Our Philosophy

Nicole Gardner is a retired vice president of IBM’s Global Services and the co-author of a United Nations technology standard. She has launched and managed businesses at IBM and PwC ranging from $100M to $1.4B. Nicole was the first Chief Innovation Officer for IBM’s Global Services Public Sector and the first Human Capital Management practice leader. In her role with the United Nations, she collaborated with senior leaders across industries to forge a widely accepted global standard. She has served large commercial entities including Baxter Healthcare, ExxonMobil, ARMCO Specialty Steel, Cummins Engine Company and First National Bank of Chicago. In 2017 and 2018, Nicole was recognized as a FederalHealthIT 100 and in 2018 received accolades with a Women in Leadership Impact Award.

Kye Young founded Social Impact Partners LLC in December 2019 after 15 years of experience working in resource mobilization capacities at non-profits and within the United Nations system. Most recently, Kye served as the Director, Corporate Relations for the United Nations Foundation, the world’s largest organization dedicated to advocacy and support for UN causes. In this post, he worked with companies to connect them to relevant UN agencies and established partnerships that highlighted the corporate sector’s contribution to advancing progress to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Notable partnerships include Barclays, Essity, H&M Foundation, Gap Inc., Google for Startups, Mastercard and Kenneth Cole. Prior to this, Kye spent seven years working in the Private Sector Partnerships Division of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the largest humanitarian aid agency in the world fighting hunger. While serving in posts based in Rome, Italy; Washington DC and New York, he managed notable partnerships with Yum! Brands, Michael Kors, PepsiCo Foundation and Mars among others. Prior to WFP, from 2005-2010, Kye served as a Grants Manager for the San Francisco-based NGO, The Asia Foundation. Kye received a Bachelor’s of Art in History and Economics from the University of California Los Angeles and earned a Master’s degree in American Studies from Columbia University. He is a San Francisco native currently residing in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters (ages 8 & 5).

An award-winning strategist, Alexandra brings over 12 years of PR experience to the Foundation for Climate Restoration. Rooted in her passion for climate justice, Alexandra leverages her expertise in crafting strategic communications to give the Foundation a significant platform to spread awareness around their mission to restore the climate.

Brad Ack is an environmental innovator with 30 years of creative contributions towards a more sustainable and biologically diverse world. Brad recently launched the Ocean-Climate Trust, working to build a new ocean/climate stabilization agenda, unlock new intellectual and financial investments in ocean/climate restoration; source and develop innovations to repair and restore critical components of the ocean system; and take advantage of the oceans capacity to capture and store carbon in new ways. Previously Brad was Senior Vice President in charge of the Oceans program at WWF-US; Regional Director Americas for the Marine Stewardship Council; and Executive Director of the Puget Sound Action Team, Office of the Governor in the State of Washington. He has held other conservation leadership positions in the Southwest US and started his career working in Latin America to integrate sustainable resource use into large parks and protected area projects.

Lena Sinha-Connolly has extensive experience in international affairs, working with the United Nations on international development cooperation, governance and the rule of law. As policy adviser and director with the United Nations Development Programme, she managed international cooperation initiatives in areas ranging from agricultural development and poverty reduction to renewable energy, biodiversity conservation and climate change. Committed to multilateralism in addressing global challenges, she advises the foundation in its efforts to bring forward climate restoration solutions that will begin the long process of restoring the Earth’s climate system to the state last experienced in pre-industrial times.

Jeannie Presley Mangone combines a unique background in law, environmental and urban planning, and project management that helps guide F4CR’s internal policies and procedures. She has previously worked with local governments and community members to establish municipal and regional policies and plans, managed multi-million dollar environmental projects, and is a registered patent attorney. Her lifelong passion for environmental stewardship and sense of responsibility to offer a better world to her daughter and future generations motivate her to shape ethical policies that are socially responsible, equitable, and achievable for the global community.

With almost 20 years of varied human resources experience, a Bachelors in Human Resource Management, a Masters with a focus on Conflict Resolution and senior level certifications SPHR and SHRM-SCP, Cerissa Burden lends her expertise to F4CR to assist in creating a foundation and maintaining a human resources program that supports F4CR as an employer of choice. Her experience has primarily been in the government sector working with an international employee base. Cerissa's areas of expertise encompasses the full employee lifecycle inclusive of: policy development, regulatory compliance, employee relations, total rewards, and workforce management.

Felix Kramer is a Strategic Advisor for F4CR. His website for Climate Restoration is https://ClimateChangesEverything.org. A husband and parent, he volunteers full-time and writes about “missing pieces” in climate awareness and solutions, and advises and invests in clean energy and carbon removal companies. He founded CalCars.org and helped win the eight-year campaign for mass production of plug-in hybrid cars like the Chevy Volt. He is a former entrepreneur and strategic communicator. He has launched, led, and promoted environmental, political and IT projects and companies.

Economist, strategist, communicator and consultant, Dr. Susan Lee works to align climate policy with the interests of young people and future generations. She analyzes cost-effective climate solutions that can scale rapidly. Prior to joining the F4CR, Susan advised Fortune 500 companies and government on internet policy, universal service, antitrust and competition policy.

Dragana “Anna” Djuknic has been with Columbia University for a decade, first at Columbia Business School, and then at the Department of Biomedical Engineering as a Program Manager, where she manages a multi-million budget in support of cutting edge scientific research, and where she works closely with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA. She holds an MBA from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Her lifelong interest has been in helping people in need, especially children with special needs and orphans. She has received the honorary title of Dame of the Order de Saints Maurice and Lazarus for her humanitarian work. Anna is very passionate about projects for saving the planet, where her primary goal is to save resources for our own generation and, even more importantly, for the generations to come.