About the Fund
Board of Directors
Esther Ahn received her B.A. from Smith College in 2005, where she focused on Economics and Government. While at Smith, Esther studied abroad at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where she worked with disabled orphans infected with HIV/AIDS, petitioned for government grants to serve health clinics, and lobbied for global clients invested in commercial renewable energy projects in the southern region of Africa. At Smith, Esther was an active member of various organizations concerned with the advancement of human and civil rights; she also coordinated campus-wide philanthropic endeavors related to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Esther looks forward to serving faithfully on the board of FWAsia before pursuing her MBA. Currently, she resides in New York working at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.
Sallie Gouverneur (Harvard AB, Columbia MA - East Asian Studies) is a publishing professional who worked at The New Yorker Magazine and HarperCollins (NY and San Francisco) before founding her literary agency in 1983. In New York she has raised funds and developed newsletters for schools and tutoring projects; in Hong Kong she served on the AWA's Charitable Donations committee, helping revise their funding guidelines and created a newsletter for the Helena May women's institute library as well as serving as librarian.
In addition to serving on the FWA Board she currently chairs the WNYC Public Radio Community Advisory Board.
Alicia Kershaw is a retired attorney (JD Yale, 1978, BA Williams 1975) who has been concerned with women's issues and philanthropy throughout her life. Her activities have ranged from mentoring programs for women lawyers to fundraising women’s leadership programs at the Harvard Divinity School. While in Hong Kong, she coordinated charitable donations for the American Women's Association and co-founded The Women’s Foundation. She resides in New York. She also serves on the Board of Gallop, Inc., a therapeutic horseback riding program.
Donna Martell held a variety of executive, financial, business development and corporate positions with the General Electric Company before retiring to concentrate on nonprofit endeavors. While living in Hong Kong Donna and her children volunteered at a school for severely disabled children, and as an expatriate in Belgium she organized volunteer activities at a residence for homeless senior citizens. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Material Exchange, which makes used building materials available to low-income families. She received her BA in Accountancy from the University of Central Florida.
Li Ng is a recipient of the Durfee Foundation Grant funding a year long photo essay on Tibetan nuns, which initiated a long term project to photograph nuns in other remote regions. Currently works in desktop publishing when not photographing the daily lives of Asian women. BA in Fine Art from the Claremont Colleges.
France Pepper is a native of Montreal where she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from McGill University in East Asian Studies/China. Her education and expertise in Chinese art and culture are the result of over 20 years of extensive travel to China and Southeast Asia, fluency in Mandarin, and lecturing monthly at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Currently, she is the Director of Arts and Culture Programs at China Institute in New York. France’s approach to Chinese art and culture is multi-disciplinary and encompasses visual, anthropological, art historical, historical and geographical perspectives. Most recently,
she has been creating dynamic and timely programs on contemporary Chinese art.
Pamela Smith, along with Alicia Kershaw, is the co-founder of The Women’s Foundation.She also serves on the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University’s Kenney School of Government and is on the Board of the Fund for Women in Asia. She has held leadership positions in women's organizations in the United States, Austria, Switzerland, and Hong Kong. She has been a lifelong advocate for women, including involving adolescent girls in the political process, establishing leadership development programs for women, and assuring equitable representation of women on decision-making boards and commissions. She is a partner in an import/export business.
Legal and Technical
The Fund for Women in Asia, Inc. is a non profit corporation which has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization under the U.S. Tax Code. Donations are eligible for tax deductions under U.S. tax laws.
Copies of our Annual IRS 990P filings may be obtained from Guidestar or by emailing us. FWAsia does not have an audited annual report. FWAsia is registered as a charity with the New York State Attorney General’s Office.
FWAsia voluntarily complies with U.S. Tax Laws and Regulations governing grants to non US charitable organizations.