Program Staff

David T. Abbott

David Abbott became executive director of The George Gund Foundation in 2003. Prior to joining the Foundation, he served as president of University Circle Incorporated, executive director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and executive director of the Cleveland Bicentennial Commission. Abbott was also the Cuyahoga County administrator and, early in his career, a reporter for The Plain Dealer.

He holds a B.A. in political science from Denison University, a M.S. in journalism from Columbia University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Natalie Celeste-Heffernan is the 2008-2010 Gund Fellow.  She works across program areas.  Celeste-Heffernan received her undergraduate degree in religion and women’s studies from Oberlin College, a master’s degree in education from Ursuline College and a secondary Montessori certification from the Houston Montessori Center.  Before returning to Cleveland in 1997, Natalie worked for the California Partnership for Children and the Office of the US Ambassador in Vienna, Austria.  She has worked as a middle school teacher in both the Cleveland Municipal School District and Old Brooklyn Montessori School.  She also has worked as an advisor for the Cleveland Scholarship Program and a planning and policy associate at the Federation for Community Planning.

Marcia Egbert

Marcia Egbert is the Foundation’s senior program officer for human services. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1998, she was vice president of the National Urban Policy Institute, a social policy analysis and lobbying firm in Columbus, Ohio.  She also served as government relations director for the Cuyahoga County Commissioners and worked for the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.

Egbert is active in a number of local, state and national organizations of grantmakers including, the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative; Grantmakers Income Security Task Force; Funders Network on Reproductive Health and Rights; and the Public Policy Committee of Ohio Grantmakers Forum; She is also a founding board member of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.  Egbert is a two-time alumna of The Ohio State University, having received both B.A. and J.D. degrees from that institution.  

Deena M. Epstein

Deena Epstein is the Foundation’s senior program officer for arts. She also oversees philanthropic services grantmaking and the Foundation’s media relations and communications. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1990, she was a reporter and columnist at The Plain Dealer.

In addition to her work at the Foundation, Epstein is an advisor to the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture and a member of the Northeast Ohio Advisory Committee of Ohio Grantmakers Forum and the Regional Transit Authority’s Arts-in-Transit Committee.  She received her B.S. in journalism from Ohio University.

Robert B. Jaquay

Robert Jaquay is the Foundation’s associate director. He also is responsible for the Foundation’s program-related investments and grantmaking in economic development and community revitalization. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1996, he was executive director of the Citizens Committee for County Government Reform. His career of government service includes work for Cuyahoga County, the City of Cleveland, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also has been an adjunct faculty member at Cleveland State University’s College of Urban Affairs.

Jaquay has graduate degrees in public administration from Harvard and Cleveland State Universities, a J.D. from Cleveland State University and a B.S. in business administration from John Carroll University. Currently, he is Treasurer of Neighborhood Funders Group and a founding steering committee member of PRI Makers, national philanthropic affinity organizations. He also chairs the Advisory Board of the Foundation Center in Cleveland.

John Mitterholzer

John Mitterholzer is the Foundation’s senior program officer for the environment. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2008, he was a program officer at the Cleveland Foundation. He also has served as executive director of Great American Downtown, the downtown revitalization program in Nashua, N.H., and Historic Nashville, a nonprofit historic preservation organization and as a field representative for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

He has a bachelor of arts degree from Baldwin-Wallace College and a master of arts in history from the University of Memphis.

Ann K. Mullin

Ann Mullin is the Foundation’s senior program officer for education.  Prior to joining the Foundation in 2005, she served as the education program officer at The Cleveland Foundation; previously she was a program associate for arts and culture and education.  Mullin also worked as operations director of Montessori Development Partnerships and as a client assistant for the International Management Group and for National City Corporation’s Retirement Plan Services.

Mullin holds a bachelor of musical arts degree from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

Alesha Washington

Alesha Washington is the 2007-09 Fellow for The George Gund Foundation.  Prior to joining the Foundation she worked as a development associate for The Cleveland Orchestra, helping to raise funds for the Orchestra’s education programs from foundations in Northeast Ohio and government agencies.  She has also worked for the YWCA of Greater Cleveland, as a part of The Cleveland Foundation’s Summer Internship Program, researching opportunities for the YW to create racial justice programs for Cleveland and assisting with grassroots marketing for its early childcare programs. 

Washington received her Bachelor’s of Arts and Sciences from Oberlin College in May of 2005 where she majored in Sociology. She earned a Masters in Nonprofit Management from the Mandel Center for Non-Profit Organizations at Case Western Reserve University in May of 2007.