Kathy Sessions
EXPERIENCE
Leaven Partners, LLC (2019-) / Chevy Chase, MD
Principal
Consultant committed to equity-advancing philanthropy and social change.
Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN) / Bethesda, MD
Executive Director, 2017-2019; Co-Director, 2010-2016
Founding staffer and executive director of national membership network of foundations and donors that mobilizes philanthropy for environmental health and justice. Directed services and strategies for funder community investing to improve conditions where people live, learn, work, and play.
Provided leadership for environmental health and justice philanthropy funder community that collectively invests over $200 million annually.
Elevated philanthropic attention to health and equity issues related to climate change, through publications, learning programs, presentations, and advising.
Developed community of practice and trainings to strengthen funders’ equity-advancing grant making and leadership.
Built collaborative partnerships among funders and philanthropy-serving organizations for solutions-focused work on toxics, environmental justice, fracking, climate change, drinking water, disaster response, and lead exposure.
Managed virtual staff team of 4.5, earning exemplary ratings for high-quality learning programs, strategic collaboration, outreach and communications, operations, and fundraising of over $1 million annually.
Funder Group Coordinator, Consultative Group on Biological Diversity / Chevy Chase, MD
Coordinator, Health and Environmental Funders Network (2002-2010); Coordinator, Climate and Energy Funders Group (2002-2004)
Supported establishment of funder group on climate and energy issues, building participation and managing programming for learning community
Grew environmental health funder network membership, expanded staff from .5 to 3 FTE staffed group, and developed funder learning programs to include webinars, strategy meetings, and annual meetings.
Launched strategic collaboratives addressing toxic threats to health, antibiotic resistance, and disaster response.
Championed integration of environmental justice in environmental health philanthropy.
Consultant, Consultative Group on Biological Diversity
Coordinator, Health and Environmental Funders Network / Chapel Hill, NC – 1999- 2002
Founding staffer of funder network linking health and environmental philanthropy.
Partnered with funder leaders in growing new funder community and its philanthropic investments through outreach, communications, and programming.
Produced e-newsletter, monthly calls with featured speakers, and events at philanthropic conferences.
Independent Consultant / Bethesda, MD — 1998-1999
Produced research, analysis, and publications for non-profit and international organization clients, including the Aspen Institute, Leaders in Environment and Development International, and the United Nations Development Programme.
Senior Policy Analyst, United Nations Association of the USA / Washington, DC — 1990-1998
Policy analyst (1990-1992), then senior policy analyst and project director (1992-1998) for national organization of Americans supporting the United Nations and global engagement. Helped organize US civil society participation in U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (the “Earth Summit”) and U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development. Served on official US delegations to U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development (1993) and to Fourth Preparatory Committee for U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (1992).
Program Associate, ACCESS: A Security Information Service / Washington, DC —1985 – 1988
Founding staffer of an information exchange to improve the accessibility of information and resources generated by national non-profits focused on peace and security issues.
Research Intern, United Nations Development Programme / Washington, DC — Fall 1989
Reviewed literature on participatory development for the Division of Non-Governmental Organisations.
Research Assistant, Overseas Development Council / Washington, DC — Summer 1989
Research assistant to Maurice Williams for a study of U.S. multilateral development assistance policy.
Staff Associate, Devres, Inc. / Washington, DC — 1983 – 1985
Consultant liaison for international development consulting firm.
Farmworker Advocate / North Carolina — Summers 1982, 1985
Assisted migrant farmworkers in obtaining legal, medical, and social services.
Community Organizer, Bread for the World / Detroit, MI and Washington, DC — 1983 - 1985
Summer and volunteer organizer for national anti-hunger group.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed Journals:
Sessions K, Fortunato K, Johnson P, Panek A. Foundations Invest in Environmental Health. Washington, DC: Health Affairs, November 2016.
Mitchell F, Sessions K. Philanthropy And Disparities: Progress, Challenges, And Unfinished Business. Washington, DC: Health Affairs, October 2011.
Fortunato K, Sessions K. Philanthropy at the Intersections of Health and the Environment. Washington, DC: Health Affairs, May 2011.
Articles / Reports / Book Chapters:
Sessions K, Fortunato K. Achieving a Climate for Health: Philanthropy to Promote Health and Justice through the Challenges of Climate Change. Washington, DC: Health and Environmental Funders Network and ecoAmerica, June 2015.
Passoff M, Sessions K, Fortunato K. Healthy Environments, Healthy People: A Funder Guide on Improving Environmental Conditions for Health. HEFN Issue Brief, February 2014.
Passoff M, Sessions K, Fortunato K. Catalyzing Change: Funder Guide on Protecting People and the Environment from Toxic Chemicals. HEFN Issue Brief, February 2014.
Sessions K, Linville L. Assessing, Addressing & Progressing: Philanthropy Improves Community Environments and Health for All. HEFN Issue Brief, February 2013.
Steever E Z, Sessions K. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development: Building the Capacities for Change. Chapter 9 in Coate R. U.S. Policy and the Future of the United Nations. New York: Twentieth Century Fund Press, 1994.
Sessions, K. “We the Peoples” on relations between civil society, governments, and the United Nations, in Development: The Journal of the Society of International Development, 1995:4.
Sessions, K. Building the Capacity for Change: the world stands ill-prepared to address problems that cut across sectors and boundaries. EPA Journal, April-June 1993.
Sessions, K. Institutionalizing the Earth Summit, United Nations Association of the USA, Occasional Paper, New York: October 1992. Options for NGO Participation in the Commission on Sustainable Development. United Nations Association of the USA, 1992. Other UNA-USA papers, articles, and fact sheets (1990-1998).
Blogs:
GivingInsight, blog of Health and Environmental Funders Network: regular contributor and editor (2012-2019).
Health Affairs GrantWatch: Sessions K, Mitchell M, “Interview with the New Leader of Grantmakers In Health: What She Sees Ahead for Health Philanthropy,” March 2013. Linville L, Sessions K. “Foundations Focusing on Oil and Gas Fracking and Its Effects on Health,” November 2012.
Huffington Post, Sessions K, “All of the Above,” July 17, 2013.
Zócalo Public Square, Sessions K, “Is Philanthropy Too Powerful?” January 2012.
NEWS
“The Foundations that Work on Environmental Health with an Eye on Building Power,” Julia Travers, Inside Philanthropy, April 3, 2019.
SELECTED BOARDS / SERVICE
National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers, Associate Member (2019-present)
National Environmental Health Partnership Council (2014-2019)
National Academies’ Environmental Health Matters Initiative Liaison Group (2019) National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology (2010-2013) Barbara Smith Fund (2005-2012)
National Research Council Division of Earth and Life Sciences (2009-2010)
EDUCATION
Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. M.P.A. with concentrations in international relations and development studies (1990).
Harvard University. B.A., Social Studies, magna cum laude (1983). Focus on poverty and race in the American South; Institute of Politics grant for field research on migrant labor in North Carolina.