Sarah (Sally) Timpson is a consultant and adviser with over three decades of executive experience in the United Nations Development Program that included senior policy-making positions at headquarters as well as operational functions leading UN system development activities in Philippines, Costa Rica, and Argentina. An advocate of UNDP efforts to orient its programs to focus on people-centered development, participation, environmental sustainability and equity, Sally led a number of new initiatives, including establishment of a Division promoting support to developing country NGOs and setting up and leading the global PROWWESS program on Women in Water. She was a founder and Global Manager of the UNDP/GEF Small Grants Program. Following retirement from UNDP Sally has engaged in consultancies with various organizations, including the MacArthur Foundation, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, Conservation International, Pathfinder/USAID, the Barefoot College and UN Women.
In addition to her service on the Board of Directors of the Synergos Institute, Sally is a member of the WWF National Council, the Boards of PCI Media, WaterAid America, the Network 2020 Committee of Twenty and the Technical Advisory Committee of the Equator Initiative and Prize. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society and actively supports a number of environmental organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Rare Conservation, the Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, the Environmental Defense Fund, the League of Conservation Voters and the Teatown Lake Reservation. Sally holds a B.A. from Smith College, where she spent her junior year abroad in Paris, and an M.A. in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.