WORKSHOP LEADERS & PANELISTS
The 2013 Workshop Leaders
Dr. Nick Morgan
EmBODYing
Social Entrepreneurship
Public Words Inc.
Mike Kiernan
Empathy and Leadership
MiddCORE
Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication theorists and coaches. A passionate teacher, he is committed to helping people find clarity in their thinking and ideas – and then delivering them with panache. He has been commissioned by Fortune 50 companies to write for many CEOs and presidents. He has coached people to give Congressional testimony, to appear on the Today Show, and to take on the investment community. He has worked widely with political and educational leaders. And he has himself spoken, led conferences, and moderated panels at venues around the world.
Nick’s methods, which are well-known for challenging conventional thinking, have been published worldwide. His acclaimed book on public speaking, Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking, was published by Harvard in 2003 and reprinted in paperback in 2005 as Give Your Speech, Change the World: How to Move Your Audience to Action. His book on authentic communications, Trust Me, was published by Jossey-Bass in January 2009. His new book on brain science and communication, Power Cues, will be published by Harvard in early 2014.
Nick served as editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter from 1998 – 2003. He has written hundreds of articles for local and national publications. Nick is a former Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
After earning his PhD. in literature and rhetoric, Nick spent a number of years teaching Shakespeare and Public Speaking at the University of Virginia, Lehigh University, and Princeton University. He first started writing speeches for Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb and went on to found his own communications consulting organization, Public Words, in 1997.
Nick attributes his success to his honest and direct approach that challenges even the most confident orators to rethink how they communicate.
Mike Kiernan has been an instructor in Middlebury College’s renowned leadership training program, MiddCORE, since 2008 in all areas related to communication: storymaking, crisis management, pitching, networking, and strategic presentation design and delivery and currently coordinates the MiddCORE workshop series. He has also worked as a communications consultant with political candidates, physicians, business executives, and teams on Leadership retreats. Mike is an actor and member of the local professional theater company, the Middlebury Actors Workshop. He is also a physician and President of the Medical Staff at Porter Hospital. Mike serves on the Technical Advisory Group for the Green Mountain Care Board and the Executive Counsel of Vermont Medical Society and is Vice Chair of the Town Hall Theater Board of Directors.
Jared Matthew Weiss
Self-Expression for Social Entrepreneurship
Overture
Gijs Spoor
Systems Thinking for
Systemic Change
UnLtd Tamil Nadu; Ashoka Fellow
Jared Matthew Weiss is the Founder and Chief Storyteller at Overture.me, a new startup whose mission is to help the world get to know each other with simple, magical profile videos.
He has been speaking for companies and groups since the age of fourteen and featured on the Today Show, Bravo, Tyra, MTV, and more as an expert on relationships and interpersonal communication.
Though cotton farming as widely practiced in India today is a high-risk, low-profit, resource-intensive, and even dangerous endeavor, Gijs Spoor has created a way for farmers to raise the crop to meet fair trade and organic standards and increase their incomes, improve their health, and protect the environment. His organization, Zameen, coordinates a large network of producer companies and extension workers who bring the control of sophisticated cotton production to the local level so that small farmer-owned enterprises can grow. He also employs market ambassadors who promote the farmers’ products and create direct links between the rural producers and European companies and consumers. He currently runs an incubator for social start-ups called UnLtd Tamil Nadu in Auroville (South India). He is an Ashoka Fellow specialised in value chain development and looks after a 9 acre indigenous forest with his wife and 2 kids.
The 2013 Panelists
Peter Kramer
Funding Your Initiative
Nonprofit Finance Fund
Caitlin Fleming
Funding Your Initiative
Social Finance
Peter Kramer is a Senior Associate at Nonprofit Finance Fund. He joined NFF Capital Partners in 2009 and served on the team for one year. During this time, he was responsible for financial analysis and modeling for NFF Capital Partners clients pursuing significant philanthropic equity funding in support of organizational transformation and growth. Mr. Kramer now serves on the national consulting team, supporting product development efforts and service delivery associated with Nonprofit Finance Fund’s national initiatives and partnerships. Most recently, he led product integrity and quality assurance efforts for two new data analysis platforms developed in partnership with GuideStar and the Cultural Data Project, respectively. He also manages the Catalyst Fund, a funder collaborative to support technical assistance for nonprofit collaborations and mergers in the Boston area, and supports regional service delivery on a variety of local consulting engagements.
Mr. Kramer previously spent two years with El Pomar Foundation, a private foundation focused on general-purpose grant making in the state of Colorado. At the foundation he participated in the grant review and recommendation process and staffed and managed several of the Foundation’s philanthropic outreach programs. Mr. Kramer holds a B.A. in English Literature and Spanish Language & Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Mr. Kramer serves on the advisory board of Brooke Charter Schools.
