Tarun Jotwani is the Chairman of the Global Council for Dasra and the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of TKG Investments based in London. He has been in the banking sector for over 25 years. He was responsible for Global Markets as the Executive Vice President and Senior Managing Director at Nomura Holdings Inc. His previous roles include CEO of Nomura’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, India, and Head of Capital Markets for APAC, Lehman Brothers. Tarun has lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, London, and Mumbai. 

Aarya Chaudhary is a 6th grader in the gifted program of Pringle Creek school in Whitby, Canada. She loves to travel and has visited over 50 cities around the world.  She was elected class president in Grade 5. In Grade 3, she persuaded her school principal to start a math club for girls in response to the school starting a reading club for boys. Aarya is an avid writer and enjoys creating art in her spare time. Her dream is to live and adventure in the Amazon rainforest.

Neera Nundy is a co-founder of Dasra. Most recently she led the partnership between Harvard Business School and the Dasra Social Impact Leadership Program to support social entrepreneurs. Neera has advised and published 22 sector research reports on education, health, and employability. She has enabled portfolio organizations such as SNEHA and Mann Deshi to refine their strategies and accelerate their growth by a 10-20x rate. She played a pivotal role in engaging with USAID, Kiawah Trust, and Piramal Foundation to form the $30 million Dasra Girl Alliance. She is an Aspen Fellow, received the Governor General Medal from Canada, and graduated from Harvard Business School. 

Deval is a co-founder at Dasra. He has provided philanthropists with intelligent investment strategies directing over USD $44 million into the Indian social sector over the past 15 years. He incubated the Dasra Philanthropy Forum and Dasra Giving Circles, recently awarded as one of the top 10 innovations in global philanthropy by New Philanthropy Capital. Deval regularly contributes to media channels such as Bloomberg, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Economic Times, Times of India and Mint. He is a Cordes Fellow and a founding Board member of Magic Bus and Villgro.

Desh Deshpande is an Indian American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, best known for co-founding Sycamore Networks, the internet equipment manufacturer. His social-service initiatives include the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation. Presently, Deshpande is the Chairman of A123Systems, Sycamore Networks, Tejas Networks, HiveFire, Sandstone Capital, Sparta Group, and serves on the Board of Airvana. Deshpande is also a Life Member of the MIT Corporation and is a member of the Board of Trustees of MIT. In July 2010, Deshpande was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Co-Chairmanship of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Vijay is the founder and chairman of several companies involved in the manufacturing and distribution of petrochemicals and polymers. He also has a private equity group which acquires chemical assets. Vijay is the recipient of various awards including the  E Export Award from President George H W Bush, the E &Y Master Entrepreneur Award for the SouthWest region, and Asia Society's Leadership award. He is the founder of Pratham USA and a board member of Pratham in India. Vijay is also an appointee to the International Trade Advisory Committee of the US Department of Commerce.. He sits on the board of civic and trade organizations such as The Houston Technology Center, Greater Houston Partnership, and the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston.

Jeff Bradach is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of The Bridgespan Group where he leads the organization's strategy and mission.  Jeff writes and speaks extensively on nonprofit strategy, business planning, and philanthropy. His publications include ‘Going to Scale: The Challenge of Replicating Social Programs’ (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2003), ‘Delivering on the Promise of Nonprofits’ (Harvard Business Review, 2008), and ‘Scaling Impact’ (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2010).

Jeff has also taught at Harvard Business School and serves on several non-profit boards. He is a graduate of Stanford University and completed his PhD. in organizational behavior at Harvard University. 

Peter joined the board of Atlantic Philanthropies (AP), a multi-billion dollar global charitable foundation, in 2004 and has been Chairman since 2011. AP is committed to improving the lives of the vulnerable and disadvantaged and makes grants of around 400 million dollars annually in USA, Vietnam, Eire, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. AP is a limited life - spend down foundation created by Chuck Feeney, who was a founder of Duty Free Shopping and General Atlantic, a global private equity firm. Peter and his family have a charitable trust focused on working with not-for-profits to empower adolescent girls in India. Peter was on the board of Marie Stopes International, a not-for-profit focused on sexual and reproductive health, and was also a director of New Philanthropy Capital.  Peter has been a Partner at Permira, formerly Schroder Ventures, a global private equity firm, since its formation in 1985. He was UK Managing Partner and European Chairman between 1994 and 2000 and has been on the board of many investee companies. As a Director of CDC, Peter was involved in the creation and privatization of Actis, a developing world private equity firm. He was Chairman from 2004-2014 and now serves as a Non-Executive Director.  Peter has a degree from Swansea University and attended the Stanford Senior Executive Program.

