Stanford Humanities Center
Mattie Bekink is the Ford Foundation's regional director in China, overseeing China-related grant-making from Ford’s Beijing office. Along with her extensive experience in China, she has worked in law, international education, and geoeconomics.
Immediately Prior to joining the foundation in 2024, Mattie served as the China director of the Economist Intelligence Unit, which is the research and analysis arm of The Economist Group. Previously, Mattie had her own consultancy in which she worked primarily with nonprofit and academic clients on matters related to law, institutional strategy, and communications. As a consultant, she worked with New York University for over a decade, supporting the establishment of NYU Shanghai and working with the Law School’s US-Asia Law Institute and the Business School’s Center for Business and Human Rights. Mattie also worked with the Anne Frank House for three years on international education projects and programming, including bringing a traveling exhibition to Shanghai. While consulting, Mattie concurrently served for three years as executive director of the Fulbright Commission the Netherlands, making grants related to academic exchange in the spirit of fostering mutual understanding. She was also previously the deputy country director for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative China Program and worked as an associate at Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Mattie received her JD from Georgetown University Law Center and a BA in International Relations from Stanford University. She is fluent in both Chinese and Dutch.
