Janki Andharia, Professor and Head, Department of Urban and Rural Community Development, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Dr. Janki Andharia has 21 years of rich experience in the field of community and social development, socio-economic planning, gender issues, advocacy, social policy and participatory strategies. She is actively involved with a number of field projects, civil society organizations, and serves on the Managing Committee of several organizations. She has been teaching at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) for over 19 years.
Prof. Andharia's diverse assignments include policy-oriented research focused on participatory development, unorganized labor, gender, disaster mitigation measures, resettlement and rehabilitation issues, and environmental concerns. She has conducted a number of training programs in collaboration with both government and non-governmental organizations. More recently, her focus has been on disaster mitigation, and she was instrumental in planning, organizing and executing a Rapid Assessment Exercise commissioned by the Government of Gujarat soon after the Gujarat Earthquake, 2001. She has been on the forefront of disaster mangement mitigation work and has lead teams to disaster areas, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after the tsunami.
Her varied experience and active involvement in a number of field action projects and her serving on the Managing Committee of several organizations has enabled her to introduce innovations in the teaching of the social work curriculum. This has broadened and enhanced the interface between courses and the field.
Andharia has a Ph.D from the School of Environment Sciences, University of East Anglia, U.K. Her international assignments include a multidisciplinary Social Fabric study for the Mauritius Research Council and conducting a series of lectures for bureaucrats from Ethiopia on community development.
Areas of interest: Human security and social aspects of development; poverty, local democracy and community organization; gender sensitivity; disaster management; environmental politics; institutional processes; social planning and policy (governance).
Nancy Boswell, U.S. Executive Director, Transparency International nboswell1@transparency-usa.org
Boswell, an international lawyer, is managing director of TI-USA, the U.S. chapter of Transparency International, the global nonprofit coalition to curb international corruption. She has worked with U.S. and foreign governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector on initiatives to promote integrity and accountability. Boswell speaks frequently on the importance of transparency and accountability to stable democracies, open markets and social and economic development.
She is on the Transparency International board of directors and also serves as a member of the State Department Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, a cleared advisor to USTR and co-chair of the American Bar Association Task Force on Foreign Corrupt Practices. Prior to her work with TI-USA, Boswell practiced international law at Steptoe & Johnson. She also served as congressional liaison for the American Association of University Women, conducted research at the National Geographic Society, and worked in international banking at Citibank. She graduated summa cum laude from the Washington College of Law, American University.
Valeria Budinich, Vice President, Ashoka Full Economic Citizenship Initiative
Budinich has worked for 20 years in the creation and expansion of business development programs in 22 countries worldwide. At Ashoka, as the Vice-President leading the Full Economic Citizenship Initiative, she focuses on enabling commercial alliances between social entrepreneurs and private companies to deliver products and services to small producers and low-income families. Her main area of professional interest is finding ways to harness the collective power of social and business entrepreneurs.
From 1986-1996, she worked for Appropriate Technology International (ATI), a global non-profit foundation specializing in providing technical and financial assistance to small and medium sized enterprises in rural areas. As its Chief Operating Officer, she assumed a leading role in the development field's thinking about small producers. From 1997-1998 she served as founding Vice-President for Latin America at Endeavor, a foundation specialized in linking entrepreneurs in emerging economies with venture capital investors in the US. She launched Endeavor's first field operations in Chile and was part of the core team that designed Endeavor's search and selection process to identify high yield investment opportunities.
From 1999 - 2001, she served as VP for New Initiatives at BDA, a California-based consulting firm specializing in business process redesign and technology innovations for private sector clients worldwide. At BDA, Budinich developed innovative services for small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs and launched the first seed capital fund in Chile financing exclusively enterprises at the start-up level. Since 1995, Budinich has also worked as an advisor to groups like Woman's World Banking, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and UNIFEM. She was brought up in Chile and trained as an industrial engineer.
Susan Davis, Director, Ashoka Global Academy
Davis is a member of Ashoka's International Selection Committee for Ashoka Fellows and prior to helping launch the Academy, led Ashoka's expansion into the Middle East/North Africa/Central Asia region. She serves as an external advisor to the Director General of the International Labor Organization and consultant to Get America Working. Davis was the Executive Director of WEDO, a global women's advocacy organization that pioneered new mechanisms for the global women's movement to influence negotiations at global United Nations meetings from 1993-1998.
