Subject: Sarah Berg - ICANN contractor
From: Marika Konings <[email-masked]>
To: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2017 07:05:21 -0600

Dear All,

As noted in the Charter development phase, the work of the CCWG and the ultimate recommendations will carry important legal and financial implications for ICANN as an organization and also upon the fiduciary  duties and responsibilities of the ICANN Board Members and ICANN Officers. 

There are also practical aspects to the CCWG’s anticipated recommendations, such as understanding basic tenets and practices of the grant-making and philanthropic giving space. In preparing to support this  CCWG, ICANN recognized that this is not a core skill or knowledge base within the ICANN organization Therefore, to prepare ICANN to understand this space, ICANN has contracted with a resource with a lot of experience on the grant-making/philanthropic giving  side.  This resource will be available, as necessary, to provide the ICANN organization and Board answers, guidance, and research on these topics.

Sarah Berg is the Principal of Ponsonby Partners in Washington D.C.- a consultancy firm providing  philanthropic advisement and strategic planning to high net-worth clients, nonprofits, and foundations. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) from Georgetown, Sarah spent 8 years working for Keel Point LLC wealth management advisory company for individuals and  families. In her role as Wealth Advisor and subsequently Senior Wealth Advisor, Sarah was responsible for strategy and execution of financial decisions for multinational, multigenerational ultra-high net worth families ($100m+). This included managing direct  investments, international businesses, private equity, traditional investing, commercial and residential real estate, tax and estate structuring, risk management, impact investing, philanthropic administration, and family governance.

Sarah has had experience creating multiple non-profits both domestically in the U.S. and internationally. She is well versed in grant processes and California rules and regulations in regards to non-profits  and has experience serving on not-for-profit Boards. Her focus at Keel Point allowed her to represent clients and work with stakeholders primarily in Asia, Africa, and Europe- so she is used to working across varying cultures and timezones.

While Sarah has been contracted to provide the ICANN organization with support, we wanted to update the CCWG and offer that she be added to the CCWG’s list of Experts as a potential additional expertise resource.   The CCWG can explore if it would like to avail of her expertise on specific topics. 

ICANN’s contracting with Sarah to provide inputs internally is not intended to replace any other expertise or resources that the CCWG has identified, but as an additional potential avenue for input alongside  others. To facilitate the CCWG’s consideration of reference of questions to/inputs from Sarah, we will request that Sarah fills out the expertise survey so that the CCWG can have more insight on where her expertise lies.

Best regards,

Marika

Marika Konings

Senior Policy Director & Team Leader for the GNSO, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 

Email: [email-masked]  

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