• Board of Directors
• Advisory Board
• Leadership Council

 

Advisory Board

• 

  David L. Ager,
  Senior Fellow, Executive Education, Harvard Business School

  David Ager is Senior Fellow within Executive Education at Harvard Business School. From 2004 to 2012 he was a faculty member and the director of undergraduate studies in the Sociology Department at Harvard University where he taught courses in organizational Sociology. In addition to advising various student organizations focused on social innovation and change, in 2008 David launched the first undergraduate course in Social Entrepreneurship at Harvard College. David has designed and directed executive programs for several large multinational firms addressing leadership development, strategic planning, talent management, change management, M&A, team building and succession planning. He has worked with firms around the world that operate in diverse sectors that include finance, energy, high-technology, hospitality, consumer products, bio-technology, bio-energy, pharmaceutical, and telecommunications. David holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, a joint degree granted by Harvard Business School and Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He also earned an Honors B.Sc. in Economics and Human Biology from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario and a Master’s degree in Sociology from Harvard University.

• 

  James Berylson,
  Founder & Managing Partner, Berylson Capital Partners

  James is the Managing Partner of Berylson Capital Partners, a multi-strategy investment firm based in Boston. Prior to founding Berylson Capital Partners, James worked at Serengeti Asset Management in New York City. Previously, he was an Associate in the Special Situations Group at Goldman Sachs where he focused on public equity, distressed debt and private investment opportunities across various sectors. James began his career at Goldman Sachs in the Leveraged Finance Division. In addition, he is a trustee of the Richard & Susan Smith Family Foundation, one of the leading private foundations in greater Boston. James is also on the Board of Millwall Football Club, an English football team currently competing in the Championship League. He graduated from Harvard College in 2004.

• 

  Yvonne Buysman,
  Director of National Sales, Sony Mobile

  Yvonne Buysman is Global Strategic Business Development Director for Sony Mobile. Yvonne completed a Fulbright Scholarship during 1995 and 1996. In addition to holding a BA from Dickinson College‘94 and a Masters in Education from Havard ’98, she is currently undertaking an Executive International MBA at Hult International Business School with rotations in London, Dubai and Shanghai. She is a Board member of the Harvard Club of New York and serves on the New York Junior Tennis League’s Benefit Committee. She is an avid golfer and globetrotter.

• 

  Tia Fuhrmann Chapman,
  Director of Major Gifts, The Metropolitan Opera

  Tia Fuhrmann Chapman is the Director of Major Gifts at the Metropolitan Opera. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her MBA from New York University. In addition to her work as a member of the Resolution Advisory Board, Tia is the Secretary on the Board of Save Venice Inc., where she chairs the nominating committee; the Annual Giving Chair of the Alumnae Board of The Chapin School; and a member of the Harvard Schools Committee of New York City. She is married to Drew Chapman and has a daughter, Sydney, and a son, Gordon.

• 

  Andras Forgacs,
  Co-Founder & CEO, Modern Meadow, Inc.

  Andras Forgacs is an entrepreneur and venture investor in technology and life sciences. He is the co-founder and CEO of Modern Meadow, a research stage company applying tissue engineering methods to develop a new class of biomaterials. In addition, Andras is a co-founder and director of Organovo (OTC: ONVO), a leader in tissue engineering which pioneered the use of 3D bio-printing to create human tissue for a range of medical applications. Organovo’s bio-printer was named one of the top inventions of 2010 by Time Magazine and the company was recognized by MIT Technology Review on its TR50 list of most innovative companies for 2012. Andras is also a Venture Partner with Richmond Global, an international early-stage fund focused on technology enabled services. In this role, Andras led investments in companies in the US and China including AdChina, Ushi, LearnVest, and Fiksu Mobile. Previously, Andras was a consultant in the New York office of McKinsey & Company focused on healthcare and private equity as well as a founding member of Citigroup’s corporate and investment banking e-commerce group. He is also a co-founder and Chair Emeritus of The Resolution Project. Andras is a Kauffman Fellow with the Center for Venture Education and a Term Member with the Council on Foreign Relations. Andras holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Harvard University.

