About Hilary Pennington (she/her)

Hilary Pennington oversees all of the Ford Foundation’s programs globally, working closely across programs and offices to ensure strategic, meaningful, and well-aligned global grant making. She also oversees the foundation’s BUILD program, and the Office of Strategy and Learning. Before assuming her current role, she served as the foundation’s Vice President for Education, Creativity, and Free Expression.

Between 2006 and 2012, Hilary served as Director of Education, Postsecondary Success, and Special Initiatives at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she guided grant programs across the country and worldwide. Before joining Gates, she was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and President and CEO of Jobs for the Future (JFF), a research and policy development organization she co-founded. In 22 years with JFF, Hilary helped the organization become one of the most influential in the country on issues of education, youth transitions, workforce development, and future work requirements.

Hilary is a graduate of the Yale School of Management and Yale College, and she holds a graduate degree in social anthropology from Oxford University and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from the Episcopal Divinity School. In 2000, she was a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

About Sam Cobbs (he/him)

Sam Cobbs has been involved with Tipping Point Community since it began, serving as the CEO of First Place for Youth, a long-standing grantee, for 12 years. Under Sam’s leadership, First Place grew from an Oakland-based grassroots organization into one of the largest providers of housing and services for former foster youth in the United States. Sam is a recipient of the Children and Family Fellowship from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and was awarded the 2010 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. Sam has also served in leadership positions at Larkin Street Youth Services, Juma Ventures, and the Boys & Girls Club of Oakland. He has a Master’s in Counseling from California State University, East Bay. When he is not at work, he is either hanging with his twin daughters or playing golf.

About Lowell Weiss (he/him)

Lowell Weiss has spent more than three decades working to spark social change across a broad array of local, national, and global issues. At Cascade Philanthropy Advisors, he provides personalized guidance to donors seeking to deepen their impact and achieve greater purpose, meaning, and joy. He is a proud member of the Leap Ambassadors Community, a group of top nonprofit and philanthropic leaders committed to making high performance the norm in the social sector.

Previously, he served in a leadership role at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Among his many responsibilities, he served as Staff Director of the internal team responsible for providing Bill and Melinda Gates with insights on how to make highest and best use of Warren Buffett’s historic gift. Prior to the Gates Foundation, he served as Director of the Chairman’s Office at the Morino Institute, dedicated to improving the lives of at-risk children in the National Capital Region.

As Special Assistant to the President in the Clinton White House, Lowell traveled extensively with the President, wrote more than 150 speeches for him, and served as a key communications strategist. He previously wrote speeches for Vice President Al Gore; wrote a New York Times bestselling book with political consultant James Carville; and served as an editor at The Atlantic Monthly. He graduated in 1990 from Amherst College with high honors.

About Martha Ryan (she/her)

Martha Ryan is the founder and Executive Director of Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP), a nationally recognized family resource center in San Francisco which empowers homeless and low-income families, particularly mothers motivated by pregnancy and parenthood, to find within themselves the strength and confidence they need to transform their lives.

She founded HPP in November 1989 while working as a nurse practitioner at the Hamilton Family Shelter in San Francisco. Over the past 30 years, has led the growth of HPP into a Family Resource Center with a holistic, comprehensive, integrated service delivery model of non-judgmental and supportive case management, building upon the innate strengths and resiliency of the clients, with the mission of breaking the cycle of childhood poverty. In addition to being a nurse practitioner, she also holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. Martha began her career by serving in the Peace Corps in rural Ethiopia and then helping to address health emergencies in Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda.

About Marielena Hincapie, Esq (she/her)

Marielena Hincapié is executive director of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the NILC Immigrant Justice Fund. Hincapié has more than two decades of experience in the movement for immigrant justice. She has litigated key cases in defense of immigrant workers, including a precedent case making it illegal for employers to retaliate against undocumented workers who exercise their workplace rights, and other key cases at the intersection of immigration and labor law. Recognized as a seasoned strategist and bridge-builder, Hincapié has led national policy campaigns, such as the creation and successful implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Under Hincapié’s leadership, NILC has been at the legal forefront of the fight to stop President Trump’s attempt to rescind DACA, successfully representing DACA recipients and Make the Road New York in a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court found that the Trump administration’s rescission was “arbitrary and capricious.” Hincapié was appointed co-chair of the Biden-Sanders Unity Taskforce on Immigration. As an immigrant from Colombia, Hincapié brings her lived experience and bilingual/bicultural perspective to her work in the social justice movement.