David Roach and Anders Hofstee are co-founders of Catalpa International, a design and technology organization which provides innovative, accessible and effective solutions in low resource settings. Anders has been working in the field of database-driven web application development and information science for nearly twenty years. He has led the design, development, and deployment for numerous national level information management services in both the not-for-profit and profit sectors. Among other...
Sep 21, 2015•39 min
Kari Grady Grossman is the co-founder of Sustainable Schools International. After traveling to Cambodia in 2001 to adopt their son, Kari and her husband created the school, and, because of Kari, the school has the first primary school music program in Cambodia, a teacher’s residence and library. She also started a silk import business and an environmentally sustainable cooking fuel business to support schools. A former writer for Discovery Channel Online, Kari is also the author of Bones That Fl...
Sep 14, 2015•34 min
David Auerbach is a co-founder of Sanergy, a pioneering social enterprise in Nairobi, Kenya dedicated to building healthy, prosperous communities in Africa’s informal settlements by making hygienic sanitation affordable and accessible for everyone, forever. Previously, David co-ran Partnerships at Endeavor, a non-profit that helps high-impact entrepreneurs in the developing world. He served as the Deputy Chair for Poverty Alleviation at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005-6. He taught in centr...
Sep 07, 2015•24 min
Tonia Wellons has successfully straddled international development and locally oriented community-based development with full intention, skillfully borrowing lessons from one and applying them to the other. With 18 years of development experience, spanning senior leadership roles at the World Bank Group -- to social entrepreneur for a community-based social fund that she founded -- Tonia is skilled in leading global development alliances, managing multi-donor operations, and engaging local commu...
Aug 31, 2015•32 min
Dr. Vincenzo Bollettino is the Director of the Resilient Communities Program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Prior to his current appointment, he served for five years as its Executive Director. Enzo has twenty years of professional and academic experience in international politics, humanitarian action, civil-military engagement in emergencies, and the security of humanitarian aid workers. He has spent the past fourteen years of his career at Harvard University in administration, teachin...
Aug 24, 2015•37 min
Ken Banks is the founder of kiwanja.net and creator of FrontlineSMS. He devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world. He has worked at the intersection of technology, anthropology, conservation and development for the past twenty years and, during that time, has lived and worked across the African continent. He is a PopTech Fellow, a Tech Awards Laureate, an Ashoka Fellow and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, ...
Aug 17, 2015•39 min
Amy Sample Ward is the CEO of NTEN - a membership community that seeks to create a world where all nonprofit organizations use technology skillfully and confidently to meet community needs and fulfill their missions. Amy is dedicated to educating and supporting organizations in using technology to create meaningful community engagement and make lasting change. Whether it is by connecting individuals, organizations, campaigns, or possibilities, Amy hopes to facilitate the nonprofit technology sec...
Aug 11, 2015•42 min
Roderick Besseling is the Open Data Coordinator within the Corporate Strategy Unit at Cordaid in the Netherlands. In this role, Roderick brings together his expertise in design, development and data analysis and is responsible for taking a leading position in the open development movement within the international development sector. His primary focus areas are the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) reporting process and embedding the open development philosophy within Cordaid. He i...
Aug 03, 2015•29 min
Graham Salisbury is Head of Human Resources for ActionAid, a leading international charity which supports women and children in extreme poverty and fights for their rights and for lasting change. Graham has enjoyed a successful career within major organizations in both the private and not-for-profit sector. He is regularly approached by the media for guidance on making a career transition into the charity sector, and his work in raising the profile of human resources in the not-for-profit sector...
Jul 27, 2015•42 min
Dale Nirvani Pfeifer is changing the way we connect online. Her #donate software, found at GoodWorld.me, is unleashing the next generation of generosity by making giving easy through social media,. Her goal is to support the evolution of the human experience with money by creating a generosity-based financial system. A native Kiwi, prior to going to the United States, Dale ran Victoria University's Center for the Study of Leadership. Her award-winning research took her to Harvard where she appli...
