GAC Staff
Jennifer Delaney
Executive Director and Board President, Global Action for Children
Jennifer Delaney, the Executive Director of Global Action for Children, is a children’s advocate with more than 15 years of international business and development experience in Asia, Africa, and Europe.
She served as Senior Program Officer for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs’ Africa Alive! Initiative, which reaches young people with AIDS prevention messages through music and entertainment. While at the Hope for African Children Initiative, she played a key role in successfully advocating that 10 percent of funding under the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-25) be dedicated to programs for orphans and vulnerable children. She serves on the Board of the Firelight Foundation, the Children Affected by AIDS steering committee, and the Better Care Network Communications Group.
For seven years Delaney worked in Japan for Kyodo Tokyo, Inc, one of Asia’s premier entertainment firms, where she negotiated concert tours and endorsement deals for major American and British performing artists for the Japanese and Asian markets.
She holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts, and a Masters of Policy Management and Non-Profit Leadership Certificate from Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute. Delaney studied International Business at Oxford University, and has worked or traveled in more than 40 countries.
Leila Nimatallah - Policy Director
Leila Nimatallah serves as Policy Director for Global Action for Children (GAC), leading advocacy and legislative efforts to improve the lives of children in the developing world. Prior to joining GAC, Leila managed successful legislative campaigns at RESULTS’ on global health and microfinance and shaped and supported grassroots advocacy efforts at local and state levels for over a decade.
She served as a Judiciary Committee aide for U.S. Representative, Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and as a legislative associate for Representative Marty Meehan (D-MA). She was also a former co-chair of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Task Force.
Leila earned a B.A. from Boston College and a law degree from Villanova University in 1993, and is a member of the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and District of Columbia Bar Associations.
Leila is also the proud but tired mother of two beautiful boys, Mathew and Jamie.
Heather McGowan - Director of Operations & Partnerships
Heather McGowan serves as the Director of Operations & Partnerships, providing financial and operational oversight to the organization as well as managing GAC’s Advocacy Fund initiative and fundraising and development partnerships. Previously, she worked as the Director of Finance and Administration at Faithworks Inc. where she managed all financial and administrative activities and performed financial planning analyses pertaining to Faithworks and its client projects.
Heather holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the George Washington University, as well as a B.A. from Catholic University. Heather is an experienced runner and in her spare time, enjoys coaching an all-women’s marathon running group.
Rabab Pettitt - Director of Communications
Rabab Pettitt leads Global Action for Children’s public relations and communications efforts and brings more than a decade of communications and international development experience to GAC.
Before going into independent consulting, Pettitt was Managing Director at Brightline Media, an award-winning strategic communications firm in Alexandria, VA, where she worked with clients in the non-profit and education arena including Save the Children, Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, and America’s Blood Centers. Prior to joining Brightline, Rabab served as Assistant Director of Public Affairs for Georgetown University, playing a lead role in strategizing on both internal and external communications initiatives for the University.
Pettitt holds an M.A., with Distinction, in English Literature from Georgetown University. She has received numerous academic awards and commendations including the coveted Graduate Dean’s Scholarship at Georgetown as well as gold medal awards from the University of Punjab and the University of Peshawar (both in Pakistan). She lives in Maryland with her husband Kevin, their son, Faizaan, and two cats, Max and Cleo.
Tamara Horne - Development and Fundraising
Tamara leads Global Action for Children’s fundraising and development efforts. Prior to joining GAC, she consulted on business and education, working with the Community Foundation of Santa Clara County, the Irvine Foundation, and the Mayor’s Task Force on Welfare Reform in San Francisco. She also served as a policy analyst for the National Commission on Children in Washington, D.C., and as a strategy consultant for Temple, Barker and Sloane and the Boston Consulting Group.
Tamara holds an MBA and a Masters in Education from Stanford University, as well as a B.A. from Harvard University. She lives in Potomac, Maryland, with her husband Chris, and three children, Megan, Ryan, and Amanda.
Allison Shuffield - Outreach and Operations Associate
Allison Shuffield joined Global Action for Children in June, 2008 as the Outreach and Operations Associate, supporting the communications and operational needs of GAC. A native of Miami, Florida, Allison invested her first six months after graduating from Florida State University teaching English in two Ecuadorian grade schools. In addition to living in Quito, Ecuador while teaching and furthering her Spanish language skills, she has also lived in Romania and in Spain. She spent one summer in Targus Mures, Romania, where she was an intern in a Romanian orphanage affiliated with the Buckner Orphan Care International organization and, she studied for one semester in Valencia, Spain while in college. Allison received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from Florida State University in 2007.
Following her passion for international children’s issues, she moved to Washington, DC in early 2008 to pursue a career within a children’s organization with global outreach. GAC provided the ideal outlet for her to grow her skills and make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged children across the globe.
