SPEAKER BIOS

Nishith was previously Chief Executive Officer of Youth Tech Entrepreneurs, a non-profit that developed technology and business education curriculum for students at the high school level. During his tenure as CEO, YTE grew from 400 students to well over 1500, and published three innovative curriculums that teach students project management and entrepreneurship in the areas of web design, networking and Java programming.

Nishith also served five years as a Presidential Appointee in the Clinton Administration, where he worked with the Administrator and Deputy Administrator of the US Agency for International Development, managing scheduling and logistics, while also managing outreach for USAID programs in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, and initiating an effort to utilize the Internet to improve international disaster assistance. Nishith also worked for Education Secretary Richard Riley on literacy initiatives and as Associate Director of Scheduling & Advance for the President's Office of Scheduling & Advance. Prior to serving in the Clinton Administration, Nishith was appointed to the Massachusetts Governor's Advisory Commission on Immigrants and Refugees during Governor William Weld's Administration.

In the community, Nishith has served as President of the Network of South Asian Professionals of Boston, and on the Board of Directors of the Network of Indian Professionals of North America. He was Co-Chair of TiECON 2005, the annual conference of the Indus Entrepreneurs and the largest entrepreneurship conference on the East Coast. He also serves on the Boards the Indian American Leadership Initiative, the Mayor of Boston School Readiness Project, LeadBoston, the BU Global Health Initiative, as well as various committees of the Democratic Party locally and nationally.

Nishith has a Master's in Public Administration from George Washington University and a BS in Political Science from Northeastern University.

In 2004, she moved to Mumbai, India for two years to work for AVSAR (Alliance of Volunteers for Service, Action and Reform), a start-up nonprofit organization focused on healthcare delivery to the slums of Mumbai through professional and student volunteers. At AVSAR, she was in charge of organizing, fundraising and managing the organization's infrastructure in India. She was responsible for over 65 successful volunteer experiences with volunteers from all over the world. Meenakshi has maintained her ties to India and is an Executive Board Member of AVSAR. She is also a Senior Instructor at Chhandika (Chhandam Institute of Kathak Dance), a nonprofit organization committed to the preservation and education of Kathak, a North Indian classical dance in the Greater Boston Area. Committed to the issues of public health, she is active in organizations that follow issues of global public health and the Indian arts. Meenakshi received her BSc and MPH from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

From May, 1989 to June, 1998 Mr. Beauchamp was employed by Haskon Corporation where he oversaw the development of silicone formulations for the aerospace industry as well as conformance of those materials to applicable ASTM and aerospace specifications.

Mr Beauchamp has a M.A., Chemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, and a B.S. in Chemistry, High Honors, from the University of Rhode Island. He completed courses toward a Ph. D in Chemistry at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and has published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and the Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy.

Jeff has also taught for ten years at the Health Science and Technology (HST) Division of Harvard University and MIT for a course he co-developed on health care, technology, and business practice. In the Spring of 2008, Jeff launched his second course entitled, HST 939 Designing Technology Innovation for Global Health Practice. The course works closely with sponsors and partners in developing countries to enable teams of students to work on design projects that address "real world" field-based problems. The first year enrollment included over 50 students from across MIT and Harvard, with 14 projects on going in 6 developing country settings.

Previously, Jeff served as a Volunteer Country Director for the Clinton Foundation in Jamaica in 2004 and was awarded NIH/Fogarty pre and post doctoral fellowships in global health and clinical research in Tanzania in 2005 and 2008. Jeff has his doctorate and two master's degrees from Harvard and his bachelors of science from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Carter has been working on climate change issues since her first effort in 1989 at the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Carter has organized conferences and workshops on various aspects of climate change, including adaptations for natural resources for the bi-national group the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers. She was the Regional Liaison to all of the 19 regions for the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. She has developed and taught semester long and short courses (including the first climate change course in the U.S. to combine science, society, and policy in 1991) on climate change issues for both formal education (students and faculty) and informally for the interested public and informal educators (e.g. museums, nature centers, etc). She developed a climate change distance-learning course offered through the University of Maryland.

She was an invited teaching fellow at the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University and has taught in a variety of other locations. She has delivered many public presentations around climate change issues. She has written and contributed to articles and reports on climate change for a variety of audiences. Dr. Carter holds a BS in biology from the University of Hartford, an MS in zoology from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island, and a Ph.D. in Maritime Studies (climate change focus) from the University of Wales, Cardiff.

The recipient of the 2003 Social Entrepreneurship Award by the Manhattan Institute and the 2005 Freedom House Archie R. Williams, Jr. Technology Award, Gerald has been featured in many publications, including The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, BusinessWeek, Fortune Small Business, and The Christian Science Monitor. He currently serves as a Trustee of Cambridge College and Bowdoin College and is on the Board of Advisors for the Harvard Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Club and New Sector Alliance.

Gerald earned a B.A. in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School. He began his career on Wall Street as an officer of the Chemical Banking Corporation and then moved on to become the head of marketing at Transnational Financial Services in London. Gerald co-founded Conduit Communications in 1993 and fostered its growth to $20M in annual revenues and more than 130 employees in London, Amsterdam, New York and Boston. From 1993 to 1998, Conduit ranked as one of England's fastest growing companies. Following the sale of Conduit to i-Cube in 1999, Gerald turned his full attention to opportunities for others.

