Our leaders represent the best attributes of the private and public sectors. We get things done. And we take risks that get results. Across functions, our global leaders have deep expertise in international education, business and finance. Our board is comprised of CEOs of major companies, leaders of industries, and regional influencers. These people push us, keep our eye on the prize, and help us achieve our bold goals. Their vision empowers us to support children in communities experiencing deep educational and economic inequities, where investments in education accelerate positive change for children, families and communities.
Leadership & Board
Mark Bedingham
Mark is President and CEO, Singapore Myanmar Investco Ltd, a company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange focused on investing and in managing businesses in Myanmar. He has held this position since 2015 and is responsible for the Group’s corporate plans, policies and business development as well as the general management of the Group's operations. Mark also serves as Chairman of the Board, Ce La Vi; Advisor and Consultant, Access Myanmar Distribution Co Ltd, Myanmar; Non-Executive Director of the Scotch Malt Whisky (Holdings) Limited; and Advisor and Director of the Board, Crystal Jade Culinary Concepts Holding.
From 1995 to 2014 Mark was Regional Managing Director, Moet Hennessy Asia Pacific. He joined Moet Hennessy following 8 years as President of Jardine Wines and Spirits (Now known as Moet Hennesy Diageo Japan). Mark began his career in 1977 as a member of the "cadre" of Jardine Matheson. Mark graduated with a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Forest Sciences from the School of Biological Sciences of Oxford University.
Nicholas Nash and Phalgun Raju
Nicholas A. Nash is the Managing Partner and a co-founder of Asia Partners, a leading growth equity technology investment firm in Southeast Asia. Prior to founding Asia Partners, Mr. Nash was the Group President of Sea, Greater Southeast Asia’s leading internet company, from 2014 to 2018.
Mr. Nash joined Sea after more than a decade with General Atlantic (GA), most recently as the co-founder and head of GA’s Southeast Asia business. Three of Mr. Nash’s successful investments while with General Atlantic are now multi-billion dollar NYSE publicly traded companies. Prior to GA, Mr. Nash was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in New York.
Mr. Nash was a member of the World Economic Forum’s ASEAN Regional Strategy Group from 2017-2018. He was a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 2013-2018 and is currently a member of the global Kauffman Society for leadership in venture capital, a member of the Young Presidents Organization, a board member for Room to Read in Singapore, and a board member of Endeavor Indonesia.
Mr. Nash holds an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in Chemistry and Physics, magna cum laude. In 1996 he was named a United States Presidential Scholar, one of the nation’s highest academic honors for graduating secondary school students.
Phalgun is the Managing Partner of Morph Ventures, where she invests in early stage startups across India and Southeast Asia. She is a Kauffman Fellow and was named an Asia 21 Young Leader by the Asia Society.
Prior to Morph Ventures, Phalgun was the Vice President and General Manager of various global businesses and Asia regions at InMobi. A leader in the mobile technology industry, Phalgun was named to Business Insider’s 2013 Most Powerful Women in Mobile Advertising, the only woman in Asia included in this list. Phalgun and her work have been covered and profiled numerous times in the media such as The Wall Street Journal and The Economic Times. She has received numerous industry and leadership awards. Phalgun regularly speaks on entrepreneurship, mobile and venture at events. She was on the Asia Board of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF).
Prior to her work at InMobi, Phalgun held various senior leadership roles at Google, Nokia and McKinsey & Company.
Phalgun holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
Helman Sitohang (Chair) and Ria Sitohang
Helman Sitohang has been the Chief Executive Officer for Credit Suisse Asia Pacific since 2014. In 2015, he was appointed to the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group AG and Credit Suisse AG. He is the first Indonesian to sit on the Executive Board of a global bank.
Under his leadership, Credit Suisse has won among the most prestigious house, country and deal awards in Asia Pacific including, most recently Best Investment Bank by Global Capital, Asia's Best Bank for Wealth Management and Asia's Best Bank for Financing in Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence, and was ranked as having Asia’s top Equity Sales and Trading house in a poll by Institutional Investor. Credit Suisse was also named House of the Year by AsiaRisk and Best Private Bank by Asian Private Banker in 2016. In 2015, Mr. Sitohang was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by FinanceAsia. In 2009, Mr. Sitohang was named as an inaugural member of Finance Asia's "Club" of the 50 most influential people in Asia's financial markets.
Mr. Sitohang joined Credit Suisse in 1998 from Bankers Trust, where he worked in the derivatives group. Upon joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Sitohang worked as part of the Indonesian coverage team and rose to become head of the team. He continued to take on additional responsibilities across Southeast Asia, until in 2009 he became the Co-Head of the Investment Banking Department (the corporate advisory business, covering M&A and Capital Markets) for Asia Pacific. In 2012 he was appointed as Head of the Investment Bank in Asia Pacific, responsible for all Credit Suisse’s Fixed Income, Equity and Investment Banking Department activities across the region.
Ria A. Sitohang is the co-founder of Ars86care Foundation, a highly acclaimed charity based in Indonesia, whose vision and mission is to promote and create high quality child friendly living spaces in order to achieve a better quality of life for children and build public awareness on the importance of child friendly living spaces. She is a highly committed and active philanthropist and has been instrumental in driving a strong culture of giving and volunteering for Indonesian causes. In 2017, Room to Read honored Helman and Ria with the Friends of Global Literacy Award, after they launched the Room to Read Accelerator program, which harnessed the skills and resources of foundations, corporations and individuals to support and kick-start a two-year project aimed at setting up school libraries and publishing children's books in Bahasa. The initiative was undertaken in cooperation with five local NGOs and two private sector publishers. As a result, 24 libraries have been established across 3 districts and 15 book titles published. The innovative Accelerator model of enhancing the skillbase of incumbent NGOs has now been rolled out by Room to Read across eight countries to date, benefiting over 1.5 million children, with more than 720,000 books have been distributed to approximately 9,600 project sites. In 2014, Ria Sitohang was named by Tatler Indonesia as one of just seven “Heroes of Philanthropy” for her work in education.
Justin and Kari Teo
Justin Teo is Group Head of Corporate Finance and Strategy at TCIL, a Hong Kong listed multinational corporation spanning automotive retail and distribution, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, real estate, and hospitality. Justin is responsible for business planning and oversees financial performance across eleven countries in Asia. In addition, he oversees corporate strategy and business development, mergers and acquisitions, fundraising and strategic partnerships. He also leads Group initiatives around mobility innovation and automotive electrification. Justin is concurrently Managing Director and executive board member of TC Zero, a transportation and logistics joint venture with Japan listed Zero Co Ltd. Justin served as a Management Committee member of the Group and sits on various subsidiary boards in Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. Prior to TCIL, Justin has held investment, M&A and corporate finance roles at Magnetar Capital, Ardmore Park Capital and UBS in New York, Singapore and Tokyo. Justin has an interest in impact investing and is a member of the UBS Social Finance Collective. He has been previously involved with microfinance and social enterprise projects in Africa and South East Asia. Justin was a Merrill Presidential scholar and graduated magna cum laude, with an undergraduate degree in economics from Cornell University.
Kari is a Managing Director of Summer Capital, an Asia-based private credit & equity investment firm. Prior to Summer Capital, she spent over a decade at Värde Partners and Deutsche Bank. She has made equity and financing investments across industries including renewable energy, fintech, and education spanning both emerging and developed countries in Asia and Europe. Prior to her investment career, she worked at IBM in Silicon Valley.
Kari has lived in Taiwan, U.S., Hong Kong and now calls Singapore home. Her involvement with Room to Read started in Hong Kong over a decade ago and she has also been involved in other non-profit efforts to create academic and career opportunities for aspiring or underprivileged populations in Taiwan and emerging South East Asian countries. She is passionate about reading, and charity initiatives involving education, healthcare and livelihood enablement.
Agnes and Tony Zameczkowski
Tony is Vice President, Business Development for Netflix Asia Pacific. He joined in 2016 to co-lead Netflix in Asia and lead the company’s partnership strategy of expanding consumer access to the global streaming service across a rapidly-growing region. Prior to Netflix, Tony has a proven track record working in large organizations such as Google and WarnerMedia where he led teams in strategic partnerships and business development efforts. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, as well as a Master’s degree from ESSEC Business School. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of AVIA (Asia Video Industry Association) and XA Network (formerly known as Xoogler Angels).
Agnes has 16-years of experience in the luxury industry, having worked for prestigious international brands. She managed the Asia Pacific Eyewear business for Safilo's luxury brands portfolio (i.e., Celine, Jimmy Choo, Givenchy, Gucci) until June 2018. Since then, she dedicates her time to supporting non-profit organizations and the education of her two daughters. Previously, she held various roles as a Marketing executive at Chaumet, Tag Heuer, and Dior. She has extensive global experience, having worked and studied in Europe (Paris), Asia (Hong Kong, Tokyo), as well as in the US (New York).
Married for 16 years, they are the proud parents of Maya and Anna.
David and Catherine Zemans
David is the managing partner of Milbank's Asia Practice, and a member of the firm's Global Executive Committee. David has been based in Singapore since 1997 and has advised clients from countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, India, China and Australia. David is a member of the Advisory Board of the Singapore Management University School of Law.
David is consistently ranked in the top tier by Chambers Asia Pacific for his expertise in Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking & Finance and Restructuring/Insolvency, receiving the “Outstanding Achievement in the Legal Profession Award” at the most recent annual Chambers AsiaPacific Awards. He is also recognized by Legal 500 and IFLR1000 for Projects & Energy/Project Finance, Banking & Finance, Corporate and M&A, Capital Markets and Restructuring. David was cited in the Leading Lawyers Survey as one of Asia’s leading business lawyers and has been recognized as a leading lawyer in Project Finance, Banking, Capital Markets, Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions by Euromoney in the Banking, Finance and Transactional Expert Guide. He is also listed as one of the World’s Leading Lawyers in IFLR’s Banking, Finance and Transactional Expert Guide. He has also been named as “Banking & Project Finance Lawyer of the Year – Singapore” by Corporate LiveWire’s recent Innovation and Excellence awards. David is also named among the world’s leading energy lawyers by Who’s Who Legal: Energy.
Catherine Poyen Zemans practiced civil and criminal litigation from 1993–97 at McCarthy Tetrault, Toronto before moving to Singapore in 1997 when she joined the Corporate Finance practice group at Shearman and Sterling LLP. Between 1997 and 2001, Catherine represented corporations and investment banks in a variety of debt and equity offerings and asset securitizations in Indonesia, India, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand. Between 2001 and 2008, Catherine worked on an adjunct basis at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore teaching in the Legal Skills Programme. During her tenure, Catherine participated in a comprehensive review and revamping of the program curriculum. Catherine has also served on the Board of the Singapore American School, and the Singapore American School Foundation.
Lauren and James Houghton (Co-chair)
Lauren Houghton received her undergraduate degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from Boston University School of Law. She practiced as a litigator at New York’s Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison and Boston’s Hale and Dorr. She served as the Executive Director of Asian Charity Services, providing capacity building services to NGOs. She is currently leading Strategy and Development streams at Equal Justice, a Hong Kong access to justice non-profit, having volunteered with its predecessor, PathFinders’ Access to Justice Program, since the inception of its justice work in 2014.
James Houghton is co-head of Asia Pacific Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) at Goldman Sachs. James relocated to Hong Kong in 2012 and is a director of Goldman Sachs Asia Bank Limited. He serves on the council of the Hong Kong Treasury Markets Association and is a member of the Hong Kong Academy of Finance. James joined Goldman Sachs in 2002 and was named managing director in 2005 and partner in 2008. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he worked for UBS in London and New York. James earned a BSc in Economics from The London School of Economics. James and Lauren have been supporting Room to Read since 2013 and live in Hong Kong.
Jason Karas
Jason is a lawyer and strategic adviser. He is the managing partner of Karas LLP in Association with Mishcon de Reya, having previously co-founded Lipman Karas.
He specialises in the resolution of complex commercial disputes involving some of the most sophisticated global corporations, throughout the Asia Pacific region and internationally. A leading international disputes lawyer and advocate, he is renowned for his tenacity, commercial acumen and stamina. Jason is also a trusted adviser to corporate clients, general counsel, investment and hedge funds and family offices. Jason has also been at the forefront of the development of the dispute financing industry over the last 30 years.