Tanya Jones serves as the Portfolio Manager of Global Programs at the Barr Foundation. For the last 15 years, Tanya has worked to improve the health of children and families in rural communities of sub-Saharan Africa as an implementer, fundraiser, and funder. Prior to joining Barr in 2011, Tanya raised corporate and foundation funding for Pathfinder International. Early in her career, Tanya was the Manager of Charitable Giving at Mellon Bank in Boston. She has lived in Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. Tanya earned a BA in African-American studies from Brown University, a Master’s degrees in Public Administration from Princeton University and in Sociology from The University of California, Berkeley

Judith Helzner is a visiting scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health and an experienced reproductive health professional. She is an accomplished Population and Reproductive Health executive with over 30 years of experience in developing and driving programs that significantly improve global health conditions. Judith is an engaging public speaker and a published author with expertise in women’s health, sexual and  reproductive health, human rights, family planning, and gender equity. She is recognized as an innovator of strategies that expand awareness, forge alliances, and ensure goal achievement for regional and global impact.

Vanita Mukherjee’s work focuses on gender, sexuality, reproductive health and justice issues of young women and girls through the Youth Sexuality, Reproductive Health and Rights Initiative. LGBTIQ rights and sexuality of disabled people have been recent explorations as her part of the field-building commitment. Before joining the Ford Foundation in 2006, Vanita worked with women's rights groups for 24 years in South and Southeast Asia and was the South Asia regional coordinator for Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), a global network of activists and researchers. She holds a Master's degree in Gender Studies from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague and a Bachelor's degree in Biology from India.

Mr. Sundar is the Co-founder and Director of Mastek Ltd., one of the first global IT services companies in India. He also serves on the Board of Sankara Eye Foundation, USA, which is engaged in eliminating curable blindness among the rural poor. Mr. Sundar has a proven track record in building successful companies around emerging opportunities and leading technologies and has successfully nurtured startups both in India and the USA. Today, he is engaged extensively with the social sector, assisting organizations in building scale and achieving financial sustainability. Mr. Sundar has an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a Bachelor’s degree from Regional Engineering College, Trichy. 

Kavita Bali serves as Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships and Alliances at CARE.  In her role, Kavita draws on her public and private sector experience to engage corporations in the co-creation of partnerships that align with CARE’s mission to serve the poorest communities in the world.  Prior to joining CARE, Kavita was with Pfizer Inc in the Corporate Responsibility division where she worked to improve healthcare for underserved populations and access to Pfizer’s medicines. She also spent time at Doctors of the World (DOW) and the Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) program at Columbia University and has worked in emergency and post-conflict settings. Kavita is passionate about organizational culture, education, and enabling people to realize their full human potential.

Sharon is Vice President, Corporate Citizenship at Johnson & Johnson. She drives the company’s Citizenship and Sustainability strategy and leads the Worldwide Corporate Contributions team in guiding the company's strategic philanthropy.  With a mission of making life-changing, long-term differences in human health, the team’s partnerships focus on: saving and improving the lives of women and children; preventing disease in vulnerable populations; and strengthening the healthcare workforce.  As a result of Sharon’s leadership, Johnson & Johnson was among the first private sector companies to make a commitment to the United Nations Secretary General’s Every Woman Every Child campaign.  Sharon is one of two Private Sector representatives on the Board of The World Health Organization’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and a Vice-Chair of the MDG Health Alliance. 

Carmen leads CECP’s global research and her work includes implementing the Global Guide reporting standard. She has authored ‘Giving Around the Globe’ and was instrumental in creating the new standard published in the Global Guide to What Counts. Before joining CECP, she was CEO of a federal credit union in Long Island City, Queens. Her background includes work in microfinance and small business development, and data analysis and project management for the City of New York. Carmen holds a Masters in Public Administration from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Carmen serves on the Supervisory Committee of Internet Archive FCU.

Sapphira Goradia is the Executive Director of the Vijay and Marie Goradia Foundation. As Executive Director, Sapphira leads the Foundation’s efforts to improve health and educational outcomes in India by supporting innovative, measurable and scalable programs. Prior to assuming her role in the Goradia Foundation, Sapphira worked for a number of NGOs focused on prevention and treatment of both acute and chronic diseases. Sapphira graduated from Pomona College with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology, and also holds a Masters of Public Health with a concentration in Global Health from The George Washington University.

