Mercy Corps Welcomes Three New Board Directors

The global organization Mercy Corps has welcomed three new Board Directors. Mercy Corps’ Board of Directors ensures the nonprofit organization adheres to its charitable purposes and mission, guides major strategic decisions and policies, and provides accountability and proper management.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Farah, John, and Rebecca to a Board that is steadfastly committed to our mission and deeply engaged with our work. Having a Board of Directors with diverse backgrounds and perspectives that mirror the communities we serve is necessary as we aim to bring out-of-the-box solutions to the critical global challenges we face,” says Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps.

Joining Mercy Corps’ Global Boards of Directors:

• Rebecca (“Becca”) Van Dyck is currently a Fellow at Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute. She is the former Chief Operating Officer for Reality Labs at Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.), and is a Board Director for The New York Times. In her roles at Apple, Facebook, and Reality Labs, she was at the center of some of the most significant technological shifts of the last two decades – the shift to mobile, the impact of social media on our economies and democracies, and most recently the introductions of new technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). 
• John Makinson is currently Chair of the Advisory Board of the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford, and a member of the board of Harvard University Press. He previously served as Chairman of Penguin Random House (2013-2016) and Chairman and CEO of Penguin Group (2002-2013). He has written, edited, and held senior roles at several media outlets including Reuters and the Financial Times. John brings strong finance experience and leadership in the not-for-profit sector, having chaired a number of organizations including International Rescue Committee (UK) and the National Theatre (UK).
   
• Farah Pandith is a foreign policy strategist, former diplomat, and world-leading expert in countering violent extremism. She is author of the book How We Win: How Cutting-Edge Entrepreneurs, Political Visionaries, Enlightened Business Leaders, and Social Media Mavens Can Defeat the Extremist Threat and has written for publications including The Economist, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. She served as a political appointee under three presidents, on the National Security Council and at the U.S. Department of State and USAID, and most recently as the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities, serving both Secretaries Clinton and Kerry. She is a senior fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School as well as an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. In fall 2020, the Muhammad Ali Center named Pandith the first-ever Muhammad Ali Global Peace Laureate for her track record and commitment to promoting diversity, cohesion, and respect. 

You can read more about all of our Board Directors here on our website.