Meet these wonderful people
Matt Stearmer
Chairman and Founder
Matt has been conducting research on the status of women since 2002. While doing research on sex-ratios as part of his master’s thesis, he discovered that even with all the devastation caused by war, the ratio of women to men remained stable. Exploring this puzzle, Matt discovered that over time and across cultures, more women have died giving birth than soldiers have died in war. That realization was the beginning of the Mothers Monument. He is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at The Ohio State University.
Jacki Hunlow
Chief Artistic Director
Nationally acknowledged and commissioned, Jacki remains true to her purpose in life of representing the power of women worldwide. Her artwork honors and illustrates the dignity of womanhood as she portrays women’s contributions to their cultures and societies. Through donations of Jacki’s paintings and sculptures, several hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised to help women throughout the world with microcredit loans and access to health care. As a professional sculptor, painter and multimedia artist, she continues to work to develop her skills and collaborate with other talented artists in various fields. Jacki was selected as the sculptress for the Mothers Monument, a humbling honor. Portraying maternal mortality is a heartbreaking but much needed endeavor. Jacki has been recognized with many national and state awards for art, humanitarian work and leadership. As the 2011 Oregon Mother of the Year, she was able to bring awareness of the role of mothers in society. She is also the founder of the parent organization of Mothers Monument, the Mothers Legacy Project.
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Darwin Cox
Chief Executive Officer
Darwin was first introduced to the global issue of maternal mortality while engaging with Merck’s Office of Corporate Philanthropy in a role that led to the establishment of Merck’s “signature” initiative, Merck for Mothers. This initiative involves a 10-year, $500 million commitment to creating a world where no woman has to die giving life. This partnership led to another initiative called the Richard T. Clark Fellowship for World Health. This global program leverages the skills and talents of Merck employees to build and support humanitarian organizations’ efforts to answer the health needs of the undeserved.
During 2013, Darwin was selected to participate in this new fellowship program. While working with Physicians for Peace, Darwin was introduced to the Mothers Monument. Within days of returning home from his fellowship assignment, he and Matt were able to meet in person and Darwin joined the team to provide strategic and tactical support for the project. He is grateful for the opportunity to meet and work with so many amazing people involved with this project and is excited to see the monument begin to take shape.
Stephen Christensen
Monument Set Designer
Stephen is passionate about visual storytelling, narrative design and creating art. He is currently a freelance designer and art director in the film industry and has worked on projects such as the the upcoming movies: Tomorrowland, Star Trek 3 and Pixels, as well as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Star Trek Into Darkness and Saving Mr. Banks. He primarily works on feature films but he is also involved with television, commercials and theme park design projects. A few of his other clients include ABC, Fox, HBO, Apple, The Olympics, Ford Motor Company and Walt Disney Imagineering.
Stephen assisted in the development of Sneak on the Lot, an online program dedicated to teaching filmmaking to students and teachers, and continues to instruct Production Design classes in yearly workshops.
Stephen grew up in the western United States and in South America. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife, two daughters and pet bulldog. Their family also fosters children in need.
Stephen is honored to be able to contribute and collaborate with this talented and committed team on such an impactful project as the Mothers Monument.
Julianne Weis
Chief Field Investigator
Julianne lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she is conducting research for a Ph.D. on changing Ethiopian birth practices. She also works as a Senior Research Associate at Anthrologica, a consultancy group which works to improve global health practices through community-based research and policy revision. Julianne holds a master’s degree from Oxford University and is a passionate advocate for women’s rights to safe reproductive and maternal health care, having worked at UNICEF and other non-governmental organizations in over a dozen countries, including Brazil, Mozambique, and Niger.
Aimee Lindsay
Researcher and Editor
Aimee discovered her interest in the status of women during her undergraduate degree, where she began researching women’s health and rights as a research assistant with the WomanStats Project. It was during her time at WomanStats that she learned of Matt’s idea for the Mothers Monument and has become passionate about making it a reality. This passion grew after she received an unexpected C-section for obstructed labor that saved both her life and that of her daughter. Aimee holds a master’s degree from the University of Maryland and has had the opportunity to live and study in Peru and Israel. She has worked with a series of nonprofit and intergovernmental organizations, including the Inter-American Development Bank, and her other interests include singing, hiking, and competitive wildfowl wood carving. She currently lives in Washington, DC with her husband and daughter.
Ellen Lambert
Chief Humanitarian Officer
During April 2017, Ellen Lambert joined the Mothers Monument board of directors as Chief Humanitarian Officer. She is currently serving as the Chief Diversity Officer at PSEG. Additionally, she holds the position of President of the PSEG Foundation and Sr. Director, Corporate Citizenship, Responsibility and Culture. In 2016, Ellen was recognized by Diversity Journal as one of the 25 top diversity and inclusion officers in the nation. “Diversity and inclusion drive success, and are an essential part of everything that we do every day, wherever we are and whatever we do”. In addition to diversity and inclusion, Ms. Lambert is responsible for the development and implementation of social investment strategies and overseeing employee engagement, corporate contributions, volunteering, sponsorships and employee giving programs at PSEG.
Prior to joining PSEG, Ellen directed the Merck Foundation and its Office of Corporate Giving. While leading the Merck Foundation, Ms. Lambert was responsible for philanthropic, community and volunteer endeavors including the development of the Richard T. Clark Fellowship for Global Health program, the Merck for Mothers strategic initiative, strategic health, education and community-focused initiatives. She created corporate-wide employee engagement programs that allowed workers to “give back” and develop their professional skills by working with non-profits. Furthermore, Ms. Lambert was responsible for the group of Merck non-profits, the Merck Institute for Science Education and the Merck Childhood Asthma Network.
Formerly, Ms. Lambert was the Executive Director of the ROCHE Foundation and Director of Corporate Relations and Contributions for the company. She served as Executive Director of the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, the Executive Director of the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Foundation and the Vice President of Development for the New York Special Olympics.
Ellen has extensive experience in developing social investment strategies that strengthen nonprofits and achieve business goals. Ms. Lambert holds a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Tulane University and a Bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University. Until 2012, Ms. Lambert served as a member of the advisory boards of Every Woman Every Child (UN) and the Global Water Coalition and Women for Water.
Rick Hunlow
Secretary and Treasurer
Rick graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and International relations from Brigham Young University and went to graduate school at Columbia University in New York City to earn a master’s degree in Business Administration. For a number of years he owned his own accounting practice and provided tax guidance and preparation for clients. Most of his career, however, has been spent in large to medium sized private international manufacturing settings where he has served in the positions of division controller, corporate manager of planning and business analysis, corporate manager of cost accounting and inventory control, and as manager of business operations analysis. Leaving public employment in 2018, he and his wife Jacki are heavily involved in public charities as well as strengthening family ties.
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