An attorney by training, Tracy brings 15 years of experience advising individuals and corporations and championing their causes. Tracy leads the Institute for Philanthropy U.S.'s efforts to serve individuals and families of significant means wishing to leverage their philanthropy for lasting, positive change. Previously, Tracy served for seven years as the Senior Officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, a $5 billion charitable institution, and helped launch its new offerings and services for philanthropists, foundations, and corporations. She provided advice and counsel on how to form large-scale collaborative charitable initiatives, ranging from health and human services to children and youth, wilderness conservation, and the arts.

Jodie Sovak recently joined the Office of Institutional Advancement at the American School of Bombay where she now spends time meeting with families and companies who are considering relocating to Mumbai.  She moved to India ten years ago with her husband and they are now raising their two young daughters in Mumbai. Before moving to India, Jodie enjoyed eight years as a secondary school mathematics teacher in both public and private schools in the US. During graduate school, she worked under a New Jersey Department of Education grant aimed at recruiting, preparing, and supporting new math and science teachers for New Jersey public schools. 

Rohini Nilekani is the Founder/ Chairperson of Arghyam, a foundation she has personally endowed to fund initiatives in ‘safe, sustainable water for all’. Since 2005, Arghyam has supported projects in water and sanitation all around India. Arghyam also facilitates the India Water Portal, which has become a singular resource for the sector. In 2004, she co-founded and funded Pratham Books, a non-profit children’s publisher, which aims to democratize the joy of reading with ‘A book in every child’s hands’. She has served on several boards including ATREE - Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, and SRFS - Sanghamithra Rural Financial Services. 

Lynne Smitham co-founded the UK grant-making trust, The Kiawah Trust, with her husband and daughter in 2004. The Trust helps educate and empower adolescent girls from disadvantaged families and regions of India. Lynne works as an independent executive coach and organizational development consultant. Her clients include international corporates in technology and financial services where she helps develop high performance in top teams and senior executives. She holds an MBA from CASS Business School and is a master NLP practitioner. Lynne is on the Dasra UK Advisory Board and over the years has undertaken numerous volunteer projects with UK charities.

Active board member, consultant, and advisor to non-profit institutions and social enterprises, Jeff Walker currently serves on the boards of New Profit, Berklee College of Music, Morgan Library, Lincoln Center Film Society, Millennium Development Goals Health Alliance, the Miller Center, and University of Virginia’s undergraduate business school, where he was President for ten years. Jeff was Chairman and CEO of CCMP Capital, the $12 billion successor to JPMorgan Partners, JPMorgan Chase & Co’s global private equity and Chairman of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. A Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant, Jeff graduated with a Bachelors from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. 

Bradley Bessire is the Director of the Office of South and Central Asian Affairs for USAID.  The office manages USAID’s programming in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the Central Asian Republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).  Mr. Bessire has recently returned from four years working for USAID/West Bank and Gaza where he managed USAID’s largest Conflict Mitigation program – an annual $10 million fund that supports new and innovative ways for Israeli and Palestinian NGOs to work together for peace.  In Afghanistan, Mr. Bessire was the Director of USAID’s Health and Education Office, managing a $1 billion dollar portfolio that included USAID’s largest maternal mortality reduction program and community education programs.  Mr. Bessire also designed and managed USAID’s human rights and anti-trafficking programs in Cambodia.  While there he also taught Human Rights Law at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and produced a documentary on Cambodian rock and roll during the 60’s that is premiering next weekend at the NYDocs Film Festival.  Prior to joining USAID Mr. Bessire practiced law at a Washington DC law firm specializing in Native American rights. 

Smarinita Shetty leads the Dasra Girl Alliance, which is a partnership between USAID, Kiawah Trust, Piramal Foundation and Dasra. The Alliance is a multi-year $30 Million initiative launched to build an ecosystem to empower girls and improve the health outcomes of mothers and children. Smarinita has over 18 years of experience leading and managing functions across operations, sales, and business development at a variety of organizations. Prior to joining Dasra, she was a senior member of the Monitor Inclusive Markets unit at Monitor-Deloitte and led its Impact Sourcing and Affordable Housing initiatives. Smarinita has a Bachelor of Engineering and MBA in Finance from the University of Mumbai.

Dena Kimball is the Executive Director of the Kendeda Fund. Formerly, she served as the Vice President of Network Support of Teach For All, the Vice President of Alumni Affairs, and the Deputy Vice President of Admissions at Teach for America. Prior to that she served as the Executive Director of GirlVentures in San Francisco, a nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire adolescent girls to develop and express their strengths. Dena holds a Bachelor's degree in political science from Emory University and a Master's degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Dena was the founding Chair of American Jewish World Service's Global Circle.