Mridul's prior work experience includes co-founding D.Net, an NGO in Bangladesh that has earned international recognition for its work on using information technologies for addressing rural women's health concerns. He has also worked for United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ministry of Planning in the area of using information technologies for improving governance and enhancing quality of lives of citizens. He was part of the official government delegation from Bangladesh sent to preparatory meetings in Geneva for the World Summit for Information Society (WSIS), a global UN conference on IT policy for social and economic development. During 2001-02, he was a researcher at the Center for International Development at Harvard University, in which capacity he was part of the team behind the first Global IT Report jointly published by Harvard University and World Economic Forum. He has traveled extensively to many developing countries for research and consulting on IT and development issues. He is also a filmmaker, most known for his film titled Deshantori.

Mridul completed an MPA/International Development from Harvard Kennedy School of Government as a Dean's Fellow. He has a BS degree in Economics, Mathematics, and Government with a minor in Computer Science from University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to joining JA, Alvona was an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Washington, DC promoting literacy throughout local elementary schools. She has been working with young people in various capacities for over 14 years. Alvona received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration concentrating in Marketing with a double major in African American Studies and graduated with honors from Syracuse University. She also participated in Paris Noir, Nile Valley Contributions To Civilization study in Egypt, and Semester at Sea study abroad programs. She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Emerson College.

Theresa's vision in creating Common Impact was to find a way to unlock the talent resident in America's Fortune 500 companies, using this talent to create stronger communities for all. Through its innovative model, Common Impact channels critical, untapped resources into the nonprofit sector, while creating value for its corporate partners. By engaging employees who might otherwise not be involved in their community, Common Impact helps strengthen the social fabric of the communities in which it works. Common Impact has 7:1 social return on investment and partners with some of America's leading companies such as Bain & Co., Cisco, State Street Corporation, and Fidelity Investments.

Common Impact has been widely recognized for its innovative model, including accolades from the Boston Business Journal, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the Catalogue for Philanthropy, MITX (Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange), and the Social Innovation Forum. Theresa speaks frequently on the topics of making corporate social responsibility (CSR) "real" for companies' employees, creating true reciprocal value through cross-sector partnerships, and social entrepreneurship. Her recent speaking engagements include: the Exchange at Harvard Business School; the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; the First Annual Massachusetts Civic Summit; and the National Conference on Volunteerism and Service.

Prior to co-founding Common Impact, she worked as the Director of Development and Evaluation at CADCA and as a Research Associate at Policy Studies Associates. She currently serves on the Board of Visitors for the Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth College.

Theresa earned an A.B. in Religion with honors at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She also received the Phillip D. McInnis Class of 1936 Award, given to the outstanding woman in the graduating class.

Sarita has a 25-year career in the non-profit sector, encompassing program development, fundraising, communications, marketing and management. Just prior to joining WWB, she headed the fundraising and communications efforts at Acumen Fund, which seeks entrepreneurial approaches to alleviate global poverty; and before that held various fundraising and management positions at CARE, a leading humanitarian organization. Sarita has also worked for the American Friends Service Committee, the Asia Society, and a U.S. State Department-funded project on refugee resettlement.

Sarita holds a Masters degree from the School of International & Public Affairs at Columbia University, and a Bachelors degree from Miranda College, Delhi University, India.

During his studies at MIT, Amir co-conceived and patented DakNet, a novel wireless networking technology for rural connectivity. He managed business development for Media Lab Asia based in New Delhi, India and worked with scientists and engineers at the MIT Media Lab to deploy WiFi networks in rural India.

Based on this MIT research, Amir spun-out First Mile Solutions and led it to profitability, managing product development and projects in countries such as India, Cambodia, Rwanda, Costa Rica, and Paraguay. Amir now serves as the Founder and CEO of United Villages, Inc., a VC-funded company that acquired First Mile Solutions and uses its technology to provide products and services for rural wireless network operators with a focus on rural India. His work has been responsible for providing access to over 200,000 villagers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

He is personally and professionally motivated by the potential of ICTs to impact the masses at the bottom of the world's population pyramid, whose participation in the global economy he believes is a critical driver of growth and peace in the next century. Amir has published several papers and has spoken at over 25 international events related to ICTs and economic development including the United Nations and the World Summit on the Information Society. He is the inventor of one issued and three pending patents. He has been interviewed and cited by major media organizations including CNN, the BBC, the New York Times, and Le Monde. Amir was recently featured as one of the "Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 35" by Red Herring Magazine.

Barry's consulting experience includes several years with The Boston Consulting Group as a management consultant and case leader, focusing on corporate strategy development for Fortune 500 clients. His consulting work has focused on strategy and marketing issues, working with senior management of companies ranging from early-stage and middle-market companies to global enterprises. He has also brought a business focus to nonprofit organizations of both local and national scope.

Barry's experience with early-stage companies includes his role as co-founder and COO of Sprockets.com, Inc., where he raised over $12 million in venture capital funding to launch the company. He also served as VP of Marketing and Strategy for EasyAsk, Inc., a site-search software company.

Barry has been active in consulting to Boston area nonprofits for many years through his work on the Board of Harvard Business School Association's Community Action Partners; he served as co-chair of the organization for 2003-2006. He is also an adjunct professor at the Boston University Graduate School of Management, where he teaches Strategy and Entrepreneurship.

He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BA degree in Economics from Colby College.

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• Carol Waldvogel
  T: 617.353.4248
  E: cwaldvog@bu.edu                      
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