Our Team

Susan Bell

Susan is the Principal of Susan Bell & Associates. She provides strategic counsel to private philanthropies and nonprofit organizations addressing social and environmental issues, globally to locally. Susan leads teams to solve complex problems, focused on how to set and deliver on ambitious goals and strategies. 

Recent projects include: on water—working with funders and NGOs over seven years to design the blueprint, drive execution, and dramatically increase visibility and funding for water issues in the U.S.; on climate change mitigation, resilience, and gender and reproductive equity and health—starting up funder collaboratives to identify philanthropic investments for high impact solutions; and on governance—facilitating  decision-making for leaders in the private sector social media space and for organizations undergoing leadership transitions. 

Susan served as Vice President of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for over twelve years. At Hewlett, she helped drive planning for a more than tripling of foundation assets, overseeing strategy development across programs including Population and Global Development, Environment, Education, and Performing Arts.  She started up Philanthropy and Organizational Effectiveness programs and oversaw the organizational build-out of the Foundation. While at Hewlett, Susan served as Senior Fellow for Energy and Climate, helping to launch the ClimateWorks network—in the United States, Europe, China, India, and Latin America—designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enable economic growth.

Susan’s career includes work in non-profit strategy, development, and communications at Stanford University, the Sierra Club, and Northwestern University. She currently serves as board chair of the National Audubon Society and board member of the McCall MacBain Foundation.  Her previous board service includes with the European Climate Foundation, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, MenloSpark, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Water Foundation. Susan is a graduate of Duke University.  She lives in Menlo Park, California with her husband, Steve.

Jennifer Kurz

Jennifer is the Senior Strategist at Susan Bell & Associates. In this position, she applies her expertise in philanthropy, strategy, and collaboration to advance the issues she cares most about: sustainable development, climate change, water and resilience.

Prior to SBA, Jennifer helped start up the Pisces Foundation and founded and directed its Climate & Energy Program. She worked with the trustees and president to develop the Foundation’s vision, mission, and principles, select the issues the foundation would focus on, create a foundation-wide strategic plan, and its approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning. 

Jennifer served as the Special Assistant to the President at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, helping to establish the Global Policy and Advocacy division and its strategy. While at Gates, she managed a portfolio of U.S. and European policy advocacy grantees. In addition, Jennifer has worked with the U.S. Climate Action Network, InterAction, Brookings Institution, CARE International, Sierra Club, ONE Campaign, and Oxfam America, contributing over time to two critical moments: the doubling of aid to Africa in 2005 and the Paris Climate Agreement. 

Jennifer has a master’s degree in public policy in international development and environmental policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor’s degree in economics and politics from Pomona College. She is a Board Member of the Water Finance Exchange.

Josh Lohmer

Josh is a Senior Consultant with Susan Bell & Associates and has more than 15 years of strategy and communications experience in the public- and private- sectors. His work has covered a range of issues, from poverty and social justice to economic opportunity, state-tribal relations, and the environment. Since 2018, Josh as helped to facilitate the work of the Water Table, a growing philanthropic collaborative developed by Susan Bell & Associates that makes strategic investments in water management, aligning $500M to water solutions since 2015.

Prior to his work with the Water Table, Josh worked in public affairs for a former Wisconsin governor and as a senior policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, before moving to the private sector for several years as vice president of a consulting firm that served business, government, and non-profit clients. In this capacity, he led an effort to engage Colorado small-business leaders to support more progressive goals in the state’s first water plan, resulting in the inclusion of five ‘millennial goal’ challenges designed to spur private sector participation and innovation. He also developed and led a two-year initiative to increase global cooperation in addressing the challenges facing the world’s great deltas. He has helped to develop brands for both large corporations and non-profits, and he has written for governors, senators, and CEOs. Based in Stillwater, MN, Josh is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Nicky Conroy

Nicky has more than 15 years of experience in strategy, governance, and operations, in particular with organizations that have an environmental or social mission. She has led efforts in the philanthropic, private and public sectors, most recently as Special Projects Officer for Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Office of the President. While there she helped design and lead internal change management efforts and managed $10-20M/yr in grantmaking to build collaboratives and stimulate innovation. Prior to the Moore Foundation, she was Chief of Staff and COO for a strategy consulting firm and supported the governance and leadership initiatives of C-Suite private sector clients. Nicky has a BA with high honors in English and environmental studies from Dartmouth College.

Michelle Gallo

Michelle Gallo is a Strategy Associate with Susan Bell & Associates. She has experience working with foundations, donors, and non-profit organizations in consultant and staff capacities in the United States and internationally.

Prior to joining SBA, Michelle was a Program Officer at Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia, a Mexican feminist organization, where she led the Institutional Development program, facilitated organizational strategy processes, and oversaw the management of projects related to gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive rights, countering neoconservative actors, and sustainable development with a gender lens. She has also worked in the Open Society Foundation’s Grant Making Support Group, where she fostered grant making best practice through training and knowledge development, as well as as an independent consultant.

Based in Mexico City, Michelle has a MA in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland and a BA in Political Science from Pace University in New York. Outside of work she is an unskilled knitter and has recently started making pottery.

Sarah Finkel

Sarah joins SBA as a strategy associate with experience working with non-profits, congressional campaigns, and foundations both within the United States and internationally. Her areas of expertise include environmental governance, sustainable development, and environmental policy. 

Prior to joining SBA, Sarah worked for Working Circle, a wildlife conservation non-profit based in Colorado collecting data and facilitating the strategic reintroduction of North American Grey Wolves into Colorado. She coordinated fundraising and donor relations for the congressional campaign for one of the most expensive and competitive races in the country. Sarah also contributed to fundraising and communications campaigns for the WONDER Foundation, a women's empowerment organization in London.

 Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sarah has an MA in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and a BA in Political Science with highest honors from the University of California, Davis, where she was a Division I student-athlete and commissioner for the university's Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning Commission. In her free time, Sarah enjoys hiking, skiing, scuba diving, traveling, and anything that allows her to be outside or with her dog.

Melissa LaCrosse

Melissa is the Client Service Coordinator with Susan Bell & Associates. Melissa received her BA from the University of Colorado, Boulder, earning a degree in Political Science. Early in her career she spent time working as a Victim Advocate with the Denver District Attorney’s office before going into social work for the Department of Human Services. She has spent the last decade of her career working in the hospitality industry, focusing on event planning and guest relations. Most recently, managing and coordinating luxury travel with the Denver based company Inspirato. New to the philanthropic sector, Melissa is energized to be able to utilize her skill set to impact broader change by assisting Susan Bell and her team achieve their goals. 

Aligned collaborators and consultants:

With decades of experience working across sectors and issue areas, SBA draws on a kitchen cabinet of philanthropic leaders, subject matter experts, administrators, and implementors to advance the work of our clients.