Our Board is made up of six trustees - two of whom are independent from GSR:

Nadia Gil, Chair of Trustees 

Nadia is ESG Director at GSR, a global cryptocurrency trading firm. She started her career in management consultancy before moving to investment management at Goldman Sachs. Her passion for the industry led her to pursue a career in executive recruiting for financial services. She joined GSR in 2017 as their first Director of Human Resources. Fueled by a growing interest in corporate philanthropy, Nadia launched the firm’s first CSR program in 2020. Nadia is active in local social impact projects and is President of Fundación Kareema and a Board Member of Thaki. Nadia holds a BSc in Management Science from MIT and an MSc in Organisational & Business Psychology from the University of Liverpool.

Eva Sanchez, Trustee

Eva is the Chief Legal Officer of GSR and oversees the firm’s legal, compliance and regulatory policy affairs. Prior to joining GSR, she was at AQR Capital Management and led the firm’s international legal and compliance teams and at Citadel where she oversaw the growth of Citadel’s hedge fund and securities business in Europe at a time of significant market structure and regulatory change. Eva started her legal career at Clifford Chance and obtained a First Class Business & Law Degree from City University, London.

Jhumar Johnson, Trustee

Jhumar is the Chief of Staff to the Vice-Chancellor of the Open University. Additionally serving as the Director of Development, she was responsible for delivering the University’s first fundraising campaign, surpassing the target and raising £60m, and running a year-long integrated campaign to celebrate The Open University’s 50th anniversary in 2019 across the four UK nations and internationally. She has a background in major gifts consulting and practice in the not-for-profit sector, and advising individuals and families on shaping their philanthropy. She is an alumna of the University of Oxford - Said Business School, the University of Westminster, The Open University and the University of Mumbai, and is a member of the Chief of Staff Association, Chief, CASE and Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

Qasim Iqbal, Trustee

Qasim works within mergers and acquisitions for the technology sector at PwC. As a qualified accountant, brings extensive experience in external audit, corporate governance and data analysis to his role as trustee. His career journey began as an apprentice at RSM, and he's founded the charity Almalia to help disadvantaged students break into the financial services sector.

Roxane Ballew, Trustee

Roxane is Legal Counsel at GSR, a global cryptocurrency trading firm. Prior to GSR, she was at Virtu Financial doing public company and broker-dealer advisory work and White & Case LLP as a capital markets and derivatives associate. Roxane is a proud alumna of Mahindra United World College of India, and earned a BA from the University of Chicago and a JD from NYU School of Law. She ran a profit-sharing program during COVID called House Tiana where she made jewelry for free to individuals who donated to select organisations funding issues like abortion care, gender-affirming surgeries, and bail support. Roxane lives in New York City, the homeland of the Lenape people, with her husband and two loving pitbulls.

Oliver Whitehead, Trustee

Bio pending.

Jakob Palmstierna, Patron

Jakob is the global CEO of GSR. Prior to joining GSR, he was Head of EMEA business at Two Sigma Investments and a board director of Two Sigma International. He has over a decade of experience developing business and investment solutions in systematic investment management, including roles at Winton Capital Management and Barclays Global Investors (BGI). Jakob earned a BSc in Economics from Lund University where he also completed the MSc coursework in Economics (without dissertation). He also holds a Ships Officers Degree, Class VIII from Chalmers University of Technology.

The GSR Foundation is run by GSR’s Executive Director for CSR, James Newell. 

James has been working in and around charities for over 17 years. In his career before GSR, he has served as executive and non-executive director for a range of causes. In addition, he built a thriving consultancy practice as a wholly owned subsidiary of Moore Kingston Smith, providing strategy, fundraising and governance advice to hundreds of charities. He has the ICAEW’s Diploma in Charity Accounting, and the Bayes Business School MSc in Grantmaking, Philanthropy and Social Investment - where he periodically serves as a guest lecturer on the fundraising and marketing module. James is Chair of Breaking Barriers, a charity supporting refugees into meaningful employment, and has recently stood down following a six year term as a trustee of the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association (PAMCA).

Our Funding

Our philanthropy and support buys space and time for excellent non-profits, and the communities they serve, to co-create their own solutions to complex problems. We learn from our grantmaking and share our findings to drive progress.