The Results Are In! U.S. Charitable Giving Totaled $499.33 billion in 2022.

Paul Bessire

chief advancement officer

Natural history museum of la county

With over 25 years of development experience in museums, Paul Bessire has led fundraising programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Brooklyn Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bessire also worked at the American Museum of Natural History early in his career and founded a consulting practice that provided strategic counsel to Harvard University Art Museums, Public Art Fund, Fundacion Casa Wabi and Swiss Institute. He has directed major capital campaigns and managed institutional transformation that resulted in raising $100 million.

Bessire is a Brooklyn native and a recent transplant to Los Angeles with a keen interest in arts and culture, natural history, and the environment. He graduated from Kenyon College and trained as a chef in Paris before beginning his work in museums and development.

Tamara Michel Josserand

Vice President of Development

University of Washington

Tamara Michel Josserand has more than three decades of successful experience working in institutional advancement, strategic leadership, and stakeholder management roles, and a breadth of experience leading development efforts at both public and private institutions. She holds a deep belief in the value of higher education, a passion for student success, and a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Tamara earned her B.A. in Government from Connecticut College and a Master of Education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. She also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tamara joined the UW as the Vice President for Development in June 2022.

Jane Wales

Vice President of philanthropy and society

the aspen institute

Jane Wales is Vice President of the Aspen Institute and Executive Director of its Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation (PSI), a program working to inform and maximize the impact of social actors from the charitable and private sectors so that they can help solve societal problems and steward shared resources together.

Jane is the founder of the Global Philanthropy Forum and its regional affiliates in Africa and Brazil, and the former host of the nationally syndicated National Public Radio interview show WorldAffairs. Previously, Jane served in the Clinton Administration as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of the National Security Council.

In the philanthropic sector, Jane chaired the international security programs at the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and she directed the Project on World Security at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She is Co-Chair of the Generosity Commission, a nonpartisan group of leaders from across the sector committed to celebrating and supporting Americans’ spirit of generosity.