Aamir Ali, Ph.D.

Cassaundra Amato

Paul Barnett

Richard Bollinger, Ph.D.

Richard Bollinger is responsible for the management of the full life cycle of the grant process and the development of new funding initiatives within the Character Virtue Development and Voluntary Family Planning funding areas. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and previously worked as the Director of Psychotherapy Services at the Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania’s Outpatient Psychiatry Center.

Dr. Bollinger received his Ph.D. from the Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University and his B.A. in History from Cornell University. He continues as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Sarah Clement, Ph.D.

Sarah Clement is the Senior Director, Character Virtue Development at the John Templeton Foundation. In this role, Dr. Clement is responsible for the development and implementation of grants in the Character Virtue Development portfolio, as well as the Voluntary Family Planning portfolio.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Dr. Clement was a postdoctoral fellow at the Rutgers University Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research. She received her B.A. and M.A. in child development from Tufts University and her doctorate in developmental psychology from Cornell University. She has published articles and book chapters on the topics of positive youth development and character development.

John Cunningham

John Cunningham is the Director for the Public Engagement department. In that role, he works to support programs that advance the Foundation’s mission within the broader public, with a particular emphasis on outreach to opinion leaders in the media, religious communities, elite undergraduate institutions, and seminaries. Before joining the Foundation, Mr. Cunningham worked in University Ministry at the University of Pennsylvania in partnership with the Office of the Chaplain for the CCO and Christian Union. A graduate of John Brown University, he received a MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Jessica Despres

Gina Dyer

Stephen Fitzmier

Steve Fitzmier manages the Planning and Evaluation department of the John Templeton Foundation. Over the past four years, he has restructured the Foundation’s grantmaking and performance management systems, instituted cyclical programmatic strategic planning, and directed grant evaluation initiatives that improve programmatic decision-making.

Prior to the John Templeton Foundation, Mr. Fitzmier was an entrepreneur, starting and developing a technology consulting firm, followed by a philanthropic advisory organization. In 2000 he was named in PhillyTech’s top thirty under 30, recognizing his entrepreneurial achievements in founding one of the mid-Atlantic region’s fastest-growing IT advisory firms. His firm consulted with established and start-up businesses to develop and implement their online strategy. Serving in an advisory role and then in an executive leadership position, he helped launch and develop Geneva Global, a recognized leader in philanthropic advisory services for international development. While at Geneva Global, he developed innovative methods for assessing philanthropic return on investment, quintupled grant research and evaluation operations, and implemented a global IT infrastructure in a developing world context.

Erik Gjesfjeld, Ph.D.

Erik Gjesfjeld is a Program Officer in Religion, Science, & Society at the John Templeton Foundation, where he oversees philanthropic initiatives within the social, behavioral, cognitive, and health sciences. He has a particular interest in projects that advance quantitative and computational methods, apply models of evolutionary change, and promote open science best practices.

Erik previously served as a Renfrew Fellow in the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and a Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge. Prior to this, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Institute for Society and Genetics and a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He obtained his PhD at the University of Washington in Anthropology, his MA degrees in Archaeology at University College London, and his BA in Archaeological Studies at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Megan C. Graziano

Livia Greenbacker

Kristen Johnson

David Nassar

David Nassar oversees the Communications and Public Engagement departments at the Foundation. He also serves as a member of the Foundation Leadership Team and Program Leadership Team. He has spent nearly thirty years working in Washington D.C. on issue campaigns, political campaigns, and public affairs. He specializes in change management in mission-driven organizations and advancing their agendas through public-facing campaigns.

In his former role as Vice President, Communications at the Brookings Institution, Nassar was part of the Institution’s management team and led efforts to reimagine communications and public outreach at the one of the world’s oldest and most important knowledge brands. He introduced new content platforms like podcasts, documentary video, and immersive essays, which provided in-depth and thoughtful analysis of relevant topics. He also made great advantage of tools like email, social media, and digital advertising to distribute that content and exponentially grow Brookings’ audience.

