Our team

Vivek Kaila

Vivek Kaila

Program Manager

Vivek Kaila

Vivek Kaila

Program Manager

Vivek is interested in the political economy of development in emerging economies. His policy interests include gender, education, and poverty alleviation, with particular emphasis on key drivers of inequality that lie at the intersection of market mechanisms and non-market factors such as systemic discrimination, class stratification, and social exclusion.

He has previously worked in education as a researcher in STEM pedagogy at the University of Colorado for the CIRTL Network, a network of research universities focused on advancing effective teaching practices for STEM in the United States. Vivek joined Imago as a Summer Fellow in 2022 and worked with grassroots social enterprises in India like SEWA and TRIF. He later joined the Imago team in 2023 and worked on scaling the work of women led agribusiness enterprises within the NRLM framework.

Prior to moving into international development, Vivek worked for the Indian Government’s Defence Research and Development Organisation. He holds a Master of Public Policy from The University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He also holds graduate degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an undergraduate degree in Physics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Tapan Barman

Tapan Barman

Program Manager

Tapan Barman

Tapan Barman

Program Manager

Tapan Barman has more than 7 years of experience working with State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLM) and Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN). He was worked with the SRLM and PRADAN on women empowerment and poverty alleviation, as the Project Manager on off-farm (Livestock) and Farmer Producer Organizations for Project implementation, Business development, Forward & Backwards linkage, Agri-input, Capacity-building and Project monitoring & Evaluation in Bihar.

Tapan holds a master's degree in Agri-Business Management from IAS (Banaras Hindu University), and bachelor's degree in agriculture science from Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Agra.

Anishmita Barah

Anishmita Barah

Research Associate

Anishmita Barah

Anishmita Barah

Research Associate

Anishmita is working as a Research Associate and supporting the MOVE Project. She has over 2 years of experience in governance and political consulting.

She worked at the Delhi Assembly Research Centre under Delhi Legislative Assembly as an Associate Fellow closely with a Member of Legislative Assembly, focusing on optimizing the last-mile delivery of government schemes and delving into policy research in the constituency. Prior to that, at the Indian Political Action Committee in Kolkata, she worked on two projects—the West Bengal Assembly Election 2021 and the West Bengal Municipal Election 2022. Her responsibilities encompassed planning, strategizing, and executing impactful political campaigns by conducting extensive primary and secondary research. She worked closely with local communities to understand their needs and grievances and collaborated extensively with the Panchayat Raj Institution at the grassroots level.

She believes in co-creating initiatives with stakeholders, fostering innovation to address societal challenges, and embracing empathy as a guiding principle to understand and cater to the diverse needs of the communities.

She holds a Postgraduate degree in M.A. Social Work specializing in Community Organization and Development Practice from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Sritama Rana

Sritama Rana

Program Manager

Sritama Rana

Sritama Rana

Program Manager

Sritama Rana has more than 5 years of experience working with Kudumbashree National resource organisation. Her area of specialisation has been enterprise promotion and livelihood generation through entrepreneurship development. She pioneered her career with the Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Program (SVEP), a flagship program under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). She was the team lead for growth enterprises wherein she anchored high order enterprises and development of enterprise clusters specific to food-service. She anchored multiple partnerships with different State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) and eminent institutions in the field of promotion of food service enterprises. She also provided leadership in implementing food clusters under National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) , a project launched by MoRD. Her focus area has been in identifying best practices for program improvement, designing and customizing interventions that are suitable to the needs of the community.

Apart from a professional journey, she has engaged with the community and various civil society organisations on a personal level. This has led her to connect deeper with the roots of the community and the systemic structures that affect welfare measures of the society focused towards rural households.

Sritama, an Azim Premji University alumna with an M.A. in Development, continues to shape narratives, identify best practices, and customise interventions, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of rural empowerment.

Chinmay Pant

Chinmay Pant

Research Associate

Chinmay Pant

Chinmay Pant

Research Associate

Chinmay is working as a Research Associate with Imago Global Grassroots, where he is supporting the planning and implementation for the convergence of the NRLM and MGNREGA in the state of Madhya Pradesh. His research interests lie primarily in the field of livelihoods, particularly the multidisciplinary factors that shape existing livelihood patterns across different socio-cultural regions. Chinmay recently completed his master’s degree in development studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences Hyderabad, where his dissertation focused on the economic sustainability of Maheshwari handloom for the weavers of the craft. He also holds a master’s degree in economics from Devi Ahilya University, Indore.

