Susannah Hares is the Executive Director of the Safe Childhoods Initiative. She has worked for more than a decade on prevention of violence against children, partnering with policy makers, philanthropists, and researchers to drive better outcomes for children. Previously, she was a Senior Director at the LEGO Foundation and Director of the Child Wellbeing and Education programme at the Center for Global Development. Earlier in her career, she led international programmes at Ark and began her work in Kenya with the health NGO AMREF.
Bradley joined the founding team at Safe Childhoods Initiative in early 2025 and currently serves as Philanthropy Director where he focuses on donor engagement and resource mobilization. Prior to this, Bradley was Senior Advisor-Innovation at Panorama Global and helped to develop multiple new initiatives there including To Zero, a global field-building effort on childhood sexual violence prevention, and the Reclaim Coalition on addressing image-based sexual abuse. His career has focused on combatting forms of gender-based violence, child sexual exploitation and abuse, and human trafficking. Bradley’s background also includes serving on the founding team and then as CEO as Polaris, one of the prominent anti-trafficking organizations in the United States. Bradley is based in Washington, DC.
Begoña Fernandez is a public health specialist with over 15 years of experience advancing gender equality and preventing violence against women and children, with a focus on children and adolescents. As Director of Impact and Global Engagement at the Safe Childhoods Initiative, she helps accelerate funding for prevention, healing, and justice. Previously, Begoña was Senior Advisor for Gender-Based Violence at Save the Children and spent seven years at Together for Girls, where she led data and evidence efforts to drive action to end violence against children and women. She holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia University and is based in Washington, DC.
Marie is a Congolese‑Cameroonian American human rights advocate committed to advancing gender equality, youth empowerment, and social justice worldwide. Marie holds a Master’s degree in Gender and Peacebuilding from the UN‑mandated Universidad para La Paz in Costa Rica and brings over five years of experience mobilizing youth for social change at both grassroots and global levels. Drawing on her lived experience as a survivor of childhood violence, Marie approaches her work with deep purpose and an unwavering commitment to prevention, healing, and justice. She is based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Isabel joined Safe Childhoods Initiative in 2026 as Events and Operations Manager. Previously, she worked in the President’s Office of Oak Foundation, where she supported internal and external communications. Leveraging her public health degree, she brings direct field experience managing a nonprofit in Rio de Janeiro to increase access to physical activity opportunities for women and girls. Isabel has a Master’s degree in International Development and Global Health from the Geneva Graduate Institute. She is based in Madrid, Spain.
The Safe Childhoods Initiative was created in 2025 by a group of leading philanthropies, including the Carlson Family Foundation, the Indigo Trust, Oak Foundation, Phillips Foundation, Segal Philanthropies, and the World Childhood Foundation, to change the way the world responds to childhood sexual violence. The initiative is currently being incubated at Panorama Global, a global social impact nonprofit.