Caitlin Fleming is an Associate at Social Finance USA on the Business Development Team where she develops and implements innovative solutions for financing social outcomes. Her portfolio includes investments in outcomes across the “cradle-to-career” spectrum including re-entry, workforce development, child welfare, and education. She crafts investment proposals and conducts benefit-cost analysis and due diligence to assess their feasibility. She also builds the partnerships and infrastructure needed to execute successful projects.
Prior to joining Social Finance, Caitlin contributed to the design of successful social service models, growth and capital-raising strategies, and multi-million dollar government contract proposals for a variety of stakeholders including nonprofits, foundations, governments, and businesses. Most recently, she supported the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation’s work to advance evidence-based practices, innovative financing tools, and public-private partnerships to maximize public resources and drive investment toward effective social solutions. She also helped innovative nonprofits develop the capacity to scale effectively as a founding member of AchieveMission’s Talent Initiative, a management consulting firm for the social sector.
Caitlin is a StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellow, and previously served as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs and AmeriCorps Resident in Social Enterprise. She graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College with a B.A. in Political Science and Fine Art.
Prathama Nabi
Social Impact Consulting
Root Cause
Women's Empowerment and
LGBTQ Advocacy
Political Strategist
Parag V. Mehta
Prathama is currently a Research Associate in Root Cause’s consulting practice. In this role, she helps produce strategic recommendations for clients by conducting and synthesizing primary and secondary research, collecting and analyzing financial and market data, and building implementation models. Her most recent projects involved creating financial models, business plans, financial sustainability strategies, and performance measurement frameworks for nonprofits and foundations in the areas of education, social and economic equity, and homelessness.
Prathama first joined Root Cause as a Communications Fellow in July 2011 and originally became a Knowledge Associate in January 2012 before transitioning to a Research Associate. As the Knowledge Associate, Prathama served as project manager and lead writer for new Root Cause publications, coordinated knowledge management efforts with other departments at Root Cause and assisted with content development for Communications and Business Development needs.
Prathama graduated from Harvard College in 2011 with a degree in Linguistics and Economics. Prior to Root Cause, Prathama worked as a statistical analyst for Harvard University HR and served as a teaching assistant to an undergraduate Harvard course (Introduction to Business and Financial Statistics). In college, she ran the Michael F. Cronin Center for Enterprise, which promotes entrepreneurship on Harvard’s campus, worked as the Director of Publicity for the Harvard Summer School Activities Office and volunteered for WorldTeach Bulgaria.
Parag Mehta is a strategist who has worked in government, politics and community advocacy. For the past three years, he has directed communications for a civil rights agency in the U.S. Department of Labor.
In 2008, Mehta served on President Obama’s Transition Team as a liaison to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as well as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Americans. He later managed Gary Locke’s confirmation to become U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
From 2005-2008, Mehta worked for the Democratic National Committee during the four most successful election cycles in the modern history of the Party. He served as the DNC’s Training Director, conducting campaign workshops for organizers in all 50 states.
In 2004 Mehta served as Deputy Political Director of the political action committee America Votes. Prior to that, he worked on the truly game-changing presidential campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean.
Elisa Birnbaum
Social Media for Social Good
See Change
Rob Watson
Alternative Energy Solutions
ECON Group
Debra Askanase
Social Media for Social Good
Community Organizer 2.0
Rob Watson is CEO and Chief Scientist of the newly formed ECON Group, which focuses on optimizing buildings’ lifecycle environmental and economic performance. Prior to ECON, Watson launched EcoTech International (ETI) in 2007 to help clients around the world achieve cost-effective high performance green buildings through better design, technology and operations. Watson was a Senior Scientist with the NRDC for 21 years, during which time he became an international leader in the green building movement and is widely known as the “Founding Father of LEED.” Author Thomas Friedman calls Rob "one of the best environmental minds in America."
Rob is a former Director of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC); under Rob’s direction, LEED became the largest and fastest-growing international standard by which green buildings are measured. Rob currently advises the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute at Baruch College, City University of New York and several other organizations.
Among numerous international awards for his work, He is the 2013 recipient of the International Conservation Award from the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. In 2011, he was a semi-finalist in the international Zayed Energy Future Award for Lifetime Achievement and was profiled on CNN International for his work on LEED and Green Buildings. Watson is the only foreigner honored for Green Building Innovation by the Chinese Ministry of Construction and received the first lifetime achievement award from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2002. Rob led the certification of China’s first LEED building and ETI provided certification services for China’s first Platinum Core and Shell project and TAIPEI 101, the world’s tallest Platinum LEED building.
