Margarita Louis-Dreyfus – Founder
Margarita is the mother of 5 children and a grandmother. She was born in St Petersburg and, since 1985, has resided in Switzerland, living with her two young daughters and close to her three older sons and their growing families.
Margarita is Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of Louis Dreyfus Holding B.V. and is the Founder and President of the Louis Dreyfus Foundation, which aims to help reduce hunger and poverty by providing sustainable solutions to small farmers.
Margarita was compelled to create the Human Change Foundation after witnessing her youngest children’s experiences dealing with harmful content from social media being discussed at school and seeing how digital technologies were rapidly overtaking every aspect of childhood.
She believes strongly in the power of new technologies to bring great solutions to many challenges in our lives, but that we must not allow new tech to destroy humankind’s ability to develop and sustain meaningful human relationships, in real life and with real people. She will continue to advocate tirelessly for the protection of children’s intellectual, social and emotional life skills development.
In her spare time, Margarita enjoys spending time with her children, wider family and close friends.
Ileana Konialidis – Executive Director
Ileana worked with Margarita Louis-Dreyfus from the start of the inception and development process of The Human Change Foundation. She shares a deep concern about what will be required for AI and new technologies to support, rather than hinder, healthy societies, starting with a shared framework to safeguard children’s healthy development.
She is a mother of two children in secondary school and is keenly aware of the need to protect critical thinking, to foster meaningful human connection, and to embrace the healthy friction required for children to develop resilience.
Prior to working in-house for The Human Change Foundation, Ileana worked for 20 years in consulting, managing high-stakes issues for various high-profile clients in the corporate and governmental sectors.
Ileana graduated from Oxford University in Philosophy and Modern Languages. She is based in London and, in her spare time, she enjoys travelling, eating, playing tennis, and being in nature with her Australian Shepherd, Fiji.
Maria Veiga Barracosa – Head of Strategic Communications & International Advocacy
Maria started working with Margarita Louis-Dreyfus and the team shortly after the launch of the Human Change Foundation in Davos in 2024. She was brought on to help build and elevate the Foundation’s campaigning efforts, and now heads up its strategic communications and advocacy practice.
A humanist at heart, Maria is strongly attuned to and passionate about the ethical considerations that need to be advocated and adopted at the product, policy, and personal level — to ensure innovation and safety are not mutually exclusive.
Maria brings almost a decade of experience working at the intersection of business, technology, and society, developing and delivering strategic communication campaigns across digital, media, and political channels that influence government, engage key stakeholders, and drive culture change. She holds a BA in War Studies and History from King’s College London, and an MA in Media & Communications from the London School of Economics. Originally from Lisbon, Maria has lived in Latin America and Spain for most of her life, before settling in London (for now).
In her spare time, Maria loves to bring people together organising friendly gatherings around arts & culture and spending time outdoors (at least a minimum of 2,000 hours a year).
Jenna Galper – Head of Operations and Strategic Partnerships
Jenna advised Margarita Louis-Dreyfus on the creation of Human Change before transitioning to lead operations and partnerships for the foundation. Her interests in humanity and technology originally stemmed from a focus on misinformation and polarisation, born out of experiences working as a communications advisor in the U.S. Congress. Through engaging with experts in tech ethics, psychology, and child development to refine the vision of Human Change Foundation, however, Jenna realised that the issues of digitalisation run much deeper – impacting the very things which make us human, our relationships with one another.
Jenna brings 10 years’ experience advising governments, public figures, religious leaders, and CEOs across a range of high-stakes issues and transformational periods. She holds a BA in Government and Women’s and Gender Studies from Georgetown University and a MA in Strategic Communications from King’s College London. Originally from Los Angeles, she lives in London with her fiancé and their cat and is devoted to her large extended family and circle of friends.