• 

  Shaun Gordon,
  Founder and President Ascend Global Investments, LLC

  Shaun Gordon is the founder and President of Ascend Global Investments, LLC., a New York based global merchant bank. Prior to Ascend, Mr. Gordon was a portfolio manager at Enso Capital Management, LLC , a global alternative investment management company based in New York. Mr. Gordon joined Enso at inception in 2002 and remained with the firm through September 2008. During his tenure at Enso Capital, Mr Gordon was responsible for Enso's global healthcare and consumer sector investments. Mr. Gordon is an active mentor of high risk youth and is involved in various charities focused on healthcare. Mr. Gordon is a board member of Bronx Success Academy, a free, public elementary charter school for underprivileged youth. Mr. Gordon is also a member of the Board of Directors of Young Angels of America, an afterschool mentoring program that fosters a culture of philanthropy in adolescent Americans. Mr. Gordon holds a BS in Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

• 

  Rohan Gulrajani,
  Counsel, General Electric Capital Corporation

  Rohan Gulrajani is an attorney working with General Electric Capital Corporation, practicing in the area of financial regulation. He serves there on GECC’s Treasury Engagement Council, charged with integrating corporate social responsibility into the organization. Prior to joining GECC, Rohan worked at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP where, among other matters, he advised social entrepreneurs pro bono. Rohan has served as a law clerk to Justice Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada and on Environment Canada's Science and Technology Advisory Board and Youth Round Table on the Environment. Rohan obtained his law degrees from the Faculty of Law, McGill University with high honours, where he also served on an advisory board to the Principal on student life at the University. Rohan holds an M.Phil. in Engineering for Sustainable Development from Cambridge University, where he was a co-winner of the People, Planet, Productivity business plan competition, and an undergraduate degree with high honors in environmental engineering from Harvard College.

• 

  Lior Ipp,
  National Executive Director, Breakthrough Collaborative

  Lior is the Director of Programming for Ashoka’s Youth Venture (YV) where he oversees the development and strategy of programming throughout the US, Europe, Africa, and Israel. Prior to joining YV, Lior founded an educational software company in New York City. As CEO Lior supervised the development of enterprise-wide educational software products and oversaw development efforts that resulted in a client base of Fortune 100 companies, museums, and NYC public schools. Lior’s previous experiences include overseeing the largest youth enrichment programs in Brooklyn with Oasis Children’s Services, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations University. Lior’s academic training has included undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Madrid, American University, Harvard’s J.F.K. School of Government and most recently Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education where Lior was awarded the prestigious Leadership in Education Award.

• 

  John Donnelly, Jr.,
  Manager of Development & Communications, The Church of St. Luke in the Fields

  John Donnelly is currently the U.S. Representative for UN-HABITAT Resource Mobilization and the Manager of Development and Communications at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields. He has also served as a management officer at the United Nations since 2005. Before this, Mr. Donnelly co-founded Fifth Business Consulting. During his career in media, marketing, operations, and advertising, Mr. Donnelly was the Vice President & General Manager of Donnelly Advertising, the third largest media company in the United States. In that capacity, he brought branding and campaign expertise to clients in the consumer retail, automotive, leisure, tobacco, financial services, liquor and travel industries. Mr. Donnelly also served on an FTC Committee for responsibility and legal matters related to advertising. Mr. Donnelly was Director of Marketing at Cullinane Database Systems, which became the first computer software company to join the NYSE. He was also Vice President of Marketing and Networking Sales at Computer Corporation of America, the leading database technology provider to the federal government and intelligence agencies internationally. He graduated from Harvard College in 1964.

