Skoll | Board

The Skoll Fund, created in 1999, is a supporting organization associated with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation of San Jose, California. The private foundation, the Skoll Foundation, was launched in 2002. Each entity is governed by its own Board of Directors. The two entities share grantmaking, program, and administrative resources.

Founder and Chairman Emeritus

Jeff Skoll

Skoll Foundation Board of Directors

James DeMartini III

Jim DeMartini is the Chairman of Seiler LLP. In his role as a trusted advisor, Mr. DeMartini counsels clients in matters including income, estate and gift tax planning, wealth management, all facets of real estate, and charitable gift planning.

Currently, Mr. DeMartini is a member of the Board of Directors of the Skoll Foundation and the Stupski Foundation. Mr. DeMartini was also Founder and Member of the Board of Directors of Sports Association for Youth, a non-competitive baseball league that currently benefits more than 1,000 Bay Area youths annually. Additional past community activities include Notre Dame de Namur University Trustee, Executive Committee Member, and Chairman of the Audit Committee; Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur of California Advisory Board; Santa Clara University English Advisory Board; Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford Capital Campaign Committee; Stanford University Medical Center Friends of Orthopedics; Chair of the Santa Clara University Men’s Golf Committee; and Skoll Global Threats Fund board member.

From 1999-2004 Mr. DeMartini served on the Board of Directors of Mid-Peninsula Bank, a member of the Greater Bay Bancorp group. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Golden Gate University. Mr. DeMartini pursued graduate studies in taxation and speaks on a variety of related topics. Mr. DeMartini is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and California State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

See full profile

Cheryl Dorsey

Cheryl L. Dorsey is the president of Echoing Green, a global nonprofit that supports emerging social entrepreneurs and invests deeply in their ideas and leadership. A social entrepreneur herself, Cheryl received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 1992 to launch The Family Van, a community-based mobile health unit in Boston. Cheryl has served in two presidential administrations and currently serves on several boards including The Bridgespan Group and Skoll Foundation. She has received numerous awards, including the Pfizer Roerig History of Medicine Award, the Robert Kennedy Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Manual C. Carballo Memorial Prize. Cheryl has been named one of "America's Best Leaders" by US News & World Report and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and one of The Nonprofit Times' "Power and Influence Top 50." She has a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and her master's in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

See full profile

Donald Gips

Don Gips is the Chief Executive Officer of the Skoll Foundation, a global philanthropy with a mission to build a sustainable world of peace and prosperity for all. With a career spanning public service, politics, business, nonprofits and technology, Gips leads the Foundation’s work investing in, connecting, and championing social innovators around the world.

In 2008, Gips helped lead President Barack Obama’s transition team and then served in the White House as his Director of Presidential Personnel at the beginning of the Administration. From there he went on to serve as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa from 2009 to 2013. There he was recognized for his efforts to promote improved relations with South Africa when the U.S. State Department chose him as the recipient of the 2010 Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service.

During the Clinton Administration, he served as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore and Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. At the FCC, he helped design the first spectrum auctions for licenses to utilize the continuum of frequencies used to provide wireless services ranging from radio broadcasting to mobile communications and satellite services.

In 1993, he helped create the framework for what would become the U.S. national service program, AmeriCorps, that continues to enroll more than 200,000 Americans each year in public service.

Gips has also held various roles in the private sector. He was head of Corporate Development at Level 3 Communications; led the Africa practice at Albright Stonebridge Group; and served as a venture partner at Columbia Capital and a Senior Advisor at Blackstone. He began his private sector career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

He currently sits on the board of CassTech, Africa’s leading provider of information and telecommunications services, and is on the Board of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund US. He has also served on the boards of Zayo, Mindspeed, Liquid, Omnispace, and Nextnav.

Don received an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. He is married to Elizabeth (Liz) Berry Gips. Don and Liz have three grown sons: Sam, Peter, and Ben.

See full profile

James Mwangi

James Irungu Mwangi is the founder and CEO of Africa Climate Ventures, where he is working to build and accelerate transformative climate-smart and carbon-negative businesses across the continent. James is also the founder of the Climate Action Platform – Africa (CAP-A), a public benefit organization launched in 2021, to unlock Africa’s potential for inclusive prosperity through Climate Positive Growth.

Previously, James co-founded the Dalberg Group, where over a 20-year period, he led the firm's expansion into Africa, served as Global Managing Partner and then as Executive Director. He is an independent director on several boards including the Skoll Foundation, the Global Centre for Pluralism, One Acre Fund, Old Mutual Limited and Koko Networks.

James holds an AB in Economics from Harvard University. He is a 2022 Climate Breakthrough Awardee, a 2021 Yale World Fellow, a 2009 Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow and a 2013 Young Global Leader.

See full profile

Lindsey Spindle

Lindsey Spindle serves as President of the Samueli Family Philanthropies and Chief Operating Officer of H&S Ventures which oversees all the Samueli Family’s for-profit and not-for-profit activities. The philanthropic entities operating under the oversight of H&S Ventures include the Samueli Foundation, the Anaheim Ducks Foundation, the San Diego Gulls Foundation, the Irvine Ice Foundation, and The Rinks Foundation.
Spindle was President of The Jeff Skoll Group, where she connected and advised Mr. Skoll’s entrepreneurial portfolio of philanthropic and commercial organizations that include the impact entertainment company Participant, Capricorn Investment Group, and the Skoll Foundation. The Skoll Foundation’s mission is centered on social entrepreneurship and innovation, with a focus on five main, interrelated areas: climate change, inclusive economies, protection of democracy, pandemics prevention and health systems strengthening, and racial justice. Participant has produced more than

See full profile

Skoll Fund Board of Directors

Shashi Buluswar

Shashi is a scientist and serial social innovator working on a range of areas including health, energy, water & food security. He is the Founder of the Institute for Transformative Technologies (ITT), which launched India’s largest infrastructures for off-grid power and natural sanitation, serving hundreds of thousands of the country’s poorest citizens. In response to COVID, Shashi also led ITT’s launch of Oxygen Hub, Africa’s largest medical oxygen franchise. In 2021-22, Shashi was the founding CEO of GHLabs, created by Bill Gates to develop technology breakthroughs in global health. Earlier in his career, Shashi was a Partner at Dalberg Advisors and an Associate Partner at McKinsey. Shashi spent a decade on the Indian rowing team, and made an acclaimed documentary film about the India-Pakistan conflict. He holds a PhD from the Univ of Massachusetts in Artificial Intelligence, an MBA from Northwestern Univ. Shashi also teaches at the UC-Berkeley. He was born and raised in India.

See full profile