I’m incredibly excited to announce that Helen Wong will join the Meyer team as our new director of grantmaking.
Born and raised in the Seattle area, Helen is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her identity and experience as a first generation Chinese American woman underpins her passion for equity, reconciliation, and belonging among diverse communities. Helen comes to Meyer from the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery. As a founding member of the nonprofit and its senior director of grant programs, she led the organization’s granting strategy, execution and partnership portfolio in eight countries across the world.
Prior to her role at the Global Fund, she served as a senior policy advisor for Physicians for Human Rights, a co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, and a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State. Helen has built a career focused on advancing human rights in extremely challenging circumstances.
Helen’s ability to build and inspire strong teams in complex environments will be invaluable as we adopt a new strategic framework and begin the important work of elevating and centering community voice in our grantmaking. Her advocacy, passion and dedication to diverse and marginalized communities is so clearly evident in her experience and background. We are thrilled that she has chosen to bring all of her talents to Meyer.
As director of grantmaking, Helen will oversee Meyer’s program implementation and evolution. She will hold the primary responsibility for translating Meyer’s strategic framework into grantmaking opportunities and manage the resources required to meet our strategic objectives. Helen will build a new program staff structure designed to work in a non-siloed and collaborative way. She will also support the development of new trust-based and participatory funding approaches that advance Meyer’s justice-focused mission.
I am especially looking forward to partnering closely with Helen on Meyer’s strategic direction and advocacy opportunities.
She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in International Relations and Chinese Studies from the College of William & Mary, a Master of Laws in Human Rights from the University of Hong Kong and certifications in executive leadership and nonprofit management from Cornell and Georgetown University, respectively.
In addition to her professional experience in the nonprofit and government sectors, Helen is a trained yoga and empowerment self-defense instructor, a wife and mother to two daughters.
Helen will begin her work at Meyer on June 13.
— Kaberi