Poonam Muttreja is the Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India (PFI) and a member of the Family Planning 2020 Reference Group. Poonam has more than 30 years of experience in the socio-development sector. Before joining PFI, Poonam worked with the MacArthur Foundation as India Country Director where she was responsible for the Foundation’s grants in India, which had a focus on population and development issues.  An innovator in the field of development, in the earlier stage of her career she has founded organizations in areas of social justice (SRUTI), craft (DASTKAR) and programs on leadership (Founder Director of the Ashoka Foundation, India) especially in the field of women’s health. Ms. Muttreja has a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. 

Peter Buffett is the co-president of NoVo Foundation and co-chair of its Board of Directors. In partnership with his wife, Jennifer, he guides NoVo’s vision, strategic mission, and program development. Peter is a well-established musician, composer, and producer. Highlights of Peter’s work include his Emmy-winning album, Ojibwe, the fire dance scene in Dances With Wolves, and the score for 500 Nations, the mini-series produced by Kevin Costner for CBS. Peter is author of ‘Life Is What You Make It.’ Peter and Jennifer were named in Barron’s list of top 25 most effective philanthropists in 2009 and 2010.

Jennifer Buffett is the co-president of NoVo Foundation with her husband, Peter. She is responsible for the Foundation’s vision, strategy, and program development. In addition, Jennifer is co-chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. Jennifer works passionately, advocating for girls and women worldwide to end their exploitation, promote “whole-child” education practices, and support balanced, sustainable communities.
In September 2008, Jennifer and Peter received the Clinton Global Citizen Award for their “visionary leadership and sustainable, scalable work in solving pressing global challenges.” Jennifer and Peter were named in Barron’s list of top 25 most effective philanthropists in 2009 and 2010

Dr. Armida Fernandez is the founder and trustee of SNEHA. She was a Professor and Head of Neonatology at Lokmanaya Tilak Municipal General (LTMG) Hospital and Medical College for over 25 years and Dean of the hospital for 3 years. She has chaired seminars and presented papers on neonatal care and breast feeding at medical conferences in India and abroad, but it was her initiatives to improve the health of infants that made and even greater impact. In 1989, she set up a human milk bank in Sion Hospital, the first of its kind in Asia. In the past, she was honored as an Ashoka Fellow and has been the president of the National Neonatology Forum.

Elizabeth Wallace Ellers is the Founder & Managing Partner of The globalislocal Fund, an award-winning educational and funding vehicle investing in solutions to poverty in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Liz is a member of the Advisory Committee of The Philanthropy Workshop. She has also received the Philanthropic Vision Award for her work with the Collaborative Fund for Women's Economic Development and the New Generation Philanthropist Award for creating The globalislocal Fund. In her prior life Liz was an investment banker. She holds an MBA from Columbia University, a BA in International Relations from UCLA and studied Economics and International Development at Universidade de Sao Paulo. She has lived in Brazil and Mexico.

Surita Sandosham is the Vice President of Programs at Synergos. She had led the efforts to build and support inclusive partnerships at Synergos networks including the Global Philanthropists Circle, Senior Fellows, and Social Innovators. Surita has served as the Director of the Partnership for Child Nutrition. She is an adjunct lecturer at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. Surita has more than a decade of experience working in the nonprofit sector, holding senior executive positions at leading organizations including Rockefeller Foundation, Lambda Legal Defense Fund, Equality Now, and Amnesty International USA. She has a degree in history and politics from London University’s SOAS and a law degree from City University London. 

Chetna Sinha is an economist, farmer, and an activist who works for social change in poor, drought-stricken rural India. She is the founder and president of Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Ltd. (the Bank), a micro-enterprise development bank which serves women from low-income communities. The Bank has six branches, over 165,000 clients, and conducts 2,400 transactions daily. Sinha promotes a holistic approach to serving her clients, combining economic support with education and healthcare. Since 1996, she has been organizing women in rural Maharashtra to fight for land and property rights. In 2005, she received the Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar award for rural entrepreneurship.

Cinnamon Dornsife is currently the Senior Advisor of the International Development Program and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She worked for The Asia Foundation for 13 years. She is the former U.S. Ambassador and Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank. She has also worked with the World Bank, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Asia Environmental Partnership, Pathfinder International, Forest Trends and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Abt Associates and Board of Advisers for the Asian Development Bank Institute, Devex, the United States-Indonesia Society, and United Nations Association of the National Capital Area.

