Our Board of Directors

Meg Garlinghouse is the Vice President of Social Impact at LinkedIn.  In this role, she is responsible for identifying partnerships and programs that leverage the LinkedIn platform to create positive social impact for the world.  Garlinghouse has more than twenty-five years of experience working in the technology and philanthropy sector. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Garlinghouse spent almost 10 years building and leading Yahoo!’s global community relations function. 

She also has a background in international development, working for the Asia Foundation, World Bank and serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, West Africa. Garlinghouse received her Bachelor’s degree in public policy studies from Duke University and a Master's in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  She currently serves on the Boards of VolunteerMatch and KQED.org. 

Craig Jacoby is a partner at Cooley LLPwho represents high-growth companies and their investors. He has helped to form, finance and advise hundreds of emerging businesses in areas such as internet and digital media, consumer products, clean technologies, software, medical devices and business services. He has led hundreds of startup financings,and has led teams advising companies on over a hundred mergers and acquisitions. Representative clients of Craig's include AllTrails, Yelp, New Relic, Patreon, Singularity, Ethic and Watsi. Craig has been individually noted as a leading lawyer nationwide in the 2016 – 2021 editions of Chambers USA – Startups & Emerging Companies and Venture Capital, 2015 and 2016 US editions of Legal 500 in the category of M&A/Corporate and Commercial – Venture Capital and Emerging Companies, 2016-2018 editions of The Best Lawyers in America, and recognized by The Recorder’s inaugural Innovator Awards in 2014.

Craig graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. (English and Economics), and he also received an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a J.D (Order of the Coif) from Stanford Law School. Following law school, Craig was a judicial clerk with the Honorable Charles A. Legge of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, and he also studied Italian cinema as a Fulbright scholar in Rome, Italy. Craig also co-founded and served as board chair for the nonprofit organization VolunteerMatch.

Renee Kaplan is Forward Global’s Chief Executive Officer. Formerly she was Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Programs at the Skoll Foundation where she oversaw the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Skoll World Forum, strategic alliances, and communications.

Renee has more than 20 years of business experience in corporate, entrepreneurial, and foundation sectors. Her professional background includes eight years at Microsoft in corporate and international marketing–working directly with executive leadership and spending considerable time in India, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Following Microsoft, she was founder and CEO of an e-commerce startup, FutureWorkplace, Inc., which was eventually sold. As an entrepreneur, she was active in Young Entrepreneurs Organization (Y.E.O.) and was named to the “40 Under 40” list by the Puget Sound Business Journal recognizing the region’s visionary business leaders. After selling her business, she spent six years as executive vice president of the Casey Family Programs Foundation, focusing on improving outcomes for vulnerable children and families in the U.S. Prior to her role at Skoll, she was the principal of RKaplan Consulting and partnered with clients including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Giving Pledge, Trusera Corporation, the Palo Alto Unified School District, Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civic Society, and The White House Council on Community Solutions.

Renee holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Edward R. Murrow School of Journalism (with an emphasis in International Studies) at Washington State University and has a passion for advising entrepreneurs and social ventures. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two sons and is a competitive soccer player.

Chris Masto is an investor, advisor and board member in entrepreneurial growth companies.  He is Co-Founder and Senior Advisor at FFL Partners, a private equity firm, which he co-founded in 1997 and where he served as a Partner, member of the Investment Committee, and member of firm leadership until transitioning to a Senior Advisor role in 2017.  Previously, he worked as a management consultant with Bain & Company and an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley & Co. Chris currently serves on the Board of Directors of Resident Home (Co-Chair), Curo Financial Technologies (NYSE: CURO; Chairman), Katapult (NASDAQ: KPLT) and VolunteerMatch.org and is an Advisory Board Member of Valo Ventures. He was previously a Director of Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (NYSE: TPX) and Chairman of TriTech Software Systems.  He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with an Sc.B. in Electrical Engineering and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Andrew Means is a serial social entrepreneur leading organizations that use data and technology to create impact. He is currently Senior Director of Global Impact Data Strategy for Salesforce.org. He is also co-founder of data governance firm BrightHive and founder of Good Tech Fest. He has previously held leadership positions at Uptake.org, The University of Chicago’s Center for Data Science & Public Policy, and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. He holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harris School at the University of Chicago. Andrew is a member of the Board of Directors at VolunteerMatch and Chairman of the Board at 10k Windows.

Lillian Samuel is a trailblazer in her role as CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, as the first African American to hold the position in the agency's history. With a passion for making a difference in her community, Lillian has spent over 15 years working in leadership roles within the nonprofit philanthropic sector. She has a proven track record of success, having led teams to raise over $50M in revenue for large institutions including the University of California, San Fran Francisco (UCSF), Girl Scouts of Northern California and community health centers throughout the Bay Area.

Lillian's career began as a buyer for renowned retailers such as Bloomingdales in New York City, The Gap in San Francisco, Cost Plus World Market, and Duty Free Shoppers. However, after years of volunteering on boards and fundraising, she transitioned to the nonprofit sector. Her vision is to support creating a more just and equity community through mentorship, ensuring young people have every opportunity to reach their full potential.  Under her leadership, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area serves all nine counties of the region. In 2023, Lillian was recognized by the Marcus Foster Education Institute as a Visionary for Diversity - an individual who “embodies the belief that we are stronger together, we achieve nothing alone and bridges are the linchpins to our collective victory.” 

Lillian is a proud alumna of the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her BA, and the University of San Francisco, where she earned her MA in Nonprofit Management. 

Robert F. Savage is an investment partner of Valor Real Estate Partners LLP and serves on its Investment Committee.

Mr. Savage was formerly a founding partner and President of KTR Capital Partners ("KTR"), a leading private equity real estate investment and operating company focused on industrial properties throughout North America. KTR and its commingled investment funds were sold in May 2015 to a joint venture of Prologis Inc. and Norges Bank Investment Management.

Prior to founding KTR, Mr. Savage was Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Trustees of Keystone Property Trust, (“Keystone” NYSE: KTR) an industrial real estate investment trust.

Mr. Savage was a partner in the formation of Keystone in 1997 and joined the firm in an executive capacity in November 2000. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Savage was a Partner at Hudson Bay Partners, L.P. a private equity firm. Previously, he worked from 1994 to 1997 in the Investment Banking Division at Merrill Lynch & Co. where he specialized in corporate finance and M&A advisory services for REITs, real estate private equity funds and hospitality companies. Mr. Savage started his career at Arthur Andersen LLP, in the workout practice and then joined in the Investment Management group at Jones Lang LaSalle.

Mr. Savage is a member of the Board of Trustees of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He is also a member of the Policy Advisory Board at the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a member of ULI, PREA and the Editorial Board of the Institutional Real Estate Letter. Mr. Savage received an A.B. in Urban Studies and Business Economics from Brown University.