Chris McInerney

President and CEO

Chris joined the Board of Directors of the Foundation in 1999, becoming Executive Director in 2002 and then President and CEO in 2010. Prior to joining the Foundation, Chris had an accomplished career in domestic and international publishing as President, CEO and sole owner of McInerney International, Ltd., an international scouting literary agency in NYC. She currently serves on the Boards of the Juilliard School as well as New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Cristina Parnetti

Program Director

Cristina joined the foundation in 2023 from the Open Society Foundations, where she co-founded and led a team dedicated to supporting the use of grant making as a strategic endeavor to advance justice, equity, and social change. Cristina previously served as Senior Program Officer at the Synergos Institute, where she worked in partnership with community foundations, philanthropists, and non-profit leaders in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. She consulted with the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNICEF, and Trickle Up. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cristina holds an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University.

Michael Sosa

Program Officer

Michael joined the foundation as a Program Officer in 2022.  A nonprofit and philanthropic professional, Michael worked for a decade with the Open Society Foundations (OSF), George Soros’ global philanthropy, where he contributed to the design and execution of local and global grant making strategies that advanced human rights, democratic participation, and economic justice in the United States and Latin America.

Jennifer Strikowsky

Senior Administrator/Board Secretary

Jennifer joined the Foundation in 2017, and was named Board Secretary in 2019. She previously led the public affairs departments at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Montclair Art Museum. In her work at two leading cultural PR firms, Jennifer advised clients ranging from corporate philanthropies and private foundations, to large-scale international art museum openings and expansion projects. She worked in communications for the New York Public Library and was also a researcher at the Frick Art Reference Library. She began her career managing contemporary art galleries in New York and in Hong Kong.

Hildy Simmons

Chair

Hildy joined the Foundation Board in 2005, and has been Chair since 2014. She is a former Managing Director and head of the Global Foundations group at JPMorgan, overseeing the grantmaking of more than 40 foundations. Hildy served as the program director of the Norman Foundation, and held a variety of positions in New York City and State government. In addition to her work for the Foundation, she currently advises select clients on philanthropy. She serves on the boards of the Mary J. Hutchins Foundation and the Romanian American Foundation.

Karen Brooks Hopkins

Karen joined the Foundation’s Board in 2016. She is the president emerita of Brooklyn Academy of Music, having worked there from 1979 to 2015, serving the last 16 years as its President. Hopkins was chair of the Cultural Institutions Group, a member of the Mayor’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, and a participant on Mayor de Blasio’s transition committee. Karen served as the Brooklyn Regent for the New York State Education Department from 2005-2010, and was the Inaugural Senior Fellow in Residence at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She currently serves on the boards of the Trust for Governors Island and Alexander Onassis Foundation, where she is Senior Advisor.

Brad Karp

Brad joined the Foundation in 2020. He is currently the Chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a position he has held since 2008. Brad has received more than a dozen recognitions for his pro bono and charitable work. He is chair of the non-profit Legal Action Center, and also serves as a trustee at Mount Sinai Hospital. He is on the Executive Committees of the Partnership for New York City and the New York City Bar Association. Brad also serves on the Harvard Law School Leadership Council, the American Friends of Hebrew University, as well as other non-profit boards.

Robert Weissenstein

CIO

Robert began his involvement with the Foundation in 2012 as an advisor, was a founding member of the Finance Committee in 2013 and became Chief Investment Officer overseeing investments and general finances in 2015. He has extensive experience in the financial industry starting as an operations management trainee at Merrill Lynch, then in roles including money market trader, research analyst and portfolio manager. He became Head of JPMorgan Private Bank Investment Management after its merger with Chase and prior to joining the Foundation was Chief Investment Officer for Credit Suisse Private Banking. He appeared regularly on CNBC and Bloomberg as well as in various publications discussing investment strategy. Robert holds a BA in Government from Cornell University.

Drummond Pike

Drummond joined the Foundation’s Financial Advisory Committee in 2016. He founded Tides Foundation in 1976, the first national sponsor of Donor Advised Funds. He continued developing progressive, social justice focused infrastructure including Tides Center, the Tides Advocacy Fund, Groundspring.org, Tides Inc., Tides Shared Spaces and Tides Network. He served as Chief Executive of all until November, 2010, and retired in March of 2011. He now consults with several principals and is an active investor in social impact companies. He has worked with Equilibrium Capital and Ultra Capital on sustainable real asset private equity strategies. Drummond currently serves on the Boards of Working Assets (Credo Mobile), Environmental Working Group, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Jessie Zhu

Jessie joined the Foundation’s Financial Advisory Committee in 2018. Jessie has over 20 years of experience in both the US and Asia in portfolio management, investment advisory and asset allocation. She is currently the US and Americas Head of Investments & Wealth Solutions for HSBC Wealth & Personal Banking (WPB). She is a senior executive in the private wealth management industry with experience in building and leading high performing teams. She has a long track record of successfully delivering transformational strategic initiatives to enhance client relationships, increase wallet share and drive wealth revenue growth throughout client segments from Retail Wealth to Ultra High Net Worth clients.  She’s held senior positions at BNP Paribas and Barclays, as well as Credit Suisse. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Born in China, Jessie has an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MA from Harvard University.