Welcome Address

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.

​Philanthropy and Democracy

Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. At Stanford University Diamond also serves as the Peter E. Haas Faculty Co-Director of the Haas Center for Public Service and professor by courtesy of political science and sociology. He is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy and a Senior Consultant at the International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy. He has advised many governmental and nongovernmental agencies dealing with democracy, governance and development. He is author or co-editor of some 40 books on democracy, including In Search of Democracy, (Routledge, 2015), which evaluates the global status of and prospects for democracy.

UNLOCKING PHILANTHROPIC VALUES AND MOTIVATIONS

Neera plays a leading role in bringing managerial skills, knowledge and critical analysis to Dasra. She initiated and led the launch of the Dasra Social Impact Leadership Program with Harvard Business Publishing, a first-of-its-kind executive education program for social sector leaders in India. She has played a pivotal role in engaging with USAID, Piramal Foundation and Kiawah Trust to form the Dasra Girl Alliance, a collaborative partnership that focuses on reproductive- maternal- new-born child healthcare and adolescents girls’ empowerment in India. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and is an Indian Leadership Initiative Fellow with Aspen Institute. She received the Canadian Governor General's Medallion for her dedication to addressing the persistent challenges of poverty in India, and was also awarded the Forbes Philanthropy Award in the Crossover Leaders category for 2014.

Ram Shriram is a former board member of Google and one of the first investors in Google. He earlier served as an officer of Amazon.com working for Jeff Bezos, founder & CEO. Shriram came to Amazon.com in August, 1998, when Amazon acquired Junglee, an online comparison shopping firm of which Shriram was president. Before Junglee and Amazon, Shriram was a member of the Netscape executive team, joining them in 1994, before they shipped products or posted revenue. Shriram holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Loyola College, Chennai of the University of Madras. Shriram serves on the boards of StumbleUpon, Zazzle and Paperless Post. Shriram started Sherpalo, a venture capital firm that invests in promising new disruptive technologies, in January 2000.

Peter joined the board of Atlantic Philanthropies (AP), a multi-billion dollar global charitable foundation, in 2004 and has been Chairman since 2011. 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. Peter has a degree from Swansea University and attended the Stanford Senior Executive Program.

Jeff Bradach is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of The Bridgespan Group, where he works with leading philanthropists and nonprofits, with a focus on achieving transformative impact. Recently, Jeff led Bridgespan’s effort to launch its India office (opened July 2015). He writes and speaks extensively on philanthropy, nonprofit strategy, transformative scale, and social sector leadership. His publications include: "Transformative Scale: The Future of Growing What Works" (Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), 2014), “Achieving Kindergarten Readiness for All Our Children” (with J.B. Pritzker and Katherine Kaufmann, 2015), "Scaling What Works: Implications for Philanthropists, Policymakers, and Nonprofit Leaders" (Bridgespan.org, April 2009), and "Delivering on the Promise of Nonprofits" (Harvard Business Review, 2008).

Power of Social Entrepreneurship

Renee Kaplan is Chief Strategy Officer and oversees the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Skoll World Forum, Strategic Alliances, Communications, and Issue Intelligence programs at the Skoll Foundation. Renee has over 20 years of business experience in corporate, entrepreneurial and foundation sectors. Her professional background includes eight years at Microsoft in corporate and international marketing – working directly with executive leadership and spending considerable time in India, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Following Microsoft, she was founder and CEO of an e-commerce start up, FutureWorkplace, Inc. As an entrepreneur, she was active in Young Entrepreneurs Organization (Y.E.O.) and was named to the “40 Under 40” list by the Puget Sound Business Journal. Renee holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Edward R. Murrow School of Journalism at Washington State University.

The WASH trap: Sanitation & Hygiene for girls and women in India

Rati is a Director at Forbes Marshall. Rati is responsible for the Social Initiatives which the company supports; in the areas of community health, education and women's issues. The initiatives include a reading/learning enhancement program which runs in 90 low-income primary schools; catalyzing and coordinating the effective functioning of over 300 small savings group for women, leading to their enhanced income; and many more.

Pratima Joshi is one of the founding members of Shelter Associates (SA) and has been working in SA since its inception in 1993. She received an Aga Khan scholarship in 1986-87 and completed her Masters Degree in ‘Building Design for Developing Countries’ at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, London. In October 2005, the BBC identified her as one of the leading Slum architects of India and did a feature on her for their ‘India Week” which was launched on their website. Pratima was featured under the 'Amazing Indian' in 2011 series by Times of India and won the HUDCO award for best practice under Sanitation in 2015.

