Amber leads relationships with hundreds of funders using CEP’s assessments and customized advisory engagements, particularly funders based in the US West. Amber also directs CEP’s Funder Learning Networks, bringing together diverse groups of foundation staff for peer-learning and action-planning on topics such as multi-year general operating support, centering mutual learning in reporting, and common CEO leadership challenges. Amber is a frequent speaker at conferences and to funder boards and staff on topics of strategy, assessment, and high quality grantmaking.
Before joining CEP in 2010, Amber served as Program Director at the MIT Community Innovators Lab. At MIT, Amber led partnerships with community groups, directed research initiatives, and taught about local economic and community development. Amber’s professional experience includes serving as a domestic violence counselor with nonprofits in Colorado and Oregon. Amber was a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, with which she researched women’s responses to domestic violence in Argentina, Hungary, Ireland, and Kenya. Amber holds a BA in Psychology from Reed College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and a Master of City Planning in International Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
