We are the Centre for Effective Altruism, and we're striving to solve the world's biggest problems. That's a challenging goal, and we believe that kind of long-term change cannot be solved by individuals alone. We need a global community of people tackling these issues.
Our team is dedicated to building a community of people who have made helping others a core part of their lives, and who use evidence and scientific reasoning to figure out how to do so as effectively as possible. We strive to provide the community with the resources, technology, support and mentoring they need to do the most good.
Here is our organizational chart as of December 2018.
Now meet the people behind our work.
Larissa Hesketh-Rowe
Chief Executive Officer
Before becoming CEO, Larissa was CEA's Chief Operating Officer, and manager of the community team. Before coming to work at CEA, she volunteered for Giving What We Can and in UK party politics, and spent five years working in corporate sales, events and marketing.
Jenna Peters
Project Manager
Jenna manages projects for the CEO and works to streamline logistics to save the CEO time. Before CEA, Jenna worked at the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies, a biomedical engineering and global health lab at Duke University. Her work focused on commercializing a low-cost device for detecting cervical cancer. She holds a BS in Neuroscience from Duke University.
Ben West
Analyst
Ben works to create infrastructure which makes the staff at CEA more productive. Before joining, he was the software architect of an analytics platform used by almost every major healthcare organization in the U.S., and has served on numerous government committees related to health care and interoperability. He's also been the cofounder and CTO of a successful health startup.
Owen Cotton-Barratt
Advisor
Owen provides strategic and research advice for CEA, and also works with the individual outreach team. Owen is also a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford. He has a DPhil in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.
Content:
Max Dalton
Head of Research
Max communicates new and important ideas to the effective altruism community. Before joining CEA, Max received for an MSc in Economics from the University of York, and studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford. His research focused on the cost-effectiveness of research, and the determinants of technological progress.
Julia Wise
Community Liaison
Julia serves as a contact person for the effective altruism community and helps local and online groups support their members. She is also the president of Giving What We Can, serves on the board of GiveWell, and writes about effective altruism at Giving Gladly. Before joining CEA, Julia was a social worker, and studied sociology at Bryn Mawr College.
Aaron Gertler
Content Writer
Aaron runs the Effective Altruism Newsletter and helps with a wide range of other content projects. Before joining CEA, he worked in freelance positions throughout the EA community and spent a year earning-to-give at a software company. He holds a B.A. in Cognitive Science from Yale University, where he wrote a thesis on how charities can improve their communication with donors.
Events, Groups, and Grants:
Kerry Vaughan
Head of Events, Groups, and Grants
Kerry is in charge of events, groups, and grants which includes EA Global, EA retreats, local EA groups, EA Grants, and EA Community Building Grants. He also advises the CEO on long-term EA strategy. Prior to joining CEA, Kerry ascended from a summer volunteer to run the Technology and Innovation Department of a $1.5B foundation, managing a $7m budget. Kerry holds a PhD in Philosophy from Rice University, specializing in applied ethics and value theory.
Amy Willey Labenz
Senior Events Manager, General Counsel
Amy produces events, including EA Global and a series of specialized retreats. Previously, Amy was Chief Operating Officer of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute where she was also Executive Producer of The Singularity Summit. Amy earned a Juris Doctor degree from New York University after graduating summa cum laude from Alma College with a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Service.
Harri Besceli
EA Groups Liaison
Harri provides operational support and strategic advice for local effective altruism groups and coordinates various inter-group projects. Before joining CEA, he studied Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Oxford, and during this time was also heavily involved in the Giving What We Can Oxford group.
Katie Glass
Marketing and Events Specialist
Katie is responsible for producing Effective Altruism Global and the EAGx program. She joined CEA after 6 years building online communities for brands like Nike, Google and Pinterest. During 4 years at Google, Katie launched Map's Local Guides program in the UK and Europe and drove engagement for Solve for X, a think tank focused on 'moonshot' projects focused on solving global issues.
Alex Barry
Community Specialist
Alex is focused on maximizing the impact of local effective altruism groups, both through direct support and the development of group strategy. Alex holds a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Cambridge and was co-president of Effective Altruism Cambridge.
Davis Kingsley
Events Specialist
Davis produces events for CEA with a focus on retreats. Prior to joining CEA, Davis worked in operations and finance at the Center for Applied Rationality, where he also taught classes on critical thinking skills and methods of avoiding cognitive biases.
Operations Team:
Caitlin Elizondo
Head of Operations
Caitlin manages our operations team, as well as the Berkeley office space. She has a background in operations work from her time with the Frameworks Institute in DC and working in academic administration during her time as a graduate student at Georgetown. She has a B.A. in linguistics from Haverford College and an M.S. in sociolinguistics from Georgetown University.
Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg
Finance Lead
Miranda runs CEA's US finances. She comes to CEA from a background in ICU and travel nursing. In 2015, after several years of volunteer operations work with the Center for Applied Rationality, she left her nursing job in Canada and worked for Bellroy in an admin role.
Josh Axford
UK Operations Specialist
Josh manages operations for CEA in the UK. Before joining CEA, he went from COO to CEO of a marine research charity working towards a world where marine life and humans thrive together. He studied Physics at university and attended the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst, where he was commissioned as an officer in the British Army. He is also a professionally trained project manager and an alpine mountaineering instructor.
Chloe Malone
U.S. Operations Specialist
Chloe is responsible for analyzing and improving our operations, managing our legal compliance, and handling some of our external communications. She was previously the communications coordinator for Effective Altruism Australia; alongside her work for CEA, she's currently a project manager for a fundraising gaming app being developed for an NGO. She graduated from the University of Sydney and holds a B.A. in two majors: Philosophy, and Media and Communications.
Tech Team:
Sam Deere
Head of Tech
Sam manages our tech team. Sam previously worked in policy and communications roles for several high-profile Australian politicians, and was part of the team that won the 'unwinnable' 2014 South Australian state election. He studied Politics and History at the University of Adelaide, and has nearly a decade of experience as a web developer.
JP Addison
Developer
JP comes to us from an aerospace startup where he wrote data processing code. He also cofounded the South Bay Effective Altruism meetup group. Before that he was a research assistant writing code for simulations of quantum computers. He holds a BS in Physics from Georgia Tech.
Marek Duda
Product Manager
Marek is responsible for the EA Funds platform as well as improving and expanding the software products CEA develops for the community. He has previously worked at investment banks as an analyst and more recently as a Product Manager, after completing a data science bootcamp.
We also manage operations for, and share office space with, the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research.
Trustees
CEA UK Trustees: Will MacAskill, Toby Ord, Nick Beckstead.
CEA US board: Will MacAskill (President and Chairman), Nick Beckstead, Sam Bankman-Fried.
We're a great place to work. Interested in joining us? Check out our careers page for opportunities.