Jamaica is the Civil Society and Leadership director at the Packard Foundation where she oversees grantmaking in support of strong leaders, organizations, and movements, and a thriving civil society across the Foundation’s goal areas and global geographies in Asia, Africa, South America, and North America. Jamaica is passionate about shifting systems and power to improve outcomes for the environment and people. She believes that durable progress on the critical issues of our day will only occur when we apply a systems approach and invest deeply in the people closest to the problem. 

Jamaica has worked to support civil society leaders and organizations for over 20 years. She joined the Packard Foundation in 2013 as a program officer supporting the Foundation’s organizational effectiveness grantmaking to partners working on climate mitigation, ocean conservation, and reproductive health in the U.S., Asia, and Latin America. Before joining the Foundation, Jamaica spent 11 years at California Environmental Associates, where she gained deep experience providing strategic and organizational guidance to nonprofits, foundations, and businesses, with particular expertise in climate change, biodiversity conservation, and food systems. During this time, she supported the design and launch of several new climate-focused institutions. In addition, Jamaica ran her own organizational development consulting firm and served as the founding program director for the Roots of Change Fund, a nonprofit and funders’ collaborative working to increase the sustainability of California’s food system.  

Jamaica holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brown University and a master’s degree in writing from the University of San Francisco. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, two children, and one very large rescue dog. She enjoys walking her dog in the fog, trying new foods, and traveling with her family to beautiful cities and wild places, near and far.