NEW YORK – NEO Philanthropy recently welcomed Alex-Handrah Aimé and Blake Strode to the board of directors, and elevated board members Kerrien Suarez and Kristen Ruff to serve as the board of directors’ co-chairs. Sean Thomas-Breitfeld has stepped down from the NEO Philanthropy Board as Chair.
Alex-Handrah Aimé and Blake Strode join the board of NEO at a critical moment in time as NEO Philanthropy advances the work to support nonprofit organizations and funders build movements for justice, equity, and dignity.
“We are thrilled to welcome Alex and Blake to NEO’s board to accelerate our mission to nurture strong, sustainable, and transformative movements for justice and to achieve vital, substantive change in the lives of millions as we support efforts to further social justice and human rights at a time when both are under direct threat,” said Michele Lord, President of NEO Philanthropy. “Both Alex and Blake are brilliant individuals who have deep experience working toward creating a society that is more just and fair. We are very fortunate to welcome their unique, insightful perspectives to advance the critical work of the progressive movement.”
Alex-Handrah Aimé is a Senior Director and Global Head of Network Investments at Meta. In this role Aimé leads a global team that designs, delivers, and deploys the subsea and terrestrial fiber network that connects Meta’s data centers, and which supports the family of apps and the 3B+ people in the Meta community. Previously, she supported the Network Investments – Emerging Markets team, which led Meta’s digital infrastructure and connectivity investment programs across Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific Region. Aimé started her finance career at Goldman Sachs. Aimé also worked at Emerging Capital Partners, one of the oldest and largest Africa-focused private equity firms, as a Partner, Managing Director and head of the Johannesburg office, as well as a board director of other companies, including a publicly listed company in South Africa.
Aimé was born in Haiti and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She is passionate about civic engagement and serves as a Commissioner on the Los Angeles Workforce Development Board, where she champions economic equity and digital inclusion for over 4 million residents. As a Fuse Corps Executive Fellow, Aimé worked to help tens of thousands of formerly incarcerated individuals find work and restore their places in their communities. Aimé graduated from Harvard College with a degree in biochemistry and completed a joint degree program at Stanford University in business (MBA) and law (JD).
“I am very pleased to join the board of directors at NEO at this pivotal moment in history,” said Alex-Handrah Aimé. “I am deeply impressed by the breadth of NEO’s efforts to elevate critical moments into strong, durable movements by listening to, and following the lead of, the communities at the forefront of social justice.”
Blake Strode is the Executive Director of ArchCity Defenders, a nonprofit civil rights law firm in St. Louis, Missouri. Strode helped to establish a Civil Rights Litigation unit at ArchCity as part of the effort to provide holistic legal advocacy to individuals facing state violence and the criminalization of poverty. Under Strode’s leadership, ArchCity Defenders seeks to address the needs of its clients through legal services and wraparound support while working with community partners to advocate for systemic change.
Strode is a native of the St. Louis region and joined ArchCity as a staff attorney and as a public-interest law Skadden Fellow. Strode has played a significant role in multiple class-action debtors’ prison cases against several municipalities in the region, which have provided monetary relief to thousands of individuals who were jailed because of their inability to pay court debts. His role in these cases is among the more than 50 civil rights cases filed in state and federal court.
Strode earned a double major in International Economics and Spanish at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville and a law degree from Harvard Law School. He co-hosts a podcast called “Under the Arch” which highlights issues impacting communities and those working to achieve change.
“I am very excited to join the NEO team as a board member,” said Blake Strode. “NEO’s mission of nurturing movements for justice resonates deeply with me, and I look forward to supporting the work that they do with partners all across the country.”
The elevation of current board vice chairs, Kerrien Suarez and Kristen Ruff, to co-chairs is one that ensures NEO Philanthropy, as a leading social justice intermediary, will continue to operate at the highest level. Christina Schatz will continue to serve in the role of Secretary-Treasurer on the Board and Cathy Albisa has been elected as the new vice-chair on the Board.
Sean Thomas-Breitfeld served on the Board for six years and as Chair for three years. Thomas-Breitfeld had been integral in developing NEO Philanthropy’s new strategic plan which positions the 40-year-old philanthropic intermediary for the future in order to affect change on the seminal issues of our day: gender justice and reproductive rights, immigration rights, racial justice, preservation of democracy, and climate justice. He has chaired the board through tremendous growth as an organization with thoughtfulness, integrity, and a deep commitment to the movements supported by NEO. Over the last five years, NEO Philanthropy has invested $516 Million in direct grants to grassroots groups and core support for projects.
“I am so very pleased to see Kerrien and Kristen assume the roles of co-chairs of the Board. Their combined experience in the field of social justice and philanthropy exemplify their extraordinary commitment to the movement building that is at the core of NEO’s work,” said Michele Lord, President of NEO Philanthropy. “We owe a deep level of gratitude to Sean for his outstanding tenure as Board Chair as NEO charted out a new strategic plan amid continued growth. Sean served as an exemplary sounding board and advisor on all matters.”
Kerrien Suarez is president and CEO of Equity In The Center, a fieldwide initiative to influence social sector leaders to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to achieve racial equity. In 2018, EiC published Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture, which details management and operational levers to center race equity and transform organizational culture, and has been downloaded more than 70,000 times. A management consultant with over 20 years of experience, Kerrien led engagements to refine programs and scale impact for national nonprofits, philanthropies and social enterprises focused on eliminating race-based disparities.
Kristen Ruff is the Senior Vice President of Philanthropy New York (PNY), a network of 275 philanthropic organizations in the New York metro area. PNY champions a just and equitable philanthropic ecosystem through forward-thinking programming and advocacy. Kristen works across PNY’s learning, member engagement, and communications efforts to advance the organization’s anti-racist commitments and build sector leadership to dismantle inequitable systems. As a facilitator, trainer, and firm believer in the transformative power of networks, she supports the leadership development of philanthropy professionals at all career stages and works to foster a community of change-makers. Kristen began her career at MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization, and holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and an MPA from New York University.
“It is a great privilege to work alongside NEO’s committed staff and to take up the board leadership baton from Sean,” said Suarez and Ruff. “Alex and Blake are tremendous additions to the board and are joining at an absolutely critical time. While so many consequential social change issues remain under direct threat, NEO brings deep relationships and decades-long credibility to serve as a bridge between progressive funders and courageous movement groups on the front lines of the fight for justice.”
Learn more about NEO Philanthropy’s Board of Directors by visiting our team page. Additional information on NEO’s 40 years of strengthening social justice movements can be found at neophilanthropy.org.