WhyHunger Welcomes New Board Members Claire Marble, Jen Chapin, John Kirby, Karen Ubelhart & Michael Mitri
Wednesday, July 22 – WhyHunger, a global nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger and advancing the human right to nutritious food, announces the expansion of its Board of Directors today. The organization has recently appointed five new Board members, including Apollo Global Management Principal in Accounting Policy Claire Marble, folk artist and activist Jen Chapin, longtime commercial aviation executive John Kirby, Wall Street veteran Karen Ubelhart, and Tony Award®-nominated producer Michael Mitri to help steward the growth of the organization.
WhyHunger Executive Director Jenique Jones said,
“We’re honored to welcome Claire, Jen, John, Karen and Michael to our leadership team. It’s rare to have this caliber of diverse talent from the worlds of entertainment, business, finance, and beyond unite to rally around one common goal. Their respective talents and shared commitment to ending hunger and advancing the right to food will prove invaluable to our mission and ongoing work across the globe.”
Joining WhyHunger for the first time, Claire Marble is a Principal in Accounting Policy at Apollo Global Management. She is responsible for advising on complex structures and transactions in the alternative asset management space, while ensuring overall firm compliance with new and existing accounting requirements. She previously spent ten years as a Senior Manager in the Assurance practice at Ernst & Young. She is a member and committee chair of Apollo Women Empower, focusing on professional development, networking and community outreach. She also spent five years as Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair of the Board of Trustees of Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and she currently serves on the EY New York Alumni Council and the Villanova Accounting Advisory Council.
Singer-songwriter, educator, and daughter of WhyHunger co-founder Harry Chapin, Jen Chapin is a lifelong supporter of WhyHunger who rejoined the Board after serving as an officer from 1999-2013, including an appointment as Chair from 2001-2007. For more than two decades, she has continued to gain traction for her urban folk songwriting, beginning with her 2002 debut album, Open Wide. Raised in and around New York City in a large family of artists, writers, and musicians, she has created her own artistic legacy with notable appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, NPR’s Mountain Stage, WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour, WFUV’s Sunday Breakfast with John Platt, Mary Sue Twohy’s Folk Village, and the Bob Edwards Show on SiriusXM. Chapin carries forward her father’s lifelong commitment to activism, teaching 10th grade at a public high school in Brooklyn while creating Anything Goes and How Did We Get Here?, a show that traces the United States’ political trajectory over the past 30 years through original songs – exploring resistance to authoritarianism, mutual accountability, connection, and hope.
John Kirby excitedly accepted his appointment to the WhyHunger Board this summer. He has enjoyed a successful career in aviation since 1983. Along the way, he has held leadership positions at Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and more, while he most recently served as Vice President of Network Planning at Spirit Airlines. He founded KearnyBro LLC in January 2026, a consulting firm focused on commercial aviation and was named as a senior advisor to Campbell-Hill Aviation Group in July 2026.
Another new addition, Karen Ubelhart is retired following a 47-year career on Wall Street as an equity research analyst, culminating with a key position at Bloomberg LP. She has been a member of the Allegheny College Board of Trustees for a decade, and she is currently Chair of the Investment Committee. Upholding a longstanding passion for ensuring equality for all women, she is also a Board member of Tri-State Maxed-Out Women’s PAC, a grassroots political organization dedicated to increasing the number of Democratic women in federal offices.
Michael F. Mitri became a WhyHunger Board member this year after a lengthy career as an international trade attorney and business owner, jumping headlong into the arts and activism. With his wife, Karen, he has produced two films focused on gun violence awareness and education: A Father’s Promise (2023) and The Great Divide, which enters the festival circuit in fall 2026. A Fairfield Theatre Company Board member for 15 years, he has expanded its programming to include documentary film and live theatre. He is also a theatre producer and playwright, with credits including Frankenstein, The Musical, A Christmas Story, The Musical, Be More Chill, and I Wanna Learn A Love Song, about Harry Chapin, opening in 2027.
Chair of WhyHunger’s Board Cindy Secunda commented,
“WhyHunger thrives on the ideas and energy of the people behind it. I couldn’t dream up a more impressive and empowering collective of people than Claire, Jen, John, Karen and Michael to strengthen our growing Board. With their input and ideas, we have an opportunity to magnify our impact, change lives, and get closer to putting an end to hunger once and for all.”
Founded in 1975 by late music legend Harry Chapin and Bill Ayres, WhyHunger is working to end hunger by advancing the belief that access to nutritious food is a human right—connecting 6.6 million people to food and investing $9.6 million in community-led solutions in recent years. WhyHunger just raised $523,435 at their Chapin Gala, honoring GRAMMY® and Golden Globe Award-winning, Oscar-nominated singer/songwriter, activist, and acclaimed actress Andra Day and 4x Peabody Award winner, MacArthur Fellow, and founder of Radiolab Jad Abumrad.
For the full list of WhyHunger’s Board of Directors, click here. To learn more about WhyHunger and how you can support the movement to end hunger, visit whyhunger.org, and follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, and X.
About WhyHunger
Founded in 1975 by the late Harry Chapin and radio DJ Bill Ayres, WhyHunger funds and supports community solutions to protect the human right to food. In nearly five decades of innovation and evolution, our programs and our grassroots partners in 25 countries have expanded agricultural practices that are better for the planet, helped communities address the root causes of hunger, and ensured access to nutritious food for millions of people. As a grassroots support organization, we stand behind the leadership of the people most impacted by hunger and injustice. We prioritize providing resources to support the rights of communities who have been historically excluded from defining and controlling their food systems. We advocate for workers’ rights and champion agroecological food production that unites science and sustainability with Indigenous knowledge and wisdom. Together we can build socially and economically just food systems that nourish all people and the environment.