Prior to that, she led innovative initiatives aimed at scaling up microfinance institutions that were owned and governed by poor women at Women's World Banking and the Ford Foundation in Bangladesh. During her four and half years in Dhaka from 1987 to 1991, she helped to start Ashoka in Bangladesh and served as its first volunteer representative. Davis served as the Assistant Director of the first quasi-public export trading company launched in the 1980s by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She helped to found and now chairs the board of the Grameen Foundation USA. She also serves on the boards of Project Enterprise and Aid to Artisans. Davis was educated at Georgetown, Harvard and Oxford universities and is from Louisiana.
Jennifer Goodson, Director of Global and Social Advocacy, Mars Hill Graduate School hvnahoot2@yahoo.com
Goodson is the Director of Global and Social Advocacy at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, Washington. Jennifer recently moved to the Pacific Northwest from Washington, D.C., where she spent eight years working for human rights and higher education groups, including The Protection Project at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and Shared Hope International. Her work centers on initiatives that combat the trafficking of women and children through civil society development, with emphasis on faith-based initiatives. Goodson received her B.A. in Business from Bethel College in St. Paul, MN.
Karin Hillhouse, Director, Changemakers Partnerships and Editor of the Changemakers Library khillhouse@ashoka.org
Hillhouse is director, Changemakers Partnerships and editor of the Changemakers Library. Before starting at Ashoka in September 1997, working for Fellowship Support Services and Development and then for Changemakers, Hillhouse was based in Denver, Colorado, and spent several years as a freelance writer, publishing articles, essays, and reflections on literature, art, and architecture, solar energy and historic preservation. She won a writing fellowship from the Rocky Mountain Women's Institute to work on a novel. Additionally, she co-taught "Architectural Theory and Practice" at the University of Colorado at Denver and apprenticed as a landscape architect.
As a consultant to Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, she was instrumental in the state's winning a national competition to launch the country's principal research center for the development of solar energy and other renewables. Employed as a senior policy analyst, she was part of the core start-up staff at the Solar Energy Research Institute (now NREL). Working for the Environmental Law Institute, Hillhouse was principal investigator and co-author of a National Science Foundation-funded study of the legal and institutional barriers to solar energy development. She was editor of the Open Space Report, a monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Center on the Environment.
Hillhouse received her undergraduate degree in philosophy from Smith College, a master's degree in comparative literature from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a master's degree in urban planning and community development from the University of Colorado Denver.
Al Hammond, VP for Innovation and Special Projects, World Resources Institute
Dr. Hammond is charged with catalyzing and sometimes leading development of new projects, initiatives, and tools. He also directs WRI's Digital Dividends project, which works with foundations, development agencies, and a number of major corporations to further the use of pro-poor business strategies and digital technologies in development. Dr. Hammond has published extensively in the scientific, policy research, and business literature, including recent articles in Foreign Affairs ("Digitally Empowered Development," March, 2001), the Harvard Business Review ("Serving the World's Poor, Profitably," September, 2002), and Foreign Policy ("Selling To the Poor," May-June, 2004). His most recent book is Which World?: Scenarios for the the 21st Century, published in 1998.
Dr. Hammond holds degrees from Stanford University and Harvard University in engineering and applied mathematics. Prior to joining WRI, he created the Research News section of the international journal Science and went on to found and edit several national publications, including Science 80-86 (published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science), Issues in Science and Technology (published by the National Academy of Science), and the Information Please Environmental Almanac (published by Houghton-Mifflin). In addition, he broadcast a daily radio program for five years (syndicated nationally by CBS) and has written or edited ten books. Dr. Hammond has won several national magazine awards and other journalist honors.
Dr. Hammond has published extensively in the scientific and policy research literature; has lectured widely; and has served as a consultant to the White House science office, to several U.S. federal agencies, to the United Nations, and to several private foundations. Among other pursuits, he is a skier and small boat sailor.
Peter Kimm, Chairman of the Board, International Housing Coalition
Kimm is the Chairman of the Board of the International Housing Coalition, a non-profit organization sponsored by Habitat for Humanity, the U.S. National Association of Realtors and the Canadian Real Estate Association with the goal of advocating for Housing for All as an essential element to ending poverty worldwide. He is widely recognized expert and a consultant on housing, urban programs and the environment in developing countries.