Mr. Watson received his MBA from Columbia University and has a Masters of Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. from Dartmouth College where he was a Senior Fellow.
He is married to Green Schools Alliance Founder Margaret Howard Watson and has a 14-year-old son, Max.
Debra Askanase is the Principal and Digital Engagement Strategist at Community Organizer 2.0, a digital media consulting firm to mission-driven organizations. Community Organizer 2.0 specializes in online strategy, community-building, digital campaigns, and moving engaged communities to action. Debra has a passion for creating a better world through online engagement. Her award-winning Alltop blog, www.communityorganizer20.com, offers advice, strategies and opinions about using social media in the nonprofit sector.
Prior to opening Community Organizer 2.0, Debra worked as a nonprofit professional, originally as a community organizer and later as a program director, and executive director. Debra holds a B.A. from Emory University and a M.B.A. in International Business from Bar Ilan University. She is also an instructor in the Marlboro College Graduate School, teaching Social Media Strategy for Mission-Driven Organizations. When not presenting, Debra can be often be found chatting away on Twitter @askdebra.
Innovation in Education Models
Families for Excellent Schools
Sharhonda Bossier
Kay Merseth
Innovation in Education Models
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Sharhonda began her professional career in education as a high school social science teacher in 2005. In 2010 Sharhonda joined the staff of Democracy Builders as the Brooklyn Borough Director.
Sharhonda currently serves as the Deputy Director at FES where she manages our New York-based campaign work, leads our parent training efforts and guides our executive team’s work together.
A California native, Sharhonda currently resides in Brooklyn with her family.
Education Week named Sharhonda one of the "Ten People Who Are Changing Education Today--And Will Be Ten Years From Now" for her work with Families for Excellent Schools, and the work she will do in the future.
Matt Segneri
Innovation in the Public Sector
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Matt Segneri is an expert in civic and social innovation and a trusted advisor to business, government and nonprofit leaders. He works on the Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies, Michael R. Bloomberg’s charitable foundation, and leads initiatives to promote public sector innovation and spread proven and promising ideas among cities. Prior to Bloomberg Philanthropies, he served as a senior advisor to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, where he focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, service and civic engagement, and safety and security. Matt joined the Mayor’s Office as an HBS Leadership Fellow. Previously, he worked as a Special Advisor Intern at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Matt also worked as a project leader at Monitor Group, a global strategy consulting firm, where he served domestic and international clients across the private, public and social sectors. Matt holds an AB with honors in Psychology from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and one-year-old daughter.
Katherine Merseth is Senior Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research and writing concentrate on teacher education, case-method instruction, charter schools, and mathematics education. She was the founding executive director of the Harvard Children’s Initiative, a University-wide program focusing on the needs of children. At HGSE, Merseth is the founding director of the School Leadership Program and the Teacher Education Program. She also led a doctoral research group, the Chartering Practice Project, that studied the practices of high poverty, high performing charter schools in Massachusetts. This group published their findings in an award winning book, Inside Urban Charter Schools in the summer of 2008. Merseth has received several awards for her teaching and contributions to the mathematics profession including the prestigious Morningstar Award awarded each year to the outstanding teaching faculty by the students at HGSE and the Massachusetts Mathematics Educators Hall of Fame. She also received among the highest ratings in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences for her course The Dilemma of Excellence and Equity in K-12 American Schools in 2012.
She is a frequent workshop speaker and consults widely with school districts and education organizations, nationally and internationally including recent work in Chile, Greece, Qatar, El Salvador, South Africa and Brazil. In the spring 2011, she was a Visiting Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching working on their Pathways project to improve mathematics learning and teaching at the community college level. Her publications include case books for use in professional development programs including Cases in Educational Administration (Addison Wesley/ Longman) and Windows on Teaching: Cases of Secondary Mathematics Classrooms (Teachers College Press), Being a Teacher: A casebook of South African Cases (Pearson) and several mathematics textbooks. Additionally her research has appeared in Phi Delta Kappan, Journal of Teacher Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, and Teacher Education Quarterly. As a practitioner at the K-12 level, she has served as a math teacher, math curriculum developer and central office administrator. In addition to her two Harvard degrees (M.A.T. in secondary mathematics education and Ed.D. in Administration, Policy, and Practice), Merseth holds a B.A. in mathematics from Cornell University, and an M.A. in mathematics from Boston College. She spends any free time on her tractor at her Maine farmhouse, hiking, or rowing on the Charles River.
