About Us

EDWARD W. AHART I ELLA DAVILA AUCHINCLOSS I DONALD M. BERWICK I CLAUDIA A. BRINK I JOHN D. CAMPBELL
ELIZABETH G. CHRISTOPHERSON I RYAN CONWAY I JOY CUSHMAN I VANESSA DILLEN I ELLIOTT S. FISHER
CHANA FITTON I MARSHALL GANZ I DAN GRANDONE I HAHRIE HAN I KATE B. HILTON I GARY HIRSCH I JACK HOMER
C. SHERRY IMMEDIATO I CHRISTINA INGERSOLL I TERRI JOWERS I LAURA K. LANDY I CARRIE ANN LAWRENCE
KIMBERLYN LEARY I JOAN PONG LINTON I AMORY LOVINS I PATRICIA MACBAIN I ERIN MCFEE I MICHAEL D. MCGINNIS
BOBBY MILSTEIN I KAREN MINYARDI MEREDITH MIRA I ALBERT MULLEY JR. I JAY OGLIVY I ABBY O’NEILL
ELINOR OSTROM I LEIGH SCHERRER I PETER M. SENGE I TINA SMITH I JOHN D. STERMAN I DAVID SURRENDA
JUSTIN TROGDON I RICHARD TURNER I RUTH WAGEMAN

Elizabeth G. Christopherson joined the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation Board of Trustees in 2009 and is also Board Secretary. Since 2009, Ms. Christopherson has served as the President and CEO of the Rita Allen Foundation. Established in 1953, the Rita Allen Foundation includes in its mission supporting outstanding scientists in the early stages of their research careers in the fields of cancer, neuroscience and immunology. Previously, Ms. Christopherson led NJN Public Television and Radio as Executive Director and President of the NJN Foundation during an historic time for the broadcasting industry. Under her leadership, NJN earned unprecedented recognition for program excellence, innovation and best practices. She is the recipient of five honorary degrees and numerous awards for public service including the 2007 Women Who Make a Difference Award from the International Women’s Forum.

Ryan Conway, is a Graduate Research Assistant with Managing the Health Commons, a project of ReThink Health, which is led by the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is a PhD candidate there in Political Science.

Joy Cushman, is a member of the faculty of ReThink Health Research, a project of ReThink Health. She is also Organizing Director at the New Organizing Institute (NOI). Ms. Cushman works with progressive organizations and campaigns to build stronger volunteer leadership and engagement programs in order to win strategic issue and electoral campaigns. While a student at Bowdoin College, she organized scholarship students to successfully defend need-blind admissions and financial aid programs. Ms. Cushman studied American and British labor movements during her doctoral studies at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She worked as Co-Coordinator for the Obama Organizing Fellows Program, and as a trainer and Deputy Field Director in several states during Barack Obama’s campaign for President.

Vanessa Dillen, JD, is the project coordinator at Organizing for Health, a project of ReThink Health. Ms. Dillen worked for several years in the Family Law Self‐Help Center of San Francisco Superior Court. There, she empowered litigants to represent themselves in their legal cases and worked to improve the efficiency and accessibility of court processes. In Massachusetts, she consulted to the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, the largest probate court in the Commonwealth. She currently sits on the Board of Directors and serves as Treasurer for The Network/La Red, a social justice non‐profit working to end partner abuse in the LGBT community. Ms. Dillen holds a JD from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a BA in International Relations from Tufts University. She is licensed to practice law in California and Massachusetts.

Elliott S. Fisher, MD, MPH, a Founding Member and key advisor of ReThink Health, a core initiative of the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation, joined the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation Board of Trustees in the fall of 2011. Dr. Fisher is a professor at the Dartmouth Medical School and Director for Population Health and Policy at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Care Policy and Clinical Practice. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Washington where he also was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and received a master’s in Public Health. At Dartmouth, he was a founding director and is now Senior Associate of the VA Outcomes Group, teaches in undergraduate and graduate programs, and is Co-Principal Investigator on the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. Dr. Fisher’s research focuses on exploring the causes of the twofold differences in spending observed across U.S. regions and health care systems and the impact of the variations on the quality, outcomes and costs of care. He is also actively involved in national efforts to improve measures of health system performance and to reform payment systems. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

Chana Fitton was named CFO and Vice President, Administration of the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation in 2011 and has served as its Treasurer and CFO since 2006. Ms. Fitton leads the design and management of the Foundation’s financial and investment functions. She is also a key participant in strategic planning, program, and funding discussions. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Fitton spent ten years as a Vice President and Senior Financial Analyst at Applied Concepts, a consulting firm that merged proven business applications with meaningful social values. Her work there included managing projects involving financial analysis and system design, strategic and business planning, and executive development. Earlier in her career, Ms. Fitton worked in the Risk Management Department for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and as an actuarial analyst at Tillinghast/Towers Perrin in Atlanta, GA. Ms. Fitton received her BS in Economics with honors from the University of Illinois.

Marshall Ganz, MPA, PhD, whose experiences with and teachings on community organizing inspired the creation of Organizing for Health, a project of ReThink Health, is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is credited with devising the successful grassroots organizing model and training for Barack Obama’s winning 2008 presidential campaign. Dr. Ganz left Harvard College, where he was pursuing an undergraduate degree, in 1964 to volunteer as a civil rights organizer in Mississippi. In 1965, he joined Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers; over the next 16 years he gained experience in union, community, issue, and political organizing and became Director of Organizing. During the 1980s, he worked with grassroots groups to develop effective organizing programs, designing innovative voter mobilization strategies for local, state, and national electoral campaigns. He returned to Harvard College in 1991 where he completed his undergraduate degree in history and government. He was awarded an MPA by the Kennedy School in 1993 and completed his doctorate in sociology in 2000.

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