Megan Garcia has joined the Foundation as a fellow in its Special Projects Program, where she will support the Foundation’s initiative to advance nuclear security.
Garcia, a recent graduate of the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, will be responsible for tracking the state of the field, evaluating the progress of more than two dozen grants, reporting to staff and Board on the progress of the initiative, and working with Hewlett President Paul Brest to develop next steps.
While at the University of California, Garcia studied international policy with a focus on the use of weapons of mass destruction in connection with terrorism. 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-IL). In this role, Garcia was responsible for a portfolio of issues that included national security, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign affairs, international trade, and homeland security.
She will replace Em Warren, who will leave the Foundation at the end of the summer for the London School of Economics to begin graduate studies under a Marshall Scholarship.
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Sara VanLear is replacing Lauren Libruk as an associate in the Foundation’s Philanthropy Program. VanLear comes to the Foundation from the gift planning department at the San Francisco Symphony, where she was an administrative manager. In her work at the Foundation, VanLear will provide a broad range of administrative and project-related support to the Philanthropy Program, which works to make philanthropic practices more effective. A native of Virginia, she graduated summa cum laude from the College of William and Mary and has worked on issues ranging from housing to education to the arts.
Libruk, who joined the Foundation in November 2007, will pursue a dual Ph.D. program in sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University.