Kathy Walkling is the co-founder of Eco Femme, a social enterprise with global reach working to promote healthy, dignified, and eco-friendly menstrual hygiene practices. Originally from Australia, Kathy has been based in Auroville since 1997 - an emerging international township in South India. Here, she worked on women's empowerment and socio-economic development, which sensitized her to rural India’s challenges around sustainable development and gender equity. Eco Femme is entering its 5th year of operations, and brings together Kathy’s passion for social change, co-creative partnerships, women's empowerment and environmental sustainability.

Pakzan leads the Advisory Research and Due Diligence team at Dasra. As part of this, she engages with development sector experts and oversees primary due diligence of non-profits to create content that directs funding towards some of India’s most significant development challenges. Over the past four years, she has led research on women’s empowerment, health, education, governance, sanitation, and human rights. Before Dasra, she worked at The Akanksha Foundation in Mumbai, designing curricula, planning community development programs and devising impact indicators. She has an MBA from SP Jain Center of Management, with a bachelor’s degree in Management Studies from the University of Mumbai.

Giving Back: Indian-Americans and Social Impact in India

Lata Krishnan is the Chair of the American India Foundation (AIF) since being involved in its founding in 2001. AIF’s Board includes luminaries from the community and President Clinton serves as Honorary Chair. Krishnan is also the Chief Financial Officer of Shah Capital Partners, a leading mid-market Technology Private Equity fund that was founded in 2003. Krishnan is a Board member of the Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group. Her community activities include: Board Chair of the American India Foundation, Board member of The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco and Fellow of the American Leadership Forum. Krishnan received a bachelor of science degree with honors from the London School of Economics and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Deval Sanghavi has provided philanthropists with intelligent investment strategies directing over USD $50 million into the Indian social sector over the past 15 years. He pioneered the concept of the Dasra Giving Circles, a collaborative giving platform, which have been featured in New Philanthropy Capital’s report on “10 Innovations in Global Philanthropy: Concepts worth spreading in the UK.” He was recently awarded the Forbes Philanthropy Award in the 'Crossover Leaders' category for 2014 for successfully transitioning from a thriving career in investment banking to work for the non-profit sector. Deval holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a dual Honours degree in Business and Finance from the University of Texas, Austin. He is a Cordes Fellow and a founding board member of Magic Bus and Villgro.

Rohit Menezes leads Bridgespan’s Mumbai office. At Bridgespan, his work has spanned the domains of global development, education, public health, and children, youth, and families. Previously, Rohit worked in both operations and strategy roles in private sector organizations as a telecommunications executive, management consultant and entrepreneur. Rohit has a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from Williams College and an MBA in Strategy and Marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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 through the support of innovative, measurable and scalable initiatives. Prior to assuming her role at the Goradia Foundation, Sapphira worked for a number of NGOs focused on the prevention and treatment of both acute and chronic diseases, including UNAIDS and Population Services International. She holds a BA from Pomona College and a Masters of Public Health from The George Washington University. Sapphira is an Advisory Board member of Pratham USA’s Houston chapter, and a board member of the international NGO SightLife.

Giving Matters I: Impact Investing

Dr. Charly Kleissner is an impact investor. Dr. Kleissner co-founded KL Felicitas Foundation, and Social-Impact International, which help social entrepreneurs worldwide to accelerate and increase their impact. KL Felicitas Foundation recently demonstrated, that impact investors can construct a 100% Impact Portfolio and achieve competitive financial returns in all asset classes while making a tremendous impact. Dr. Kleissner co-founded Toniic, and the ‘100%IMPACT Network’, global networks for impact investors. Dr. Kleissner serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Global Hub Company, and as Board Director and Chairman of the Investment Committee of ImpactAssets.