Vinay Gidwaney
Designing a High Impact Social Venture
Maxwell Health
Jitinder Kohli
Innovation in the Public Sector
Deloitte
Jitinder Kohli is is a Director in Deloitte Consulting’s public sector practice where he leads work on government performance and innovation. Prior to joining Deloitte in summer 2012, he led the Doing What Works project at the Center for American Progress focused on ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government. He has written widely on ways to promote innovation across the public sector. His recommendations formed the basis of the new GPRA Modernization Act and his work on Social Impact Bonds helped the concept to take root in the United States. Prior to arriving in the U.S. in 2009, Jitinder worked as a senior official in a range of agencies in the British government. Highlights include his time as Chief Executive of Better Regulation Executive leading regulatory reform in the UK and Director for Active Communities leading the British government’s relationship with the non-profit sector.
Vinay Gidwaney is Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder at Maxwell Health, having most recently served as the CPO and Co-Founder at the mobile fitness app DailyFeats, one of Maxwell's wellness brand affiliates. Prior to joining Maxwell, Vinay was the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Control-F1, an industry leader in Support Automation, which was acquired by CA, one of the world's largest software companies. Vinay was also Director and a founding investor of Neurosilicon, a life science company focused on advancing healthcare research through enabling rapid, non-invasive, targeted depolarization of excitable cells using the company's novel photoconductive stimulation technology. A 2002 winner of the prestigious MIT Technology Review Magazine Top 100 Innovators Under 35 award, Vinay lives in Cambridge with his wife, Sanjli, and is a proud father to their daughter Leela.
Vineet Singal
Designing a High Impact Social Venture
Anjna
Vineet is a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow, a Staples/Ashoka Global Youth Social Entrepreneur, Donald A. Strauss Scholar, Goldwater Scholar, Haas Public Service Fellow, Irene and Eric Simon Foundation Fellow, DoSomething/AT&T Fellow, and an NIH Training Award Fellow. He has also served on the Stanford University Board of Trustees and Clinic by the Bay Board of Directors. He graduated with University Distinction from Stanford University with a degree in Biological Sciences.
Dr. Mark Peters
Designing a High Impact Social Venture
Nathan Eagle
Global Health
Jana
Nathan Eagle is the co-founder and CEO of Jana, a company that rewards emerging market consumers with mobile airtime in return for taking market research surveys and trying out new products. He has raised $25MM in investment to develop Jana’s mobile airtime rewards platform, which is now integrated into the back-end systems of hundreds of mobile operators, enabling the instant monetary compensation of billions of consumers in 70 local currencies. Today, Jana is helping global clients in over 50 countries, including P&G, Google, Unilever, Danone, General Mills, Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, the World Bank, and the United Nations.
In addition to being CEO of Jana, Eagle is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Harvard University. His research involves engineering computational tools, designed to explore how the petabytes of data generated about human movements, financial transactions, and communication patterns can be used for social good. In 2012, Wired named Eagle one of the '50 people who will change the world' and the Market Research Society awarded him the President’s Medal. Eagle has been elected to MIT’s TR35 and currently serves on the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer. In recognition of his work with the World Bank on mobile crowdsourcing, Eagle was awarded the prestigious Kiel Global Economy Prize alongside Nobel Laureates Daniel Kahneman and Martti Ahtisaari.Eagle holds a BS and two MS degrees from Stanford’s School of Engineering; his PhD from the MIT Media Laboratory founded the field of 'Reality Mining' and was declared one of the '10 technologies most likely to change the way we live'. Eagle's book, "Reality Mining: Using Big Data to Engineer a Better World", will be published later this year by MIT Press.
Mark Peters received a Bachelors degree in Economics from Georgetown University and then pursued a business career in New York City, working in a variety of business disciplines. Over the past twenty years, Mark has worked and consulted for a variety of institutions, including: large corporations, professional organizations, hospitals, churches, and universities. He now owns and operates a leadership consulting firm which serves individuals and small businesses in addition to being a professor at the University of San Diego.
Dr. Peters earned a Masters Degree from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry and a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego. He has taught in a variety of disciplines including: Business and Management, Economics, and Leadership Studies, at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Most recently, Dr. Peters served on the Faculty of Semester at Sea teaching courses in Social Entrepreneurship, Global Development, and International Management.Dr. Peters’ post doctoral research interests include: how to exercise more effective personal leadership; entrepreneurship and developing small businesses; and educating tomorrow’s leaders for meaning, purpose, and the common good. His most recent research combines leadership for social change with the struggle for economic justice.
Lauren Walters
Global Health
Two Degrees
Dr. Kenneth Paik
Global Health
Sana
Lauren is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, The London School of Economics and Political Science and the Georgetown University Law Center. He was a Ford Foundation Fellow at the Federal Executive Institute and a Fulbright Professional Scholar in Korea.