• 

  Melanie Katzman,
  Founder & President, Katzman Consulting

  Dr. Melanie Katzman has worked as a consultant and executive coach to organizational leaders and their teams in the finance, media, insurance, and advertising industries for over two decades. Dr. Katzman’s work is conducted through three separate but interrelated platforms: Katzman Consulting is an international consortium of consultants and coaches who work on strategy where human capital and commitment are the drivers of change. Leaders’ Quest is a non-profit consultancy conducting leadership-focused immersion experiences for senior business, government, civic and non-profit execs. Finally on the academic side Dr. Katzman has been on faculty for over twenty years at Weill Cornell Medical Center, and is the co-author/editor of five books and numerous articles. Through these varied activities, Dr. Katzman has a window on business, government and societal attitudes, customs and pressures in the developed and developing worlds; a wide variety of leadership styles and practices; the different psychologies of peoples and places; and how companies and people can work effectively together across time, distance and international borders.

• 

  Aaron Maniam,
  Director, Institute of Policy Development, Singapore Public Service College

  Aaron Maniam is a member of the National Youth Council (NYC), Singapore’s apex policy-making body for youth issues. He is an Advisor for “Be the Change”, a national public consultation exercise for youths, and chairs the Advisory Panel for the “NYC Academy”, an idea he mooted in late-2009 to build Singapore’s youth sector. Aaron is an adjunct faculty with the National University of Singapore (NUS)’s University Scholars Programme, where he teaches a module on “Leadership in a Complex World”. He also chairs the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA)’s Youth Club, and was President of Mendaki Club, a group of professionals that conducts upliftment programmes for talented Muslim youth (2009-2011). Aaron was identified by the US-based Asia Society as one of 25 “Asia 21 Fellows” in 2008, selected from across the Asia Pacific. In 2010, he was named a Richard C. Holbrooke Fellow / Next Generation Policy Leader in an initiative to promote emerging foreign policy voices. In January 2011, Aaron was one of eight named an “Outstanding Young Singaporean” by the Orchid Jayceettes, a local chapter of the Junior Chamber International.

• 

  James Mwangi,
  Global Managing Partner Dalberg Global Development Advisors

  James Mwangi is Dalberg’s Global Managing Partner and oversees the firm’s activities across its 10 offices in five regions around the world. He has served a wide range of clients drawn from national governments, multi-lateral institutions, private foundations, investors and corporations across the continent. James has also worked with a range of clients in several African countries including Cameroon, the DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Tunisia. Prior to establishing Dalberg’s presence in Africa, James helped launch the firm’s first office in New York.

  James has worked extensively with new organizations and initiatives helping develop business plans and implement launch strategies for the African Center for Economic Transformation (an Accra-based Think Tank) and for a new SME focused Private Equity fund based in Nairobi. James has also led strategic reviews of several regional financial institutions seeking to develop more effective investment strategies for stimulating development impact in the Southern African region. Other recent work has included advising East Africa’s largest bank on various aspects of its overall strategy, and supporting two West African heads-of-state in thinking through effective structures for rapid and effective decision-making.

  Prior to joining Dalberg, James was a consultant at McKinsey & Company where he served clients in the financial services sector and helped develop the business plan and launch strategy for a start-up e-learning venture. James also worked as an investment banking analyst with Salomon Smith Barney, now part of Citigroup in their Global Energy Practice. James holds a degree in Economics from Harvard University. He is a recipient of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship extended to 20 emerging African leaders each year by the African Leadership Institute. Born in Nairobi, James now lives in Johannesburg with his wife Sharmi Surianarain.