Jul 20, 2015•34 min
Jeroen van der Sommen is the director and co-founder of Akvo, an organization that builds open source internet and mobile software which is used to make international development cooperation and aid activity more effective and transparent. Jeroen helped to ignite the Akvo phenomenon after the Stockholm World Water Week in summer 2006 and has steered Akvo’s evolution to ensure it is relevant to, and supported by, a wide range of implementation NGOs, funding partners and global institutions. He st...
Jul 13, 2015•32 min
Laura Walker McDonald is the Chief Executive Officer of the Social Impact Lab Foundation, an organization that designs, implements and measures the impact of inclusive technology projects, and explores new ways that technology can facilitate and simplify project objectives. Before joining SIMLab, Laura worked for the British Red Cross on international humanitarian policy and learning, focussed on quality and accountability, innovation, urbanization, cash transfer programming and civil-military r...
Jul 06, 2015•37 min
Andrej Verity is a disaster responder and information management officer for the United Nations (OCHA) and co-founder of the Digital Humanitarian Network. He has deployed to many high-profile emergencies over while also leading innovation around humanitarian information management and managing the UN’s collaboration with the volunteer and technical communities. Most recently, his work has supported and focused on how big data in crisis, microtasking and artificial intelligence can improve disast...
Jun 29, 2015•39 min
Dr Peter Bradley is the Director of Public Health Development at Public Health Wales. He is committed to improving and protecting the population’s health, by reducing health inequalities, maintaining excellent public health services and making health information and evidence accessible and relevant. Peter has worked in public health for many years in the UK and abroad. For 5 years he worked as a senior medical advisor for the Norwegian government, advising on clinical policy, health technology a...
Jun 22, 2015•27 min
Deirdre White is a globally recognized leader in building tri-sector partnerships to address the world’s most pressing challenges. As CEO of PYXERA Global she has led the transformation of the organization to one that maximizes impact through strong and strategic partnerships through cutting edge programming like Global Pro Bono, Local Content Development, and Integrated Community Development. Deirdre’s expertise spans private, public and social sector experiences. Her social sector tenure at PY...
Jun 15, 2015•33 min
Sean Martin McDonald is the CEO of FrontlineSMS. Frontline technologies is used by thousands of organizations to reach tens of millions of people, saving lives, improving healthcare and building inclusive societies. Frontline was named the #1 Technology NGO in the world and was listed by the Nominet Trust Social 100 in 2014. Sean is a Trustee of the Awesome Foundation DC and an affiliate with Harvard University's Berkman Center. Sean is an advisor to Digital Democracy, DoSomething.org, ECPAT USA...
Jun 08, 2015•36 min
Linda Raftree is a co-founder of Kurante a company dedicated to helping organizations better understand how technology can improve development outcomes. Linda has worked at the intersection of community development, participatory media, youth, gender, and information and communication technologies since 1994. She has advised The Rockefeller Foundation’s Evaluation Office on the use of ICTs in monitoring and evaluation and worked with Plan International USA on youth engagement, innovation, transp...
Jun 01, 2015•37 min
Jacob Korenblum is the CEO, President and Co-founder of Souktel. Souktel designs and delivers custom mobile solutions that connect job seekers with employers, and help development implementers get information to and from the people they serve. Prior to Souktel, Jacob worked managing economic development and emergency relief projects for USAID and the Canadian International Development Agency. Fluent in Arabic and French, Jacob has worked in the emergency aid sectors in the Middle East, East Afri...
May 25, 2015•30 min
Djordje Vdovic has over 20 years of progressive experience with the United Nations in the fields of management, logistics and procurement in more than dozen different duty stations across four continents. Djordje is a proven trouble-shooter with a list career credits that include delivery of fast and effective support services in emergencies and rationalization of the World Food Programme's largest and most complex Purchase for Progress program in Afghanistan.
May 18, 2015•34 min
Dr. Beryl Levinger is a highly regarded development professional, distinguished professor and chair of the Development Practice and Policy program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. With a career that includes senior positions such as the President of AFS Intercultural Programs, Senior Vice President of CARE and Vice President of Save the Children, Beryl draws on a rich array of experiences to teach classes and deliver consulting across the five issues of evaluatio...
