GVN Foundation Staff

Courtney Montague

Courtney runs The Global Volunteer Network Foundation, the American fundraising branch of GVN and the branch responsible for Eat So They Can. 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.

In addition to being the Executive Director of Eat So They Can Courtney is also the GVN Foundation representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Courtney is currently working towards a Masters in Public Administration at New York University and is a fellow in the Catherine B. Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship. Courtney loves to eat… write, read, hike, relax with friends and family and watch movies.

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!

Eliza Raymond

After 2 years in the GVN Peru office, Eliza decided she had eaten enough guinea pigs for a while and was ready to move back to New Zealand. She started with GVN Foundation in April 2009 as Grants Coordinator.

Eliza is British/French by nationality but calls Motueka (New Zealand) home. After celebrating her 3rd birthday in Tibet, Eliza has never been very good at staying in one place. Her travels have taken her to Siberia to teach English, Germany to pack Frankfurters, the island of Chiloe to au-pair and of course to her favourite place of all, Peru.

Eliza has a BA in geography and Spanish, and a Masters focused on international volunteering. When not in the GVN office, Eliza is riding her bike, playing tennis, lost, or planning her next trip.

Caitie Goddard

Caitie is the lonely American in the New Zealand office. She is the new host mentor for Eat So They Can and a programs development coordinator.

This is Caitie's first experience in New Zealand and she's still trying to get the hang of the local slang. She has a degree in business administration with an emphasis on marketing and international business. Her appreciation of netball, cricket, and rugby is (slowly!) growing but she is still trying to convince everyone that March Madness is not the month that people go crazy but an homage to the wonderful sport of basketball!

When not at the GVN office, Caitie can be found trying to master her spanish grammar or improving her fantastic knowledge or what she deems "random and sometimes useless facts" on sporcle. Her current accomplishments include understanding the bus driver's kiwi accent and correctly identifying all 53 African countries in under 6 minutes on sporcle!

Graham Fyfe

Located in the office next door to ESTC HQ, Graham sometimes lends a hand with the website. He has degrees in history and accounting, and has been part of the Global Volunteer Network team since 2003. When not working, his interests include rabbitry, checking out arcane music and watching cricket.