Board of Directors
Front row, from left to right: Paula Morris, Ayesha Barenblat, Geraldine Poon, Nusrat Rabbee, Rajasvini Bhansali, Melissa Tsang.
Back row: Mamta Ahluwalia, Ken Tamura, Suresh Mathai, Paula Vlamings, Caitlin Stanton, Diane Dodge, Jim Kelly.
Not pictured: Aaron Zukowski, Gerald Richards.
Mamta Ahluwalia
Secretary
Deputy Public Defender, Contra Costa County
Currently a Deputy Public Defender in Contra Costa County, Mamta holds a Bachelor′s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Washington. Mamta has previously worked in India, South Africa and Brazil.
Ayesha Barenblat
Director, Stakeholder Collaboration, BSR
Ayesha oversees BSR's approach to next-generation stakeholder engagement, working closely with a diverse range of global stakeholders to achieve BSR's mission and stay on the forefront of emerging trends and issues. Prior to this role, Ayesha served as BSR's Director of Consumer Products, providing strategic advice on the design and implementation of corporate responsibility strategies to a variety of BSR's apparel, footwear, and retail member companies. She also established a number of BSR's collaborative initiatives including the Better Work Buyers' Forum, Beyond Monitoring, and the Mills and Sundries Working Group, and she led private-sector participation in BSR's HERproject and Migration Linkages work. Prior to BSR, Ayesha was a financial analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and a strategy consultant at CRA Rogers Casey. Ayesha holds an M.P.P. from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in Economics and Information Systems from the University of Houston, Texas. Ayesha is fluent in English and Urdu.
Rajasvini Bhansali
Executive Director, IDEX
Rajasvini has served as IDEX's Executive Director since February 2010. Born and raised in India, Vini is passionate about building the capacity of people and organizations to facilitate participatory and grassroots-led social change. Before IDEX, Vini worked as the Chief Operating Officer for Juma Ventures, a nationally renowned youth development social enterprise based in San Francisco. Vini served as a management capacity builder with youth vocational training schools called polytechnics in rural Kenya. In the past, she has managed a $30 million public fund to address digital divide issues with community-based organizations, libraries and schools in rural Texas and also worked as a researcher, planner, policy wonk, management consultant and community organizer. Born and raised in India, Vini earned a Master′s in Public Affairs (MPA) with a focus on technology and telecommunications policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and Bachelor′s degrees in Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley. Vini currently serves on the board of CUSO International, a civil society development organization that works through volunteers. She is also a published poet and essayist.
Diane Dodge
Executive Director, East Bay College Fund
With nearly two decades of experience in non-profit management and 10 years of experience as an educator, Diane has traveled extensively and has lived in all of the countries in which IDEX partners operate. Attracted to IDEX′s mission, partnership model, and people, Diane has personally visited several IDEX partners in Africa. Having learned firsthand that IDEX partners serve their communities with dedication, compassion, wisdom, and integrity, Diane believes that the most important aspect of IDEX′s work is the difference it makes in the lives of so many people. Diane holds a Master′s of Science in Education and a Master's of Arts in Education Administration. Diane is currently the Executive Director of the East Bay College Fund.
Jim Kelly
Founder & Principal Consultant, DialogWorks, Inc.
Jim helps for-profit and non-profit organizations with their online strategy and execution, including database management, fundraising, impact measurement, internet technologies and marketing communications. Jim has traveled extensively, doing various volunteer projects along the way, such as teaching English in Dharamsala, India and helping build a website for a family's guest home in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. He was initially attracted to IDEX because of IDEX's support for local organizations and leadership, not charity. He is currently the Founder and Principal Consultant of DialogWorks, a technology and marketing services company.. Jim holds a Bachelor′s degree in mechanical engineering from Tufts University and a Master′s in Computer Science from the University of Illinois.
Suresh Mathai
CEO, ContinuumGlobal, Inc.
Board of Directors, Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
Suresh is a senior management executive with a deep and extensive background and expertise in digital and online marketing as well as software and technology. Having lived and worked in India, Hong Kong, Canada and the US, his broad experience ranges from start-ups to multinational corporations (WPP & Omnicom) in the US and the Asia Pacific region . He co-founded, built and sold two technology companies, and has worked as President and CEO of two multinational companies. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of DMA (Direct Marketing Association). He is also Chairman and Co-founder of ThinkDimensions, Inc. Suresh received his Bachelor of Science degree from St Stephen′s College, New Delhi. He has attended executive management programs at MIT, Duke and Babson.
Paula Morris
Vice-Chair
Program Director, Flexible Leadership Investment Program,
Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
Paula began her professional career as a teacher with degree in Modern Languages, and has since spent 25 years working in nonprofit management-first internationally and now in the United States. She is currently the Program Director for the Flexible Leadership Investment Program, supporting leadership development for grantees of the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. Having witnessed firsthand the power of community-initiated grassroots development projects during her time working in Indonesia and Zimbabwe, Paula was naturally drawn to IDEX. LGBT rights are another focus of Paula's volunteer work and giving, and she is very active with Horizons Foundation.