Lauren, a life-long political activist and entrepreneur, is Co-Founder and CEO of Two Degrees Food. He is responsible for the development and execution of the company’s business strategy, and for building the team of people who together enable the connection between purchasers of Two Degrees bars in the United States and hungry children in developing countries.
Dr. Paik is the director of operations at Sana, an organization hosted at MIT CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory). Sana is focused on developing effective and sustainable innovations in global health through mobile technologies, design thinking, and multidisciplinary collaboration. Dr. Paik completed his postdoctoral fellowship in biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School and the Laboratory of Computer Science at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Margaret Howard Watson
Alternative Energy Solutions
Green School Alliance
David Wood
Finance with a Mission
Founder and President of the Green Schools Alliance (GSA), Margaret (Peg) Watson launched the GSA in New York City in 2007 in collaboration with founding member schools. The mission of the GSA is to connect and empower K-12 schools worldwide to lead the transformation to global sustainability. Uniquely “created by schools for schools,” the GSA is a global network of schools working locally and globally to accelerate climate and conservation solutions.
Prior to launching the GSA, as an architect, and one of the country's original green building materials experts, Peg was one of 60 national experts invited to participate in the 1993 Greening of the White House Initiative initiated by the Clinton Administration. In 1994, she founded Global Environmental Options (GEO) through which stakeholders were convened to develop and implement greening initiatives for the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Denali National Parks, and the U.S.-Japan Charrette for post-earthquake Kobe which she co-initiated. Peg also participated in the Habitat for Humanity Greening and Mississippi Flood Plains charrettes among other national and international collaborative efforts.
In the fall of 2008, under Ms. Watson’s leadership, the GSA conducted a four-day LEED workshop with the Building Environment and Energy Efficient Design Research Center at the China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute Corporation Ltd., which focused on sustainable design and development of more than 200 schools in the Sichuan Province of China following the devastating 8.0 earthquake earlier that year.
Most recently, Ms. Watson has guided GSA in development of tangible and measurable programs that support schools to build a secure and sustainable future through the integration of education and hands-on climate action, and by connecting youth to nature. Most recently, she is engaged in the launch of a global Student Climate & Conservation Corps (Sc3) between the U.S. and India. Other programs include: The Sc3 Congress; the Green Schools Renewable Energy Purchasing Consortium; Green Cup Challenge; and GSA Climate Commitment.
An architect, environmentalist, writer, speaker and mother, Margaret has a BA from Smith College, an MArch from Columbia University, and studied at the Institute For Architecture & Urban Studies (IAUS).
David Wood is Director of the Initiative for Responsible Investment, a project of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at the Harvard Kennedy School. He directs research and field-building work on responsible investment across asset classes, and currently manages projects on RI strategy with pension fund trustees, mission investing by foundations, the changing landscape of community investing in the US, and impact investing and public policy. Prior to joining the IRI he taught the History of Ethics, including the History of Economic Thought and Human Rights, at Boston University. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the Johns Hopkins University, and serves on the Board of Directors of US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.
Tim McFeeley
Women's Empowerment and LGBTQ Advocacy
Center for Policy Alternatives;
former Executive Director of Human Rights Campaign
Tim McFeeley is vice president of Isaacson, Miller, an executive search firm. From November 2001 until May 2008, Tim was the Executive Director of the Center for Policy Alternatives, a national, nonprofit leadership and policy resource for state legislators. For over five years (1989-1995) Tim served as Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign. Prior to his time at HRC Tim practiced law in Boston for over 18 years, and during that time Tim was actively involved in GLAD, Bay State Democrats, and the Boston Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance. Tim received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his J.D. from Harvard Law
School.
Chris Osgood
Innovation in the Public Sector
MONUM
Chris Osgood co-founded and co-chairs Mayor Menino’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, which is Boston’s civic research & development group. Though collaborations with entrepreneurs inside and outside of government, the office experiments with new approaches to service delivery and streetscape design. Before joining the Mayor’s Office in 2006, he received his MBA from the Harvard Business School after serving for five years for the City of New York’s Department of Parks & Recreation as its senior advisor and chief of staff. Throughout his career, Chris has focused on designing, implementing and managing programs and policies that help local governments engage with and respond to constituents.
Elisa Birnbaum is the publisher and editor of SEE Change Magazine, a digital publication dedicated to stories of social entrepreneurship and innovation. She co-founded the magazine in 2009 with the mission of informing, educating and inspiring anyone who believes in a new of way doing business, living their life and engaging their communities. A freelance journalist and producer, Elisa’s portfolio includes articles published in national magazines and newspapers, and she’s produced a variety of current affairs programs. As a consultant, Elisa helps her clients—most of whom in the social change space— tell their stories effectively and with impact.