He is a senior advisor to the consulting firm PADCO and to the USAID Development Credit Program. His clients have included USAID, the United Nations, the World Bank, Habitat for Humanity, the Cities Alliance, JICA and Harvard University. Kimm was Director of Housing and Urban Programs for most of the 36 years he worked for USAID, where he ran the U.S. government's worldwide housing and urban program activities including the US$2.6 billion housing guaranty program. He has practical, hands-on experience throughout the developing world and has written and lectured widely about housing policy and housing finance.
He is a graduate of the Cooper Union in New York City and received his professional engineering license from New York State. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his professional achievements.
Steve Leventhal, Director of External Relations, Fritz Institute
Leventhal brings a rich background serving as an executive and strategic consultant in the US and Asia with start-ups, Fortune 500 firms, and global nonprofit organizations. Most recently at Population Services International (PSI), Leventhal brought together leading global private and public health partners to launch an innovative web-based medical training program for healthcare workers in developing countries in Africa and Asia. Much of Leventhal's previous work has resulted in the building of expansive new services and opportunities in the areas of public health services and training, online commercial marketplaces, web-based learning communities, and K-12 education. Leventhal previously served as vice president of marketing and business development at ENX Inc. Prior to that he held senior management positions at Philips Electronics and Point Asia. He has a BA in Asian Studies from Washington University and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Meredith Lobel, Director, Ashoka's Citizen Base Initiativemlobel@ashoka.org
Lobel brings to the Ashoka's Citizen Base Initiative team two years of experience as Research Officer in Ashoka's Executive Office, during which time she conducted investigations and analyses for CEO Bill Drayton. She also manages the income-generating selection process for Global Development Network's "Most Innovative Development Project" Award and was a member of Ashoka's Latin America fundraising team. Lobel experience in Latin America includes research on Central American agroexport models, interaction with local fair trade coffee organizations, and evaluations in Mexico and Venezuela. She graduated with a B.A. in Sociology and a concentration in Latin American Studies from Wesleyan University, where she developed Wesleyan's Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) principles and led two student organizations. Lobel is currently the Acting Director of Ashoka's Citizen Base Initiative (CBI), overseeing its implementation in eight countries and developing its expansion strategy.
George McCarthy, Senior Program Officer in Development Finance and Economic Security, Ford Foundation
Dr. George McCarthy is a Senior Program Officer in Development Finance and Economic Security at the Ford Foundation. Dr. McCarthy administers a program that focuses on using homeownership to build assets for low-income families and their communities. This work centers on improving housing and housing finance markets to increase the chances that existing low-income homeowners succeed in building wealth.
Before joining Ford, Dr. McCarthy worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. McCarthy has worked as Assistant Professor of Economics at Bard College, Resident Scholar at the Jerome Levy Economics Institute, Visiting Scholar and Member of the High Table at King's College of Cambridge University, Visiting Scholar at the University of Naples, and Research Associate at the Centre for Social Research in St. Petersburg, Russia. Dr. McCarthy received a BA in Economics and Mathematics at the University of Montana; an MA in Economics at Duke University; and, a Ph. D. in Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Bart McGettrick, Professor of Education, University of Glasgow BMCGETTRICK@educ.gla.ac.uk
McGettrick is Professor of Education at the University of Glasgow. He has been a geography teacher, a curriculum evaluator for the Scottish Centre for Social Subjects, and a senior member of staff in teacher education since 1975, Principal of St Andrew's College from 1985 to 1999, and Dean of Faculty of Education at University of Glasgow from 1999 to 2001. Professor McGettrick is engaged in several projects associated with ethical development and values education, and his work takes him to both the developed and developing world. Currently, he is entrepreneuring a center for Inter-Professional Leadership.
Bradley Myles, National Program Coordinator for U.S. Programs, Polaris Project BMyles@PolarisProject.org
Myles is the Polaris Project National Program Coordinator for U.S. Programs, focusing on policy advocacy, public awareness, training and technical assistance, building partnerships, and movement building. He has provided training and technical assistance to local and Federal law enforcement and service providers, presented to government officials from over 20 different countries, conducted extensive analysis of U.S. trafficking policy at the State level, and worked with legislators to strengthen laws on trafficking in persons. As a representative of Polaris Project on the Washington, DC Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons, he assists in coordinating activities with law enforcement, developing training curricula, and conducting community outreach to foster increased victim identification.
Formerly at Caliber Associates, Myles worked as a member of Caliber's Human Trafficking Research Team and the OVC Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVCTTAC) Needs Assessment and Evaluation Division. He has conducted over 80 direct interviews and supplementary focus groups with anti-trafficking non-profits and law enforcement in the U.S., and participated in evaluating three city-wide service collaboratives that received OVC Comprehensive Services Trafficking Grants.