Jason is also Chair of the Art Gallery of South Australia and a director of Sight for All.
Jason graduated from the University of Adelaide with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and an honours degree in Law. He is a keen amateur tennis player and runner.
John and Camilla Lindfors
John Lindfors is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of DST Global. DST was founded by Yuri Milner to back exceptional category-leading internet companies led by visionary founders. Over the last several years, DST has invested more than $5 billion in companies such as Facebook, Alibaba, JD.com, Xiaomi, AirBnB, Spotify, Lending Club, Flipkart, etc. Prior to joining DST in 2010, John was the Partner in charge of the European Technology and Media Investment Banking department for Goldman Sachs. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1993 and worked in London and New York during his 17 years at the firm. John earned a M.Sc. (Econ.) from the Swedish School of Economics in Helsinki in 1993.
Camilla Lindfors received a M.Sc. (Econ.) from the Swedish School of Economics in Helsinki in 1993 and worked for the leading global paper company UPM Kymmene following her graduation. She received diplomas from the Inchbald School of Design in London in 1998 and the New York School of Interior Design in 1999 after which she launched a successful interior design business taking on projects in different parts of the world.
John and Camilla reside in Hong Kong with their three children.
Angela Mackay
Angela Mackay is Global Publisher of FT Live and Managing Director of Asia Pacific at the Financial Times. Based in Hong Kong, she is a member of the FT’s global board. As Global Publisher for FT Live, Mackay leads business and strategy development for conferences, events and communities, including FT Forums and Board Director Programme. The FT stages more than 200 events around the world annually.
In Asia Pacific, Mackay focuses on developing the group’s significant potential across the region. This includes FTChinese.com, the mainland's leading foreign-owned, Chinese-language news site. Mackay also holds wider responsibility across the FT Group, as Chair of Longitude, a specialist thought-leadership and research company acquired by the FT in 2018; and a board director for The Next Web, an events and media company based in Amsterdam with a
focus on new technology and startups in Europe. She is also an executive board director of scoutAsia, a corporate data and news service jointly founded by the FT and Nikkei; and a non-executive director for Headspring, a joint venture between the FT and IE Business School.
Mackay joined the FT in 2003 on the editorial team, serving as the Asia investment editor for two years. Before joining the FT, she was Asia editor for Sunday Business from 1998 to 2001. Her previous roles include editor at The Economist Group, supervising producer at CNBC, deputy news editor at The Times in London, and UK correspondent for the Australian
Financial Review.
In her personal capacity, Mackay is a non-executive board member for the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT), Sovereign Art Foundation and the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. She holds a BA in English Literature and an LLB from the University of New South Wales and was admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia.
Dieter Turowski and Laura Howard (Co-chair)
Dieter Turowski is co-head of the Asia Pacific investment banking division and member of Asia Pacific Executive Committee of Morgan Stanley since early 2013, based in Hong Kong. Prior to his current role, Dieter was co-head of the global natural resources group within investment banking division, which includes energy, metals & mining, chemicals, cement and forest products. For most of his career, Dieter was in the merger and acquisitions department, including a period as head of European mergers and acquisitions, based in London. Dieter joined Morgan Stanley in 1988 and has worked in Toronto, New York, London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong. Dieter graduated from the University of Waterloo with a B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering and has an M.B.A. from Harvard University where he was both a Baker Scholar and a Loeb Fellow. Dieter is a Canadian and British citizen. He and his wife, Laura Howard, live in Hong Kong and have two children.
Laura Howard is a senior advisor within the Asia Pacific investment banking division at Morgan Stanley. Prior to this she was the co-head of the European healthcare group at Morgan Stanley based in London where she worked from 1997 to 2013. Laura also worked in the mergers & acquisitions department at Goldman Sachs in New York from 1990 to 1992 and The MAC Group / Gemini Consulting in both New York and London from 1992 to 1997. Laura received her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in economics from Haverford College where she currently serves on the International Council. Laura is also a member of the Board of Chelsea & Westminster Healthcare Trust. Laura lives in Hong Kong with her husband Dieter Turowski and twin boys.
Bassam Aflak and Rita Azar
Bassam and Rita were raised in Sydney by migrant parents who believe in the value of education, faith and giving.
Bassam Aflak is founder and director of Ecove Group, a boutique property development firm, specialising in large-scale, mixed-use developments across various property classes.
Rita Azar went from university to the corporate world to work for a cutting-edge online training company. Since then she became an active presence in her son's school being recruited as the parent advisor for the school’s mental health program, has been part of staff recruitment panels, has mentored students in the area of literacy and volunteers in social justice initiatives.
Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes
Mike Cannon-Brookes is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Atlassian, a collaboration software company. Mike co-founded the company with his university friend, Scott Farquhar, in 2002 from Australia, which has grown to over 10,000 staff globally, serving over 250,000 customers. Outside Atlassian, Mike is a technology investor in the areas of software, fintech, agriculture and energy. Mike has been recognised as a leading entrepreneur by Ernst & Young, the Australian Financial Review, Forbes and the World Economic Forum. A passionate clean energy evangelist, he continues to be an investor in climate change philanthropy and sustainable solutions.
Brett and Zahra Godfrey
Brett Godfrey is a non-executive director on the boards of WestJet, Green Cross Australia, Auckland Airport and Tourism Australia. In 2010, Brett stepped down from the position of chief executive officer for Australia's second largest air carrier, Virgin Blue Airlines Group, a position he had held since launching the company in August 2000. Prior to establishing Virgin Blue, Brett worked for 12 years in aviation and finance, which included appointments as chief financial officer of Virgin Express in Brussels and finance positions for London-based Virgin Atlantic. Brett has been awarded the Centenary Medal for his service to Tourism and Aviation, was recognized as the “Australian Chief Executive of the Year” by the Institute Of Customer Service and an “Outstanding Chartered Accountant in Business” by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Zahra Godfrey was raised in Calgary and earned her degree in law from Queen’s University in Ontario. She was admitted to the Bar in 1988 and worked for the Ontario Human Rights Commission before moving to Australia with her husband, Brett. She has worked with a number of charities in addition to raising the couple’s two sons.
Charles (Chair) and Alison Gorman
Charles and Alison Gorman live in Sydney with their two teenage sons Samuel and Will. Charles Gorman is the head of the Financial Markets Business at Investec Australia, having joined the firm in late 2013. He has spent the last 20 years in various senior Banking roles. Charles was previously Managing Director and Co-Head of FICC Sales at Goldman Sachs Australia, where he had primary responsibility for the Foreign Exchange, Futures and Institutional Rates business. Prior to joining GS in 2003 he was Head of Foreign Exchange Sales for Credit Suisse in Australia. He began his career at the Australian Wheat Board in Melbourne.
Alison Gorman is the founder of Inkling Writing Studio. She completed a masters of creative writing at the University of Sydney and her poetry has been published in a number of Australian literary journals. Alison completed her bachelor’s degree in Speech Pathology at La Trobe university in Melbourne and worked in brain injury rehabilitation for 12 years.
Jason Karas and Anna Baillie-Karas
Jason is a lawyer and strategic adviser. He is the managing partner of Karas LLP in Association with Mishcon de Reya, having previously co-founded Lipman Karas.
He specialises in the resolution of complex commercial disputes involving some of the most sophisticated global corporations, throughout the Asia Pacific region and internationally. A leading international disputes lawyer and advocate, he is renowned for his tenacity, commercial acumen and stamina. Jason is also a trusted adviser to corporate clients, general counsel, investment and hedge funds and family offices. Jason has also been at the forefront of the development of the dispute financing industry over the last 30 years.
Jason is also Chair of the Art Gallery of South Australia and a director of Sight for All.
Jason graduated from the University of Adelaide with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and an honours degree in Law. He is a keen amateur tennis player and runner.
Anna Baillie-Karas is the founder and co-host of the “Books On The Go” podcast. Formerly a commercial litigation lawyer, Anna has also worked as a secondary school teacher specialising in economics, law and English. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics, Law and Teaching from the University of Adelaide and a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Cambridge University. Anna is the Chair of Foundation Adelaide Festival and serves on the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation Council. She lives with her husband Jason and their children Zoe and George in Adelaide, with part of their time spent in Hong Kong and London.
Tash and Wendell Keuneman
Tash and Wendell Keuneman had similar childhood paths, ten years apart. They were both born in Sri Lanka and have lived most of their lives in Australia. They are passionate about the power of education, equal rights and how technology can make leaps and bounds for the betterment of humanity, flora, fauna and the planet.
Tash Keuneman is the head of design at Sonder, a digital care platform enabling people to take control of their well-being. She has had a fortunate technology career at Intuit, Data61, and Atlassian. Through her work and charity efforts, Tash wants to help reduce human and climate suffering.Wendell Keuneman is a general partner at Tidal Ventures, a prominent seed-stage venture capital firm based in Sydney & the US. He is a three-time founder with over 25 years of experience in senior roles at Atlassian, Inference and BroadSoft. He is passionate about creating a vibrant Australian technology ecosystem by helping great founders reach their next stage of growth.
David Torrible and Donna Yip
David Torrible and Donna Yip are currently living in Sydney, Australia with their four young boys. David relocated to Sydney in 2012 following a 19 year career in Asian investment banking. He has lived in Hong Kong, Indonesia and New York, but always followed Asian Equity markets. He is a retired partner of Goldman Sachs and was responsible for their Asian Equity sales team up until his departure from Hong Kong in 2012. David is a citizen of Canada, the UK, and Hong Kong. He graduated from Queen's university with a BA (Hons) in History in 1993. David is currently a member of the Janchor Partners Management Board.
Donna is Australian and a chartered accountant by background, but has held jobs in marketing, adventure travel and media. She graduated from Sydney University in 1992 with a Bachelor of Economics. She is currently studying to design and build furniture.
Gaurav Dalmia (Chair)
Gaurav Dalmia is the Chairman of Dalmia Group Holdings, a holding company for business and financial assets. It invests in private equity, real estate, public markets, structured debt and fixed income.
He is an early investor in and a Board member of True North (formerly India Value Fund), a leading Indian private equity fund, which manages approximately $3.5billion. He is also the founder and Chairman of Landmark Holdings, a real estate investment firm, which has invested in more than 40 housing projects. He co founded GTI, a long term investment vehicle for India focused investments.
He is a Board member of Brookings India. He was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2000. Gaurav Dalmia received an MBA with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from Columbia Business School.
Mickey Doshi
Mihir J. (“Mickey”) Doshi is Managing Director and Country CEO of Credit Suisse, India. He joined Credit Suisse in April 2006 and is based in Mumbai. He is a member of the Asia Pacific Management Committee and the Emerging Markets Council.
Mickey has been instrumental in establishing Credit Suisse's India franchise, which today is active across Private Banking, and Investment Banking. He has been deeply involved in strengthening the overall business profile of the Bank in India and in providing its strategic direction. Under his leadership, Credit Suisse has been awarded a banking license by the Reserve Bank of India and established a bank branch in Mumbai in 2011.
Mickey is involved in Credit Suisse's human capital and corporate responsibility initiatives and is a member of the Asia Pacific Philanthropy Committee. He also serves on the Board of United Way, Mumbai, Board of JSW Foundation, and the Board of Asia Society. In addition, he is a Trustee of Save The Children India and a member of the UN Women’s Business Sector Advisory Council.
Before joining Credit Suisse, Mickey spent 22 years at Morgan Stanley in various capacities, primarily in New York, Tokyo and Mumbai. His last position was Managing Director and CEO of JM Morgan Stanley Securities Pvt. Ltd. and he is credited with building Morgan Stanley's presence in India.
Mickey holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) from New York University and a C. P. A. from New York State, which he gained while working with Deloitte Haskins and Sells, New York.
Salil Gupte
Salil Gupte is the President of Boeing India, responsible for the company’s work in India across commercial aviation, defense, and services and leading a team of 5,000 India employees who work on building the future of aerospace, supporting both Indian and global customers and advancing the next generation of aviation technologies at the company’s sites in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi.
