We're excited to introduce the program committee for our 2026 Fall Retreat! 🎉
The Retreat Committee is Co-chaired by Nina Carranco who serves as Senior Program Officer of the Water Foundation and Ursula Miniszewski, who serves as the Director of Gender and Equity at Global Greengrants Fund. Nina and Ursula are joined by ten wonderful EGAers. Learn more about the Program Comittee below:
Nina Carranco (She/Her), Senior Program Officer, Water Foundation
Nina Carranco is a senior program officer at the Water Foundation, where she advances grantmaking and water policy reform in New Mexico.
Before joining the Water Foundation, Nina built public administration and policy development expertise through multiple roles in state government. Most recently, Nina worked in the State Budget Division of the Department of Finance and Administration, which leads the executive budget process in New Mexico and administers the state budget following enactment. She also gained expertise on water policy and issues while working as the Director of External Affairs at The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico, where she helped to execute a sovereign-to-sovereign water transaction between the State of New Mexico and the Jicarilla Apache Nation.
Nina has a JD from William Mitchell College of Law (incorporated into Mitchel Hamline School of Law in 2015), a MS in Geology from the University of Michigan, and a BA in Geology from Pomona College.
Ursula Miniszewski (She/Her), Director of Gender and Equity, Global Greengrants Fund
Ursula is an internationally recognized leader in gender equity and environmental philanthropy, with more than 15 years of experience working at the intersection of community development, climate activism, and gender justice. As the Director of Gender and Environment at Global Greengrants Fund, she launched the Gender and Environment program and has helped direct more than $25 million in small grants to grassroots, gender-just climate action throughout the Global South.
She is on the Advisory Board for the Resilience Fund for Women in Global Value Chains, has served on the Environmental Grantmakers’ Association program committee, has taught as an adjunct professor of gender and intersectionality, and was on the Community Council for the Creative Ideas Fund, promoting disability rights in Colorado.
Emilia Aguinaga (She/Her/Ella), Climate Justice Program Officer, Foundation for Louisiana
Emilia serves as Climate Justice Program Officer at Foundation for Louisiana, where she advances climate justice through grantmaking and collaborative strategies that support community-led solutions and collective power-building across Louisiana.
Her work centers the knowledge and leadership of communities on the frontlines of environmental and climate injustice. Emilia holds a BS in Psychology and French and an MSPH in Environmental Public Health and Development from Tulane University.
Dr. Marisol Becerra (She / They), Program Officer, The Joyce Foundation
Dr. Marisol Becerra is the Environment Program Officer at The Joyce Foundation. She leads the Foundation’s climate solutions portfolio, focusing on state climate and clean energy policies in the Great Lakes region. Dr. Becerra brings 20 years of combined experience in the non-profit, academic, and government sectors.
Before joining the foundation, Dr. Becerra was an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she taught and mentored the next generation of policy leaders. Her environmental policy research has been published and cited in academic journals. In 2017, she was a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Graduate Fellow in the Office of U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, where she supported the environmental policy portfolio.
Dr. Becerra's environmental advocacy began when she co-founded a youth group with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (2003-2008). As a youth organizer, she rallied to reduce air pollution from coal-fired power plants in Chicago. The Earth Island Institute nationally recognized her organizing efforts with the Brower Youth Award (2008).
Dr. Becerra holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Natural Resources from The Ohio State University, an M.S. in Environmental Policy and Environmental Justice from University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from DePaul University. She is an alumnus of the Gates Millennium Scholars and Ronald E. McNair Scholars programs.
Roxana Bonnell (She/Her), Program Manager, Westwind Foundation
Roxana Bonnell is a human rights and social justice strategist working with donors, NGOs, and activists around the world on strategy development, grantmaking, and catalytic investing at the intersection of global health and climate. Roxana has worked for over twenty-five years in human rights advocacy – with 20+ years of experience at the Open Society Foundations.
For the last 15 years, Roxana has also advised the Westwind Foundation on its climate justice portfolio in the US Southeast.
Denise Collazo (She/Her/Ella), Executive Director, Fund to Build Grassroots Power
Denise Collazo is a grassroots organizer and social justice advocate inspired by her grandmother’s journey from Puerto Rico. A Harvard graduate, some of Denise's proudest moments include leading the successful "No on 3" campaign in Florida and running Faith in Action's national voter engagement program. These experiences taught me the power of grassroots mobilization and the importance of every vote.
Now based in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, Denise continues to champion community empowerment on the island. She is the author of Thriving in the Fight: A Survival Manual for Latinas on the Front Lines of Change, a "love letter" and strategic guide for Latina leaders shaping the world.
When she isn’t on the front lines, Denise finds joy in simple moments with her partner Julio, daughter Elisa, and granddaughter Leyla. Whether through her writing or organizing, she remains committed to the collective pursuit of a more just and equitable world.
Emma Frawley (She/Her), Director of Program & Operations, Woka Foundation
I am a plant evolutionary biologist by training with a passion and expertise for advancing regenerative food systems through philanthropy. I joined Woka as their second full-time staff member and currently support our Regenerative Practices, Civic Infrastructure, and Scientific Innovation program areas. I'm committed to addressing the root causes of environmental harm, reducing our dependency on finite resources, and respecting the dignity and value of people and planet.
