Meet the team
For Sentience, the most eventful year so far is coming to an end. We want to keep aiming high! Since December, new and old faces have been working for the interests of non-human animals. Get to know our new team and make our work possible: until the end of the year, all donations to Sentience will be doubled up to a total amount of CHF 30,000.
The most eventful year comes to an end
It’s been a fantastic year for Sentience. Our flagship initiative to abolish factory farming generated a tremendous amount of media attention. We built a large alliance of organisations working in the fields of animal rights, animal welfare, agriculture and the environment as well as a 1400-strong volunteer network throughout the country. By the end of the campaign, the initiative had been mentioned in well over a thousand media articles, videos, and television appearances.
Earlier in the year, we wrote history on another front: Basel-City’s electorate was the first in the world to get the chance to vote on establishing fundamental rights for non-human primates. While the vote didn’t go through, our work was featured in over 18 countries around the world, and very prominently across the Swiss media landscape. We think it’s clear that the plight of animals will be in the minds of the general public for some time to come. And despite losing the votes, we are determined to keep the pressure on.
Meet the team who will take our work forward in 2023
With that in mind, we’d like to introduce the team of dedicated activists who will be advancing our mission to reduce animal suffering as effectively as possible.
Philipp will be stepping down as co-president of Sentience to become the new co-managing director moving forward. He has been involved with Sentience since its inception in 2014 and is the former co-campaign director of our biggest initiative, so is well-placed to deliver on our future political and public advocacy work for animals.
Silvano took over in 2019 as managing director of Sentience, a role he will share with Philipp moving forward. He uses his background in public relations and sales to manage our communications and fundraising efforts. He has also been involved in systemic change work, which will inform exciting upcoming projects for Sentience.
Lucia led the communications team for the initiative to abolish factory farming and has now joined Sentience as a campaign manager. Besides leading the current end-of-year matching campaign, she will be ensuring that our message reaches as many people as possible.
Naomi is part of the campaign team, specialising in reaching the French-speaking region of Switzerland. She is knowledgeable about the sustainability aspect of animal farming and is involved with several other nonprofits working on social justice issues.
Charlotte is our social media expert who will be growing our audience and developing our campaign communications with Lucia and Naomi throughout 2023. She has been part of Sentience since 2021 and played an integral role in creating the engaging social media presence for the initiative to abolish factory farming.
Siobhan Ballan has joined us on a fundraising placement, generously funded by Animal Advocacy Careers. In her work, she is focusing on prospect research and copywriting for our fundraising campaigns. She also writes most of our content for an international (English speaking) audience.
Melina is our fundraising volunteer. She previously worked for a global asset management company and is an expert in marketing and sales. She has generously dedicated her time to Sentience since 2020.
Besides our core team, we are very grateful to be supported by our board of trustees and advisors.
Next week, we’ll be releasing details of one of our upcoming projects for 2023. It focuses on working across sectors to encourage a swift transition to plant-based and cultivated meat in Switzerland. In the meantime, please consider donating to our matching campaign. From now until December 31, your gift will be matched by generous donors until we reach our goal of 30,000 CHF. Thank you!
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