• 

  Michael Ovadia,
  Ph.D. Candidate, Sustainability, Stanford University

  Michael Ovadia is a Ph.D student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) at Stanford University. His research focuses on mechanisms for embedding environmental sustainability into a firm’s culture and how sustainability initiatives can be promote cooperation and prosocial behavior among employees and customers. He has also conducted comparative research on large-scale sustainability initiatives across retailers globally and on agriculture cooperatives in India. Prior to pursuing doctoral research, Michael was a Case Team Leader at Monitor Group, a global strategy consultancy, in the firm’s US, Singapore, and Johannesburg offices. At Monitor, he worked on climate change policy, scenario planning, marketing strategy, and long-term decision making across government, healthcare, energy, and media sectors. Michael has also worked in the Office of Secretary Chu at the Department of Energy on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and in Bhutan on to help launch a sustainable agricultural venture. He was also a founding Board Member of Urban Green Partnership in Philadelphia. Michael holds an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and an A.B. with high honors in Biology from Harvard College. He is also a trained mediator and a facilitator for Stanford’s Interpersonal Dynamics course.

• 

  Amit R. Paley,
  Consultant/Assistant Professor,
  McKinsey & Co./Columbia Journalism

  Amit R. Paley is a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and an adjunct professor at the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. He previously worked at The Washington Post as a foreign correspondent in Baghdad, a financial investigative journalist and a national education reporter. Paley contributed to a package of stories from Iraq that were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and broke a series of stories on the student loan industry that spawned several Congressional investigations. He earned an M.B.A from Columbia Business School, where he was chairman of the Honor Board, and an M.S. from Columbia Journalism School. Paley graduated with high honors from Harvard College, where he served as president of The Harvard Crimson.

• 

  William S. Reese,
  President and CEO, International Youth Foundation

  Bill Reese was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of IYF in January 2005. He provides leadership and oversight for the management of the Foundation’s operations and programs supporting positive youth development in more than 70 countries and territories. Before joining IYF, Bill was President/CEO for 12 years of Partners of the Americas, the largest citizen-run, voluntary organization working to promote economic and social development in the western hemisphere. Bill served for 10 years with the Peace Corps, first as a volunteer in an urban community development project in Salvador, Brazil, and later director of Brazil operations. He was deputy director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region, before heading a special task force that managed the international celebration of the Peace Corps’ 20th anniversary in 1981. Bill has served globally in a number of public and nonprofit capacities, including in public-private partnerships. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Woodrow Wilson National Fellow lecturing on Latin American affairs, foreign policy and development issues. A Dean’s List graduate of Stanford University in 1970, Bill majored in political science and Latin American relations. He did graduate work at the George Washington University’s School of International and Public Affairs and taught U.S. diplomatic history. He attended the Stanford Executive Program at the Graduate School of Business in 1995. He resides in Washington, D.C. He and his wife, Suzanne M. Frederick, have four adult children.

• 

  Josselyn Simpson,
  Senior Campaign Manager, Booz & Company

  Josselyn Simpson is currently a Senior Campaign Manager at Booz & Company, working to develop and promote firm-wide thought leadership campaigns. She was formerly with McKinsey & Company as a senior editor in their publishing group.Before joining McKinsey Josselyn worked at The New Yorker for ten years in several editorial roles. She graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Philosophy. Josselyn has long been an active volunteer in recruiting students for Harvard, and has served on the board of the Harvard Club of New York City. She is currently an officer at another club in New York.

• 

  Prabhjot Singh,
  Assistant Professor and Director of Program for Health Systems, The Earth Institute, Columbia University

  Prabhjot Singh's work focuses on strengthening implementation systems and technical decision making capacity at community, district/municipal and national levels in low-resource settings. As a clinical practitioner, he highlights challenges usually attributed to the health system (i.e. child/maternal mortality, malnutrition and disease surveillance/management) that require multi-sector coordination and community-based responses. His work blends operational research, analytical tool/technology development, with policy analysis to support sustainable development planning for practitioners, entrepreneurs and bureaucrats. Prabhjot Singh received a PhD in Neural and Genetic Systems from Rockefeller University, worked as a Post-Doctoral fellow in Health and Economic Development at Columbia University, and completed an MD from Weill Cornell Medical College with further clinical training in internal medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.