GBF Staff

We six staff of GBF are:
--A mix of ages; two in our 20s, two in our 30s, and two 40 year olds.
--Both queer (2 of us) and straight (4 of us).
--Three white/EuroAmerican women, one American Jewish woman, one Arab woman, and one multicultural Asian woman (both of the latter also identify as women of color).
--One has a disability.
--Two are children of immigrants and four are not.
--Almost all limited-to-English speakers; one is bilingual (Arabic/ English).


yasmin ahmed
sisters empowering sisters director
in july of 2003, yas officially traded in the zodiac lovers of san francisco for the cubs-crazy folks of chicago. she's been working with young people since she was sixteen years old, and is pretty sure she'll still be doing it when she's sixty. always ready to cause a ruckus, yas considers herself a radical queer girl whose love of writing and politics parallels only that of pizza. her current projects are learning to carry a spoon on her nose...and undermining the oppressive systems that divide us.

Alice Cottingham
Executive Director
Alice is the executive director at Girl's Best Friend Foundation. Over the past two years, she has helped GBF deepen its focus on building the capacity of girls' activism, programming, and organizations.  Previously, Alice was the executive director of the Fund for Immigrants and Refugees, a grantmakers collaborative of 25 foundations, United Way of Chicago, and the state of Illinois that was created to make grants to groups serving immigrant and refugee communities, and to increase philanthropic knowledge of and commitment to these communities. Her previous professional experience includes directing the Chicago Abused Women Coalition/Greenhouse Shelter and coordinating women's health education programming. Alice's community involvement includes: co-chairing the board of directors of the Center for Impact Research; membership on the steering committee of the Chicago Girls' Coalition; and advisory board member for Latinos Progresando and Changing Worlds. Alice is a former board member of GBF, past treasurer of the Chicago Abortion Fund, served on the editorial board of the Chicago Reporter for six years, and is a co-founder of the Women's Justice Fund. She is an enthusiastic volunteer in her son's elementary school.

Robin Dixon
Senior Program Officer

Robin is a senior program officer at Girl's Best Friend Foundation. She came to GBF in 1999 with a background in domestic and sexual violence prevention and sexuality education. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa, where she focused on issues related to women and health, and is currently working on her master's degree in liberal studies at DePaul University.

Christine Kim-Tai Plautz
Administrative & Grants Manager

In July 2002 Christine joined the GBF staff to manage the administrative aspects of GBF's grant cycles. She also maintains the GBF Library, Database and all other things IT/IS related. Before coming to GBF, Christine was the Phone Canvass Director/Development Assistant/Database Manager at Clean Wisconsin (www.cleanwisconsin.org). From there she brings her experience with environmental activism, grassroots fundraising, and unruly pcs & servers.  Christine's community involvement includes: co-chairing the Chicago chapter of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (www.aapip.org), co-chairing the grantmaking committee of the Asian Giving Circle, and serving on the board of directors of the Asian Health Coalition of Illinois (www.asianhealth.org).

Julie Walther
Senior Program Officer

Julie Walther is a senior program officer at Girl's Best Friend Foundation.  Over the past four years, she has assisted GBF grantees in navigating the philanthropic field.  She has helped deepen the conversation in both the grantmaking and grantseeking communities to focus on building the capacity of girls' and youth activism.

 

She has a bachelor of fine arts degree from Southern Illinois University and a master's degree in nonprofit management from DePaul University. She came to GBF in April 2001 from BOLD Chicago, an organization that provides youth leadership and service learning development within Chicago public schools. Julie also worked with Family Matters as the director of Sisters of Struggle and Sisters in Unity, where high school and middle school girls in the North of Howard neighborhood in Chicago are taking leadership in their own community and making the changes they want to see happen. She brought with her to GBF a background in girl and youth development within school and nonprofit settings.

 

Julie's community involvement includes: co-chairing the Youth Task Force at the Donor’s Forum of Chicago and participating in Chicago Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. Julie is a former board member of Chicago Women In Philanthropy and a current committee member for Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health. She is the former parent leadership board president, and current committee member for her children’s school.

Ellen Sadur
Finance Manager

As finance manager for Girl's Best Friend Foundation, Ellen is responsible for budgeting and maintenance of all accounting and financial records.  Ellen was happy to move into the non-profit world in 2000, after more than 20 years of financial planning and reporting in the public sector.  She holds a bachelor's degree from Indiana University, earned a master's of management degree from Northwestern University, and is a CPA.

Sonja Bugvilionis
Intern
Sonja is a 19 year old from Brookfield, IL but her suburban roots didn't keep her from being a part of Girl's Best Friend. From 2002-2004 she was a member of Sisters Empowering Sisters. Because of her involvement with SES she was nominated and awarded the Posse Scholarship to DePauw University where she's just finished her freshman year. Sonja can't get enough of us and has returned to serve as the dutiful summer intern. Sonja enjoys working towards social justice and change, eating, and keeping the staff on their toes. She also has an eager fascination for Spanish-speaking cultures.