Our Team
Our Team
For more than two decades we have moved the needle on critical global issues. Together with our network of associates, we create powerful partnerships, initiatives and campaigns that motivate people and turn strategy into action.
Our Team
Our Team
For more than two decades we have moved the needle on critical global issues. Together with our network of associates, we create powerful partnerships, initiatives and campaigns that motivate people and turn strategy into action.
Sara GROTE Cerrell, Founder & Managing Director
Sara Grote Cerrell brings 25 years of political, private sector and non-profit experience to her clients. Her work is focused on social impact, particularly international development with an emphasis on global health and gender equality. She has created strategies, developed partnerships and managed campaigns for organizations and companies such as PATH, MTV Staying Alive Foundation, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Marie Stopes International, Maverick Collective/Population Services International, Viacom, Gap Inc. and the Packard Foundation, among many others.
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Before founding Global Change Network in 2008, Sara was Vice President at DDB Issues & Advocacy, a social sector practice that advised large foundations, government agencies and international non-profits. There, she served as strategy director, overseeing award-winning initiatives for global clients like the Kaiser Family Foundation, Save the Children and the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation.
Sara’s career began in The White House as an aide to First Lady Hillary Clinton, working across several initiatives from health care to gender equality to children’s rights. She travelled to more than 20 countries on behalf of the First Lady during the time when Mrs. Clinton first began putting gender equality on the international agenda. Additionally, Sara worked on the 1992 and 1996 U.S. presidential campaigns.
Sara serves as Board Chair for the US-UK Fulbright Commission, appointed by former US Ambassador to the UK, Matthew Barzun. She also is on the boards of MTV Staying Alive Foundation and Global Impact UK. She lives in London with her three teenage children and her husband, a senior executive at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and former aide to Vice President Al Gore.
Arlene Fairfield, Founder & Managing Director
Arlene Fairfield brings more than 20 years of experience marketing social and environmental issues to nonprofit and advocacy groups, corporations and foundations. Whether sustainability, women’s reproductive health, energy conservation or human rights, Arlene works with clients to develop effective and memorable strategies for social impact. Arlene works with a variety of clients in international development, global health and sustainability for issues ranging from child sex abuse online to malaria to energy efficiency.
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Her passion and creativity foster an environment in which great ideas can flourish, resulting in a variety of speaking engagements and award-winning programs. As a trained development coach, Arlene also works with clients to develop their leadership capacities through executive coaching and team development.
Prior to founding Global Change Network in 2008, Arlene was Managing Partner of DDB Worldwide’s social issues and corporate citizenship practice. She began her career working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overseeing the national brand campaign for Energy Star™. In October of 2000, PRWeek named her one of the top 50 health care agency executives in the country. Her community involvement includes her positions as board member and former board president of the Women’s Funding Alliance and founder of the Pacific Northwest Corporate Social Responsibility Network. Arlene has a BS in Marketing from Georgetown University and a Masters in Business and Environmental Management from the University of Washington. Arlene lives in Seattle, WA.
Our Network
Our Network of Associates
Our Network
Our Network of Associates
Alex Aiken / Creative Development
Alex co-founded the creative communications agency Perfect Day in 1999 after working as an art director and production designer with agencies such as Abbot Mead Vickers, Bates Europe and Saatchi & Saatchi. At home in the UK and Canada, Perfect Day creates visual identities, websites, films and campaigns for small and big clients. The company’s ethos can be summed up simply. It looks to do great work for individuals, businesses and not-for-profits who do great things. They work for clients who inspire them, excite them and surprise them – people who are passionate about what they do and who strive to change the world for the better. Included in that number are The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bertarelli Foundation and the John Ellerman Foundation. Alex is currently working on campaigns in Botswana, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, BIOT and Singapore. Alex lives just outside London with his wife and three children.
Geoffrey Garin / Public Opinion Research
Geoffrey Garin is the president of Hart Research Associates, one of the most respected public opinion research firms in the U.S. Leading progressive organizations such as the Center for American Progress, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Sierra Club regularly rely on Geoffrey for strategic research and analysis. He also has conducted reputational, policy, and market research for major foundations, non-profit organizations, and new media companies, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, Facebook, Spotify, and BuzzFeed, as well as for many of America’s leading research universities.
In politics, Geoffrey has a well-earned reputation for applying state-of-the-art research techniques to help candidates win in difficult circumstances. Geoffrey has directed the polling and created winning campaign strategies for many of the leading Democrats serving in the US Senate, including Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Mark Warner, Dianne Feinstein, Patrick Leahy, and Ben Cardin. In 2008, Geoffrey helped direct the strategy team for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign during its final two months, and in 2012 he served as the pollster and strategic advisor to Priorities USA, the super PAC supporting President Obama’s reelection. He played a similar role for Priorities USA in 2016 in support of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. He lives in Washington, DC.
Giles Gibbons / Strategy
Giles Gibbons is one of Europe’s leading thinkers on the evolving role of organizations – businesses, charities, social groups and networks and government – in creating a stronger society for us all. For two decades, he has inspired and advised some of the world’s biggest names, from Coca-Cola to the BBC, to understand, innovate and act on the opportunity to spark social change.
Giles is the founder and CEO of Good Business, a strategy consultancy that helps organizations be more progressive. Co-founded with Steve Hilton in 1997, Good Business revolutionized the idea of ‘corporate responsibility’ from a CSR add-on into an opportunity to create both social and commercial value. Today, Good Business specialize in behavior change, purpose-led brands, sustainability and social marketing.
