Ms. Foundation for Women Announces Five New Board Members
NEW YORK – Today, the Ms. Foundation for Women announced the return of Rene Redwood and Gwen Chapman, Charline Gipson, Diane Manuel, and Pamela Shifman as new members of its distinguished Board of Directors. These additions bring background in finance along with expertise in environmental, social, and governance issues (ESG) through the lens of gender and race equity.
“We are thrilled to add five brilliant women to our board this year as we identify and understand the challenges facing many communities throughout the country,” said Teresa C. Younger, President, and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women. “We believe these additions to our board bring with them the passion, lived experience, and geographic diversity needed as we continue to lead the way in our fight for gender and racial equity.”
René Redwood | Board Member
René Redwood, CEO of Redwood Enterprise directs initiatives resulting in judicial, legislative, commercial, and political wins for public and private sector organizations, and nonprofits. For over 25 years, René has led strategic projects on equity and fairness, facilitated discourse on the business advantage of diversity, promoted policies and practices that value the human resource as an asset, and applied research and experience that offer solutions to reduce risk from and in organizational cultures. She has a special focus on building and restoring trust with internal and external customers, and strategic guidance on racial justice, gender equity, and unconscious bias.
René was a member of the court-appointed Coca-Cola Task Force, Director of the Presidential Glass Ceiling Commission, and Chair Emeritus for NARAL Pro-Choice America. Currently, she serves as Chair of the Equality Task Force for a National Security Agency, on the investment committee of the Ms. Foundation for Women and the advisory board for Women In Technology International, and is recognized by Ford Motor Company Fund and Smithsonian Institute as a “Freedom’s Sister” for continuing the legacy of African American women. She is often described as smart, strategic and energetic, and has been featured in Time Magazine, Elle, Essence Magazine, Black Enterprise, American Editor, etc.
Gwen Chapman | Board Member
Gwen Chapman is the Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Social Responsibility Chair for Teleflex, Inc. Ms. Chapman has spent the last twenty years as a healthcare compliance professional with a concentrated focus on corruption, bribery, fraud & abuse, health equity, and modern slavery. Over the last decade she expanded her focus to include environmental, social, and governance issues (ESG), as viewed through the lens of the financial industry and investors in publicly traded companies. This includes creating, implementing, and executing corporate compliance and sustainability programs that focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and health equity as it relates to gender, race, religion, and socio-economics.
Ms. Chapman’s volunteer work includes serving for 5 yrs as the Chairman of the Board for Mazescape, a non-profit that provides support services to families with adopted children, and serving as the President of the Texas Lawyers Against Domestic Violence in Dallas. She received her undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Texas A&M University and earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston Law Center.
Charline Gipson | Board Member
Charline Gipson is a co-founder and equity partner of Davillier Law Group, a full-service business law practice with offices in Louisiana and Idaho. A seasoned corporate generalist and strategic advisor with strong business acumen, Charline is licensed to practice in Louisiana and New York. She is a former Law Clerk in the Eastern District of Louisiana, United States District Court, and has resided in New Orleans since 2004.
Charline’s civic engagements focus on equitable access to quality public education and advocacy related to racial and gender equity. One of the first pro bono projects she served as a young lawyer in New York was the Courtroom Advocates Project (CAP), helping victims of domestic violence to seek orders of protection in Family Court and engage in safety planning to start new lives.
A two-time immigrant, Charline is a native of Kingston, Jamaica and grew up in Toronto, Canada, during her teenage years. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Cornell University and previously worked as a Management Consultant for Communication Processes and Organizational Change. She earned her Doctor of Law degree from Cornell Law School with a concentration in Business Law and Regulation. While in law school, Ms. Gipson completed a semester exchange at L’Université Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne in France. She also received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Wrongful Convictions.
Diane Manuel | Board Member
Diane’s commitment to advocacy began at an early age. Her very first job as a teenager was at the Watts-Willowbrook Boys’ & GIrls’ Club. While working at the Club, located in a deeply marginalized community in Los Angeles, she experienced firsthand how committed adults can support and expand the lives of children living in underserved communities by listening to their needs, making connections, expanding their horizons.
Working in a variety of industries, Diane has had opportunities to travel the country and support communities focused on expanding educational opportunities, eliminating pay inequity, and creating healthy communities.
Currently, she serves as Board Chair of the Women’s Foundation of California. This is in addition to various other philanthropic activities, such as serving as a member of the Carter Center Philanthropy Council, previous member of the USC Board of Governors, and other activities focused on supporting Women and African American Communities.
After many years working in philanthropy, Diane currently works in financial services. On her journey to build a greater understanding of the financial world for women and people of color, Diane has authored multiple articles published in Investopedia, MarketWatch, and Financial Planning Magazine focused on finance, women, and philanthropy.
Diane received her B.S. from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. and M.B.A. from Claremont Graduate University.
Pamela Shifman | Board Member
Pamela Shifman is a passionate and experienced advocate for girls’ and women’s rights, social justice, and transformative philanthropy. As an executive director, lawyer, educator, strategic advisor, and social justice funder, Pamela has spent 25 years building organizations, teams and strategies that advance justice and liberation for everyone, with girls and women at the center.
First as Director of NoVo’s Initiatives for Girls and Women and then as Executive Director, Pamela oversaw the Foundation’s historic 90 million dollar commitment to girls of color, the creation of NoVo Foundation’s Radical Hope Fund following the 2016 election in the US and more.
Pamela came to NoVo Foundation from UNICEF headquarters where she led the organization’s efforts to end gender-based violence, especially in conflict-affected settings. Prior to joining the UN, Pamela worked as Co-Executive Director of the international women’s rights organization Equality Now, and as Legal Advisor to the ANC Parliamentary Women’s Caucus in South Africa.
Pamela is currently a senior fellow at Panorama Global where she is Incubating projects focused on transformative leadership, progressive philanthropy and movement building.
Pamela holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
For more information regarding the Ms. Foundation board, please visit ForWomen.org/about/our-board/.
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For over 45 years, the Ms. Foundation for Women has worked to build women’s collective power in the U.S. to advance equity and justice for all. The Ms. Foundation invests in and strengthens the capacity of women-led movements to advance meaningful social, cultural, and economic change in women’s lives. With equity and inclusion as the cornerstones of true democracy, the Ms. Foundation works to create a world in which every person’s worth and dignity are valued, and power and possibility are not limited by gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or age.