Futura is led by future thinkers, builders, & creatives imagining new possibilities.

Photo of Ruth Shaber

  • Ruth Shaber, MD, is a changemaker, author, and President and Co-Founder of Futura Foundation. After 25 years as an OBGYN and senior executive at Kaiser Permanente, Ruth amplified her life’s mission: empowering women across finance and healthcare. To that end, she founded Tara Health Foundation, a 100% mission-aligned private foundation working at the intersection of gender, economic, and racial justice. She’s also co-founder and board chair of Rhia Ventures, a social impact organization dedicated to improving reproductive and maternal health outcomes in the United States through private sector engagement. Ruth recently co-authored the book The XX Edge: Unlocking Higher Returns and Lower Riskthat uncovers the evidence that putting women in control of capital raises financial and social returns, while diminishing organizational risks. Ruth’s work with Futura is inspired by her deep affection for Portugal and its people and her determination to promote women as the agents of change to solve the world’s greatest challenges.

Photo of Graça Fonseca

  • Graça Fonseca is the Chief Imagination Officer and Co-Founder of Futura Foundation. A social scientist and expert in governance, public policy, social innovation, and participatory democracy, she served as Portugal's Minister of Culture from 2018-22. During her tenure as Secretary of State for Administrative Modernization from 2015-18, she pioneered the world's first national-level participatory budget. As Lisbon City Councilor (2009-15), Graça spearheaded the city's transformation into a leading entrepreneurial hub, developing the Economy and Entrepreneurship Strategy that led to Lisbon being named 2015’s "European Entrepreneurial City of the Year.” She also pioneered the Lisbon Participatory Budget, giving citizens direct decision-making power over municipal investments. In 2023, Fonseca was distinguished as a "Democratic Innovator of the 21st Century" by the Apolitical Foundation for her contributions to participatory democracy and citizen-centered policy development. She also teaches and serves as advisor to several national and international organizations focused on arts, democracy, climate, and ensuring a better world for future generations. Graça finds deep purpose in designing the future by bringing people together to work through participatory processes.

Photo of Glenn D. Barnes

  • Glenn D. Barnes is a legal expert, poet, Co-Editor of The Lisbon Literary Review, and Co-Founder of Futura Foundation. A retired attorney and professor of law, Glenn currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of the Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE), a non-profit organization offering free legal representation to people in underserved communities. He also taught undergraduate legal studies at Peirce College, a school focused on adult learners with a student body composed mostly of female and Black and Brown students. He served as President of The Mid-Atlantic Academy of Legal Studies in Business and editor of the Atlantic Law Journal. Glenn has been writing poetry for 50 years. He studied under human rights activist and poet Carolyn Forché, and worked with the poets Albert Goldbarth, A.R. Ammons, and Shann Ray. He was a Pew Fellowship in the Arts finalist in poetry and a past winner of the Philadelphia City Paper “Best Poem of the Year”. His work has been published in various places, most recently in the anthology, We Are All God’s Poems (Unsolicited Press, 2024). Glenn believes in the power of the human heart and the written word. Like many, he is outraged and heartbroken by many of today’s political trends. He believes the work of Futura can, in part, help redirect some of these trends.

A photo of Leonor Rothes

  • Leonor Rothes is the Operations Manager at Futura, where she oversees programs, partnerships, internal development, and hosts FutureTense, Futura’s podcast. Leonor plays a key role in designing and coordinating Futura initiatives, including the FutureTense Podcast and the Futura Fellowship. Her role at Futura ensures that creativity and innovation are supported by clear structures and collaborative systems. Before joining Futura, Leonor worked with Gaia Education, managing international sustainability and regenerative development projects, and at the United Nations in Monitoring and Evaluation, where she contributed to data-driven strategies for social impact. Trained in chemical engineering with a Master’s in Social Entrepreneurship, she combines analytical rigor with a deep belief in imagination as a tool for change. Outside of work, she enjoys playing padel, musical theater, and connecting with people who inspire new ideas. Leonor is delighted to return to Portugal, where she has deep roots, to embark upon this future-dreaming work with Futura.

  • Catarina Vaz is COO at Futura, where she works across strategy, operations and partnerships to help the organisation increase its impact and scale its ambitions.

    Over the past decade, she has led product and innovation initiatives, bringing together people, technology and ideas to solve complex problems. Her work has spanned digital products, organisational transformation and the design of systems that are effective and more importantly, human.

    Catarina combines strategic thinking with a practical, hands-on approach to leadership.

    Outside work, she enjoys exploring philosophy, artificial intelligence and debate, and can often be found chasing her latest rabbit hole of curiosity. She believes thoughtful disagreement is healthy and that better questions often lead to better outcomes.