Oak Update

• Oak Foundation’s President, Bradford K. Smith, has resigned effective 31 July 2008 and will be taking up a new position as President of the Foundation Center in New York this Fall.

  We have launched a search process for next President of Oak Foundation and look forward to communicating with you on the results of that process. In the meantime, we remain dedicated to our programme areas and to Oak Foundation’s overall mission to commit our resources to address issues of global social and environmental concern, particularly those that have a major impact on the lives of the disadvantaged.

• Oak Foundation is pleased to welcome Florence Tercier Holst-Roness as Programme Officer for the Issues Affecting Women Programme

  Florence has a Master’s Degree in Humanitarian Action from the University of Geneva and currently works as the Women and War Advisor to the Directorate of Operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Having spent most of her career in the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières, Florence has lived or worked in Sierra Leone, Thailand, Mozambique, Angola and many other countries, focusing particularly on the multiple challenges faced by women caught up in conflict and its aftermath. She will be joining us in August and based in Geneva.

• Oak Foundation is pleased to welcome Tris Lewis, as Marine Programme Officer (Europe) for its Environment Programme

  Tris has a Masters in Coastal Ocean Policy (University of Plymouth), and a rich and diverse professional background. This includes working on marine spatial planning projects in the UK's south west, on the UN's International Waters Programme as well as on other marine issues in Irian Jaya in Indonesia, Tanzania and the Red Sea. In addition, he has worked on various humanitarian-related assignments including one in Darfur in Sudan. Tris will be starting with Oak in February and will be based in Geneva.