community of over 100 experts – to strengthen the data ecosystem for online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Working at the intersection of technology, child protection, and social justice, previously Natalie directed programs for trauma-informed approaches to violence prevention with community organizations serving children at Nest and Developing Minds. At Data-Pop Alliance, she led work around ethical data practices for Big Data and social good initiatives. Natalie has a Masters in Education from University of Cambridge and a Bachelors in Engineering from Princeton.
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Alistair Strathern
Member of Parliament for Hitchin, UK Parliament (Labour Party)
Alistair Strathern
Member of Parliament for Hitchin, UK Parliament (Labour Party)
Alistair is the Member of Parliament for Hitchin. As an MP, Alistair co-founded the Labour Group for Men and Boys to champion progressive leadership on issues affecting men in Britain today.He has been a leading voice in Parliament on the need for a greater political focus ob the challenges young men and boys can face, including greater focus on role models in education, action on men’s mental health and better protections for young men and boys online. He has written on the need for progressives to wake up to the vacuum they have left in speaking directly to the issues affecting men and boys on their own terms, and helped instigate the inaugural International Men’s Day reception at No10 Downing Street.Before becoming an MP he worked as a teacher and climate finance expert at the Bank of England, alongside leading Education and Children’s services as a local councillor.“For too long progressive politicians have failed to take the lead on issues affecting men and boys and we’re all worse off for it – it’s time we step up and put that right.”
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Marcos Nascimento
Senior Researcher, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
Marcos Nascimento
Senior Researcher, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
Marcos Nascimento is a psychologist with a doctorate in Collective Health from the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. He is currently a senior researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). He is one of the cofounders of the Men´s Network for Gender Equality in Brazil and was coordinator of the MenEngage Alliance for Latin America (2007-2011). He has experience leading national and international projects involving research, social intervention, and advocacy on topics related to gender, sexuality, masculinities, violence, and health.
“When we think about health, we need to discuss men´s participation in democracy, social justice, promotion of gender equality, and a culture of care. Men’s health affects everyone´s health, including women and children, and we need to engage them on it.”
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Dr. Derek M. Griffith
Chairman, Global Action on Men’s Health
Dr. Derek M. Griffith
Chairman, Global Action on Men’s Health
Dr. Derek M. Griffith is the Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Population Health and Health Equity University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also serves as Senior Advisor on Health Equity and Anti-Racism. A leading scholar on racial, ethnic, and gender equity in health, he specializes in community-based interventions to advance Black men’s health and intersectional approaches to health policy. Dr. Griffith chairs Global Action on Men’s Health and edits the International Journal of Men’s Social and Community Health. Widely published and honored, his work bridges research, policy, and practice to dismantle structural racism and promote health equity globally.
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Rodrigo Almeida
Internationalist, producer and human rights researcher
Rodrigo Almeida
Internationalist, producer and human rights researcher
Rodrigo is an internationalist, producer and human rights researcher with an international focus. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from UERJ, with a career focused on the intersection of culture, education and human rights. He is currently a Producer at the Escola do Olhar at the Rio Art Museum, where he works on developing initiatives that bring the museum closer to neighbouring communities in the city’s Port Zone. He is co-founder of Proxy Junior Consultoria Internacional — a student-run enterprise linked to the International Relations course at UERJ. He has over five years’ experience in the cultural sector, specialising in the management and implementation of cultural and educational projects.
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Dr. Michael “Uncle Mick” Adams
Dr. Michael “Uncle Mick” Adams
Dr. Michael “Uncle Mick” Adams is a respected Elder in the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. He is a descendent of the Yadhiagana/Wuthathi peoples of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland and the Gurindji people of Central Western Northern Territory. His extensive involvement in key policy and program development processes and forums has enabled him to translate his own and others’ research into action. His efforts at knowledge translation have directly impacted on health system responses and led to better informed approaches to address the needs of Australia’s Indigenous peoples who are social excluded and often have poor access to services. He is recognised as a pioneer in the Australian male health movement. He was recently presented with the inaugural Australian Male Health Forum’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for his long-term commitment to supporting men’s health.
“The way to the future is overcoming the negativity, being positively involved in creating safe places and celebrating our achievements”
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