Previously, Gupte was vice president of Boeing Capital Corporation and has led supply chain execution for Boeing Global Services. He also led Boeing’s spare parts business. Gupte has worked closely with customers across the industry, and has experience in commercial and defense supply chains, manufacturing, sourcing, sales, and fulfilment activities for Boeing products globally. Gupte has also led Boeing’s aftermarket strategy teams, completing joint ventures and acquisitions to accelerate Boeing’s growth in services.
Gupte serves as Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Committee on Aerospace and is a Member of the CII National Council and Civil Aviation Committee. He has served as Chairman of the National Executive Board of American Chamber of Commerce in India.
Before joining Boeing in 2009, Gupte worked with Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as an investment banker in the aviation and infrastructure sectors.
Gupte holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.
Vishal Mahadevia
Vishal Mahadevia is a Managing Director, Head of India and member of the Executive Management Group at Warburg Pincus. He also serves on the International Advisory Board of Center for the Advanced Study of India. He received a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Khozem Merchant
Khozem has more than three decades’ experience in the media and business sectors as a journalist with the Financial Times and management with Pearson. He launched and leads Brunswick’s India practice, specialising in Indian macro and public affairs. Most recently, Khozem served as President, Pearson India and was instrumental in shaping and rolling out Pearson’s education services strategy across the country. Prior to this, he was for two decades a journalist with the Financial Times, including six years as the FT’s Mumbai correspondent, before taking on a management role as director of businesses development.
Ravi C. and Sumati Raheja
An Entrepreneur, and an MBA from the London Business School, Ravi has almost 25 years of experience across real estate, retail and hospitality. He is Group President at K Raheja Corp and plays a key role in guiding the teams of finance, corporate strategy and planning for the retail and hospitality divisions of the company.
Ravi has been involved in growing the business from a family owned business into a professionally managed one. A respected name in the Indian corporate community, Ravi has been a supporter of the green building cause in India as an active contributor to premier forums such as Indian Green Building Council, where he served as the Chairman (Mumbai chapter), the WEF (World Economic Forum) and FICCI (Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry).
Ravi plays a key role in the group’s philanthropic initiatives through K. Raheja Foundation, Sadhana Education Society and S. L. Raheja Hospital. He actively supports various educational initiatives with a focus on the girl child and empowering marginalized children for a better future through quality education.
Sumati was a student of the Roedean School in Brighton, England and went on to pursue her LLB at King’s College, London.
She currently serves on the board of her family's company and actively manages investments. She is a firm believer in education and also a strong supporter of Emancipaction, an organization which helps rehabilitate child sex workers.
Tanvi Jindal Shete
Tanvi Jindal Shete is the Founder of the Museum of Solutions and Director of JSW Foundation, where she oversees the education portfolio.
In her role as Director of JSW Foundation, Tanvi oversees the functioning of the 8 Jindal Vidya Mandir schools across India, that serve students between K-12 based at JSW Steel plant locations. As the education supervisor, Tanvi ensures the development of a culture of Best Practices across the board and collaborates with Principals at all schools to implement new tools of instructions to ensure the holistic learning of all students.
Tanvi’s foray into the field of education began in the year 2009, as a member of the first cohort of the Teach for India fellowship program, where she taught a low-income school in the Lalubhai Compound, Mankhurd, Mumbai. The following academic year, Tanvi was the Early Childhood curriculum coordinator at Akanksha, India’s largest urban network of low income schools built on the Public-Private Partnership Model. Her years as a grassroots level educator inspired her to build the Museum of Solutions, a space that provides a holistic approach to education, empowering students from K-12 to make meaningful changes in their world, gaining empathy and enabling them to express themselves better. The Museum of Solutions intends to be a space for children to apply their learning to real life situations, to foster creativity, think critically, communicate effectively and work collaboratively.
Tanvi is a Graduate of Economics from New York University, and an alumni of Cathedral & John Connon in Mumbai.
Ben and Asami Ferguson
Ben is co-head of Asia Pacific Equities Distribution. Ben joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 as a financial analyst in Tokyo. He was named managing director in 2005 and partner in 2008. He earned a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from Pepperdine University in 1998 and graduated from Sophia University's Japanese Language Institute in 1995.
Asami started her career as a model for global brands like Adidas and Uniqlo while attending Senzoku University. She spent 6 years with Miss Universe Japan (MUJ) to recruit, develop and manage finalists in addition to working in public relations and event planning. After leaving MUJ, Asami worked with a number of brands including Red Bull's F1 team in public relations and event planning in Japan. Later she worked with Valentino as a brand consultant. Asami has leveraged her event planning background to work with charities like the Pink Ball/Run for the Cure in Tokyo and Special Olympics Japan. Asami loves sport and is an avid tennis player, wake-boarder, swimmer and snowboarder.
Eric (Chair) and Ayako Golden
Eric Golden is a Managing Director of Fortress Investment Group Japan focused on real estate private equity in Japan and Asia. Prior to joining Fortress in 2008, Mr. Golden worked at Credit Suisse / Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette for nine years investing in real estate in the US, Japan, and China. Eric graduated from Brown University in 1999 with a B.A. in Mathematical Economics. Ayako Golden owns and runs Beaute Absolue in Tokyo and previously worked at Animal Refugee Kansai. Ayako graduated from Mejiro University. Ayako is also very involved in her children’s school programs and taking care of Eric’s and Ayako’s son and daughter.
Tomoya (Co-chair) and Yuri Masanao
Tomoya Masanao is a managing director in the Tokyo office and co-head of Asia-Pacific portfolio management of PIMCO. He co-oversees the portfolio management teams in the region and manages clients’ assets. He is also a core member of the PIMCO's Asia-Pacific Portfolio Committee. His interests in philanthropic activities grew as he traveled in the emerging Asia. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2001 in the Newport Beach office in California, Tomoya was an executive director and senior portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in London. He was also with The Sumitomo Bank in Osaka, Tokyo and London. He holds an MBA from Boston University, and a master's degree and an undergraduate degree, both in engineering, from Osaka University.
Yuri Masanao received an MA in linguistics from University of London (SOAS) and has worked as an interpreter for executives around the world. Inspired by an international social entrepreneur who she helped as an interpreter, Yuri decided to devote herself to humanitarian aid activities which she had been dreaming about since her school days in The International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. She is engaged with philanthropic activities of the Italian Royal House of Savoy and is bestowed a Dame from the order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. Yuri also holds a BA in comparative culture from Sophia University and was associated with Nomura Securities. She currently lives in Tokyo and Southern California. She plays Jazz piano and performs with her band.
Theo and Susan Seltzer
Theo and Susan Seltzer have called Tokyo home for the last 17 years. Theo is a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP, where his practice focuses on real estate and finance, including the representation of U.S., Japanese, and other global institutional investors in the acquisition, financing and disposition of real estate, including cross-border equity and debt financing, fund formations, distressed loan portfolios, joint ventures and development projects. Theo and Susan have been supporters Room to Read in various capacities from the early days of Room to Read Japan, such as, working with the Morrison & Foerster team in the establishment of Room to Read’s legal entity in Japan, and assisting with fundraising and its annual galas. Theo and Susan have two sons who attend the American School in Japan, where Susan serves on the Parent Teacher Association and Board of Trustees. Theo has a B.A. from Columbia College, and J.D. and LL.M. from the Georgetown University Law Center. Susan has a B.A. in journalism and has written for various publications in New York.
Fred Towfigh
Fred Towfigh is an Operating Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisors based in Tokyo. Prior to joining SoftBank, Fred served as Chairman of IPGH, a payments infrastructure developer operating in the Philippines, Indonesia and UAE. Fred is a retired Partner and the former President of Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte. He spent 22 years at Goldman Sachs, holding various roles in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Fred headed Asia Pacific Prime Brokerage, Futures, Electronic Trading and Synthetic Products before assuming responsibility for the firm’s overall Equities and FICC franchises in Southeast Asia until his retirement in 2017. Fred earned a BA from the University of California, Irvine and an MBA from Georgetown University.
Ahmed El-Maghraby and Malak Alireza
Ahmed is President of AMICO Group, a leading medical device distribution company with operations across the Middle East and North Africa. He graduated from the University of Virginia and completed his MBA with distinction from the London Business School. He sits on the board of MAGRABI retail, the largest regional optical group, as well as the Young President’s Organization’s emirates chapter. He is a proud father of two boys, Adam and Teymour. An avid athlete who has completed the London Marathon and the Ironman 70.3.
Malak received a degree in communication studies from Northeastern University in Boston. She then moved to Milan to do a post graduate degree in brand management at Istituto Marangoni. After her studies she worked as a brand manager in two of the leading fashion retail companies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. She is now living in Dubai with her husband and two young boys, Adam and Teymour.
Mahdi Amjad and Shaima Amjad
Mahdi Amjad is the founder, Executive Chairman and CEO of Omniyat, the Middle East’s most iconic property developer. The visionary entrepreneur launched Omniyat in 2005. Over the course of 14 years he has turned it into a leading privately-held real estate company that has dynamically enhanced the city’s skyline with landmark projects such as The Opus and One Palm. With a combined gross realization of over AED 14 billion in real estate assets, Omniyat continues to undertake investment, development and asset management opportunities to provide sustain value and measurable benefits to its community, clients and stakeholders. Omniyat is known and respected in the industry for its unique projects which can immediately be identified by their outstanding architecture and attention to detail. Mahdi has collaborated with award-winning and globally respected designers and architects including the late Dame Zaha Hadid, Foster & Partners and Super Potato. Mahdi not only runs what has become the Middle East’s most admired property development and management company, but also owns and manages Almasa Holdings, the multi-billion Dirham turnover company that he founded in Dubai at the age of 18. Like Omniyat, Almasa Holdings is a leader in its field. It is today considered the largest and most successful IT infrastructure distributor in the Middle East and North Africa.
Farah Foustok
Farah Foustok is the Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Gulf Ltd. based in Dubai. She began working in the investment field in 1994. Prior to joining Lazard in 2014, she was Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of ING Investment Management Middle East from 2008. Farah was a co-founder of Reach in 2013 and is now an Advisory Committee member. In 2015 Farah co-founded and chaired the Steering Committee for the MENA chapter of the 30% club and is now a Global Advisory Committee member. In 2019, Farah was awarded International Investment Woman of the Year by Women in Investment Awards, London. Farah is also a member of Room to Read’s Middle East board since its formation in 2020. Farah is a finance leaders fellow of the Aspen Institute. In January 2020, Farah launched TARA, an initiative to connect female University students to the corporate world; increasing women’s participation in financial services. Farah has mentored several start-ups in the Middle East over the last 10yrs, mostly Fintechs. Farah holds an MBA from Imperial College London and a BSc Hons in Mathematics from King’s College, London.
Yusuf Alireza (Chair) and Dina Khreino
Yusuf Alireza is the CEO and CIO, ARP Global Capital Limited. Formerly CEO of Noble Group, Yusuf is also a retired management committee member, partner, and co-president of non-Japan Asia at the Goldman Sachs Group. Yusuf holds a joint bachelor’s and master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Dina Khreino is an award-winning film director and producer. Her work has aired on the Documentary Channel and has had worldwide release on Amazon, AppleTV, and multiple media platforms. Dina has a Double Master’s degree from the Academy of Film and Television in Hong Kong, and SOAS University of London.
Malick Badjie and Nadia Logab
Malick Badjie joined Robeco in July 2017 and is Head of Africa Distribution. Malick is responsible for the overall management, sales and strategic decisions for Robeco in Africa. Malick has over 16 years of experience working in institutional asset management industry and has extensive experience working with official institutional clients in Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific on investment solutions and advice including assisting in developing asset allocation, investment policy and providing guidance on investment strategies. Prior to joining Robeco, Malick held several senior positions for BlackRock, including Head of Africa institutional business, where he was responsible for the strategic development and business management of BlackRock’s institutional business in sub-Saharan Africa. More recently, he was a Partner at Silk Invest, where he was responsible for investment solutions, business and strategy. Malick holds a BSc (Hons) in Political Science and International Business from Tennessee State University and an MBA from The Warwick Business School, University of Warwick.
