Dedication. Experience. Diligence.

Our team

Philanthropic professionals, attorneys and subject-matter experts who bring decades of cy pres experience to every engagement. Since 2003, our team has distributed over $50 million in grants to more than 150 nonprofit organizations and public agencies.

The people who run your fund

Our experience spans cases involving health supplements, computer technology, petroleum, pharmaceuticals and consumer appliances. We tailor our ten-step process to the specifics of each case.

Matt Iverson-Comelo

Managing Member

As Managing Member of Cy Pres Settlement Funds LLC, Mr. Iverson-Comelo leads the firm's work to benefit injured classes through collaborative cy pres grant-making.

Starting in 2003, he and the late cy pres fund administrator Harry M. Snyder worked together to distribute over $50 million in cy pres grants. At Cy Pres Settlement Funds, he manages operations, leads the ten-step grant-making process, and works with subject-matter experts to make sure grants are effective and aligned with each fund's goals.

His experience also includes serving as Executive Director of Advisers Give Back, a financial technology nonprofit that makes pro bono financial planning more accessible for underserved Americans.

He earned a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies, with honors, from the University of California, Berkeley.

Tanecia Echols, J.D.

Grants Administrator

Ms. Echols has extensive experience in cy pres grant-making, having worked closely with Harry M. Snyder from about 2007 to 2011. She collaborated with him on his two publications on cy pres best practices, Protecting Class Action Settlements and Establishing Best Practices in the Distribution of Cy Pres Funds. Like Mr. Iverson-Comelo, she was trained by Mr. Snyder in the effective use of cy pres funds.

She has also served as a Sponsored Projects Officer at the University of Utah, focusing on federal contracts.

Ms. Echols earned a BS in Education from Tennessee State University and a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law.

Lovely Dhillon, J.D.

Grants Consultant

Ms. Dhillon brings expertise in law, social change and philanthropy to the cy pres grant-making process. She led the Law School Consortium Project, which expanded access to legal services, and served as Deputy Director for Strategy, Management and Evaluation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she managed a $90 million grant portfolio. As CEO of Jodevi Consulting, she advises foundations and nonprofits on effective philanthropy and organizational development.

At Cy Pres Settlement Funds, she supports each stage of the grant-making process and brings best practices in diversity, equity and inclusion, including anti-harassment, anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation programs.

Ms. Dhillon holds a BA in International Affairs and Political Science from Florida State University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Advisor

Philanthropic advice

Anthony Iton, M.D., J.D., MPH

Philanthropic Advisor

Dr. Iton is CEO of The Health Trust in San Jose. He previously served as Senior Vice President at The California Endowment, where he led strategy aimed at achieving racial equity in health across California.

As a Lecturer in Health Policy and Management at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health, he co-taught Health Policy Advocacy with Harry M. Snyder, and the two co-authored Advocacy for Public Health Policy Change: An Urgent Imperative, published by the American Public Health Association.

Earlier, Dr. Iton was Director and County Health Officer of the Alameda County Public Health Department, where he pioneered practices to eliminate health disparities. He has also worked as an HIV disability rights attorney, a health care policy analyst and a physician advocate for people experiencing homelessness. His honors include the Champion of Children Award from the United Way and the Award of Excellence from the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Dr. Iton earned a BS in Neurophysiology, with honors, from McGill University, a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law, an MPH from UC Berkeley and an M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Subject-matter experts

Every engagement brings leading experts onto our team.

We retain experts in the field each case concerns, and they work alongside us through the grant-making process. Our experts include directors of university research centers and nationally recognized leaders in their fields.

Program design

They inform each program's priorities and its request for proposals with research and field experience on what works for the people the case was brought to protect.

Underlying causes

They deepen our understanding of the market dynamics behind the case, so the program is designed to address the causes of the harm, not only its effects.

Proposal review

They help us assess the proposals we receive, so our recommendations favor the projects most likely to make a lasting difference.

In memory

Harry M. Snyder, 1937–2023

Harry Snyder spent a quarter century representing consumers at Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, including as director of its West Coast office. From 2002 he administered cy pres funds for courts and Attorneys General, and he taught health policy advocacy at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

His reports Protecting Class Action Settlements (2010) and Establishing Best Practices in the Distribution of Cy Pres Funds (2015) set out the standards our team still works to. We owe him a great debt of gratitude.

“It is necessary to foster, develop, and establish best practices based on successful cy pres distributions in order to benefit plaintiffs, defendants, all counsel and the courts and to protect access to the courts through class action suits.”

Harry M. Snyder, Protecting Class Action Settlements (2010)

His best practices UC Berkeley's remembrance

Talk with the team about your settlement.

Tell us about the case and where it stands.

Discuss a settlement

Or email Matt Iverson-Comelo at matt@cypressettlementfunds.com