May 11, 2015•44 min
Nick Martin is the founder and CEO of TechChange, a Washington DC-based social enterprise that provides tech training for social change. The TechChange training model has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Economist, Fast Company and elsewhere. Nick is a PopTech Social Innovation Fellow, an Ariane de Rothschild Fellow, and an International Youth Foundation Global Fellow. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown and George Washington Universities where he teaches graduate cour...
May 04, 2015•29 min
Peter Mousaferiadas is a composer, conductor, producer, award-winning leader and executive director of Cultural Infusion, an Australian organization committed to building cultural harmony and wellbeing through a range of sustainable arts and engagement programs for schools, youth and communities. Cultural Infusion's programs use intercultural contact to catalyze positive change to a broad audience. For example, Cultural Infusion’s education program “Discovering Diversity” is delivered to more th...
Apr 27, 2015•32 min
Michael Ketover is a highly experienced independent consultant currently working with the Peace Corps, USAID/Ghana and a USAID implementing partner. Michael is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and AmeriCorps/ VISTA alumni. He was hired by the Peace Corps in 2000 as a program and training director for Papua New Guinea and Ecuador. He has also served as interim country director at 11 Peace Corps posts for a total of four years and as Senior Advisor to the CFO at Peace Corps Headquarters focused on...
Apr 20, 2015•36 min
Lori Thicke has worked in languages for over 20 years. In 1986 she founded the Paris-based Lexcelera, a translation company which today has offices in Paris, London, Buenos Aires and Vancouver. In 1993 she co-founded Traducteurs sans frontières to provide pro bono translations to support global aid work. In 2010, Lori founded Translators without Borders, now the world’s largest community of humanitarian translators. Translators without Borders supports global aid organizations by donating millio...
Apr 13, 2015•25 min
Alessandra Pigni has run the blog Mindful Next, since 2011, to help aid workers build resilience, prevent burnout and keep sane while serving others in the field. Trained as a clinical psychologist, she has worked as a psychologist with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders and as a consultant with local and international NGOs spending a good part of the last seven years in Palestine. She is currently a visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford working on a book on aid work...
Apr 06, 2015•39 min
David Hess was commissioned as a U.S. Foreign Service officer with USAID in 1980. During his career with USAID, he served as Project Development Officer in the West Africa regional office in Cote d’Ivoire, Rural Development Project Officer in Peru, Director of the Alternative Development Office in Bolivia, Program Officer in USAID’s Africa Bureau in Washington, D.C., Supervisory Program Officer in Guinea, Environment and Energy Officer in India, Supervisory Program Officer in Rwanda and Deputy M...
Mar 30, 2015•38 min
Tina Cornely is the founder of the non-profit organization Bridging Humanity - an organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty through holistic solutions. In particular, Tina focuses her work on her recently published 9 Steps To Eradicate Poverty, which provides practical solutions for agriculture, self medical care, energy production, water purification, repurposing of trash, family planning, hygiene and environmental protection. Prior to founding Bridging Humanity, Tina was the Dire...
Mar 23, 2015•38 min
Birgitte Jallov is an independent communication and media specialist and the founder of Empowerhouse. Since 1980, she has worked with community radio for development, empowerment and social change. This includes the development of a series of special tools, organisation forms and methodologies for community organisations to enact change in more than 60 countries and 250 assignments over the years.
Mar 16, 2015•35 min
Patrick Meier is the author of the book Digital Humanitarians: How Big Data Is Changing the Face of Humanitarian Response. He directs the Social Innovation Program at the Qatar Computing Research Institute where he and his team use human and machine computing to develop "Next Generation Humanitarian Technologies" in partnership with international humanitarian organizations. Patrick has a PhD from The Fletcher School, Pre-Doc from Stanford and an MA from Columbia. He blogs regularly at iRevolutio...
Mar 09, 2015•28 min
Johnny Girges works with with Arcenciel, an organization dedicated to social inclusion through their programing with youth, health, mobility, agriculture and more. Johnny is a true Aidpreneur, combining his skills as a physical educator, circus artist, and NGO manager to "edutain" and empower at risk youth in Lebannon and beyond with critical circus performance skills that can be used under the tent and throughout their lives.
Mar 03, 2015•27 min
