Foundation advisors bring knowledge, expertise, and experience to the issue areas addressed by Columbia Foundation. They serve in an advisory capacity to the foundation's board of directors and staff through participation on the foundation's program and investment committees.

Current advisors include:

Arts and Culture

Frances Phillips

Frances Phillips is senior program officer for arts and humanities at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund in San Francisco, and Director of the Creative Work Fund, a collaborative funding initiative supporting new works by San Francisco and Alameda county-based artists. Previously, Frances was executive director of Intersection for the Arts – San Francisco’s oldest alternative arts organization – from 1988 to 1994; director of The Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University from 1985 to 1988; and assistant director of The Poetry Center (overseeing California Poets in the Schools) between 1982 and 1985. From 1977 to 1984 she was an associate and partner in Horne, McClatchy & Associates, a public relations firm that specialized in fundraising for nonprofit organizations.

Tom Price

Tom Price studied economics and history of art at Gonville & Cauis College, Cambridge (UK). He is now an investment banker for Evolution Securities based in London. He advises entrepreneurial companies, helping them design and execute strategies for organic growth, principally using the equity capital markets.

He has a particular specialisation in U.K. media companies, and has also advised Chinese and Indian enterprises in various sectors in the last three years. Companies he has advised range from Bloomsbury Publishing, the publisher of Harry Potter, through online portals and TV production companies, to Eros International, the world's largest distributor of Bollywood movies. He sits on various industry committees and regularly speaks at financial seminars and conferences. He maintains an interest and active involvement in design and architecture; and the performing and visual arts.

Stephen Taylor

After studying literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, Stephen Taylor worked as an assistant director at the Geneva Grand Théâtre, working with directors such as Nicholas Hytner, Matthias Langhoff and Benno Besson. For over ten years he has regularly collaborated with Pierre Strosser in Geneva, Strasbourg, Lyon, and Paris. In September 1997, he revived Pierre Strosser’s production of Der Fliegende Holländer at the San Francisco Opera. Since 1998, he has regularly worked with the young singers at the Centre de Formation Lyrique of the Paris Opera, directing semi-stagings of La Traviata, Faust, Werther, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Don Pasquale and Roméo et Juliette. He recently directed Idomeneo at the Opéra National de Lyon, and The Rape of Lucretia in Colmar, Mulhouse and Strasbourg, and Don Pasquale in Aix-les-Bains.

Gary Thorne

Gary Thorne studied with Motley Theatre Design (1983-84) after completing fine art study with Byam Shaw at the School of Fine Art, both in London, U.K. His theatre design work includes residencies in U.K. repertory theatres, Canada's Stratford Festival Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, along with various productions in the U.K., France, and London Ontario, Canada, as well as many productions with several London, U.K. drama colleges. He completed an MA in Art in Architecture in 1999, which led to various publicly-sited temporary and permanent works in London and Gloucester. Since 1997, Gary has been a regular tutor at select London colleges, including Central St. Martins College of Art and Design (now the University of the Arts); Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA); Central School of Speech and Drama; and Motley Theatre Design. Gary is the author of two books for Crowood Press U.K.: (1) Stage Design – A practical guide, and (2) Costume Design – A practical guide. In September 2004, Gary was appointed head of design at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London.

Human Rights

Under Construction

Sustainable Communities and Economies

Ignacio Chapela (on leave 2007-2008)

Ignacio Chapela is an Assistant Professor of Microbial Ecology at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley. He is also the founder of The Mycological Facility, which addresses questions of natural resources and indigenous rights, based in and run by indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. In addition to his work in microbial ecology and the role of microbes in ecosystem processing, Prof. Chapela is also engaged in the debate over the role of biotechnology in our society, environment, and economy. Other research interests include the economic valuation of genetic resources, bio-prospecting, and the interaction of the public/private spheres in the new domain of genetic resources. Dr. Chapela has worked in close collaboration with indigenous communities in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador on questions of access, ownership, and stewardship of genetic resources and has served as advisor to various Latin American Countries, as well as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on the Environmental Impact of Commercialization of Transgenic Crops. Dr. Chapela has worked for the pharmaceutical/agrochemical industry as a scientific researcher, as well as with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. He is a member of the board of directors of Pesticide Action Network, the Council for Responsible Genetics, and an advisory board member for The Sunshine Project, a citizen's initiative to deal with questions of bio-safety and bio-warfare.

Claire Cummings

Claire Cummings is a lawyer and journalist. She was an attorney for the United States Department of Agriculture during the 1980's and then practiced environmental and native land rights law for over twenty years. She has farmed in California and in Vietnam, where she had an organic farm along the Mekong River in the early 1990’s. Claire has served on the board or as general counsel for environmental organizations, including The Cultural Conservancy (which she also founded), Earth Island Institute, The Elmwood Institute, Food First, and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. As a print and broadcast journalist, she covers stories about the health, environmental, and political implications of how we eat. She has been reporting on agricultural biotechnology for over ten years, including three cover-feature articles for the international environmental journal WorldWatch as well as “A Farmer's Guide to GMOs” for Farm Aid and The National Family Farm Coalition, and the Environmental Media Service's "Reporter's and Editor's Guide to Genetic Engineering in Agriculture." For six years Claire produced and hosted a popular weekly radio show in Northern California, including a news segment called “Eater’s Digest.” She regularly reports on agriculture and the environment for public television in San Francisco. In 2001, she was awarded a 2001 Food and Society Policy Fellowship, sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation.

Paul Hawken

Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist and best-selling author. He writes and teaches about the impact of commerce on the environment and consults with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. He is author and co-author of seven books, including The Next Economy (1983), Growing a Business (1987), and The Ecology of Commerce (1993), Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (1999) with Amory Lovins, and his latest book
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement In the World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming (2007). Mr. Hawken founded or co-founded several companies including: Groxis, a graphic information delivery provider; Metacode, a software company; Smith & Hawken, a garden and catalog retailer; and several of the first U.S. natural foods companies that rely solely on sustainable agricultural methods. Mr. Hawken has publicly addressed the topic of business, the environment, and social justice for more than twenty years.

back to top