Nadia Logab is a senior business investigator with the Mintz Group. She has over eight years of robust experience working in policy and market research with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. Previously, Nadia was a political risk consultant and has also worked for a London-based conflict resolution think-tank where she participated in multiple senior transnational and inter-regional political dialogue processes in Europe, North Africa and the Gulf regions. She is a One Young World Ambassador for Algeria and has an MA in Public Policy from Kings College London.
Amin Magrabi and Salma Rachid
Amin is the CEO of the MAGRABi Group, the Middle East’s leading network of eyecare hospitals and eyewear retail stores, and including the MAGRABi Foundation. Having pursued his studies at Brown University and the London Business School, Amin started his career in 1995 in financial services for a multitude of companies, including JP Morgan New York, before returning to the region to join the MAGRABi business in 2002, and then later becoming CEO of MAGRABi Retail in 2008. Amin is passionate about contributing to society and is driven by wanting to make a real difference. Through leveraging the strength of the MAGRABi brand, with its strong medical heritage, his genuine desire is that the family’s philanthropic activities will shape the future direction of eye care. Amin holds a number of additional Chairman, Director and Executive level positions, as well as being an active member of several public, private, civic and philanthropic organizations.
Salma Rachid is Chairman of a Boutique Fashion Company, co-owner of a family Investment Fund, and a dedicated mother of three. Salma double majored in Social Anthropology and Politics in SOAS University of London, and studied Creative Writing in Harvard University and UCLA.
Currently, Amin and Salma reside in Dubai with their three children, Akef, Ahmed and Ayla.
Samantha Barry
Samantha Barry is the editor-in-chief of Glamour U.S. and editorial director of Americas. She oversees content development, production and consumer experiences for Glamour's digital, social, video and print platforms.
She joins Glamour from CNN Worldwide, where she served as executive producer for social and emerging media. Under Barry’s leadership at CNN, the network became the most followed and fanned news organization in the world. She led her team and the organization at large with compelling work for social audiences on an array of platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Line, Kik and other emerging media. While at CNN, Barry spearheaded CNN’s 2016 Election coverage across social platforms, which received the first ever Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in social media and a Webby Award recognizing the same 2016 campaign work.
Barry joined CNN from BBC World News in London, where she served as a social media producer and journalist, focusing on using social media as a tool for both news gathering and audience building. Previously, Barry worked as reporter and producer for RTE and Newstalk in Ireland. She spent time in Papua New Guinea with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and has worked as a social media and technology trainer for the U.S. State Department, the United States Institute of Peace and Internews.
Born in Ireland, Barry has worked in more than 25 countries, reporting and training other journalists in broadcasting, technology and social media. Barry graduated from Dublin City University with a Masters in Journalism. She is a 2016 fellow of Columbia University School’s Sulzberger executive program and is a guest lecturer at Yale.
Susan Breyer
Susan Z. Breyer is a Woodside, California painter of abstract and impressionist landscapes. In her work, she endeavors to reflect her reverence for the mystery, power and vulnerability of nature. Susan is a graduate of Stanford University and subsequently worked in strategy and marketing for the advertising agencies Benton & Bowles in New York, HBM/Creamer in Boston and Hal Riney in San Francisco. After graduating from Harvard Business School, Susan served as Director of Marketing for First Republic Bank. In moving from the corporate world to art, Susan studied for seven years with Bay Area master painter and former SF Academy of Art teacher, Ning Hou. Susan has worked to increase her community’s awareness of and investment in Room to Read since 2012. She currently serves on the Leadership Council of NARAL Pro-Choice America and in the Leadership Circle of WANDA (Women’s Advancement Network and Development Alliance) of Silicon Valley.
Mary Byron
Mary Byron is currently the owner of Cloud Nine Quilts based in Montana. Mary is retired from Goldman Sachs, most recently as the global head of corporate technology including Finance, Risk, Operations and Human Resources at Goldman Sachs. She served on the Technology Division Executive, Operating and Risk Committees. Prior to this role, Mary was based in Tokyo as CIO for Asia Pacific businesses and co-chair of the Asia Pacific Diversity Committee. She joined Goldman Sachs in 1989 and has held various roles within technology, including managing the firm’s global networks and computing infrastructure. Mary was named managing director in 1999 and partner in 2006. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and the Auburn Theological Seminary. Mary earned her bachelor’s degree from Marquette University in 1986.
Richard and Sabine Chalmers
Richard is a citizen of the US and UK and Sabine is a citizen of the US with German and Indian origin. They have one daughter, Natasha. They have lived in London, Miami, Stamford, Brussels, and New York and believe strongly in the power of education to transform lives, which was their main inspiration for becoming friends of Room to Read.
Richard received a degree in Business Studies from the University of Edinburgh before training to become a lawyer with Berwin Leighton in London. He practiced family and litigation law in England, Florida and Connecticut before dedicating himself wholly to raising Natasha and volunteering for various causes. He has served on parents' associations at Natasha's schools in Brussels and New York, coached rugby at the International School of Brussels for three years, and served as President of the United Nations International School Athletics Association. Richard also chairs the board of the apartment building where the family lives in New York. On a personal level, he enjoys sports, travel and photography.
Sabine Chalmers is General Counsel of BT Group Plc, formerly known as British Telecom. Previously, she served as Chief Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer and Secretary to the Board of Directors at Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI). She is qualified as a solicitor in England and is a member of the New York State Bar. Sabine is a member of the Board of Directors of ABI and also serves on several professional councils and not-for-profit boards, including the Royal National Theatre and the International Baccalaureate. Sabine’s education reflects her global background. She spent her formative years as a student in the Philippines at the International School Manila, went on to graduate from London School of Economics, and received her Solicitors’ qualification at London’s College of Law.
Richard and Sabine are on the North America and UK Regional Development Boards.
Ernest Chow and Gwen Hinze
Ernest Chow is principal of Viridian Works LLC, which is focused on private impact investing. He was previously Founder and Partner at Sensato Investors, an institutional investment firm that managed Asia Pacific quantitative equity strategies. Prior to that he was Co-Head of Active Equities at Barclays Global Investors where he spent a decade in various roles leading research and portfolio management of scientific active strategies for Asia and other markets. He started his career in finance in the Investment Technology Group at County Investment Management, a division of the National Australia Bank. Before that, Ernie worked as a Research Assistant and as a Lecturer at Monash University. He was also a musician, and still loves to play. He is a Fellow of Monash University, from which he graduated with a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, LL.B. (Hons) and B.Sc.(Hons). He also holds an A.Mus.A. and is a CFA charterholder. He serves as a Trustee at the Bay School of San Francisco and has previously served as Board Chair and Trustee at the Chinese American International School and as a Trustee at the Bay Area Discovery Museum.
Gwen Hinze has worked at the intersection of law and policy for over 20 years in academia, the nonprofit sector, government and private legal practice. She has conducted research on how copyright law affects libraries as the International Copyright Fellow at the Berkeley Digital Libraries Copyright Project at U.C. Berkeley Law School and the role of copyright law in shaping online platforms and access to knowledge for her doctoral dissertation. She previously served as an attorney and subsequently the director of the international program at digital civil liberties nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation from 2002-2012, where she engaged with policymakers at international and national forums in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Prior to that, she worked for the Federal Court of Australia and the Australian government's National Native Title Tribunal and practiced at international law firm Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks (now Allens). Gwen is a member of the State Bar of California and holds a J.S.D. (Doctorate in Law) and a LL.M. from U.C. Berkeley Law School and a LL.B (Hons) and B.A. (Hons) from Monash University.
Gwen and Ernie are passionate about the power of education to change the world and have been supporters of Room to Read's work since 2002.
Sara Eisen and Matthew Levine
Sara Eisen is co-anchor of CNBC’s “Closing Bell” (M-F, 3PM-5PM ET), broadcast from Post 9 at the New York Stock Exchange. She is known for her deep expertise in financial markets and the global economy as well as regular news making interviews with some of the most prominent names in the financial world. Eisen joined CNBC in December 2013 as a correspondent focusing on the global consumer. She previously co-anchored the 10AM ET hour of CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" (M-F, 9AM-11AM ET) and "Worldwide Exchange" (M-F, 5AM-6AM ET). Before joining CNBC, Eisen was co-anchor of "Bloomberg Surveillance" as well as a correspondent for Bloomberg Television, where she covered global macroeconomics, policy and business. During that time, she covered the European debt crisis, the tsunami aftermath and Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan. Prior to Bloomberg Television, she hosted the Bloomberg Radio program, "On the Economy." She is the editor of "Currencies After the Crash: The Uncertain Future of the Global Paper-Based Currency System" published by McGraw-Hill in Jan. 2013. Eisen holds a master's degree in broadcast journalism with a concentration in business reporting from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Matthew Levine is currently a Director, New York at the Brunswick Group. He was most recently at Bloomberg where he was the Head of U.S. Programming for Bloomberg Television. Matt had led numerous coverage initiatives, including Bloomberg's 2016 election night coverage, and acted as executive producer on a variety of special programs and documentaries. Previously, he served as Bloomberg Television's U.S.-based managing editor among other roles.
Before Bloomberg, Levine was senior editor at CNBC in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. During that time, he was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for producing "Investing in America," a town hall with President Barack Obama. He was also acknowledged with a Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for the network's coverage of General Motors' public stock offering.
Levine graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in economics and political science. He holds a master's degree in international relations from the University of Sussex.
Rami and Manal Elghandour
Rami joined Arcellx in 2021 and serves as our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Most recently, Rami served as President and CEO of Nevro, beginning in 2012. Under his leadership, Nevro grew from a small private company to a public company approaching $400m in revenue and a leader in neuromodulation.
Prior to Nevro, Rami was an investor with Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), where he led several investments including Nevro’s Series B Financing and served on the Board of Directors of several private companies including Nevro’s.
Prior to joining JJDC, Rami was a Design Engineer for Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, Inc. where he led firmware design and development on several implantable spinal cord stimulators.
Rami earned recognition as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year, as one of the top CEOs in the US and as one of the top CEOs for women and diversity. He is a recipient of the Bill Campbell award by Watermark for his influence, impact, and advocacy in promoting women and women’s issues. Rami received an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rutgers University School of Engineering.
Manal currently serves on the Belmont Redwood Shores Council Board and the Sandpiper school PTA Board. Most recently, she served as PTA President for Sandpiper School from 2020 to 2022. Manal started her career in commercial insurance as an underwriter. In addition to caring for their four children, Manal supports programs for autism and neurodiversity, mental health, and children’s organizations around the world.
Erin and Jitendra Ganju
Erin Ganju is currently the Managing Director of Echidna Giving, a private funder that will grant over $500 million over the next 40 years to advancing girls’ education in countries with limited resources. She is a Co-founder, former CEO, and former COO of Room to Read. From the early start-up days, Erin was instrumental in the design and implementation of the organization’s scalable, replicable model for improving the quality of education around the world. In 2009, Erin became Chief Executive Officer of Room to Read. As CEO, Erin oversaw Room to Read’s global operations across 15 countries; a technical assistance unit called Room to Read Accelerator; fundraising teams in North America, Europe, Australia and the Asia Pacific region; and a worldwide staff of more than 1,500 employees. Erin captured her experiences and insights as co-author of Scaling Global change: A Social Entrepreneur’s Guide to Surviving the Start-up Phase and Driving Impact. Erin has been selected as one of the World Economic Forum’s Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurs for 2014 and in 2012 was one of Fast Company’s Extraordinary Women. Before founding Room to Read, Erin worked at Unilever, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and a couple of technology start-ups. She has spent extensive time working and living in Asia, where she saw firsthand the need to enhance developing countries’ educational systems. Erin holds a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in international relations and economics from The Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.
Jitendra (Jeetu) Ganju, Ph.D. is a clinical trials consultant trained in statistics with over 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceuticals and biotech industry. His prior employment includes tenures as the VP of Biometrics at Global Blood Therapeutics and Hyperion Therapeutics and Senior Director at Gilead Sciences. Therapeutic areas include hematology, diabetes, pulmonology, cardiovascular, inflammation, and vaccines. Areas of interest include speeding up Phase 1-3 development, acting as a statistics representative at FDA / EMA meetings, participating in collaborations on regulatory documents, producing clinical development plans with attention to mitigating risk, endpoint selection, and competitive analysis. Jeetu has been published in peer-reviewed journals on non-inferiority trials, improving operational efficiency, and methods to increase power.
