Circle of Advisors

Delphine O (she/her) is ambassador-at-large and Secretary General for the Generation Equality Forum (Beijing+25). She led the organization of the largest international summit for women’s rights since 1995, convened by UN Women and co-chaired by France and Mexico. She was previously a Member of Parliament for La République en Marche, elected in Paris. Delphine O graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Harvard Kennedy School. She is a French-American Young Leader 2019, Munich Young Leader 2019, member of the Council at the Council on Foreign Relations, member of the Strategic Orientation Board of the German Marshall Fund France and a board member of IRIS (Institut des Relations Internationales et Stratégiques).

Follow Delphine on X (formerly Twitter) @odelphine.

Born in Ghana, Theo Sowa (she/her) has lived and worked in many countries in Africa, Europe and North America. Her work includes advisory roles to African and other international women’s rights, children’s rights and justice activists and leaders, as well as policy development and advocacy in a range of national and international organizations and agencies. She was Senior Programme Advisor on the UN Study on Children and Armed Conflict (the Machel Report) and led its five year review. Until recently Theo was CEO of the African Women’s Development Fund, leading the organization through a period of transformation, growth and increase in reach, impact and influence in Africa, parts of the Middle East and globally.

Follow Theo on X (formerly Twitter) @TheoSowa.

Ellen Friedman (she/her) is a social change strategist, organizer, philanthropic advisor and network weaver. For eleven years she served as the Executive Director of the Compton Foundation, which seeks to ignite change toward a sustainable, just and peaceful future. During Ellen’s tenure, the Foundation aligned its investment and grantmaking program with the Foundation’s mission and made the courageous decision to spend out the Foundation’s assets after 75 years of operation.

Heather Hurlburt (she/her) is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, analyzing, explaining and working to close the gap between the practice of international affairs and the realities of politics in the United States. From 2022-2024, she served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, overseeing strategy and management for the agency charged with carrying out President Biden’s worker-centered American trade policy. Previously, she founded and ran the New Models of Policy Change project at the think tank New America’s Political Reform program. Her work there explored the intersection of international affairs policy and domestic political polarization, on topics from trade and climate to political violence to nuclear security. She also made the project a hub for analysis and convening on diversity, gender and equity in international affairs.

Previously, she held senior positions in conflict prevention and international affairs advocacy, including at the International Crisis Group and Human Rights First. She was a speechwriter and member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning staff under Secretaries of State Albright and Christopher, and a Special Assistant and speechwriter to President Bill Clinton. She also worked on Capitol Hill and the US Delegation to the OSCE. She is widely published, and from 2017-2020 was a regular columnist for New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer. She is a co-founder of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security, serves on the U.S. Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board, and holds degrees from Brown and George Washington Universities.

Dr. Nadine Gasman (she/her) is a Mexican physician, feminist, diplomat, activist and advocate for the rights of women. She has extensive professional experience in the public and private sectors, academia, civil society and international organizations. She was UN Women representative in Brazil and of the UNFPA in Guatemala, and Senior Manager of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Since 2019, she has held the position of President of the National Institute of Women in Mexico, where she is leading the intersectional gender mainstreaming at federal, state and municipal levels, and promoting government efforts for women’s economic autonomy, preventing violence against women and promoting the national care system.

Follow Dr. Gasman on X (formerly Twitter) @nadgasman.

Karen Burbach (she/her) is the head of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Taskforce of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Karen started her diplomatic career at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2000 at the Human Rights Department. In 2004, she took up her first overseas posting at the Netherlands Embassy in Beijing, PRC, as second secretary focusing on human rights. From 2008 until 2012, Karen was back in The Hague at the Ministry working on European Integration – more specifically on the Justice and Home Affairs Council and EU-wide rule of law. In August 2012, Karen took up her posting as First Secretary at the political department of the Netherlands Embassy in Washington, D.C., US, working on human rights and on European Affairs.

From 2017 until 2021, Karen was in Brussels, Belgium at the Netherlands Permanent Representation to the EU where she focused on EU Enlargement, more specifically the Western Balkans countries and Turkey. Karen is married and has three daughters.

Follow Karen on X (formeTly witter) @BurbachKaren.