Erika Castellanos is a trans woman living with HIV from Belize, now residing in the Netherlands. A social worker by profession, Erika joined GATE in 2017 as Director of Programs and is currently the Executive Director of GATE since January 1st, 2023. Erika started her activism working on sex work issues and HIV. She founded the first network of people living with HIV in Belize and co-founded the national trans organization of the country. Since then, Erika has contributed and been active on regional networks: REDCA+, REDLA+, CRN+, and REDLACTRANS and became the vice chair of GNP+ in 2015. In 2015 she also joined the UNAIDS PCB as the LAC delegate and, in 2017, became the first trans person to be elected as a member of the board of the Global Fund as a Board Member for the Communities Delegation. Erika was diagnosed with HIV+ in 1995 and has worked on issues related to HIV, health, human rights, and gender. Erika is happily married and lives with her husband, 2 children, and two amazing dogs. 

Dr. Athena Cross (she/her) is a distinguished public health executive with 19 years of leadership experience spanning both nonprofit and governmental sectors. Currently serving as the Vice President and Chief Program Officer at AIDS United, she has significantly expanded programmatic funding and service capacity. As the founder of Cross Health Care Solutions, Dr. Cross has driven impactful initiatives addressing health inequities through strategic policymaking, innovative public-private partnerships, and collaborative efforts with community-based organizations, enhancing access to reproductive and women’s health services. Her expertise also includes leading pharmaceutical commercialization and developing national healthcare operations strategies, particularly in response to the Affordable Care Act’s policy and reimbursement challenges. Dr. Cross holds a Doctor of Public Health from UNC-Chapel Hill and is deeply committed to advancing social justice and reducing healthcare disparities for marginalized communities

Michael Elizabeth (They/Them) is the Director of Public Health Policy at Equality Federation. In this role, they work with member organizations to leverage their advocacy capacity to influence state and federal policy while ensuring effective implementation of those policies. They have spent the last 10 years rooted in LGBTQ political and community organizing ranging from LGBTQ policy work with state and local elected officials in Texas to HIV/AIDS advocacy fighting HIV Criminalization laws and for adequate public health funding and culturally competent prevention services. Mike is very proud of their role as former President of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, growing the organization to be one of the most diverse and largest membership-driven LGBTQ civil rights organizations in the South, which held local elected officials accountable to the LGBTQ community while helping elect pro-LGBTQ candidates.

Noelle Esquire (she/her) is the U.S. Portfolio Lead at the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and has been working in HIV program management for over fifteen years. She holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Anthropology from New York University, and a Master of Public Health degree in Population & Family Health from Columbia University. Her work began with the charity Keep a Child Alive, that supported small community-based clinics and orphan care programs in sub-Saharan Africa and India. Then, she spent nearly a decade working with ICAP at Columbia University on several large cooperative agreements with the CDC, including a population-based HIV impact assessment project in 14 African countries, as well as Haiti. In her current role, Noelle focuses on grant-making in the U.S., supporting projects that are increasing capabilities of the HIV health workforce, improving equitable access and uptake of HIV prevention and care, reducing stigma, and pursuing policy change.

Sarah Hashmall is a program officer at The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, which is deeply committed to improving the quality of life for all Washington, DC metropolitan area residents. Her portfolio focuses on health and wellness.  In addition, Sarah serves as the co-chair of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers’ Healthy Communities Working Group, which convenes and mobilizes members around health and racial equity, with the goal of ensuring communities across member jurisdictions are thriving, and people are living their lives to their fullest potential. Prior to her role at the Cafritz Foundation, Sarah worked at AIDS United, where she supported communications efforts and ran a national AmeriCorps program focused on ending the domestic HIV epidemic.

Julia Lukomnik is a Strategic Advisor to Aidsfonds – Soa Aids Nederland. In this role, Julia leads advocacy to increase funding for the HIV response and the human rights of Key Populations, and to mainstream decolonial and participatory grant-making and governance practices. Previously, Julia worked as a Senior Program Officer at the Open Society Foundations, where she supported grantees working at the nexus of sexual and reproductive health, human rights, and social inclusion. Julia has over 15 years of experience working with civil society organizations and philanthropies across East Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. She founded and directs VAPA Consulting, a feminist consulting firm that blends social science, participatory research, facilitation, and storytelling to drive durable systems change. She has advised various U.S. and European foundations and think tanks, as well as the United Nations Development Programme, and the Uruguayan Ministry of Social Development. 

Elo Otobo is the SRHR Manager- HIV & Demand Generation at CIFF. In a previous role, she led the health policy portfolio on Women, Child, and Adolescent Health (WCAH) and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) at Save the Children. Through her work, she has experience driving a diverse portfolio of multi-country FCDO and EU programmes on infectious diseases, routine immunisation, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) and Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR).She has been a member of PMNCH’s Strategic Advocacy Committee, the UK SRHR Network, and co-chaired the UK Maternal and Newborn Health Working Group. She has 10 years of experience in programming, policy, and advocacy, with considerable experience in obstetric fistula treatment and access to SRHR and family planning for adolescents and youth. Previously, she led programmes in Madagascar, Sierra Leone and Ghana improving health service delivery to pregnant women and adolescent girls. Elo holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from The University of Edinburgh and an MPH from Imperial College London.

Morgan Willis (she/they) is a Black, nonbinary, queer, writer, traveler, and community collaborator who dreams big. For close to 15 years, Morgan has worked with community projects and organizations to gather and strengthen their networks, build and share resources that sustain us, and to create programs and structures that move us toward collective liberation, and currently serves as the Co-Director of the Third Wave Fund. Between 2012 and 2018, Mo produced the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. Since leaving AMP, she has worked with dozens of organizations to build teams, lead dynamic gatherings, design programs and giving funds, train and support emerging leaders, build resilient infrastructures and expand people’s capacity for social transformation. Morgan’s work has been featured in: Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Shaping Worlds, The SAGE Handbook of Social Constructionist Theory and other publications. She is the editor of Outside the XY: Queer Black and Brown Masculinity, a Lambda Literary Award nominated anthology created by bklyn boihood. They’ve been featured on NBC, Michigan Radio and more.