Caryn Freiberger
Caryn Freiberger is Managing Director and North America Head of FX Real Money Sales. Caryn specializes in FX derivative solutions, developing relationships with the firm's largest institutional clients. In 2013, Caryn launched 'Citi’s e for education' a groundbreaking corporate social responsibility program linked to volumes executed on Citi's electronic trading platform. Since 2013, the initiative has raised over $47 million for global education non-profits. Outside of Room to Read, Caryn served on the NY Junior Board of EMpower. Caryn holds a BA in Economics from Brown University.
Peter T. Grauer
Peter T. Grauer is chairman of Bloomberg L.P., the global financial media company. He has been a member of the Bloomberg board since October 1996 and was named chairman of the board in March 2001, succeeding Michael R. Bloomberg. Peter joined Bloomberg full time in his executive capacities in March 2002. Prior to this, he was a managing director of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1992 to 2000, when the company was acquired by Credit Suisse First Boston, and then managing director and senior partner of Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity until March 2002. Peter serves as lead director of Davita, Inc., as well as on the boards of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Inner City Scholarship Fund in New York City, Rockefeller University and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and the Harvard University Graduate School of Business.
Lydie Hudson
Lydie B. Hudson is Co-founder and President of Citation Capital. With a career spanning more than 20 years in financial services, Lydie previously served on the Executive Board at Credit Suisse. Lydie also founded the CS Women’s Financial Forum, a global convention of female experts across financial services. She was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2017 and an Aspen Finance Fellow and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network in 2021. Lydie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School. A Midwest native, she resides in Greenwich, CT having recently moved back to the United States from Switzerland.
Tami Lippit and Carl Huttenlocher
Carl Huttenlocher is managing partner and chief investment officer for Myriad Asset Management. Prior to founding Myriad in 2011, Carl was managing director of Highbridge Capital Management, senior portfolio manager for the Highbridge Asia Opportunities Fund and a member of the Global Investment Committee for Highbridge Capital Corporation. Before joining Highbridge in 2002, Carl was the portfolio manager for Asian Convertibles and Equity Derivatives at Long Term Capital Management. Carl began his career at Citadel Investment Group where he traded European and Latin American Convertible Bonds. He also founded Intelligent Markets—a venture capital-backed financial software company—and served as chief executive officer from 1999 to 2001. Carl earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Tamiko M. Lippit received her bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in history and literature from Harvard College and her J.D. from Columbia Law School. She has practiced law at Hughes, Hubbard & Reed, LLP in New York City and at Venture Law Group in Menlo Park, California, where she advised start-up companies on a broad array of legal issues. She currently lives in California with her family.
Sonny Kalsi (Chair)
Sonny Kalsi is the Co-CEO of BentallGreenOak (BGO) and is based in New York City. BGO is a global real estate investment and management platform with approximately $69 billion of assets under management. BGO has 24 offices worldwide (North America, Europe, and Asia) and over 1,300 employees. The firm manages investment strategies and properties in various asset and risk classes.
Sonny previously was a Founder of GreenOak Real Estate in 2010 and together with the team, built the business organically to $12 billion of assets under management in 10 countries with over 100 employees. Before GreenOak, Sonny was Global Co-Head of Morgan Stanley’s Real Estate Investing (MSREI) business and President of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds until 2009. At its peak, the platform had approximately $100 billion of assets under management in 33 countries. During his 18-year career at Morgan Stanley, Sonny spent almost 10 years in Asia and has lived and worked in six different locations around the world.
Sonny is a graduate of Georgetown University and continues to be very involved with the school. He has been cited by Private Equity Real Estate magazine as one of the “30 Most Influential” people in private equity real estate globally. Sonny is on the board of several charitable organizations including Teaching Matters, SparkYouth NYC, Asia Society, and the Hirshhorn Museum. He is a Trustee of the Spence School, board member of Oberoi Realty, and Georgetown University. He is also Chair of the North America Regional Board at Room to Read and, until recently, Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in the Master of Real Estate Program.
Jaideep Khanna
Jaideep Khanna is the founder of Ananta Family Office managing investments across listed and private markets with a focus on technology, sustainability, and real estate. Prior to Ananta, Jaideep was a partner and co-founder of Artha Capital Management, an emerging market fund based in Connecticut. Jaideep co-founded the firm in May 2002 and served as president, portfolio manager, and director. Prior to Artha, Jaideep was an executive director and managed pools of funds at Morgan Stanley Asset Management in New York and London. Mr. Khanna generously funds and supports several philanthropic organizations around the world that are dedicated to educational initiatives, the environment, and socially responsible causes. He serves on the National Board of Directors for Pratham USA and on the North America Regional Board of Room to Read. He previously served on the International Advisory Board, Center for Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds an MBA from Duke University and received a degree in accounting and economics from Muskingum University.
Ryan Korinke and Kimberley Stafford
Ryan Korinke is a managing director and global head of sustainability at PIMCO, overseeing the business management of the firm's environmental, social, governance and sustainability efforts. He is a member of PIMCO’s executive office, contributing to firmwide strategic, financial and operational initiatives. Prior to this role, he was head of hedge fund and quantitative strategies, leading the growth and development of the firm’s discretionary and systematic absolute return strategies. He has also served as an account manager with institutional client servicing responsibility and as a product strategist for fixed income strategies. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2005, Mr. Korinke was with The Concord Group, a real estate investment advisory firm. He has 20 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He received an undergraduate degree from Harvard University.
Kimberley Stafford is a managing director and global head of product strategy at PIMCO. She is responsible for overseeing traditional strategies and alternatives, which include PIMCO’s private strategies and hedge funds. Ms. Stafford is also a member of the firm's Executive Committee. She joined PIMCO in 2000 and has held several positions, including head of PIMCO Asia-Pacific, global head of consultant relations, head of U.S. institutional sales and alternatives marketing teams, and global head of human resources and talent management. Prior to these roles, Ms. Stafford was a member of PIMCO's executive office, contributing to firmwide strategic, financial and operational initiatives; head of global sustainability initiatives, overseeing the firm's environmental, social and governance efforts; an account manager in the consultant relations group; and an analyst in PIMCO's trade compliance group. She has 21 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Redlands.
Diksha and Divesh Makan
Diksha Makan leads Technology Engineering at ICONIQ Capital. With a mindful approach, Diksha focuses on systems architecture, strategically mapping business process to technical design and data construct. She believes process management, organizational skills and detailed project management are key drivers to success. Prior to ICONIQ, Diksha took a break to raise a family for 9 years and transitioned to reenter the workforce through a mother’s community program at Care.com. Diksha also spent 10 years before her break working on ERP systems implementations in the Retail, Manufacturing and Pharmaceutical spaces. She was responsible for project implementations on engagements for Accenture, Deloitte Consulting and Levi Strauss. Diksha holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Diksha lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, with her husband Divesh, and 3 daughters. She is passionate about girls' education and empowerment, and enjoys free time with yoga and meditation.
Divesh Makan is a Founding Partner of ICONIQ Capital, a global multi-family office and Merchant Bank. Prior to ICONIQ, Divesh was at Morgan Stanley for four years, and at Goldman Sachs as a Vice President for eight years. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Divesh was a senior manager at Accenture in the Financial Services area, specializing in the private equity investments. Divesh serves on the Board of SFJAZZ and the Board of Overseers at UCSF. He received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Natal, South Africa. Divesh lives in San Francisco Bay Area, with his wife and three daughters.
Angel Mehta
Angel Mehta is an early-stage investor in technology companies with a particular interest in artificial intelligence, enterprise software, bio-hacking/longevity, and meat-alternative food companies. He also serves as an advisor to entrepreneurs, coaching them on human capital/recruitment, automation, and outsourcing.
Between 1998 and 2018, Angel served as Chief Executive Officer of Sterling-Hoffman Management Consultants, a global executive-search firm with over 300 employees worldwide and offices in 5 countries.
Angel is an active member of several CEO mastermind groups, including Young President’s Organization (YPO), and Tiger 21. His philanthropic interests are focused on girls' education, human trafficking, fact-based journalism, and animal rights. Mr. Mehta Holds a BA degree from York University in Toronto.
In his spare time, Angel enjoys weightlifting, ice hockey, and learning magic. He can be reached on Twitter: @angelmehta99
Kim Anstatt Morton
Kim Anstatt Morton worked almost a decade on Wall Street as an equity research analyst at UBS and Hambrecht and Quist in New York City. She later joined Montgomery Securities in San Francisco where she covered emerging growth and big cap biotech companies. Kim is passionate about literacy, education and the arts. She enthusiastically serves as Board Chair for Girl Rising, a global movement for girls' education through media, film and social action campaigns (and a partner of Room to Read). She is active with SFMOMA’s Director’s Circle Committee, Contemporaries Committee and Media Acquisitions. She is also an active Ambassador for For-Site. Kim has worked with the Department of Health and Human Services in San Francisco with abused and neglected children and has tutored a special literacy program for sixth through BA from Dartmouth College, and fine art graduate painting degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. Kim travels extensively in the developing world and lives in San Francisco and Vermont with her husband Ian and son Baker.
Stasia Obremskey
Stasia Obremskey is the Managing Director of RH Capital, an impact venture capital fund of Rhia Ventures, where she is responsible for investing in innovations in women’s reproductive health. She joined RH Capital at its founding in 2018 after more than twenty-five years of experience as an interim CFO for non-profit organizations and start-up companies and an impact investor and philanthropist in women’s reproductive health. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. She has extensive experience as a member of several nonprofit boards where she has held a number of leadership positions. Stasia is a founding member of The Maverick Collective, an initiative of PSI. As the proud mother of three young adults, she is working with scientists and entrepreneurs to find the next generation of hormone-free contraceptives to meet their sexual health needs.
Dusty Philip
Dusty Philip is co-chairman of Global Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) at Goldman Sachs and he is a member of the Investment Banking Division Executive Committee. Prior to this role at Goldman, he was global co-head of the Industrials Group as well as the co-head of M&A in the Americas. He joined Goldman Sachs in M&A in 1991. Dusty was named managing director in 1999 and partner in 2000. Dusty serves on the Board of Trustees of the Brearley School and the Board of Trustees of the Young People's Chorus of New York City. Dusty earned a BA from Amherst College in 1986 and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College in 1991.
Jesse Purewal
Jesse Purewal is a father, husband, son, and grandson to some of the most wonderful women and girls on the planet. At work, he is the SVP and GM of the Global High-Tech Sector at Qualtrics, an SAP company whose SaaS platform enables companies to deliver breakthrough employee and customer experiences. Prior to Qualtrics, Jesse was a Partner at Prophet, a brand and marketing strategy consultancy, where he worked with B2B and B2B2C tech clients to grow by developing and linking business strategy, product strategy, and marketing strategy. His professional expertise is in working with cross-functional teams in marketing, product management, engineering and sales to develop growth strategies that drive relevance, loyalty and market value.
Prior to joining Prophet, Jesse ran a business delivering college prep services to high school students and families which sold to Kaplan, Inc. He also worked in corporate strategy and marketing at Starbucks Coffee, where he helped create the company’s loyalty program and develop its whole bean coffee portfolio.
Jesse has an MBA from Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a BS in Mathematics and Sociology from Northwestern University. He lives in San Francisco. (And, with respect to the father role above, he is the proud dad of two identical twin girls who are learning and loving to read.)
Mythili Sankaran and Shekar Ayyar
Mythili is the CEO & Co-founder of Neythri.org and the Founding Managing Partner of the Neythri Futures Fund.
Mythili’s 25+ years of experience spans R&D, product management and senior leadership roles driving growth, strategy and digital transformations for Fortune 500 companies, early-stage technology startups and nonprofits. Previously, Mythili led regional operations for the U.S. - India Business Council and the American India Foundation, where she built a strong reputation for scaling and growing the organizations’ brand, revenue, member base and operations. Mythili also served as CEO of Koollage, a web service company that allowed users to create, package, and share information on the internet, where she oversaw the growth strategy from prototype to the notable public launch at the 2008 DEMO conference. Earlier in her career, Mythili spent several years in research and product management at IBM Research Labs, AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent, eVoice and Palmsource. She is currently an active angel investor and a member of several women-led investor networks that invest in women entrepreneurs and an independent board advisor to early-stage startups.
