Greater freedom and prosperity

We are interested in projects that go beyond theory, make a tangible change in the lives of real people, and promote greater freedom and prosperity.

Mara Predator Conservation Programme

Board of Directors

Our board members bring a vast range of knowledge and experience in the worlds of business, law, government, technology, health care, and non-profit management to the task of governing the foundation.

They jointly oversee the Foundation's activities and help set the strategic vision for the foundation's grant making, geographic focus, spending, investment, management, governance, and professional standards.

Shawn Stephenson
Foundation Board Chairman
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Shawn Stephenson
Foundation Board Chairman

Shawn is founder and chairman of the board for Rising Tide Foundation and Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research. Together with his boards, he leads the senior management team of the foundations and their subsidiaries.

A graduate of Wabash College, and a 32nd degree Master Mason, he is also the chairman of several investment committees.

Pierre Bongard
Foundation Board Deputy Chairman
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Pierre Bongard
Foundation Board Deputy Chairman

Pierre is an independent board director and consultant. He is the founder and a managing partner of Wisebow Advisers LLC, the chairman of the audit committee of Barclays Bank (Switzerland) Ltd, and serves as vice-chairman of Dukascopy Bank Ltd. He is a member of numerous boards and advisory boards.

A former partner at KPMG, he was in charge of Advisory Financial Services for Western Switzerland. Pierre has acquired vast multidisciplinary experience in management and consultancy, specializing in banking and financial services.

Dr. Gabriel Calzada Alvarez
Foundation Board Member
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Dr. Gabriel Calzada Alvarez
Foundation Board Member

Gabriel is president of the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala. He is the founder and president of the Center for Economics and Political Studies “Instituto Juan de Mariana”, a libertarian think tank in Spain, and has also served as professor of economics at Rey Juan Carlos University and the Geneva Center for Security Policy.

He has published over 500 articles in national and international media, and holds a doctorate in economics from Rey Juan Carlos University in Spain.

Eveline Mumenthaler
Foundation Board Member
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Eveline Mumenthaler
Foundation Board Member

Eveline served as director of both Rising Tide Foundation and Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research until 2017. She is now the managing director of Epos One Group, a boutique advisory firm for nonprofits and startups. 

She has held several leading positions in academia, non-profit management, and research administration, including director at Gateway for Cancer Research in Illinois, and technology transfer expert at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Lenore T. Ealy, Ph.D.
Foundation Board Member
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Lenore T. Ealy, Ph.D.
Foundation Board Member

Lenore Ealy is currently working in the executive offices at Universidad Francisco Marroquín (UFM) in Guatemala City, and in 2022 will become Vice President of the university. 

From 2019-21 she served as Senior Fellow, Communities, with the Charles Koch Institute, where she helped guide the Institute's vision, strategy, and research priorities on communities and poverty.  

Elena Leontjeva
Foundation Board Member
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Elena Leontjeva
Foundation Board Member

Elena Leontjeva co-founded the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LMFI) in 1990 and acted as its President from 1993 until 2001. Currently, she is the President of the LMFI again and serves as the chairwoman of the Board of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute.

Elena holds degrees in economics, mathematics, and programming, and having retired from the presidency of the LMFI in 2001, has dedicated herself to writing fiction.

Our Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board plays a critical role in reviewing and assessing all grant activities of the foundation, offers technical advice and dynamic perspectives to support our Board of Directors on strategy and governance issues.

Dr. Bobbi Herzberg
Advisory Board Member
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Dr. Bobbi Herzberg
Advisory Board Member

Bobbi advises the board of directors and the executive team with her wealth of experience in the global liberty movement. Her expertise helps shape the strategic focus of the Freedom in Practice funding program through grant selection and advice throughout the process. 
 
She is an Emeritus Associate Professor of Political Science at Utah State University, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow in the F.A. Hayek Program in Advanced Studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Andreas E. Widmer
Advisory Board Member
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Andreas E. Widmer
Advisory Board Member

Andreas advises the board of directors and the executive team with his extensive experience in the areas of enterprise solutions to poverty, entrepreneurship and impact investing. He contributes to the grant selection and due diligence process, while helping to shape the strategic focus of the Freedom in Practice funding program. 
 
As the Director of The Arthur and Carlyse Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship, he helps to develop and support entrepreneurship programs at the Catholic University of America, and also teaches courses on entrepreneurship, management, and ethics.

Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP
Advisory Board Member
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Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP
Advisory Board Member

Joseph advises the board of directors and Executive team on grant selection and strategic decisions for clinical cancer research activities.  He is a Professor in the Applied Cancer Research and Drug Discovery Division of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope Cancer Center. He is also the Chief Medical Officer of the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF). 

He has been recognized with numerous awards in education, and is in the Mayo Clinic Resident and Fellow Association Hall of Fame as Educator of the Year. He was also recently named in the Top 100 Doctors in the United States.

Dr. Alexandros Papachristofilou
Advisory Board Member
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Dr. Alexandros Papachristofilou
Advisory Board Member

Dr. Alexandros Papachristofilou is Senior Physician Radiation Oncology at Basel University Hospital. He studied medicine at the Technical University of Munich and Ludwig-Maximilians University. Alexandros is an active clinical researcher and a former Research Fellow at Paul Scherrer Proton Therapy Institute (PSI).

Annie Ellis
Advisory Board Member
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Annie Ellis
Advisory Board Member

Annie Ellis contributes patient and caregiver perspectives during grant selection and strategic decisions for clinical cancer research activities and champions meaningful patient engagement and inclusion of patient partners in research projects. Annie is a survivor of breast cancer and recurrent ovarian cancer as well as a caregiver. She provides peer support through SHARE Cancer Support and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance’s (OCRA) Woman to Woman program.

Annie serves as research advocate in several capacities with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), including Chair of the Council of Research Advocates (NCRA), past Co-Chair of the Patient Advocate Steering Committee and a member of the Gynecologic Cancer Steering Committee. Annie also serves with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ASCO, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, the International Gynecologic Cancer Society and OCRA to provide the patient perspective during meetings, grant review and/or development of guidelines.

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