As part of ongoing efforts to continually invest in governance and accountability infrastructure, Rethink Charity is proud to announce the expansion of our board of directors by five new members. We are welcoming Kalista Barter, Travis Cooper, Ozzie Gooen, Alexander Gordon-Brown and Colm Ó Riain to the board.
RC conducted a thorough process in searching for new independent directors, considering candidates with a wide range of skill sets from across the globe who also hold a strong personal belief in the Rethink Charity mission and vision. Each newly inducted board member possesses valuable skills and industry knowledge across crucial domains that we believe will greatly benefit RC and the broader EA community.
In addition to the board expansion, RC senior leadership commissioned the creation of specific oversight committees within the board (e.g. executive committee and budget committee), and the formation of internal Objective and Key Result (OKR) boards aimed at holding projects to stated goals and associated deadlines.
New Board Members
Kalista Barter
Kalista has dedicated the last 12 years of her career to fundraising for animal welfare causes, after having been persuaded to prioritize the plight of animals during her philosophy courses at the University of Southern California. Nearly four years ago she started the philanthropy department at Animal Charity Evaluators, and became increasingly involved in the Effective Altruism community, solidifying her commitment to effective advocacy for farmed animals. She currently serves as the Senior Director of Development for The Humane League.
Travis Cooper
Travis graduated from the University of Alberta in 2014 with a Bachelor’s of Commerce in Honors Accounting. He has worked in public practice in Edmonton Alberta for 5 years, specializing in US/Canada cross-border tax issues. He obtained his Chartered Accountant designation in 2016.
Ozzie Gooen
Ozzie is a Research Scholar at the Future of Humanity Institute, currently working in forecasting infrastructure research. He’s previously worked at 80,000 hours and has cofounded multiple tech companies, including Guesstimate.
Alexander Gordon-Brown
Alexander is a longstanding member of the EA community, having taken the Giving What We Can pledge in 2013. He has spent most of that time earning to give, and donated to a variety of organizations involved in movement-building, as well as to Givewell-recommended charities.
Colm Ó Riain (MIRI)
As Head of Growth at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, Colm coordinates MIRI’s philanthropic strategy and supports recruitment as MIRI grows. After 15 years working in the video game industry at companies including Electronic Arts and Activision, he moved into philanthropy work at Zynga.org and Harmony Project Bay Area before joining MIRI in July 2016. He has a master’s degree in AI from the University of Rochester and a joint honours bachelor’s in Mathematics and Computer Science. Colm is also a professional violinist and composer.
All of the new and existing board members are committed to helping us make our work as impactful as possible. We look forward to working with them, and we hope you will join us in welcoming them to the team.