Mythili serves on the Regional Board of Room to Read, is a mentor for the Duke Technology Scholars program, and a Global Advisor for How Women Lead. She has a MS degree in Physics from Texas Tech University, a M.Sc in Electronics from the University of Bombay and an Executive MBA jointly offered through the AT&T School of Business and the Wharton School. In her spare time, Mythili enjoys reading historical fiction, studying Indian antiques and watching cricket.
Shekar Ayyar is CEO and Chairman of Arrcus, a venture funded network infrastructure company that is transforming 5G and edge connectivity for service providers and enterprises. He is also a board member at Altair, a venture partner at NTTVC, and a partner at ADMY Technologies.
Shekar Ayyar is a seasoned technology executive and industry leader with over twenty-five years of experience spanning general management, research, strategy, mergers & acquisitions and business development. Before joining Arrcus, Shekar was Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Telco and Edge Cloud business at VMware. He incubated and grew this business to become one of the largest vertical opportunities for VMware in the context of 5G and Edge Computing.
Prior to his General manager role, Shekar was EVP of Strategy and Corporate Development, leading VMware’s M&A and strategic investments for several years. He oversaw over 60 acquisitions and investments across a wide range of target companies and transaction sizes including the acquisitions of Nicira, Airwatch, Velocloud, Heptio and Uhana.
Before VMware, Shekar held senior executive roles at BindView (acquired by Symantec) and Instantis (acquired by Oracle). In prior roles at other companies including Lucent and McKinsey, Shekar advised C-level executives on a wide range of strategic technology and business decisions.
Shekar has an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar. He also holds a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, both in electrical engineering.
Vicky Tsai
Vicky Tsai is the Founder of Tatcha, the global luxury skincare brand founded in 2009. Every Tatcha purchase supports children's education through the brand's Beautiful Faces, Beautiful Futures Program, established in 2014 in partnership with Room to Read. To date, the program has funded over 8 million days of school for girls in Africa and Southeast Asia and funded Room to Read’s U.S. literary initiative to provide diverse books to underserved communities.
Tsai’s work at Tatcha has earned her recognition as a Marie Claire Changemaker (2022), Inc Magazine’s 100 Top Female Founders List (2021), the WWD Beauty Inc Founder’s Award (2019), InStyle Magazine’s “Badass 50 Women” List (2018), and the No.2 fastest-growing privately held company in America led by a woman on the Inc 5000 list (2015). She holds a BA in Economics from Wellesley College as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Hilary Valentine
Hilary is a board member of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health and a member of Part the Cloud, whose mission is to fund Alzheimer’s research with the highest probability of slowing, stopping or ultimately curing Alzheimer’s disease. Hilary serves on the Board of Directors of the Valentine Family Foundation and the Canary Foundation. She also serves on the Emeritus Board of Breast Cancer Connections. Her primary focus has been to evangelize the Room to Read mission in front of high net-worth donors in the technology world. The Valentine Family Foundation provided the initial multi-year seed funding for Room to Read's Girls' Education program. Hilary served on the Room to Read Board of Directors from 2003 to 2012, was Co-Chair of the Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008, and was Chair of the Board of Directors from 2008 to 2010. Hilary graduated with a BS in Psychology from St. Lawrence University.
Frank and Leslie van Veenendaal
Mr. Frank van Veenendaal retired from Salesforce in 2015 after almost 14 years with the company and was instrumental in growing Salesforce from $5M to $5B+. Mr. van Veenendaal served as President and Executive Vice Chairman for three years and held a number of senior executive positions with the company during his tenure. Mr. van Veenendaal has over 30 years of technology sales and executive management experience. Previously Mr. van Veenendaal held various sales and sales management positions for companies such as Actuate, Interleaf, Integrated Solutions, Pyramid, and Harris Corporation. Mr. van Veenendaal also serves on the board of directors of Coupa, Onfido and ServiceMax.
Priya Venkatesh
Priya Venkatesh, a highly experienced prestige beauty retail leader, serves as Sephora’s Senior Vice President of Merchandising for Skincare & Hair. In her 15-year tenure, Priya has focused on category vision and development, including building a robust brand portfolio of indie, emerging, clean and classic brands, as well as the first introduction of K-Beauty in prestige retail, while driving innovation in formulation offerings, product and services experiences at Sephora.
Under Priya’s leadership, Sephora’s Skin and Hair business has grown dramatically, ensuring these areas play an integral role in the retailer’s in-store and digital experience offerings for clients. She has developed and executed many successful initiatives, including the launch of “Clean at Sephora,” providing clients a clear point of view on the clean beauty category and Sephora’s offering across 50+ brands and 2,000 products; Skin IQ, an in store skincare solutions diagnostic tool; and introduced a range of high performing brands including Algenist, Bumble and bumble, Dr. Jart, Drunk Elephant, Dyson, Farmacy, Glam Glow, Living Proof, Olaplex, Summer Fridays, and TATCHA.
Prior to her current role at Sephora, Priya was a clinical skincare merchant and before joining Sephora, she was the Director of Makeup at The Body Shop. Priya earned a Masters in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University and currently resides in the Bay Area with her family.
Susan Wojcicki and Dennis Troper
Susan Wojcicki is an advisor to Alphabet and the former CEO of YouTube, a position she held for 9 years as well as 25 years of operating leadership roles at Google. An early champion of online video who was instrumental in Google's 2006 acquisition of YouTube, Susan oversaw YouTube's content and business operations, engineering, and product development. Prior to joining YouTube in February 2014, Susan was Senior Vice President of Advertising & Commerce at Google, where she oversaw the design and engineering of AdWords, AdSense, DoubleClick, and Google Analytics. She joined Google in 1999 as the company's first marketing manager and led the initial development of several key consumer products including Google Images and Google Books. In 2002, Susan began working on Google’s advertising products and over the next 12 years she led teams that helped define the vision and direction of Google’s monetization platforms. Before joining Google, Susan worked at Intel, Bain & Company, and a number of start-ups. She graduated with honors from Harvard University, holds a master's in economics from UC Santa Cruz, and an MBA from UCLA.
Dennis Troper is the Product Director for Wear OS by Google. He joined Google in early 2003 and has worked on several product areas since then including AdWords, G Suite and Google Fiber. Prior to Google he held positions Oracle, Concur Technologies and Deloitte Consulting. Dennis holds a BA in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Applied Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He lives in Los Altos, California with his wife and five children.
Amy Wong
Amy Wong retired from PDT Partners at the end of 2019, where she was a founding partner and Chief Operating Officer. She joined PDT (Process Driven Trading) as one of the first hires in 1994 when it was a newly formed proprietary trading group in Morgan Stanley. During her 25-year tenure at PDT, Amy helped build the business into a highly regarded quantitative investment firm, including spearheading the successful spinoff from Morgan Stanley in 2013.
She serves on the Exchange Board for the Members Exchange (MEMX). Amy holds BS and MS degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Jürgen Bauer (Chair)
Jürgen is a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist with 30 years of management consulting and business leadership experience. He co-founded and chairs Tenthpin Management Consultants, and joined the boards of a number of healthcare, IT growth, and venture capital companies. Prior to that he was a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM. co-founded Lodestone Management Consultants. After the acquisition of Lodestone by Infosys he served as the Managing Partner for Infosys Consulting.
He is co-owner of premium ski manufacturer Timbaer and co-founded Fainschliff a social enterprise promoting entrepreneurship for young craftspeople.
Jürgen and his wife Henriette live in Zürich and have 2 adult daughters, who have been supporting Room To Read since 2013. The family are passionate skiers, love music, traveling and reading.
Noelle Aigrain-Kaegi and Florian Aigrain
Noelle and Florian are strong believers in the power of literacy and are proud to support a number of causes related to education, economic development programs, and international relations.
Noelle is an educator, having taught students in both traditional school settings and special needs institutions. She manages a portfolio of investment assets, consisting primarily of equity assets, multi-family residential real estate, and fine art investments. She has supported selection committees for endowed academic grants and is an active leader in her community.
Florian is the CEO of the Acutronic Group, a supplier of test equipment and components for the aerospace industry. Prior to Acutronic, Florian served in Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking and Securities Divisions. He later founded a specialist investment firm focused on venture capital opportunities in emerging markets. Florian is an alumni of the American Swiss Foundation’s Young Leaders Conference and represents Acutronic on the Austin Technology Council, Austin Chamber of Commerce, and the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce.
Noelle and Florian have two daughters and a son. They are inaugural members of the University of Virginia’s Global Affairs Corps of Ambassadors.
Katrin Koch and Daniel Epstein
Katrin and Daniel have been active supporters of Room to Read for several years before joining the Swiss Regional Board in 2021. They firmly believe that literacy and access to education are pre-conditions to take charge of one's life.
Katrin heads the Global Corporate Development team of Vontobel in Zurich. She previously worked with UBS for over 20 years in various roles such as managing the Chief of Staff function for the Group CEO and leading Group Corporate Services globally. Prior to that she worked as a management consultant for strategy and organizational development with Price Waterhouse. Daniel graduated as a physicist, specialising in Elementary Particle Physics, from the University of Hamburg. He is a keen reader and was actively involved in managing the Zurich Rugby Academy for children.
Katrin and Daniel live near Zurich with their teenage son and daughter. They enjoy skiing, travelling and food from all around the world.
Katie Kurz
Originally from Philadelphia, Katie has lived in Switzerland since 2005, having worked in Lausanne, Zurich, Zug and Basel. Today, she works for Syngenta Group as a global communications executive, having grown her career in various industries including biotech, financial services and consumer packaged goods. Katie started her service with Room to Read as a volunteer and led the Zurich chapter for two years. An athlete at heart, Katie has completed numerous international marathons and Ironman 70.3 triathlons; many of them, she personally fundraised more than $150,000 for global NGOs including Room to Read and others focused on cancer research. She studied at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and earned her Executive Masters in Communications Management from the Universita della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano and UCLA’s Anderson Business School in California. Katie and her husband Andrea Rubio live in Erlenbach with their Lagotto Romagnolo dog named Kona.
Martin and Christine Rinck
Martin Rinck is a seasoned C-suite Hospitality Executive with over 35 years of global experience, widely recognised for inspiring positive change. He led two organisations through successful IPOs and is a growth expert with a focus on Luxury and the Asia Pacific Region, in particular China and India. Martin is the Founder & CEO of Cervo Advisory, a strategy consultancy that focuses on Travel & Tourism, as well as Luxury Retail, and is an Executive Director on the Board of Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
Prior to assuming his Board roles, Martin was the EVP & Chief Brand Officer at Hilton (NYSE: HLT), where he led a portfolio of 18 award-winning brands across 6.5K+ hotels globally, developing and executing the enterprise portfolio strategy, while at the same time leading multiple ESG initiatives for the company.
Martin is a leader known for his passion for people and purpose and is a long-running advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, resulting in Hilton having been recognised as #1 in the ‘Top 50 companies for diversity by DiversityInc’ in 2021, as well as achieving multiple #1 rankings for Hilton globally by Great Places to Work in 2021.
During his long standing career, Martin has been highly engaged with multiple NGOs around the world and has been supporting Room to Read for more than 15 years, a passion that is shared by the rest of his family. He is a global citizen with a strong desire to make an impact on communities in the critical areas of sustainability and education, drawing inspiration from his life hero, Nelson Mandela: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Christine studied Economics in Germany and is a dynamic HR professional, who has had a successful career in Executive Search, HR Management and HR Consulting for globally renowned organisations and is currently working at an International School in Zurich.
After 20 years living abroad, Christine and Martin recently moved back to Zurich, while their two daughters’ study in NYC. They love the outdoors, good food and wine, as well as spending time with family & friends. The entire family shares a passion for travel, as well as the desire to have a lasting positive impact.
