Jeffrey Barber, Executive Director and President

Since joining ISF in 1992, Jeffrey Barber has engaged in both public interest advocacy and organizing efforts, nationally and internationally, focusing especially on the importance of strategic collaboration among environmentalists, consumer and health advocates, community development and social justice activists, trade unions, and other members of civil society.

Currently, Mr. Barber works with a number of civil society networks and coalitions, including as Co-Chair of the Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED) and as Northern Co-Chair of the NGO Caucus on Sustainable Production and Consumption at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. In his NGO work at the UN, Mr. Barber has actively participated since 1995 in the Commission for Sustainable Development, the OECD (on the revision of the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises and with the OECD's Sustainable Development Plan), the UN Summit on Social Development, and the UN Conference on Human Settlements. Mr. Barber is one of the founders of the Sustainable Development Issues Network (SDIN) for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Prior to ISF, Jeffrey spent more than a decade working in social policy and public opinion research at nationally-known organizations, as Director of Media Research for Peter D. Hart Research Associates, as manager of Audience and Program Research for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as Project Director of Custom Market Research for Arbitron Ratings Company, and as Communications Analyst at Stanford Research Institute (SRI International). Mr. Barber received his BA in psychology and MA in social science from San Francisco State University.

Karen Onthank, Deputy Director

Karen Onthank brings to ISF more than 25 years of experience with non-profit organizations and more than 20 years of international experience in the areas of the environment and human rights. Joining ISF in 1994 as a program consultant, Ms. Onthank has represented ISF at UN meetings and international conferences and has actively participated in networks supporting such conferences. She is the former Northern Co-Chair of the NGO Caucus on Sustainable Communities at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and former Co-Chair of Environment and Sustainability Working Group of the US Network for Women. Ms. Onthank provides expertise in finance and administration, organizational development and program work.

In addition to her ISF experience, Ms. Onthank has worked for the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization as Executive Director of the US office, as well as for the American Red Cross, Greenpeace, and the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where her casework included clients such as the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Ms. Onthank was also a community developer with VISTA. Ms. Onthank has worked and studied overseas in England, the Netherlands, Italy and Ecuador and has language skills in Italian, French, Spanish and Dutch. Ms. Onthank earned her BA from Smith College and her MBA from Yale University.