MENLO PARK, Calif. – Megan Garcia, a recent graduate of the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, will join The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in July as a fellow in its Special Projects Program, where she will help manage grants to advance nuclear security, Foundation officials announced today.

While at the Goldman School of Public Policy, Garcia focused on international policy and studied the use of weapons of mass destruction in connection with terrorism. For her thesis project she worked as a consultant to the Office of Military Affairs in the U.S. Agency for International Development.

She will replace Em Warren, who will be leaving the Foundation at the end of this summer for London to begin graduate studies in economics under a Marshall Scholarship.

Before pursuing her master’s degree in public policy, Garcia worked in various capacities in government, most recently as a legislative assistant to U.S. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), where she was responsible for a portfolio of issues that included national security, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign affairs, international trade, and homeland security.

“Megan’s studies and previous experience make her extremely well suited to manage Hewlett’s grants for nuclear security,” said Foundation President Paul Brest. “I look forward to working with her on these crucial issues.”

In mid-2009, after a year and a half of exploratory grantmaking, the Hewlett Foundation’s Board of Directors approved a two-year initiative in Nuclear Security. To date, the Foundation has made a total of $8 million in grants in this area, with an additional $4 million expected through 2011.

As the manager of this work, Garcia will be responsible for tracking the state of the field, monitoring and evaluating the progress of more than two dozen grants, adjusting the grantmaking strategy as needed, reporting to staff and Board the overall progress of the initiative, and working with the president to develop next steps.

Garcia has a bachelor of arts degree in history and literature from Harvard University.

About The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1967 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, the environment, global development, performing arts, philanthropy, and population, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Contact:
Jack Fischer
Hewlett Foundation Communications Officer
(650) 234-4500 ext. 5744
jfischer@hewlett.org