Our Team

Ana is a corporate sustainability and external affairs expert who helps companies strengthen their business models by identifying, measuring and managing environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities, as well as understanding policy and regulatory frameworks. As Director of External Affairs at PMI, Ana supported the company’s phasing out of cigarettes, including by developing partnerships with public and private sector organizations and advocating for policy modernization. Previously she worked for GSMA and the United Nations in corporate sustainability initiatives as well as in the financial industry as an ESG research analyst. She is part of the Board of Directors of the Colombian American Association where she promotes dialogue and mutual understanding between the US and her native Colombia. Ana holds a law degree as well as MA degrees in Political Science and Latin American Studies. She lives in New York with her husband, daughter and two dogs. She enjoys participating in long distance triathlons.

Lina Delgado is a strategic partnerships and alliances expert. She identifies, cultivates, and executes win-win partnerships to accelerate organizational growth and develop new business opportunities. She is a creative strategist with proven success in connecting governments and the private sector to collaborate on projects and solutions.

In addition to her role at CollaborateUp, Lina serves as the Executive Director of the Colombian American Association (CAA) in New York. She leads business-relevant programs covering geopolitical issues and other current affairs of interest to the business, public sector, NGO, and academic communities. As Executive Director, she oversees the development of new revenue sources, as well as building and maintaining relationships with sponsors, internal stakeholders, corporate members, and funders.

At the CAA, Ms. Delgado also created the Association’s first incubation program for early-stage entrepreneurs from minority groups in Colombia. The program aims to help entrepreneurs build their businesses from the ground up and generate a positive impact in their communities.

As a women and gender equality advocate, Lina implemented diversity and inclusion policies to all programs, including a rule to have at least one female speaker on all panels.

Prior to joining CAA, she founded a digital marketing agency serving small and mid-size companies wanting to promote their businesses and engage with their customers online and offline. Before that, Ms. Delgado worked as a senior investor relations associate at i-Advize, covering Latin American companies. Lina worked closely with CFOs and IRO’s of publicly traded companies preparing communication strategies and reports for investors and buy-side equity analysts while developing new business for her practice.

Ms. Delgado holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from ICESI University in Cali, Colombia, and an MBA Essentials certificate from the London School of Economics.

She enjoys mentoring social entrepreneurs, spending time with her two dogs Santo & Lupita, and visiting her native country Colombia.

Elsa Knapp is an Associate at CollaborateUp, where she supports learning workshops, project management, and researching and leading new business development activities with global stakeholders. Previously, Elsa was a Research and Program Intern on the CollaborateUp team. She developed a strong understanding of the CollaborateUp formula and supported a wide range of our collective impact programs, allowing her to hit the ground running when transitioning to her new role as a Fellow. Elsa leads CollaborateUp’s research agenda on fostering genuine human connection in the virtual environment. She designed a toolkit of principles, best practices for how to foster human connection in a virtual world, and leads training on this topic for our network and for our clients.

Elsa previously served in Peace Corps Colombia as a Community Economic Development Volunteer. She co-facilitated training on establishing local community savings groups, taught high school students financial literacy and entrepreneurial principles, and mentored potential business owners to support their future endeavors. She also co-led her community’s “GLOW (Girls Leading our World) Club” by hosting workshops and activities to empower female youth in her site.

Elsa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations, with minors in Economics and Latino Studies from West Chester University. She recently received her Master’s in International Development from American University, where she also received a graduate certificate in Social Innovation for Global Impact. Elsa enjoys cooking, reading, working out, and traveling in her free time.

Sara is Head of Training & Design at CollaborateUp. Sara is a self-proclaimed social impact enthusiast, community builder, and storyteller. She is passionate about building common ground and harnessing the power of diversity as a force for good.

Previously, Sara led the national workforce development portfolio at Cara Collective, an organization that helps those affected by poverty get back to work. In this role, she trained over 50 non-profits and social enterprises across the country to strengthen their programs and increase their organization’s reach, job placement, and retention outcomes.

With field and travel experience in over 50 countries, Sara has spent the past decade weaving her way through the social sector. She has designed and implemented international programs spanning public health, refugee/migration issues, DEIA, and interfaith/intercultural action. She is an experienced facilitator and trainer, and has organized international gatherings for up to 10,000 people. With a passion for connecting policy with practice, Sara has addressed global platforms including the United Nations, the White House, and G20 Forums. She holds a masters of public policy from the University of Chicago and a bachelors in public health from Saint Louis University. In her free time, you can find her planning her next adventure and spending time with her cat named Goose.

Varlee Sannor is Head of Business Development for CollaborateUp. He brings deep experience in driving innovative approaches to accelerate organizational performance through cohesive strategy planning and execution, knowledge management and the implementation of new programs for organizational growth. With both public and private sector expertise, Varlee strives to bring an external perspective and insight to support long-term strategic planning processes, translating cross-functional business engagements to optimize alignment and coordination across teams.

Varlee’s experience covers global development space in a variety of fields, including health systems strengthening, Nutrition, Data Analytics, Governance, among others. As a Business Development expert, he has managed and/or overseen multiple large and complex proposals focused on Capacity Building, Data Quality Assurance, Social and Behavior Change Communication interventions, private sector engagement, corporate marketing strategy and project design, implementation and management across multiple sectors and initiatives, including HIV, reproductive health, gender, and others. Over the last two years, he led the development of more than 50 proposals overseeing processes from capture to technical design, writing and editing, and negotiation with clients. He has also facilitated multiple co-creation workshops.

Varlee holds a master’s degree in International Development from Columbia University, as well as a master’s degree in Public Health Epidemiology from Cuttington University in Liberia. He is recognized as a driven, highly motivated, and passionate professional with a keen attention to detail.