Breanna DiGiammarino is the education, research and social innovation category marketing director at Indiegogo. She has been responsible for developing key partnerships with institutions such as the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), George Mason University and Village Capital.
Prior to Indiegogo, Breanna was the Senior Associate at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a social venture fund in San Francisco, where she helped raise $30 million to support the company’s second fund for social entrepreneurship called the Springstep Venture Fund and increased the number of applications from hundreds to thousands.
Before that, she was an Associate Consultant at The Bridgespan Group, the non-profit arm of Bain & Company, where she consulted with high impact educational organizations and foundations including the Cristo Rey Network to help urban students into work-study programs and the Gates Foundation to improve low-income graduation rates.
Breanna was invited as a reader for the 2011 and 2012 Echoing Green social venture fellowship and Haas Global Social Venture competition. She is also an Avanti Fellows advisory board member.
Breanna holds a Master of Public Administration in Nonprofit Management from the NYU Wagner School
of Public Service and graduated with a B.A in Biology and Government from the University of Virginia.
Breanna Digiammarino
Funding Your Initiative
Indiegogo
Tiffany Dufu
Women's Empowerment and LGBTQ Advocacy
Levo League
Named in 2012 as one of 19 “women who are leading the way” in the Huffington Post amongst luminaries such as Hillary Clinton and Diane Sawyer, Tiffany’s life’s work is advancing women and girls. Her mission is to inspire women and girls to recognize they are the most powerful change agent in their own journey.
As Chief Leadership Officer to Levo League and Launch Team member to Lean In, Tiffany Dufu is a catalyst-at-large in the world of women’s leadership. Having raised nearly $20 million toward the cause of women and girls, she was honored by Mattel in 2011 as one of their 10 Women to Watch, and was named by the National Council for Research on Women in 2012 as one of 30 women making change in the world. She was included in Fast Company’s League of Extraordinary Women in 2012, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Seattle Times, and on NPR and Bloomberg. Tiffany is also a widely-sought after speaker on women’s and Gen Y leadership and nonprofit fundraising, presenting at Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women Summit and TEDxWomen.
Prior to joining the Levo League and Lean In, Tiffany served as President of The White House Project. She also served as a Major Gifts Officer at Simmons College. While in Boston, Tiffany was featured in a Boston Globe article that, within 24 hours, became the most-forwarded article in BostonGlobe.com history. Before moving to Boston, Tiffany served as Associate Director of
Development at Seattle Girls’ School, an institution committed to giving all girls the power to be innovative, confident, critical thinkers. In just under a year, she raised $2 million.
Tiffany is a member of Women's Forum New York and Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Inc., is a part of TARA, a sister group of the Belizean Grove focusing on the next generation of global leaders, and serves on the board of Harlem 4 Kids and the board of Students First New York. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
Christina Triantaphyllis has been with The Bridgespan Group since 2010 and is a Consultant in the Boston office. She has worked with large foundations, direct-service providers, and international NGOs on growth strategies, business planning and measurement system development in global development, public health and youth development.
Before joining Bridgespan, Christina earned a Master of Science from the Harvard School of Public Health in Global Health & Population where she was a Reynolds Foundation Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. She holds a BA in Biological Science & Health Policy from Rice University. She is a co-founder and current board member of PAIR: Partnership for the Advancement & Immersion of Refugees, a nonprofit in Houston that provides educational services for resettled refugee youth.
Christina Triantaphyllis
Social Impact Consulting
The Bridgespan Group
Jeffrey Perlman is the President and Founder of Bright Power. He spends his days solving the most challenging energy problems facing building owners today. An experienced energy auditor, energy analyst and solar-energy-system designer, Jeff is as happy in a boiler room or on a rooftop as he is in a corporate boardroom.
Jeff is also the President & co-Founder of EnergyScoreCards™, a subsidiary of Bright Power that provides energy benchmarking and energy management software for building portfolios. In addition to his work at Bright Power, Jeff is adjunct faculty at NYU and the City University of New York (CUNY) and serves on the board of the New Alternatives Fund, a mutual fund that invests in renewable energy. Prior to founding Bright Power, Jeff worked with Greg Kats at Capital E, with whom he co-authored "The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings," a ground-breaking report that used economic cost/benefit analysis to show that building healthy, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible buildings makes economic sense.
Jeff is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM), LEED AP, and a BPI Multifamily Building Analyst. He has a degree in Applied Physics from Yale University.
