GVN Foundation Staff

Eliza Raymond

Eliza runs The GVN Foundation, the American fundraising branch of GVN and the branch responsible for the Eat So They Can campaign. Eliza has ten years of experience studying, volunteering and working in the field of international development. Eliza’s Masters Degree focused on good practice in international volunteer programs, and involved researching a variety of different volunteer programs in South America, Africa and Australasia. Following her studies, Eliza ran GVN’s volunteer programs in Peru for two years where she also helped administer their partner’s humanitarian projects budget. She then returned to New Zealand where she has been working for the GVN Foundation several years. Eliza is British/French by nationality but calls Motueka (New Zealand) home. When not in the GVN office, Eliza is riding her bike, volunteering, lost, or planning her next trip.

Lauren McMahon

As our Media and Communications Co-ordinator, and keen trekker, this girl not only talks the talk, she walks the walk having conquered Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa as part of a GVN fundraising trek. Landing in New Zealand mid March 2007 after a little hop-skip-jump from Melbourne, Australia, her background is in environmental communications and she splits her time working between GVN and GVN-Foundation. Lauren is happiest climbing mountains, chasing rainbows, and seeing people live a fulfilling life with a big smile on their face. Stick your head in the GVN office and you will most likely see Lauren either sliding across the room on her swivel chair, peeling a piece of exotic fruit at her desk, or debating the comparative linguistics of footwear with her Kiwi, American, and South African buddies. This Aussie firmly believes a comfortable, rubber, foot apparatus is called a thong – not a jandle, not a flip-flop, not a slophie!

Courtney Montague

Courtney Co-Founded GVN Foundation and Eat So They Can and is dedicated to seeing GVN Foundation grow into a major agent of change in the international development community. Courtney’s favorite GVN Foundation event is Eat So They Can because she believes that it is much more than a fundraiser- it is a way to engage the global community in discussions about child poverty and a way to encourage communities around the world to help end extreme poverty. Courtney is GVN Foundation's representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and is on GVN Foundation's Board of Directors. Courtney loves to eat… write, read, hike, relax with friends and family and watch movies.