The Friends of WFUNA is an independent 501 c 3 organization founded by Mr. Arthur Ross in 2001 to support WFUNA in achieving our mission and accomplishing our objectives. This includes making grants to support our activities, programs, and general operation of WFUNA. The unwavering support from the Board of Directors has helped WFUNA strengthen its relationship with the UN, develop a strong foundation through which thematic projects may be launched, and diversify its funding sources.
The current Board is comprised of fourteen members and meets annually to make decision on how to best provide support to WFUNA. The Friends of WFUNA has been an integral partner in planning WFUNA’s annual fundraising events which seek to honor individuals for their leadership and support of the United Nations. The Friends of WFUNA is custodian of WFUNA’s endowment initiated by funds bequeathed by Mr. Ross.
Board Members:
Friends of WFUNA Annual Board Meeting, September 2011
Mr. Michael Cooper
Mr. Cooper has been active in the human rights and humanitarian aid field for more than twenty years, working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees as a Protection Officer in Kosovo as well as with other leading organizations, such as the International Rescue Committee and Human Rights Watch. Most recently, he spent six years with Mercy Corps, directing humanitarian programs in Iraq and leading other initiatives.
Mr. Cooper also served as Director of the Human Rights Office at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and as a member of the Board of Directors of the United Nations Association of New York. He is a Public Interest Law Scholar at Georgetown University and a member of the American Society of International Law."
Hon. Robin Chandler Duke
Ms. Duke, whose career began in the 1940s, was a founding member of Americans for UNFPA. A stalwart champion of family planning, she focuses on population and development projects that incorporate human rights with health care for women. Duke co-founded the United States-Japan Foundation, worked extensively in Asia and Africa for women’s health, and was appointed Ambassador to Norway during the Clinton Administration.
Amb. Richard Gardner
Mr. Gardner was appointed by President Kennedy as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs in 1961, a position he held until 1965, when he served as a senior advisor to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. After a year with the U.N., he served as a member of the President's Commission on International Trade and Investment Policy from 1970 to 1971. In 1977, he was appointed by President Carter as U.S. Ambassador to Italy, a position he held until 1981. President Clinton appointed Gardner as U.S. Ambassador to Spain, from 1993 to 1997. In 2000, he was a U.S. Public Delegate to the 55th U.N. General Assembly.
Ms. Marilyn Haft. Esq.
Ms. Haft is an Entertaiment and Digital Media attorney specializing in the business and legal affairs of the multimedia and communication industries. After running the New York City campaign for the re-election of the President with then-Lieutenant Governer Mario Cuomo, she was appointed as a U.S. Representative to the United Nations, where she was one of the six official representatives of the U.S. to the U.N.
Lord David Hannay
Mr. Hannay was an official representative of the government in discussions that lead to the UK's 1973 entry into what became the European Union. After holding various positions in the foreign office in London during the 1970s and 1980s, he was a minister at the British Embassy in Washington, DC in 1984-1985, and was then promoted to ambassador and permanent representative to the European Economic Community from 1985 to 1990. He spent the next five years as ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations. Most recently he has taken on specialized roles such as Special Representative for Cyprus between 1996 and 2003 and a member of the UN High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, reporting to the Secretary-General in December 2004.
Mr. Warren Hoge
Mr. Hoge spent three decades as an editor and foreign correspondent at The New York Times, serving as Bureau Chief in Rio de Janeiro, London and the United Nations. As a foreign correspondent, he reported from more than 80 countries -- covering political turmoil and guerrilla warfare in Central America, the passage of countries from dictatorship to elective government in South America, the politics and culture of Great Britain and Scandinavia, the peace process in Northern Ireland and areas high on the peace and security agenda of the United Nations, including Central Africa and the Middle East.
Louis Perlmutter
Mr. Perlmutter, a senior advisor to Corporate Partners, a private equity fund, is a retired senior partner of Lazard. He is the treasurer of the Friends of WFUNA, chairman of the Transatlantic Institute, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the board of fellows of Harvard Medical School, the advisory board of Foreign Affairs, and trustee of the Blaustein Institute for Human Rights.
Mr. John H. Pierce
Mr. Pierce is a partner at WilmerHale, LLP in the firm's Litigation/Controversy and Securities Departments. He is the leader of the firm’s International Arbitration Practice Group in the New York office, and he divides his time between the firm’s New York and London offices. Mr. Pierce is a founding member of the International Arbitration Club of New York, a member of the Committee on International Commercial Dispute Resolution at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, a member of the Federal Bar Council and a member of various international arbitration associations around the world (the International Bar Association (Committee D - Arbitration and ADR), the Association Suisse de l’Arbitrage, the Section of International Law and Practice of the American Bar Association and the International Arbitration Association in Paris). Mr. Pierce is a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Young Leader of the American Council on Germany. Mr. Pierce is a frequent writer and lecturer on issues related to international dispute resolution.
Mr. Alfred F. Ross
Mr. Ross is the Founder and President of the Institute for Democracy Studies. He has served on the Chairman's Coucil and on the Board of Directors of the United Nations Association of the United States and on the Board of Directors of the Foreign Policy Association.
Ms. Gillian Sorensen
Ms. Sorensen, formerly United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations, now Senior Advisor at the United Nations Foundation, is a national advocate on matters related to the United Nations and its relationship with the United States. From 1997-2003 she served as Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations on appointment by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and from 1993-1996 served as Special Advisor for Public Policy on appointment from Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Mr. Maurice Strong
Mr. Strong has worked at senior levels of business for over 30 years, including appointments as Under Secretary-General and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972), First Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and Member and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the United Nations Foundation.
Hon. William vanden Heuvel
Mr. vanden Heuvel served as Deputy US Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1979 until 1981 and as US Permanent Representative to the European Office of the UN from 1977 to 1979. Former Senior Partner, now Of Counsel to the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, he is also Senior Advisor to Allen & Company LLC, a New York investment banking firm.
Hon. John C. Whitehead
Mr. Whitehead is the former Chairman of such diverse organizations as the United Nations Association of the United States, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Harvard Board of Overseers, the International Rescue Committee, Haverford College, The Asia Society, and the Hungarian-American Enterprise Fund. He is Chairman of the Boy Scouts of America/GNY.