Jeffrey Perlman
Alternative Energy Solutions
Bright Power
Brian Gloede
Social Impact Consulting
Quarterback
Brian Gloede is Founder and CEO at Quarterback, a social enterprise startup that empowers the mutual advancement of professionals and nonprofits through social impact consulting projects. Previously an investment banker, now a social entrepreneur, Brian is no stranger to challenges. In fact, the founding of Quarterback was the result of a personal challenge.
Following several years in finance, Brian challenged himself to take a career break for 3 months and focus on giving back. During this period, he worked closely with an international development organization and traveled to Zambia to support his work--it was there he encountered the challenges nonprofits face in delivering their services. As a response, Brian launchedQuarterback, which works with nonprofit organizations to transform strategic and operational challenges into into high-impact professional development opportunities for MBAs.
Brian also serves as the Chairman of the Spark Ventures Junior Board and is a member of the Young Professionals Advisory Council for the Farmer School of Business at Miami University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Finance.
Dr. Soren Harrison
Alternative Energy Solutions
SolSolution
Dr. Soren Harrison, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, SolSolution
As a nuclear fusion scientist turned energy entrepreneur, Soren has 10+ years of experience leading technical and business teams in nuclear fusion R&D and solar PPA deployment. He is passionately dedicated to bringing about social change through unique combinations of technology and business. Soren has served SolSolution since its inception with his visionary leadership, dedication, and personal investment. He has lead the SolSolution team through the completion of a pilot installation that demonstrated the power of the SolSolution model and into the early stages of development of 10MW+ of solar schools projects.
Soren completed his doctoral research at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center in October 2008, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in just over 4 years. In 2006, he founded Fusion Research Technologies, LLC to perform R&D in the field of nuclear fusion research, develop a novel thin-film measurement technique, and transfer the technology from the field of nuclear fusion to mainstream commercial industries. As CEO of Fusion Research Technologies, Soren has won and successfully carried out the R&D for a Department of Energy small business grant (STTR), and secured multi-year contracts from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to lead a team of MIT and Princeton engineers and analysts through a multi-$M experimental upgrade to the MIT nuclear fusion facility.
Haviva Kohl
Women's Empower and LGBTQ Advocacy
Strong Women Strong Girls
Haviva Kohl is the President of Strong Women Strong Girls. She previously served as Executive Director of Teachers Without Borders in Seattle, WA; Education Director for Miracle Corners of the World in Tanzania; and Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at the United Organizations of Williamsburg, NY, where she led strategic planning and workforce development efforts with a focus on female urban micro-entrepreneurs. She most recently served as Director of the Leadership Pipeline for the New York City Department of Education, a multi-million dollar initiative to identify, support and advance leaders in the largest school system in the nation. Haviva is a cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California and earned a Masters of Education from Lehman College and Masters of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is based in the organization’s national office in Boston, MA.
Teresa Chahine
Finance with a Mission
Alfanar
Teresa Chahine is an advisor at Alfanar, a venture philanthropy organization based out of London with centers in Egypt, Libya, and Lebanon. She is also a Research Associate at Harvard School of Public Health, where she teaches a course on social entrepreneurship in health and the environment. She has developed and delivered courses in sustainable development practice and corporate sustainability strategy for Harvard's Division of Continuing Education, HarvardX, and professional development programs in the Middle East and Asia. Most recently she was involved in training and selecting the inaugural cohort for Nabad (Arabic for 'Pulse'), the first social enterprise incubator in Lebanon and the Middle East. Teresa's role at Alfanar has been to launch the Lebanon office, form a board, create an organizational strategy, build awareness on venture philanthropy, and select initial investments. Key challenges have been measuring social impact with scarce baseline data and generating revenue to build cost recovery for non-profit organizations working in low resource settings.
Kimberley Ednie
Innovation in Education Models
BPE
Kimberley Ednie is a third year doctoral student in HGSE's Education Leadership program (EdLD), completing her residency with BPE, a non-profit that oversees the Boston Teacher Residency and recently launched the Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School in Roxbury. At BPE, Kimberley is working with the senior leadership team on the design of BPE's teaching academies, characterized as sites of deep teaching, learning, and improvement for both students and adults, characterized by rigor and engagement for all learners.
Prior to joining the EdLD program, Kimberley worked at the central office of the New York City Department of Education, supporting the rollout of the district's Common Core State Standards, as well as facilitating CCSS collaboration across six districts nationwide. For five years, she served as the managing director of programs at iMentor, a mentoring non-profit in NYC that annually matched over 1400 high school students with adult mentors, in a technology-enriched program supporting students' personal, academic, and career success. Kimberley's life in education began with the fortunate gift to teach writing, both at CUNY Hunter, where she received a master's degree in British and American literature, and to high school students in Queens. When not thinking about education, Kimberley is most likely reading, writing, cooking, or listening to music (or reading about writing and cooking and music).
