Who We Are
Left to Right: Katherine Zavala, Anne Mawdsley, Vini Bhansali, Greg Hunt, Deborah Goldberg, Gillian Wilson. (Yeshica not pictured.)
IDEX Staff
Rajasvini Bhansali
Executive Director
Rajasvini, known as Vini, is passionate about building the capacity of people and organizations to facilitate sustainable social change, and has worked in Kenya, India, United States and Canada. Before joining IDEX, Vini worked as Chief Operating Officer for a nationally renowned social enterprise and youth development organization. A native of 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 serves on the board of CUSO-VSO, an international volunteering organization and is the co-founder of a social enterprise that supports youth vocational training in East Africa, Sukuma for Opportunities. Vini was appointed to the role of Executive Director as of February 2010.
Deborah Goldberg
Development Associate
Deborah, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, has returned to the area after living in New York where she worked primarily in research and production on international television news magazines and historical documentaries. She has trained at BBC headquarters in London and has traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. In addition to her position as Development Associate, Deborah is a freelance writer and a volunteer with Refugee Transitions, an organization dedicated to mentoring refugee youth. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and Sociology from New York University. Discover why Deborah is part of IDEX’s vision of change.
Gregory Hunt
Office Manager
Greg is excited to join IDEX and utilize his bookkeeping and office management experience of working with Bay Area non-profits. He has worked with organizations that serve urban, at-risk youth, advocate for senior citizens, and foster local artists. He has a B.A. from San Francisco State University where he is currently working toward a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology. Greg has been an organizer for SF State’s annual Human Rights Summit and continues to keep issues of global poverty, women’s rights, and social justice central to his academic work.
Anne Mawdsley
Development Director
Anne took a circuitous route to fundraising, first working in program management for organizations serving immigrants and refugees in Washington DC, Madrid, Spain, and Oakland, California. Now she is sold on the process of building resources to address social, economic and environmental challenges. She has a B.A. from Miami University, an M.A. in Applied Anthropology from The American University, and a Certificate in teaching Spanish as a Second Language from the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in Madrid, Spain. Currently she is the Program/Vice-Chair of Women Advancing Microfinance – Northern California, and she sits on the board of a small family foundation.
Yeshica Weerasekera
Program Officer
Yeshica has worked for over 2 decades in support of grassroots-led social change with a diverse number of philanthropic and non-profit organizations in Europe, Africa and the U.S. Born and partly raised in Sri Lanka, Yeshica migrated with her family to the U.K., where she received a B.A. in International Development Studies from the University of East Anglia. After earning a Masters degree in Africa Area Studies from UCLA, Yeshica worked for 6 years in the West African region as the local Sahel Representative for Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, as well as with Oxfam America, and RADI-APEC, a community-based non-profit organization in Senegal. She has worked at several social change organizations based in California, including USA for Africa, the Tides Center, Changemakers, and most recently as a deputy director at the International Forum on Globalization, a North-South research and educational institution. Yeshica first came to IDEX several years ago to coordinate the Africa program, and helped to formulate the early stages of IDEX's own partnership approach. She is delighted to be renewing her ties to the organization, and becoming part of IDEX's dynamic efforts promoting sustainable solutions around the world.
Gillian Wilson
Communications Director
Gill has been dedicated to IDEX’s mission since 2002 when she joined IDEX as an intern. Originally from the UK, Gill has lived in the Bay Area since 2000, and studied for her M.B.A. at San Francisco State University. While she was still a student Gill started her non-profit career as an intern with IDEX before becoming Operations Manager and has been in her current position of Communications Director since 2005. An avid social networker and Gill enjoys exploring various social media tools to expand IDEX’s reach. Prior to moving to the US, Gill worked in the financial services industry. Gill has a LL.B. law degree from the University of Reading in the UK. Find out why IDEX inspires Gill.
Katherine Zavala
Program Officer
Originally from Peru, Katherine moved to San Francisco in 2003 to pursue a Master’s Degree in International Relations at San Francisco State University, which she completed in December 2005. Katherine interned with the Latin America Program at IDEX for 7 months and spent 4 months of her internship in Guatemala, providing support to AFEDES within their microcredit and training programs. She has also volunteered with Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Association in San Francisco. Katherine has a B.Sc. in Hospitality Management from Florida International University. Katherine has lived in several countries including Mexico, Indonesia, Switzerland, Germany and El Salvador.
Blog
A Plea For Pakistan: How You Can Help
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
While floodwaters are beginning to recede in many areas, Pakistan remains caught in the grips of one of the most devastating natural disasters in the country’s history.