Nancy is an operations leader with over 20 years of experience supporting organisations through growth, complexity and change. She has led global operations across finance, human resources, governance, quality and accountability, fundraising and grant management, alongside organisation-wide change initiatives including systems transitions, project management and organisational design.
Most recently, Nancy served as Global Director of Operations at ACT Alliance and Head of Support at the Norwegian Refugee Council in Geneva having earlier managed operations and strategic projects at Novartis Pharma AG.
Nancy is known for a collaborative, people-centred leadership style and for aligning operational systems with organisational values and impact. She holds an Executive MBA from the University of Geneva with a specialisation in Corporate Social Responsibility, a Master’s degree in Global Development Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Studies.
She has lived in multiple countries and is multilingual. In 2025, she was elected Treasurer of the Board of the CHS Alliance, having previously served on its Finance, Risk and Audit Committee since 2023.
Katharina is a humanitarian leader and women's rights champion with over 30 years of experience across international organisations, including Oak Foundation, UNHCR, and HAP International.
Most recently she served as Director of the Issues Affecting Women Programme at Oak Foundation, where she led feminist grant-making strategies supporting women's rights organizations globally.
Prior to joining Oak, Katharina’s career included developing accountability frameworks adopted by the UN, managing multimillion-dollar initiatives like the Kosovo Women's Initiative, and pioneering programmes to prevent sexual exploitation in humanitarian settings.
Her expertise spans strategic planning, grant management, quality assurance system development, and team leadership, with a consistent focus on advancing gender justice, accountability, and humanitarian reform throughout her career.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws focused on Human Rights Law from The Australian National University.
Katharina
Samara-Wickrama
Nancy
Etté
Meet our team
Our team brings expertise, passion, and a shared commitment to advancing the goals of our partners.
Medina
Haeri
Executive Director
Medina is a strategic gender justice advocate with nearly 20 years of experience across philanthropy, human rights, and feminist movements around the world.
Most recently, Medina worked with the Oak Foundation’s Issues Affecting Women Programme as a grant maker, bridge-builder and facilitator for frontline women’s rights organisations and the philanthropic sector.
Over the course of her career, she has developed large-scale strategies focused on a range of issues including ending gender-based violence, advancing economic justice for workers in exploitative sectors, expanding access to reproductive justice, and supporting human rights organisations and movements to respond to anti- rights and anti- gender narratives while shifting public opinion towards inclusion, hope, and justice.
Prior to joining the Oak Foundation, Medina supported gender mainstreaming at the International Committee of the Red Cross and supported refugee resettlement with the International Rescue Committee in Thailand. She holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Programme Volunteer
Katharina
Samara-Wickrama
Programme Volunteer
Katharina is a humanitarian leader and women's rights champion with over 30 years of experience across international organisations, including Oak Foundation, UNHCR, and HAP International.
Most recently she served as Director of the Issues Affecting Women Programme at Oak Foundation, where she led feminist grant-making strategies supporting women's rights organizations globally.
Prior to joining Oak, Katharina’s career included developing accountability frameworks adopted by the UN, managing multimillion-dollar initiatives like the Kosovo Women's Initiative, and pioneering programmes to prevent sexual exploitation in humanitarian settings.
Her expertise spans strategic planning, grant management, quality assurance system development, and team leadership, with a consistent focus on advancing gender justice, accountability, and humanitarian reform throughout her career.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws focused on Human Rights Law from The Australian National University.
Operations Volunteer
Nancy
Etté
Operations Volunteer
Nancy is an operations leader with over 20 years of experience supporting organisations through growth, complexity and change. She has led global operations across finance, human resources, governance, quality and accountability, fundraising and grant management, alongside organisation-wide change initiatives including systems transitions, project management and organisational design.
Most recently, Nancy served as Global Director of Operations at ACT Alliance and Head of Support at the Norwegian Refugee Council in Geneva having earlier managed operations and strategic projects at Novartis Pharma AG.
Nancy is known for a collaborative, people-centred leadership style and for aligning operational systems with organisational values and impact. She holds an Executive MBA from the University of Geneva with a specialisation in Corporate Social Responsibility, a Master’s degree in Global Development Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Studies.
She has lived in multiple countries and is multilingual. In 2025, she was elected Treasurer of the Board of the CHS Alliance, having previously served on its Finance, Risk and Audit Committee since 2023.
Join our team
Please check back or follow us on LinkedIn for updates on future opportunities.