Mindy and Adam Silverstein
Mindy, Adam and their two sons, Max and Ben, are proud supporters of Room to Read and other local and global organizations that advocate for education and healthcare access for children. After practicing law for eighteen years, Adam dedicates his time toward building the archive and collections and serving as a board member of the Universal Hip Hop Museum (scheduled to open in the Bronx in 2024). He is also passionate about sports, plays on FCZ’s 40+ team, and founded and manages the Zurich International School basketball mini-league program. Mindy is a Managing Director at Credit Suisse, serves as a Senior Advisor to the Group CEO, Head of Client Strategy & Partnerships and as a member of the Sustainability, Research and Investment Solutions (SRI) Management Committee. Previously she was with the Milken Institute for over a decade, serving as Managing Director and driving the organization's global revenue, strategic relationships and programming. Mindy and Adam both received their bachelor's degrees from Indiana University. They attained an M.B.A. and law degree respectively in Los Angeles, where they were based as a family until moving to Zurich in 2016.
Christoph von Reiche
Christoph is Head of Global Distribution & Marketing and Executive Committee member at Robeco. In this role, Mr. von Reiche is responsible for Robeco’s global sales strategy and organization, sales teams in 15 countries, consultant relations efforts and global marketing.
Mr. von Reiche has 27 years of experience in the financial services industry, including 19 years in asset management. Previously, Mr. von Reiche was Head of Europe Institutional Business at JP Morgan Asset Management in London. From 1995 to 2014 he worked at Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt, where he held various positions, including country head of Germany, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (2011 -2014), which he joined in a sales role in 2003. He started his career as an analyst in Goldman Sachs' Investment Banking division. During his time at Goldman Sachs Mr. von Reiche also worked in the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities division for four years providing financing advice to financial institutions. Mr. von Reiche obtained a Master's degree in Foreign Service and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University in the US in 1995.
Carmen Alonso and Matthew Strassberg
Carmen Alonso has over 25 years of experience in finance and asset management. She currently serves as the Head of Iberia & UK at Tikehau Capital. Carmen joined in 2015 and has responsibility in both regions across all investment strategies, including Private Equity, Private Debt, Real Estate and Capital Markets as well fundraising Tikehau Capital’s funds among institutional and retail investors. She also sits on the Board of Pegasus, a SPAC led by JP Mustier where Tikehau Capital and Financiera Agache are sponsors. Prior to joining Tikehau Capital, she held the position of Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in their European Leverage Finance practice. Carmen started her career in Zurich in the Leverage Finance department of UBS. She moved to London where she worked in Merrill Lynch and HVB. She also gained corporate experience managing GSK’s Corporate Finance activities globally. Education: Boston University, School of Management; Babson College, Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business.
Matthew Strassberg has worked since 2002 at Mid Europa Partners, a private equity firm focused on the mid-market investments in healthcare, consumer goods, retail and e-commerce. Within Mid Europa, Matthew has built a leading healthcare services practice, having committed over $1 billion in equity to a number of investment platforms. Prior to Mid Europa, Matthew worked in banking at Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan and in private equity with TLC Capital, the family office of Reginald F. Lewis. He studied Economics at the University of Chicago and has an MBA from INSEAD.
Christopher and Cynthia Bake
Christopher Bake is a member of the Executive Committee at Vitol. He is also chairman of VTTI, a global provider of storage services for crude oil, refined petroleum products and LPG, and chairman of Vivo Energy, the Shell licensee operating 1,800 retail sites in 16 countries in Africa. From 2006–2012 Mr. Bake established and ran the Vitol office in Dubai. During this time, he established a partnership with the Oman Oil Company to create Oman Trading International (OTI) and oversaw the acquisition of Fujairah Refinery Company Limited, one of Vitol’s key assets in the region. Since joining Vitol in 1995, Mr. Bake has held several global leadership positions and served in Vitol’s offices in Bahrain, Buenos Aires, Dubai, Houston, and London. Mr. Bake has worked closely with the UT Energy Institute and its deputy director and UT professor Dr. Michael Webber providing insight and guidance on a variety of issues.
Cynthia Bake is on the Board of Trustees of The American School in London. She is a member of the Advancement Committee, serving as co-chair from 2016-2020, and currently co-chairs the Trustee Affairs Committee. Fluent in French and conversant in Spanish, Cynthia worked for the Société Générale in San Francisco and New York in the Communications Department. She holds a BS from Santa Clara University, where she studied French, political science and international business.
Richard and Sabine Chalmers
Richard is a citizen of the US and UK and Sabine is a citizen of the US with German and Indian origin. They have one daughter, Natasha. They have lived in London, Miami, Stamford, Brussels, and New York and believe strongly in the power of education to transform lives, which was their main inspiration for becoming friends of Room to Read.
Richard received a degree in Business Studies from the University of Edinburgh before training to become a lawyer with Berwin Leighton in London. He practiced family and litigation law in England, Florida and Connecticut before dedicating himself wholly to raising Natasha and volunteering for various causes. He has served on parents' associations at Natasha's schools in Brussels and New York, coached rugby at the International School of Brussels for three years, and served as President of the United Nations International School Athletics Association. Richard also chairs the board of the apartment building where the family lives in New York. On a personal level, he enjoys sports, travel and photography.
Sabine Chalmers is General Counsel of BT Group Plc, formerly known as British Telecom. Previously, she served as Chief Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer and Secretary to the Board of Directors at Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI). She is qualified as a solicitor in England and is a member of the New York State Bar. Sabine is a member of the Board of Directors of ABI and also serves on several professional councils and not-for-profit boards, including the Royal National Theatre and the International Baccalaureate. Sabine’s education reflects her global background. She spent her formative years as a student in the Philippines at the International School Manila, went on to graduate from London School of Economics, and received her Solicitors’ qualification at London’s College of Law.
Richard and Sabine are on the North America and UK Regional Development Boards.
Craig and Raquel Dawson
Craig and Raquel are both Americans from Southern California. They have been married for over 20 years and have 3 teenage children. Their family has lived abroad for over 10 years including Munich and London. Craig and Raquel are both UC graduates. Craig received his undergraduate degree from University of California, San Diego while Raquel received hers from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). They both also have an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Craig is a managing director at PIMCO in their London office. He is head of PIMCO Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Craig has been at PIMCO for over 20 years. He is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Craig’s previous roles at PIMCO include head of Strategic Business Management, head of PIMCO’s business in in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy as well as head of Product Management in Europe. Craig has over 25 years of investment experience.
Prior to business school, Raquel worked at Wilshire Associates, an investment consulting firm. After getting her MBA, Raquel focused on strategy consulting, particularly in the financial services industry. Eventually, Raquel became a stay-home mother. She has focused her time on managing her family and raising her children. She is also an active member at her children’s parent associations including Annual Fund Committee, Gala Committee, and charity fundraisers.
Marisa Drew
Marisa Drew is inaugural Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) for Standard Chartered Bank effective July 1, 2022. Ms Drew’s responsibilities include evolving the bank’s sustainability ambition and strategy, establishing key sustainability platforms and partnerships, chairing the Group’s Sustainability Forum and overseeing the bank’s netzero and other public commitments. Ms Drew is also responsible for driving Standard Chartered’s sustainability advisory and financing activity with its global client base.
Ms Drew joins from Credit Suisse where she was the CSO and the Global Head of the Sustainability Strategy, Advisory & Finance Group (SSAF) since 2017 where she was responsible for setting the sustainability strategy and ambition for the bank and for creating and facilitating sustainable investments on behalf of the bank’s wealth, institutional and corporate clients.
From 2013 to 2017, Ms Drew was the Co-Head of Investment Banking and Capital Markets for EMEA. Prior to this role, she held many other leadership roles at the bank since joining in 2003, including as Global Co-Head of the Global Markets Solutions Group, encompassing Equity and Debt Capital Markets, Leveraged Finance and Derivatives Products. Before this Ms Drew worked for Merrill Lynch, in private equity and for the investment bank, Kidder Peabody.
Ms Drew was appointed in early 2022 as a NED of the US listed broadband and mobile company, Liberty Global plc and late 2021 as a non-executive director of the City of London Corporation. She further serves on the advisory boards of the Aspen Institute UK, the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy, the FCA’s Markets Practitioner Panel and on several High Level Working Groups (HLGs) sponsored by the World Economic Forum and the UN, including the UN Oceans Panel. Ms Drew's external activities also include charitable Advisory Board roles for Cash & Rocket, The Wharton School and the UK charity, Room-to-Read. In 2022, Ms Drew was recognised by Sustainability Magazine as one of the Top 10 CSOs of a Global Corporation and in 2021 as one of 100 Global Visionary Leaders by Meaningful Business and EY.
Ms Drew has also been recognized by the BBC as one of the Most Powerful Women in Britain and by Fortune Magazine as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in International Business.
Ms Drew received a BA in Finance and Marketing with distinction from the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce and an MBA with distinction from the Wharton School.
Jerry del Missier
Jerry del Missier is former COO of Barclays Bank Plc and former Co-Chief Executive of Corporate and Investment Banking. Before joining Barclays in 1997, Jerry was the Senior Managing Director of Derivative Products at Bankers Trust, responsible for European Business. Jerry is a former Chairman of the Board of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and has served on the Boards of the Global Financial Markets Association, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, and the Markets Management Group of the International Institute of Finance. He served on the Board of Trustees of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and is currently on the Advisory Board of the Queen's School of Business. Jerry received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and an MBA from Queen’s University, Ontario.
Elio (Chair) and Maria Leoni Sceti
Elio is co-founder and chief crafter of The Craftory (the first investment house for mission-driven challenger brands in CPG). He is also Chairman of LSG Holdings and an independent Board director of Kraft Heinz Inc, of Swiss listed Barry Callebaut, and previously of brewing leader ABInBev. He was formerly CEO of Iglo Birdseye until June 2015, when he led its sale to Nomad Foods. Previously, Elio was CEO of EMI Music and held senior leadership roles at Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser. He is a Trustee and a founding Counsellor of One Young World.
Maria is the Founder and Creative Director of Sonia Petroff, a luxury costume jewellery & accessory brand. Maria received her BA with Hons in Economics from Wake Forest University and her Master in International Management from Thunderbird AGSIM, having studied along the way in Vienna, Oxford and Paris. She is a patron of the RPO and speaks 4 languages. Her first job was in Rome at Saatchi and Saatchi, enabling her to learn skills that would soon prove essential for her own brand journey. While living in Paris, Maria founded Global Access, a language school for corporate management, based on the then avant-garde method of phone conversation learning. In the following years, Maria focused on her family’s growth and progress, until she was recently entrusted with Sonia Petroff’s collection.
Björn Nilsson
Björn Nilsson is a private investor. Björn was previously a senior partner at Triton, a European investment firm, since the firm’s inception. Over the 20 years at Triton, Björn held various roles within both private equity and credit investing and he was part of the investment committee of the firm. Prior to Triton, Björn was at Chase Manhattan Bank, both in New York and London, working mainly with leverage finance and high yield origination.
Björn is currently the vice chairman of Rederi AB Gotland, a Swedish based maritime transportation company.
Björn is also the chairman of Human Rights Watch’s Stockholm Committee and a trustee of the Young Nilsson Foundation.
Björn was born and grew up in Sweden, went to high school and the Naval Academy in Stockholm, and then moved to New York. He holds a BA in Economics from Columbia University in New York. He currently lives in London with his wife Sandra and children Aliya, David and Alice.
John Ridding
John Ridding is the CEO of the Financial Times Group. He was appointed to the role in 2006, having been with the company for 20 years in both editorial and executive positions. Previously, John served as editor and publisher of the Financial Times Asia and chairman of Pearson in Asia. He led the launch of the Asia edition of the Financial Times in 2003 and led the development of the paper’s Chinese-language website. In his Pearson role, John established a series of collaborative ventures between group companies, including a series of business publications, and launched a series of financial journalism training courses. He joined the Financial Times in 1987 and earned a degree in philosophy, politics and economics, with first class honors, from Oxford University.