Lisa Kleissner is the President of the KL Felicitas Foundation, a family foundation co-founded with her husband, Charly, in 2000. The Kleissners are recipients of the 2014 BNP Paribas Grand Prix in Philanthropy and the 2015 Magis Award for Social Entrepreneurship from Santa Clara University. She is co-founder and Board Chair of Toniic, a global impact investing platform; founding board member and Finance Chair of The Philanthropy Workshop, an international trans-formative donor education program; co-founder and board member of Social-Impact International, an incubator of capacity building programs for social enterprise; and co-founder of Hawaii Investment Ready, a capacity building program for indigenous and island social enterprise. Lisa attended the Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawai’i at Manoa graduating with a BArch in Environmental Design.

As managing partner, Matt leads all aspects of Omidyar Network’s operations and strategy. Matt brings a wide range of executive, international, and multi-sector experience to his leadership of Omidyar Network. As the general manager and later as president of eBay International, Matt was largely responsible for building eBay’s global footprint and driving phenomenal revenue growth. Matt was selected to be PayPal's first post-acquisition president and established PayPal as the global standard for online payments. Matt also spearheaded eBay's initiatives in Global Development and Citizenship, where he worked to bring the power of eBay to the developing world. He earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree, Phi Beta Kappa, in international studies and economics from the University of Washington.

Maya co-founded Elevar in 2008. Maya has close to 20 years of private equity investing and investment banking experience with a passion for using bottom-up solutions to development challenges. She currently serves as a Director of GloboKasNet (a leading transaction services company in Peru), LIGTT Corporation and Kiva. She serves as an advisor to several impact investing funds and has served on multiple boards in the past including Aarusha Homes, Caja Rural Los Andes, Dignity Fund, the International Association of Microfinance Investors, Silicon Valley Microfinance Network, Wokai, North Pole Ltd., printChannel and vCustomer. Maya graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in Social Studies from Harvard University and she received her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Girl Power: Empowering Adolescent Girls in India

Suparna founded Aangan in 2002 with the commitment to protecting the most vulnerable groups of children. She developed a unique model to partner with state governments across the country making Aangan the first non-profit to access hundreds of state-run institutional facilities for rescued children in state care. Suparna extended the organisation’s work to identify children in dangerous situations with a view to preventing occurrence and recurrence of serious child harm. By 2014, this had been developed into an integrated model for child harm prevention and is currently implemented in 39 locations across the country. She has co-authored various research reports and led the development of empowerment tools for parent/caregivers and children. Suparna was awarded the Ashoka fellowship for leading social entrepreneurs and the Edward B. Mason Fellowship from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

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.

Rachita manages the Dasra Girl Alliance team. She has seven years of experience working on gender issues across the areas of financial inclusion, livelihoods development and public health. Before Dasra, she led CSR communications and employee engagement at the Godrej Group. She helped specific Godrej businesses manage their livelihoods programs and evaluate performance. She has also worked at Swadhaar FinServe, among India's earliest urban microfinance organizations, where she worked on business and product development, expansion strategy, and communications. She holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a BA from Yale University. She is a former national-level squash player, having represented India and Yale at international and inter-collegiate championships.

Giving Matters II: Successful Pathways to Philanthropy

Joan Platt is the Founder and President of the Joan and Lewis Platt foundation whose mission is to support organizations that advocate for human rights with a focus on women and children. Ms. Platt currently serves on the International Board of Human Rights Watch as well as the executive committee of Northern California HRW. She is a member of the advisory councils of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition, she is a member of the boards of Global Fund for Children, the Fund for Global Human Rights, the Philanthropy Workshop West and the Lewis and Joan Platt East Palo Alto YMCA. Ms. Platt owns and manages the Platt Vineyard in Bodega, California.

Jane Wales is CEO of the Global Philanthropy Forum and World Affairs Council and Vice President of the Aspen Institute. Previously, Wales served in the Clinton Administration as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of the National Security Council while simultaneously serving as Associate Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In the Carter Administration, Wales served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. Wales chaired the international security programs at the Carnegie Corporation, W. Alton Jones Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Wales chaired the Poverty Alleviation Track for the Clinton Global Initiative.

Ramanan Raghavendran is a venture capital and growth equity investor based in the Bay Area. He is the chairman of Amasia, a venture capital firm that invests in cross-border technology companies. Ramanan co-founded Impact Partners, the first Indian venture philanthropy fund. He is a global trustee of Magic Bus, an Impact investee that was incubated in his Mumbai office. He is a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania; is an Overseer of the School of Arts and Sciences at Penn; serves on the boards of Penn’s two India centers; and is the Global Coordinator of the Penn Alumni Interview Program.

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