Geraldine Poon
Treasurer
Associate Director in Corporate and Government Ratings,
Standard & Poor’s
Geraldine works as a credit analyst for nonprofit healthcare at Standard & Poor′s. She studied Art and German at UC Berkeley and holds a Master's of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management. Geraldine believes in IDEX's mission and its talented and industrious staff. Her international development experience includes a stint with the Peace Corps, where she volunteered in Ghana.
Nusrat Rabbee, PhD.
Biostatistician and Biomarker Development Expert
Dr. Nusrat Rabbee is an expert in biomarker development in the biotechnology industry. Nusrat specializes in developing sophisticated algorithms for complex, genomics-driven technologies used in the context of drug or diagnostics development. Nusrat holds a doctorate degree in Biostatistics from Harvard University and completed an NSF VIGRE postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley in the department of Statistics. Nusrat co-founded various grassroots-level social change organizations in the 80s and 90s. During a trip back to her hometown Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2010, she witnessed tremendous optimism among people in finally being able to overcome poverty due to the recent success of the garments industry and the microfinance sector. This pivotal moment inspired her to seek out and get involved with transformational models for ending poverty in the world, which eventually led her to IDEX.
Gerald Richards
Chief Executive Officer of 826 National
Gerald Richards is the Chief Executive Officer of 826 National With twenty years of management and development experience at national nonprofit organizations, including the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship where he served as the Executive Director of the Bay Area office, Gerald is a respected trainer and sought after speaker on topics of youth and education access. He has also served as an education expert for national marketing campaigns promoting creativity in and outside the classroom. In 2008, he was named one of 101 African-American Champions for Youth in the Bay Area. Gerald's nonprofit career also includes positions with the United Negro College Fund; University of California, San Francisco; the J. David Gladstone Institutes; Chicago Panel on Social Policy; and The Cradle Foundation. In addition to serving on the IDEX board, he currently serves on the board of the Woodland School, and previously served on the boards of Juma Ventures and KIPP SF Bay Academy. Gerald holds a BA in Film Studies from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Caitlin Stanton
Chair
Senior Development Officer, Global Fund for Women
Over the past decade, Caitlin has worked to advance the human rights of women and girls' at the Global Fund for Women. Currently she serves as the Global Fund's Sr. Program Officer for Learning, Monitoring and Evaluation. Previously, she served as interim Director, Major Gifts and Sr. Officer for Philanthropic Partnerships and has traveled on behalf of the Global Fund in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique. In addition to serving as the Chair of the Board of Directors of IDEX, she has also served on the Boards of the Palo Alto Area Mills College Alumni Association, Mid-Peninsula Parents of Multiples, and as an Advisor to Akili Dada, a Kenya/US initiative for girls' education and leadership. Previously, she worked with the Mills College CARES Center on community service and service-learning programs, and as a volunteer for the East Bay Institute for Urban Arts and in the Oakland Public Schools. She has studied in Okinawa, Japan and Cape Town, South Africa and holds a BA in dramatic arts from Mills College where her thesis focused on women playwrights in the South African Freedom Movement.
Ken Tamura
Vice-Chair
Director of Strategic Planning & Analysis, AEC Division, Autodesk Inc.
Currently a Director of Strategic Planning & Analysis at Autodesk- a leading global software company for 2D/3D design solutions- Ken has more than 20 years of business experience and has held positions at The Walt Disney Co., Time Warner, Inc., Ernst & Young LLP, and Scient Corp. Ken was drawn to non-profit board service by a desire to give back to the community in the form of professional advice and passionate commitment/service. Ken was particularly attracted to IDEX's global reach, unique mission, solid track record and the highly motivated, energetic and committed staff and board members. A Certified Public Accountant, Ken holds Master's of Business Administration in Global Management from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and a Bachelor's in Business Economics from UC Santa Barbara.
Paula Vlamings
Program Development Consultant, Institute at the Golden Gate
Associate Director, Planeterra Foundation
Paula is the Program Director at the Institute at the Golden Gate-an environmental organization with a mission to promote a more sustainable world. Paula's background has been primarily in the public policy arena, including stints with the California State Legislature, the 9th Circuit of U.S. Courts, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and the Presidio Trust of San Francisco. Paula's work encompasses finding the connection between creating economic opportunity-primarily for women-and environmental preservation. A world traveler, Paula wanted to foster a connection with an organization that was accomplishing these goals on the ground. She believes that she will learn much from IDEX. Paula holds a Bachelor's of Science in Political Science from Virginia Tech, and a Master's in Public Policy and Administration from California State University, Sacramento.
Aaron Zukoski
Enterprise Business Representative
Chair, IDEX Young Professionals Group
A desire to give back inspired Aaron to join the global fight against poverty, and Aaron was drawn to IDEX's exemplary work in developing nations, as well as its position that poverty alleviation starts from the ground up. Aaron also spearheaded the founding of the IDEX Young Professional Group and serves as its chair. He currently works at Yammer, an enterprise social network in San Francisco. Aaron holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication from San Francisco State University.
Blog
Girls Amplify Their Voices Through Technology
Friday, January 13, 2012
Katherine Zavala – IDEX’s Program Manager, Grassroots Alliances – reports back on a recent trip to South Africa where she visited IDEX Catalyst Grantee Women’s Net.