What is the Role of the Private Sector in Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery in the Philippines

Patricia joined AVPN in April 2020 to lead the creation of a network of female philanthropists as part of a Gates Foundation grant. In this capacity she is working towards driving an understanding of how initiatives benefitting women and girls can be utilized to encourage philanthropists to drive more capital in this space.

Patricia has had experience in both the Profit and Not for profit space.

She was the CEO for Magic Bus Singapore and South East Asia for 4 years. Magic Bus is a charity that helps take children out of poverty. As part of this Patricia led the strategy and fundraising for the region and set up local operations for Magic Bus in Myanmar.

Prior to this, Patricia has had a strong track record of 20 years professional experience with Procter & Gamble. She has held marketing and leadership roles at P&G, responsible for multiple brands across multiple consumer goods categories.

As CEO of Investing in Women, Julia is responsible for the successful delivery of all aspects of the program. Working with the Investing in Women team, Julia ensures a clear strategy, appropriate implementation plans and strong monitoring, evaluation and reporting. She also has overall responsibility for relations with key stakeholders.

Julia joined Investing in Women in November 2016 after spending 9 years as CEO of CARE Australia, one of Australia’s largest humanitarian and development organisations. At CARE, Julia led a strategic focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment across all programming and oversaw a significant increase in donations to the organisation.

Over her career in international development, Julia has held various senior positions including Assistant Director General in AusAID and Advisor at the Board of the World Bank. Her board memberships have included the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) and CARE International. She is a Westpac AFR 100 Women of Influence Award Winner (Global Category 2013); Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia (awarded in recognition of services to International Development and Women in 2014) and former Telstra ACT Business Woman of the Year (2013).

Julia has a PhD in Materials Science from Imperial College, London University.

Sixto Donato Macasaet or Dodo, is the Executive Director of the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc (FSSI), which provides financial and capacity building services to social enterprises. For many years, he successfully led and managed many major civil society organization (CSO) networks in the Philippines, including the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), where he served as Executive Director for twelve years, and the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA), a national federation of peasant organizations, where he was National Coordinator for more than six years.

Dodo also has extensive experience in economic development and cooperative development in the various organizations he worked with, including CODE-NGO, PAKISAMA, National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and Center for Community Services (CCS). Currently, he is also a guest lecturer at the School of Government (ASOG) of the Ateneo de Manila University.

While almost all of his work experience has been with civil society organizations, he served for three years as the Chief of Staff of a member of the Philippine Congress and has been actively involved in many government – CSO partnerships.

Lisa George is the Global Head of the Macquarie Group Foundation, responsible for strategy and management of the Foundation globally.  The Foundation is Macquarie Group’s philanthropic arm and is one of the largest corporate benefactors in Australia.

Macquarie staff engagement in their local communities is the founding principle of the Foundation. Since inception in 1985, the Foundation has donated more than $410 million to charities around the world.  The Foundation also believes in the importance of capacity building and innovation within the sector to increase its effectiveness.

Lisa joined the Macquarie Group Foundation in 2010.  Prior to this role she worked for Social Ventures Australia in the consulting arm providing strategic support to non-profit organisations. She is currently on the Board of Philanthropy Australia, an Alternate Director at For Purpose Investment Partners, and Chair of the Harvard Club of Australia Non-profit Fellowship, which awards 2 scholarships annually to Australian non-profit CEOs to study at Harvard Business School.  Lisa holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University.