Erika Poethig, Program Officer in the Program on Human & Community Development, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Poethig is a Program Officer in the Program on Human & Community Development. Her primary focus is on regional policy and practice, housing policy and research, and on the special initiative for the preservation of affordable rental housing.
Before coming to the Foundation in 2001, Poethig was most recently Assistant Commissioner for Policy, Resource and Program Development at the City of Chicago's Department of Housing, where she directed the department's city, state and federal policy agendas. Poethig oversaw staff with responsibilities for policy and research, program evaluation and program development. She developed the Mayor's campaign to prevent foreclosures and stabilize communities and city support for a state-issued tax credit for donations to not-for-profit organizations developing affordable housing. Previously, she was Associate Project Director of the Metropolis Project, which resulted in the creation of the Chicago Metropolis 2020 agenda for regional leadership around the major issues faced by the metropolitan Chicago area.
Poethig was a Phi Beta Kappa from the College of Wooster, a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Vienna, and received her master's in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, with concentrated coursework in Urban Poverty and Inequality.
Ronald Regen, Vice President in charge of Mergers & Acquisitions, Grupo Nueva
Grupo Nueva produces piping systems for drinking water and sewage, irrigation systems, housing construction materials, wood and agricultural products in 25 countries of Latin America. The vision of Grupo Nueva state that they wish "to be recognized as a leading industrial group in Latin America, operating in a framework of ethics, eco-efficiency, and social responsibility, that generates economic value and improves our neighbors' and our region's quality of life." Ashoka is currently partnering with Amanco, one of Grupo Nueva's companies to provide affordable irrigation systems to small farmers in Mexico. Email: Ronald.degen@gruponueva.com
Jeff Schaffer, Assistant Vice President - Grant Programs, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Schaffer is responsible for the Hilton Foundation's major initiatives supporting housing for the mentally ill homeless and potable water projects in Africa and Mexico. Before joining the Foundation in 1999, Mr. Schaffer worked for 10 years developing homeless services and affordable housing in Los Angeles and providing related training nationwide. Mr. Schaffer completed his undergraduate studies in political science and Spanish literature at U.C. Berkeley and holds a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Southern California, where he is a clinical assistant professor at the School of Policy, Planning, & Development. He also was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Micronesia. Mr. Schaffer serves on the Council on Foundations International Committee and on the boards of the Hollywood Schoolhouse and Temple Beth Emet in Burbank, CA.
Henk van Stokkom, corporate compliance and ethics consultant in Holland henk@vanstokkom.nl
van Stokkom started in 1982 with commodity trader and broker Limako in Breda, The Netherlands. In 1988 he became the managing director of Limako Brokerage NV. While being chairman of the Dutch Commodity Industry Association (DCIA, 1989-1992) he was instrumental in implementing a complete new compliance structure for the members. Since 1995 he was involved with the dutch office of Smith Barney and other organisations. Through his career he has been interested in ethical questions in the business arena and that is why he currently operates in the investment sector and the charity sector.
As of 2000 he is a managing director of Rente Plus Beheer BV (RPB) and continues to keep compliance in his portfolio. Most of his time is spent as advisor to the board of charitable trusts based in The Netherlands. Beside other—pro bono—activities he is chairman of Stichting Beheer Oikocredit Nederland Fonds. This 33 million euro investment fund is connected to Oikocredit International, one of the largest Microfinance Investment Funds in the world.
Steven M. Weir, Habitat for Humanity International Vice President, Asia and the Pacific
Weir serves as a Vice President for Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) in Bangkok Thailand, responsible for supporting affordable housing programs in more than 25 countries throughout Asia and the South Pacific. He began with HFHI as a founding board member for a local HFH Affiliate in California in 1986, joining HFHI staff full time in 1993 as an international representative facilitating program start-up in Sri Lanka.
Weir is a registered architect and prior to his work with HFHI, he spent 16 years in private practice working the majority of that time for a San Francisco based architecture and real estate development firm on projects throughout the Pacific rim. Projects included office, retail, hotel, private and institutional multi-family residential up to US$100 million. His citizen sector experience also includes managing public private venture partnerships and facilitating community based design workshops. Prior to working in San Francisco, he worked with a construction management company and held a research internship, working on solar energy assisted mechanical systems. He holds degrees in architecture and engineering and is married with two children.
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