Announcing Our New Executive Director

ACE is excited to welcome Stien van der Ploeg as our new Executive Director! The board of directors selected Stien from a strong pool of candidates who participated in a thorough interview process. We are confident in Stien’s strategic vision, her knowledge of the intersecting areas of effective altruism and animal advocacy, and her nonprofit experience. We look forward to seeing ACE’s influence and effectiveness grow under her leadership.

Stien brings over 15 years of experience with nonprofit organizations, advocating for various causes in multiple countries. Her most recent roles include serving on the board of directors at Wild Animal Initiative, an ACE Top Charity, and Encompass. Prior to that, Stien provided pro bono coaching and consulting to various effective animal advocacy organizations, including ACE Standout Charities and Movement Grant recipients. She has supported organizations through challenges, including periods of growth and leadership transition, and has led several sessions on fundraising and leadership at the Conference on Animal Rights in Europe.

During the selection process, Stien’s breadth of experience in impact-focused animal advocacy and strategic insight into ACE’s position at the intersection of effective altruism and animal advocacy stood out. She has a thoughtful and well-developed approach to reconciling values and priorities, including effectiveness, transparency, and equity.

As we welcome Stien to ACE, we want to thank Jon Bockman and Samantha Berscht for their excellent work as ACE’s interim Executive Directors. Jon returned to ACE on short notice and drew on his prior ACE experience to hit the ground running. In his nine months as an interim Executive Director, Jon directed ACE’s day-to-day operations, hired new staff, and prepared a new strategic plan in close collaboration with Samantha. As Jon’s interim period ended just before we completed the selection process for our new ED, Samantha kindly stepped into the position with support from other leads. Samantha assured continuity of ACE’s operations through the peak of the evaluation period. The board is deeply grateful to Jon and Samantha for their invaluable work.

Stien will formally assume the Executive Director role in early October and is excited to connect with our gracious supporters on September 23–25 at Effective Altruism Global in Washington, D.C. We are thrilled to have her on our team and are eager for her to begin her new role. We look forward to ACE’s growing success and influence toward our shared goal of helping nonhuman animals.