Giles also founded the Sustainable Restaurant Association, a not-for-profit membership organization supporting UK restaurants to be more sustainable and diners to make more sustainable choices when dining out. Giles is the Co-Chairman of ‘Shift’, a social enterprise developing embedded behavior change products and services, best-known for its groundbreaking I'm Not a Plastic Bag campaign. He is also the Director of the world’s first disabled only orchestra, The British Paraorchestra, which he helped establish for the London Paralympic Games in 2012. Giles lives just outside London with his wife and three children.
Eric Gutierrez / Creative Development
Eric Gutierrez has built brand awareness and digital impact for some of the most important issues of our time in the areas of global health, human rights and environment. In more than 15 years collaborating with Sara and Arlene, their work together has resulted in numerous international awards including the national Emmy Award in the US for best public service announcement, the first AIDS awareness spot to appear in the Super Bowl and a Webby award winning “segregated” website to demonstrate the sting of segregation to students and young people.
Clients in the non-profit sector have included the Kaiser Foundation, the Gill Foundation, International Center for Research on Women, PATH, University of Utah Healthcare and Health Sciences, The Huntsman Cancer Institute, and others. Eric also has built brand and web engagement campaigns for global companies including The North Face, McDonalds, Starbucks and Holland America Line among others. Eric is a member, and frequent attendee of the international TED conference, which celebrates ideas that change the world through technology, entertainment and design. He serves on the board of Seattle’s Tony winning Intiman Theatre and lives in Seattle with his husband and their 14-year old son.
Jake Hayman / Philanthropy Advisory
Jake is the CEO and Founder of Ten Years’ Time, a philanthropy education firm that helps people learn about the fields they care about and take big bets on new ideas that can change the world. He has 12 years’ experience working as a social innovator in the charity and social business sectors. He is an expert on social investment and sits on the Trustee Board and Social Investment Committee of the LankellyChase Foundation as well as acting as a trustee to one of the government ‘What Works’ Centres – The Early Intervention Foundation.
Jake is involved in a number of start-ups and also co-founded the award-winning social enterprise, Future First, which builds alumni networks for over 10% of UK state schools. In 2014, he was voted one of London’s ‘Most Influential People’ and worked in 2015 as an e-tutor for the University of Cambridge on their Masters in Sustainability. He currently contributes to Forbes on issues of philanthropy and social change and speaks regularly on panels and at conferences on the future of philanthropy and the need for more innovative grant-making. Jake lives in London.
Dianna Pierce-Burgess / Communications Strategy & Media Relations
Dianna Pierce Burgess has spent the last 20 years in television news, journalism, politics and public relations. Using her extensive contacts, journalistic expertise and media acumen, she advises clients on navigating PR in the new world of online as well as traditional media. Dianna has a broad range of skills and expertise – her experience goes from the White House to the front lines of national television news in the US to the award-winning Foreign Policy magazine and now consulting on communications strategy.
In 1993, she joined the Clinton White House, helping with press, strategy and communications plans. She then spent 11 years at ABC News/Nightline and is a 5-time Emmy Award winner and recipient of a Peabody Award. She’s covered wars, natural disasters, politics, social issues and more. She spent 3 years in South Africa doing freelance charity work and upon return to D.C. became Director of Public Relations for Foreign Policy magazine. Dianna lives in London with her husband and daughter, working with GCN clients such as ICRW and MTV Staying Alive Foundation.
Felicity Porritt / Communications Strategy & Media Relations
Felicity Porritt is an award-winning communications strategist with more than twenty years’ experience working within the communications industry. In 2008 Felicity set up her own communications consultancy, BlueCat Communications, through which she has orchestrated strategic reviews for the WHO’s cancer agency IARC, University College London and the Royal Society of Public Health. She has also spearheaded campaigns for organizations including the WHO, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), the British Medical Association and the Institute of Health Equity. Felicity won ‘highly commended’ by Communique’s Best International Media Award for the launching of the WHO’s health inequalities report ‘Closing the Gap in a Generation’ in 2008. And she led the communications team that won ‘Best Healthcare Campaign’ from the Chartered Institute for Public Relations for the media coverage of WCRF’s landmark report ‘Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective’ in 2007. Her unique skills, experience and qualifications allow Felicity to adopt a scientific/objective approach to any project, conduct thorough, yet, uncomplicated reviews and mount campaigns that attract media attention designed to create a groundswell of support and change government policy. Felicity lives just outside London.
Kelli West / Digital Media Strategy and Placement
As a digital media strategist and buyer, Kelli West brings an expert skill set around SEM/SEO, social media, mobile advertising, Facebook and all things cutting edge in the digital realm. She is a senior level strategist with deep internet marketing and sales knowledge, which drives her ability to cluster the best mix of digital options in a media plan, negotiate low rates, and generate customized added-value and promotional opportunities for her clients.
While most digital planners are very narrow in scope, Kelli’s years of experience (27 years) allows her to have broad knowledge across traditional media, SEM/SEO sales, direct response and graphic art direction. Kelli spent 4 years working for Yahoo! on top spending clients such as Nike, Nordstrom, Microsoft, Expedia, RealNetworks, Intel and Starbucks. She runs her own digital consulting and buying company with a roster of clients that include REI, drugstore.com, Chiquita, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Brooks Running Shoes, and Minwax to name a few. Kelli has become very adept at running successful integrated digital campaigns that utilize Facebook as a core partner in driving the success. Kelli resides in the US.