Susan Davis is an author, public speaker and an expert in International development and Social entrepreneurship. She is the founder and current President and CEO of BRAC USA, an organization created to support BRAC, a development organization founded in Bangladesh in 1972 and the largest non governmental organization in the world. BRAC runs programs to alleviate poverty using microfinance, education, healthcare, legal services, community empowerment, and other methods.

Formerly the CEO of Cox & Kings and Founder of Cleartrip.com, Matthew has extensive corporate experience and an understanding of development sector needs. Matthew established Magic Bus in 1999. Magic bus has grown from a platform for volunteers conducting informal rugby sessions and outdoor camps for disadvantaged children into a premier organization which mentors less privileged children from childhood to livelihood. Matthew has been elected an Ashoka Fellow, a TED Fellow and more recently an Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy Fellow. In 2007, he was awarded an MBE for services to children in the Commonwealth.

Maya Ajmera is the President and CEO of Society for Science & the Public (SSP) and publisher of its award-winning magazine Science News and its family of digital media properties. SSP is best known for its world class science competitions including the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Maya founded and ledThe Global Fund for Children (GFC), a non-profit organization that has invested nearly $40 million in innovative community-based organizations working with vulnerable children and youth. Maya is a 2011 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and an Echoing Green Fellow. She is co-chair of the board of Echoing Green, a trustee of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, and a board member of New Global Citizens and Kids in Need of Defense.

Martha Brady is a senior associate with the Population Council's Poverty, Gender, Youth, HIV and AIDS programs. Brady co-created and co-led Ishraq, a program that improved educational, health, and social opportunities for thousands of adolescent girls in rural upper Egypt. She has led inter-agency collaboration with UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNICEF and WHO on program, policy, and evidence-gathering for adolescents aged 10–14 years. She is on the steering committee of the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception and is a member of the Global Health Technologies Coalition, Initiative for Multipurpose Prevention Technologies, Coalition for Adolescent Girls, and the PVP Access Working Group.

Raj is a banker turned social entrepreneur and co-Founder of Lend A Hand India. He leads the team for resource mobilization and external relations for Lend A Hand India apart from managing its presence in USA and UK. He has worked across Asia, Europe and North America and brings 20 years of varied experience in the fields of education, banking, insurance, and information technology. Prior to leaving corporate sector in 2011 to focus full time on Lend A Hand India, he spent ten years in New York working with Citibank and Deloitte Consulting. Raj was recently appointed by Government of India as a member of National Skill Development Agency (NSDA). He is an advisor to Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA), Government of Maharashtra and member of state level committee to effectively utilize CSR resources for education sector. He was also selected by the UK Government, as a Chevening Gurukul Scholar (2012) at the London School of Economics. He was recognized as a top 100 graduate alumni of University of Texas at Austin and received an award for exceptional community service from the President of the United States. Raj is an Electronics Engineer from the University of Pune, a CFA, and and holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Darren Walker is the President of the Ford Foundation, the second largest philanthropy in the United States with over $11 billion in assets and $500 million in annual giving. The foundation is based in the United States and operates worldwide with ten offices in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America. Before being named president in 2013, Darren served as the foundation’s Vice President for education, creativity, and free expression, where he shaped more than $140 million in annual grant-making around the world, covering areas as diverse as media and journalism, arts and culture, sexuality and reproductive health and rights, educational access and opportunity and religion.

Peggy Dulany is Chairperson of the Synergos Institute, a global nonprofit organization helping solve complex problems of poverty and inequality. Drawing from her experience living and working in Rio de Janeiro, she realized that people most affected by adverse living conditions also have the greatest motivation to solve their problems. Peggy founded Synergos in 1986 to facilitate relationships between grassroots leaders and political or business leaders, so that they can develop long-term relationships and forge new paths in overcoming poverty. In 2001, she co-founded Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle with her father, David Rockefeller.

Maggi Alexander leads the Center for Global Philanthropy at the Philanthropic Initiative and the New England International Donors (NEID).  She is an entrepreneurial leader with over 25 years of experience focused on improving access to quality education, health, and economic opportunities for low-income young people, their families and communities in over 30 countries worldwide. In 1991, Maggi joined the International Youth Foundation shortly after it was established, playing numerous key leadership roles as the organization grew, including direct program and organizational leadership of a fast growing network of partner foundations across Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.  Over her career, Maggi has held several other senior leadership positions with national and international philanthropic organizations, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. She also founded New Generations Consulting to assist foundations, nonprofits, and government agencies to leverage their resources more effectively to achieve greater impact. Maggi has an MA from John’s Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.