GiveWell was started by donors, looking to accomplish as much good as possible with our donations. Our staff, Board, and supporters share a commitment to complete openness in our decision-making, to help others with their decisions and create better dialogue on the difficult question of where to give.
Full-time staff
Holden Karnofsky graduated from Harvard in 2003 with a degree in Social Studies, and spent the next several years in the hedge fund industry. He founded GiveWell in August of 2006, as a part-time collaboration between 8 friends struggling with their personal donation decisions, and left his job in mid-2007 to work on the project full-time.
Elie Hassenfeld graduated from Columbia in 2004 with a degree in Religion, and spent the next several years in the hedge fund industry. He was one of the original 8 part-time volunteer members of GiveWell, and in August of 2007 he left his job to work on it full-time.
Natalie Stone graduated from Swarthmore in 2009 with a degree in Economics. She joined GiveWell as a Research Analyst in July 2009.
Simon Knutsson is currently enrolled in a Master of Science in Economics program at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. He has worked for GiveWell on a volunteer basis since the summer of 2008 and joined GiveWell as a Research Consultant for the summer of 2010.
Board of Directors
Tom Rutledge (Chair) is in the Structured Credit Group at Magnetar Capital, an Evanston, Illinois-based alternative investment manager. During his career, he has also worked in capital markets businesses at JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Merrill Lynch.
Lindy Miller Crane (Vice-chair) is a Manager in the Corporate Strategy consulting practice of Deloitte. She has worked with community organizations, at the local and state government levels, and with international governmental organizations. In 2007 she launched and ran the South Asia office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.
Ari Herman (Treasurer) is an Investment Analyst at a New York-based hedge fund. He previously worked in Equity Research at Goldman Sachs.
Holden Karnofsky (Secretary) see bio above.
Greg Jensen is co-Chief Investment Officer at a major hedge fund, the former supervisor of both Holden and Elie, and one of our project's major financial supporters.
Tim Ogden is the former Chief Knowledge Officer of Geneva Global, a philanthropic consulting firm devoted to results-oriented grantmaking in the poorest regions of the world. He currently is an Executive Partner at Sona Partners and writes for Philanthropy Action, an online philanthropic research publication.
Jon Behar is an Investment Associate at a major hedge fund.