Nassar grew up on Philadelphia’s Main Line and attended Villanova University for his undergraduate education before receiving his master’s degree in international affairs at George Washington University.

Caitlin Pollock

Sarah Lane Ritchie, Ph.D.

Sarah Lane Ritchie is the Program Officer in Philosophy & Theology at the John Templeton Foundation. In this role she works in the development of new funding initiatives and management of the full life-cycle of the grant process. Before coming to the Foundation, she was Lecturer in Theology & Science at the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Lane Ritchie received her B.A. in Philosophy & Religion from Spring Arbor University, an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and an M.Sc. in Science & Religion from the University of Edinburgh. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh in Science & Religion with a thesis on divine action and the human mind, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of St. Andrews. She has published a book with Cambridge University Press and numerous articles in academic journals, and continues research in the field of science and religion.

Emanuela Sani, Ph.D.

Emanuela Sani is responsible for developing new initiatives that advance funding priorities in Life Sciences. Current priorities include the science of purpose, epigenetic inheritance, plant sciences, and intellectual humility. The Life Sciences department also manages the Exceptional Cognitive Talent & Genius portfolio. Before working at the Foundation, she was a Research Associate at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Sani received her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Glasgow and a M.S in Plants and Micro-organism biotechnology from the University of Pisa. Her research on cell biology of plants, yeast and coronavirus has resulted in several peer-reviewed publications.

Christina Van Riper

Matthew Walhout, Ph.D.

Dr. Matthew Walhout is Vice President and Chief Programs Officer at the John Templeton Foundation. In this role, Dr. Walhout oversees five grantmaking departments. He also serves as department head for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and, pro tempore, for Religion, Science, and Society. He works closely with the President and other Foundation leaders to develop priorities and strategies in multiple funding areas.

Previously, Dr. Walhout was Dean for Research and Scholarship and professor of physics and astronomy at Calvin College (now Calvin University). During his time in academia, he taught courses in physics, astronomy, and science-in-society; pursued computational and laboratory research in atomic and plasma physics; led interdisciplinary discussions across multiple disciplines; and oversaw numerous grant programs, research projects, and engagement activities.

Dr. Walhout received a B.S. in physics from Calvin College, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland.

Alexandra Was, Ph.D.

Alexandra Was is a Program Officer in the Character Virtue Development department, where she develops and manages philanthropic projects on intellectual, moral, performance, and civic character. She is particularly interested in projects that focus on childhood and adolescence, employ participatory approaches, and engage diverse and/or under-served populations.

Dr. Was comes to the Foundation from the world of academic editing, where she worked with students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels to strengthen their writing. Prior to this, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Villanova University. She obtained her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Psychology from Harvard University and her B.A. in Psychology from Boston University. Her research focused on early social-cognitive development, including young children’s teaching and problem-solving skills.

Greg Wolcott, Ph.D.

Gregory (Greg) Wolcott is the Director, Individual Freedom and Free Markets at the John Templeton Foundation, where he works with scholars and practitioners pursuing projects that explore classical liberal principles and their applications. He is interested in asking how freedom might foster space for people to flourish both as individuals and as members of communities, and in his own work he has examined this question by focusing on business and entrepreneurship, the moral foundations of markets, virtues and vices, the possibility of vocations, and the insights of thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Adam Smith, F.A. Hayek, Deirdre McCloskey, and Edmund Phelps, among others.

Greg previously served as a faculty liaison and program director at the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. He has also taught philosophy at the undergraduate and graduate level at various colleges and universities, including Saint Mary’s College of California where he was an Assistant Professor of Business Ethics in the Department of Organizations and Responsible Business. He obtained his PhD in philosophy from Loyola University Chicago and his BA in philosophy from The Catholic University of America. Greg has published scholarly articles and reviews in outlets such as the Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics: European Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Applied Philosophy, and Reason Papers.