Born in Copenhagen, Tessa moved to California at the age of seven. Having lived in three continents and speaking three to four languages (depending on what day you ask her) Tessa comes to IFTF with a global perspective. After earning her bachelors degree in Anthropology from University of California, Santa Cruz, Tessa joined the Peace Corps. At the end of a year long application process she received a letter inviting her to Kenya. Three months later Tessa was on plane heading towards a new life in Kenya. She lived in Oloitokitok, a village on the slopes of Mount Kilimajaro, where she worked along side locals to implement more than a dozen community development, public health, and economic development projects. While in Kenya Tessa learned, not only how to slaughter a chicken, but what it truly means to live off the land, and the importance of an economically just world.

After returning to California she searched long and hard for a job within an organization that shares her ideals and interests. Enter IFTF. Tessa’s interests lie in economic development, international trade designed to aid developing countries, and, immigration. She believes that most wars can be fought more effectively with proper economic development than with armies.

As Program Manager for the Ten-Year Forecast Program Tessa is energized by the creative atmosphere surrounding the brilliant researchers at IFTF and grateful for her daily invitation to an intellectual buffet.