Doug Borchard
Finance with a Mission
New Profit
Doug is a Managing Director at New Profit. He joined the organization in 2005 and served as Partner and Chief Operating Officer through 2011. In addition to managing New Profit's finances and internal operations, Doug works closely with several of New Profit's portfolio organizations, including Achievement First, iMentor, and KIPP.
Doug brings to New Profit diverse experience as an accomplished entrepreneur and senior executive in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Most recently, Doug was Vice President of Prospecting Solutions at Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business information. At D&B, Doug led a $140mm business unit, with broad P&L responsibility for product strategy, sales and marketing, and product development. Doug came to D&B through its acquisition of iMarket, Inc., a venture-funded provider of sales and marketing software and internet solutions that he co-founded. Doug also spent several years as a consultant at Bain & Company, a leading international management consulting firm, where he worked on assignments in the information services industry.
Doug worked as a program and logistics officer with Save the Children, where he was part of a team that started up field operations in the Sudan, and created and managed a multi-million dollar relief and development operation. He has served on the boards of directors of a number of growing organizations, including Venturcom, iMarket, and Computers for Youth, and currently sits on the boards of Achievement First and iMentor, and is a board observer for The KIPP Foundation.
Doug graduated from Princeton with a BS in Engineering, and received a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Krystin Stafford
Social Impact Consulting
Innosight
Krystin is a Senior Associate at Innosight. During her six year tenure, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare, transportation, and consumer packaged goods industries, helping clients develop innovative offerings and marketing through consumer‐based insights. These efforts have been with both business-to-business and business-to-consumer organizations. Recently, she has worked with a major brand to create an internal innovation engine, teaching disruptive innovation and business model innovation principles, and collaborating to apply those principles to expansion of the brand beyond its core products, channels, and customers.
Prior to joining Innosight, Krystin helped Fortune 500 companies design new products from a technical perspective. She worked on mechanical design and prototyping for telecommunications, transportation, and consumer packaged goods industries. Krystin is a member of ASME.
Krystin received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, where she was a member of the Inaugural Class. Krystin also received an M.S. in Management (Concentration in Technological Entrepreneurship) cum laude from Babson College’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.
Willa Zhou
Social Media for Social Good
Willa Zhou works on the Changemakers Community Partnerships team on Google+. She supports good causes by helping organizations and individuals to increase their impact via the G+ social media platform. Her latest project raised over $9,000 via G+ to send 30 girls back to school in Africa in partnership with Camfed. Prior to Google, Willa founded a public health program with the City of San Francisco. The program promotes wellness through community activities like free dance exercise classes in the parks, and continues to grow. Willa founded the Igniting Innovation Summit on Social Entrepreneurship in 2010 to build a community of changemakers on Harvard's undergraduate campus. She enjoys dancing salsa and hiphop, playing tennis, and reading. Willa welcomes a good conversation and can be reached at willa.zhou@gmail.com. Please say hello if you see her around!
Jenn Bender
Constructing a Theory of Change
New Sector Alliance
Jenn Bender is current Chief Executive Officer of New Sector Alliance, a nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to helping people who are committed to social impact become more effective social sector professionals by training them to implement consulting services to mission-driven organizations.
Jenn Bender (formerly Jenn Harber) joined New Sector in 2011 as Managing Director before moving into her current role. Before working with New Sector Jenn was Executive Director of The Bridge Center, a therapeutic recreation organization, where she led the strategic growth, sustainability development, and program enhancements. Earlier, Jenn was Program Director at MGH YouthCare where she developed, managed and grew therapeutic programs to meet the needs of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Jenn holds an A.B. in Psychology and Mathematics from Cornell University, an Ed.M. from Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and an MBA from Babson College. At Cornell, she served two terms as an AmeriCorps member supporting local education program development and delivery, and during her MBA studies, she was a New Sector consulting case team member. Jenn serves on the National Board of Directors of the American Camp Association and the Seven Generations Board of City Year Boston.
David Carter
Public Speaking
Voice Movement Therapy
Expressive therapist and language coach David Carter received his certification to practice Voice Movement Therapy (VMT) after studying with VMT’s founder, Paul Newham of London. David has coached actors for solo performance on stage, business executives from around the world, and international students who come to study in the US. He combines the techniques of VMT with the art and craft of the actor and, especially, the improvisational actor, to expand the vocal range and general expressive capacity of his clients. David’s passion for performance, cross cultural exchange, and the universal language of movement have earned him a unique place among Boston’s professional coaches.