Erica Wax and Andrew Balls
Erica is the co-founder of Impact 100 London, a philanthropic fund that invests in local charities working with marginalised women and girls. She has been a governor at Ark Elvin Academy in Wembley for the last six years, and is also on the UK Advisory Board of Room to Read, the Advisory Board of The Sutton Trust and on the Harvard University’s Global Policy Council. Much of Erica’s personal philanthropy focuses on funding organisations that provide access and opportunity for young people and women whether it’s via the creative arts, nutrition, literacy, sport, technology or soft skills - as well as strengthening charities themselves through capacity building. Prior to moving to London about 12 years ago with her family, Erica worked in Global Debt Markets at Merrill Lynch in NYC and London, and in politics and policy in California and Washington DC. Erica has a BA in Politics from University of California and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Andrew Balls is chief investment officer for global fixed income at PIMCO. He is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and Executive Committee and manages a range of global portfolios. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2006, Andrew spent eight years at the Financial Times as an economics correspondent and columnist in London, New York and Washington, DC. He holds a bachelor's degree from Oxford, a master's degree from Harvard, and was a lecturer in economics at Keble College, Oxford.
James Arnett, Capco
James is the Capco Managing Partner for Asia Pacific, based out of Hong Kong. James has over 20 years’ international experience in consulting, banking and technology, working with some of the world’s largest financial institutions and a number of the UK’s pioneer internet banks. He led and built out Capco’s UK Finance, Risk and Compliance practice and was the Head of the UK Capital Markets practice before moving to Asia. He joined Capco in 2011 having held roles at IBM Global Business Services, Capita, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and The Co-operative Bank.
James has extensive experience managing global client relationships and transformation programs across the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, and a successful track-record in applying an entrepreneurial approach to developing fast-growth businesses. He has deep expertise around emerging technologies and data-led transformation within capital markets and banking.
James first started working with Room to Read in 2006, and led the London Chapter between 2013-2015 before joining the Technology Advisory Committee in 2015 to date.
Alex Belous, Education Portfolio Manager, The Cisco Foundation
Alex began his career as a first grade teacher. He then served as the Internet Technology Manager for the Arizona Department of Education. Joining Cisco in 1998, Alex served as one of the founders of the Cisco Network Academy. After 6 years he became the Educational Specialist within the Cisco Corporate Affairs group. Presently as the Cisco Foundation and Cisco Public Benefit Investments Education Portfolio Manager, he is responsible for grants with Cisco NGO partners that have helped millions of students and teachers. He also serves as co-chair of the STEM taskforce. Alex holds a BA Early Childhood Education and two Masters in Elementary Education/Reading Instruction and Counseling Psychology.
Marcus Davis, IT Manager, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Marcus is the IT Manager at the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. He has over 15 years of experience in IT support, focusing primarily on support for remote and distributed teams. He holds several industry-standard certifications and is currently working on a Bachelor's Degree in Cloud Computing from Western Governors University. Marcus lives in Asheville, NC, with his wife, Marsha, and son, Malcolm. He is passionate about using his skills to support people and organizations who are doing good in this world and holds a special place in his heart for local organizations. He serves his local community by sitting on the board of BeLoved Asheville, which supports the houseless population of Western NC, and as a technology advisor to Tranzmission, a local organization that supports Transgender and nonbinary people in Western NC.
Chandra Elango, Head of IT, Go to Market Tech at Atlassian
Chandra has held various management and technical roles at Atlassian, VMware, Cisco, and Gallup. He is a hands-on leader with a passion towards building great teams. Chandra is presently the Head of IT, Go to Market at Atlassian. In this role, he heads a global team of product managers and engineers responsible for Commerce, Sales and Marketing Tech and Customer Support Tech.
Previously as Vice President, IT at VMware in the Business Applications group, Chandra was instrumental in delivering several large enterprise programs. He has led Enterprise Architecture, SaaS Subscription Billing, Engineering, Go to Market, Emerging technologies, Development, QA and Application Support organizations. Chandra led VMware IT’s mobile and DevOps transformation initiatives. During his tenure at VMware, Chandra relocated to India to set up VMware IT in Bangalore from scratch and grew it into a key global delivery center.
Prior to joining VMware, Chandra was a hands-on Engineer at Cisco responsible for Platform and Integration Architecture. He moved into a Project Management role to deliver Engineering Change Management and Compliance portfolio of applications. Prior to Cisco, he was a Software Engineer at Gallup.
He holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Washington, Seattle and an MBA from San Jose State University, San Jose.
Dustin Frazier, Independent Consultant
Dustin Frazier is an IT consultant focused on helping small- and medium-sized nonprofit organizations create usable, affordable, and sustainable information systems to maximize their long-term growth and impact. He has been heavily involved in Room to Read’s efforts for more than 10 years, as a volunteer, webmaster, chapter leader, donor, and staff member. From 2007 to 2010, Dustin served as the organization’s first IT Director and helped build a team of professionals tasked with modernizing and managing Room to Read’s global IT infrastructure. Dustin has also consulted for Global Citizen Year, Philanthropix, and other Bay Area nonprofit organizations.
Daniel Freeman, Chief Commercial Officer, Netlify
Daniel has an extensive career as a GoToMarket Executive and Advisor for leading enterprise software and infrastructure companies. Currently, he is the Chief Commercial Officer of Netlify, an upstart internet infrastructure company funded by Andreesen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins. In the past, he has held Product, Marketing and Sales leadership roles at leading companies, Atlassian, Cloudflare, Sumo Logic and Symantec. As an advisor, he has helped a wide range of companies including BrowserStack, Podium and Upguard. To start his career, Daniel held various Product Management roles for both Cobalt Networks and Brightmail. He holds a BA from Claremont Mckenna College (CMC) and a Masters in International Business from ESCP-EAP in Paris.
Matthew Glotzbach, CEO, Quizlet
Matthew is the CEO of Quizlet, a global education technology company whose mission is to harness the world’s knowledge to allow anyone to unlock their learning potential. He has over 20 years of experience in consumer and enterprise technology, product strategy, product management, marketing and sales. Prior to joining Quizlet, Matthew was the vice president of product management at YouTube, responsible for YouTube's Subscription and Music business and a member of the YouTube executive leadership team. He formerly lead the global Creator product and technology direction and served as the Managing Director of YouTube in Europe, Middle East and Africa where he was responsible for the strategy, development and management of YouTube’s business and product direction. In 2007 he launched Google Apps, Google's cloud computing suite for business. Matthew holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.
Andrea Leszek, EVP & COO, Technology, Salesforce.com
Andrea leads engineering operations and services for the Technology organization, focusing on the success of Salesforce’s customers and the enablement of the engineering teams. Her team includes engineering functions responsible for site reliability, service management, release management, customer success engineering, and technology communications and documentation. Andrea’s team also runs internal engineering enablement such as innovation programs, engineering training, employee recognition, diversity, technology marketing, and agile coaching. She is a founding member of Salesforce’s Women in Technology network, and is passionate about increasing diversity in tech. She holds a B.S. and M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Frank Lucido, VP of Information Technology, Making Waves Foundation
Frank is VP of Information Technology for Making Waves Foundation, A non-profit committed to advance educational opportunities for college-bound, career-minded, historically underrepresented, and underserved youth. This includes responsibility for internal and externally facing technologies related to programs and operations as well as the multiple real estate development, construction, and property management project currently in progress to expand Making Waves impact and reach. Frank was formerly the Director of IT at Room to Read, his leadership drove the back end business transformation and migration to the cloud that allows Room to Read to scale operations and innovate in a constantly changing world. With over 20 years of experience, with roles in the private sector ranging from software developer to CIO, he brings a broad but intimate understanding of and passion for Room to Read’s mission, vision, and goals. Frank holds a B.A. in English Literature from the Dominican University.
Ambarish Malpani, VP of Engineering, Edmodo
Ambarish Malpani has over 20 years in software development and management. He was the CTO and VP Engineering at Cenzic, Inc. and co-founded ValiCert in 1996, which he helped take public in July 2000. Ambarish also has a wide range of experience in the software engineering and development area - from creating standards in IETF, to creating the first Windows version of Apache. Ambarsh has a M.S. in Computer Science from U.C.S.B. and a B.Tech in Computer Science from I.I.T. Bombay
Vibhu Mittal, CEO, Edmodo
Vibhu serves as the current CEO of Edmodo, a K-12 education resource network for teachers, students and parents. He came to Edmodo through the acquisition of Root-1, a mobile educational platform startup. Prior to Root-1, he worked in research at Google where he worked on a variety of products including Google Scholar and Google Translate. He was also responsible for helping set up the Google engineering offices in India. He has also worked at Xerox PARC, CMU/LTI, Pitt/LRDC, USC/ISI, Ohio State University and TIFR, Bombay.
Archana Ramamoorthy, Chief Technology Officer, North America, Workday
Archana Ramamoorthy is the Chief Technology Officer, North America, at Workday. Since joining Workday in 2013, she’s led strategy, design, and development for the company's portfolio of cybersecurity products, while also helping define the technology innovation path for Workday's key customers. In her current role, Archana focuses on helping customers and prospects get the most value out of Workday through industry engagements and driving digital transformation strategy with customers, and by being the liaison between prospects, product, and technology teams. She leads key initiatives to further Workday's technology mission, including defining the company's adoption of emerging standards and practices. Prior to joining Workday, Archana held product and engineering roles building hardware and software products for companies like AT&T, Triangle Biosystems, and Deutsche Bank Global Technology. Archana is an active member of the Bay Area CIO Leadership Association, Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS), and Women in Identity, and a founding member of Neythri. Archana received a Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Duke University and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from SRM University in India.
Brett Robson, IT Workplace Engineering Manager, Atlassian
Brett Robson is the IT Workplace Engineering manager at Atlassian where he is responsible for office infrastructure and services. Brett has over fifteen years experiencing working across corporate and not-for-profit organizations, with a focus on IT infrastructure, service delivery and strategy. Prior to his time at Atlassian Brett spent time as the CIO for Relationships Australia as well as over ten years at Cochlear Ltd, holding senior positions in infrastructure management and architecture.
Paul Sommerin, CAPCO
Paul leads Capco’s Asia Pacific Digital, Data and Technology Business which includes India, Japan, China and South East Asia, and is also a client partner for a number Capco largest clients, Paul is based in Hong Kong. Prior to Capco, Paul spent 8 years with EY based in Dubai. During his time at EY, Paul has led some of the largest transformations across the Middle East and Africa, including working with the Central Banks in Egypt and Pakistan on modernization of the country’s financial markets. He has worked with some of the largest Banks on their Innovation, Fintech and Technology agenda’s. He also helped create the technology platform for the Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia, Paul was the Global Client Service Partner for ENBD, where he is responsible for managing the entire global relationship between ENBD and EY.
Paul started his career in IBM as part of the Transformational Deals team which included working extensively in Emerging Markets of Latin America, Africa, India and across Asia. Prior to IBM, Paul spent 10 years living in the United States, working for Capco, Wipro and KPMG BearingPoint in New York and Los Angeles. During this time Paul worked with key clients including Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, TD Bank and PNC Bank.
He is also a Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors and currently sits on the Board of Playability Ltd, PlayAbility is an expanding not for profit NDIS provider in early Intervention services for families who have a child aged from birth to school age with a disability or developmental delay.
Sai Sundar, Head of Product, Amazon Music
Sai Sundar is currently Head of Product at Amazon Music, leading product management and operational initiatives for their royalties payment platforms. Prior to this he was a Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo, leading and mobilizing large scale enterprise transformation initiatives. Sai has managed multiple product groups, digital transformation efforts, centered on delivering delightful customer experiences while building, managing and scaling enterprise solutions. Sai has expertise in strategy, change management, product management and software development methodologies. Sai has a B.S (Visvesvaraya University, India) & M.S Engineering (University of Mississippi). In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, running, cooking, spending time with his wife and 2 children.
Tim Wood, Senior Program Manager, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Tim specializes in applying information technology to address the problems of poverty and health in developing countries. After 12 years at Microsoft working on software development, Tim joined the Grameen Foundation’s Technology Center in 2002 where he pioneered replication of the Grameen Village Phone program, launching sustainable initiatives in Uganda and Rwanda and co-authoring the Village Phone Replication Manual. Tim went on to implement mobile money pilot programs for microfinance institutions in the Philippines and Kenya and spent four years as the Director of Mobile Health Innovation at Grameen Foundation, creating the MOTECH platform to deliver multiple mobile-service initiatives at scale in India and Africa. Tim joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013 and is working across a wide range of information technology initiatives.