Alexandra Hertell (she/her), Executive Director, FundaciĂłn Segarra Boerman
Alexandra Hertell is a confluence strategist and ecosystem facilitator. As the executive director of the trust-based Segarra Boerman Foundation, she supports and sustains environmental and social justice organizations in Puerto Rico. Before joining the Foundation, Alexandra worked at different nonprofit organizations and started working in the environmental field when she received a fellowship while pursuing her J.D. in Fordham University, to develop an environmental law curriculum for the public MLK High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice.
She also studied Grantmaking and Global Philanthropy at NYU and participated in a High Impact Philanthropy cohort at UPENN. She serves on the board of Philanthropy Puerto Rico and other organizations that focus on agroecology, food sovereignty, and youth organizing. She is also one of the founding members of the Boricua Rights of Nature Coalition.
Angélica Leyva (She/Her), Director, Environmental Resilience, International Community Foundation
Angélica Leyva is Director of Environmental Resilience at the International Community Foundation (ICF), where she leads philanthropic strategies advancing ocean health, environmental justice, and climate resilience. With more than a decade of experience in environmental philanthropy and international nonprofit leadership, she partners with funders, non-profit organizations, and coastal communities to support locally led conservation and solutions.
Her work spans key marine regions including the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of California, Gulf of Mexico, and the Mesoamerican Reef, with a focus on marine conservation, land restoration, and community-driven environmental stewardship. Angélica holds a Juris Doctor from Willamette University College of Law and a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from University of San Diego.
Harrison Wallace (He/Him), Director of Grants & Power Building, The Climate & Clean Energy Equity Fund
Harrison (he/him) leads the Grantmaking team at the Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund. He was formerly the Virginia Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), where he led lobbying and grassroots organizing campaigns focused on climate action in the southern coal state. Harrison is a lifelong Virginian, born in the Shenandoah Valley and raised in Richmond. He earned his bachelor’s in English from James Madison University.
He currently serves on the boards of the Virginia Public Access Project and the Community Climate Collaborative.He is also an appointed member of the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice and the Richmond Sustainability and Resilience Commission. In his spare time, Harrison enjoys watching/playing basketball, reading on his porch, and improving his golf game.
Maya Winkelstein (She/Her), Partner, The 2030 Fund
Maya Winkelstein is a Partner at The 2030 Fund, focused on shifting the climate trajectory of Louisiana in this decade. The 2030 Fund invests across a variety of areas including Fighting Fossil Fuels, Advancing Renewables, Building Alternative Economies, Civic Engagement, and more.
She is the founding CEO of Open Road Alliance, where she led the organization’s strategy and growth for ten years. During her tenure, Maya led the organization’s evolution from a single-donor grantmaking strategy to the world’s first impact bridge loan fund making over $450 million in loans and grants across the globe.
Maya writes and speaks frequently about philanthropy and impact investing. Her work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Foundation Review and many other publications.
She is the Administrator of the Louisiana Climate Donor Group, a Board Member at Center for Progressive Reform, and a member of Forward Global Climate and Democracy Action Labs.
Thanu Yakupitiyage (She/Her), Program Officer, Sustainable Environments, Surdna Foundation
Thanu Yakupitiyage is the Program Officer of Sustainable Environments at the Surdna Foundation. Thanu manages a $10 million grantmaking portfolio that advances the Foundation’s social justice mission at the intersection of environmental, climate, and land justice. She was appointed to her current role in April 2023.
With a deep commitment to movement- and power-building for racial justice, Thanu recognizes that communities of color and low-wealth communities most disproportionately impacted by climate inequity hold the most powerful solutions. She listens to, learns from, and invests in grassroots partners that are leading the way in environmental justice and building the capacity of communities to self-determine the ownership, control, and stewardship of land and infrastructure assets.
Thanu recently served as the U.S. Communications Digital Director and interim U.S. Program Lead at 350.org, a global organization working to build an equitable world safe from the effects of the climate crisis. There, she worked to shift narratives around climate and fossil fuels through storytelling, uplift marginalized voices, and support BIPOC communities and youth at the intersection of climate and racial justice, migrant rights, and Indigenous sovereignty. During her tenure, she collaborated with frontline-led organizations stopping fossil fuel infrastructure, helped organize the largest climate marches in history, and took direct actions at international climate talks. She also worked to advance narratives and collaboration on climate migration. Prior to joining 350.org, Thanu was the communications director at the New York Immigration Coalition, where she headed the organization’s communications and media relations strategy on immigrant justice.
Thanu believes joy is critical to power building, movement work, and building an irresistible world. She is deeply involved in music and cultural organizing in her home of New York City, where she is a deejay and artist, event curator, and a lover of food, her two cats, plants, and the ocean. She is originally from Sri Lanka, grew up in Thailand, and came to the U.S. as an immigrant.
Thanu has a bachelor’s in international development and critical media studies from Hampshire College and a master’s in political economy and communications from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.