Atul Kumar

Atul Kumar

Research Associate

Atul Kumar

Atul Kumar

Research Associate

Atul has academic training in economics, and his interest lies at the intersection of development and behavioral economics and the application of econometrics methods. He has contributed to research work in diverse areas, including analyzing the challenges and structural impact of Covid-19. As a guest faculty, he briefly taught Introductory Macroeconomics and Financial Literacy to undergrads at Miranda House College, Delhi University. Currently, Atul is working at IMAGO India to support Convergence Evaluation across Bihar.

Atul holds a Masters degree in Economics from the Central University of South Bihar. He continues to engage in development research courses and research work to hone his intellectual abilities.

Moitreyee Nandi

Moitreyee Nandi

State Manager

Moitreyee Nandi

Moitreyee Nandi

State Manager

Moitreyee has more than 5 years of experience working with Kudumbashree National Resource Organization, where she was engaged in managing partnerships with different State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs), project implementation, policy creation, and monitoring and evaluation of various Non-Farm livelihood programs. She has extensively worked on establishing, improving, and standardizing systems and processes for the Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Program (SVEP), which is a flagship program under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), India. She has worked on initiatives such as establishing a Community-Based Monitoring System, Community-Based Tourism, and developing capacity-building frameworks and modules for SRLM staff.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Moitreyee exudes a profound passion for fostering community development and nurturing catalysts of change that engender enduring, sustainable impacts on society at large.

She completed her bachelor’s degree in social sciences and a master’s degree in development studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Recently, she has also obtained an online certification in Public Policy Analysis from the London School of Economics.

Pablo Tillan

Pablo Tillan

Program Manager

Pablo Tillan

Pablo Tillan

Program Manager

Pablo has 7 years of experience working in development projects around the world. He is a Program Manager at Imago focused on the Latin America and Global Office.

His work at the World Bank over the past five years has involved addressing pressing issues such as poverty, inequality, the refugee crisis, labor informality, and international trade in countries like Bangladesh, Georgia, Egypt, and Latin America. Prior to this, Pablo demonstrated leadership as the head of the economic department of the Institute of Statistics in the Government of San Juan, Argentina. He also supported local entrepreneurs and conducted research projects at the Institute of Entrepreneurship of Yucatan.

Pablo holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad Catolica de Cuyo, a master in Economic Development and Growth from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and a Master in Public administration in International Development (MPA-ID) from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He also holds a Certificate in Management, Leadership, and Decision Sciences from Harvard Kennedy School.

Thais Croco

Thais Croco

Program Manager

Thais Croco

Thais Croco

Program Manager

Thais has recently joined the Imago team as a Program Manager. She has around five years of experience working in the development sector in Brazil and social projects in South Africa and Germany.

She has worked as a graduate Consultant for UNICEF to design strategies for humanitarian agencies to better respond to mega-disasters. Previously, Thais worked at Instituto Gesto, a nonprofit organization that partners with local governments to improve their educational policies. Thais led the program implementation in six municipalities, supporting them in building emergency solutions during the pandemic and supervising multiple projects related to capacity-building, workshop facilitation, and strategic planning. Before that, she worked at the Lemann Foundation, where she was part of the Leadership Development and Grantmaking team, supporting organizations and leaders to scale their impact in Brazil.

Thais holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Universidade de São Paulo and a master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University with a dual degree with Fundação Getulio Vargas.

Sharon Felzer

Sharon Felzer

Senior Advisor, Communications

Sharon Felzer

Sharon Felzer

Senior Advisor, Communications

In the global development and multi-lateral arena, Sharon Felzer is well known and recognized for her expertise at firmly placing public opinion data and insights at the center of communications, strategy, decision-making, and problem-solving. For more than two decades at the World Bank, Sharon created and led the Strategic Insights Group, where she designed and developed scores of unique and innovative public opinion initiatives internally and externally across the globe, to first understand the attitudes and biases of stakeholders, and then, using this intelligence, to develop smart internal and external communications strategies that build and sustain support and trust. In addition, Sharon has developed expertise in facilitating purpose-driven gatherings to achieve measurable change.

Working at the intersection of public opinion data (internal and external) and facilitating, Sharon now advises and guides clients on how to use insights to drive communications strategies, inspire creativity, and find solutions.

Sharon has written blogs, trained peers at the World Bank Group extensively on the art and science of public opinion research, presented papers and research globally to a range of opinion leaders, decision makers and other audiences, and has recently completed the Facilitation Certificate Program at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. Prior to her decades in international development, Sharon worked in the private sector and the journalism.

Fernanda Benavides

Fernanda Benavides

Summer Fellow, 2023

Fernanda Benavides

Fernanda Benavides

Summer Fellow, 2023

Fernanda is a Master of Public Administration candidate at Columbia University, focusing on Economic and Political Development and specializing on Data Analytics and Quantitative Analysis. She has previous experience as a Planning and Research Director at Fundación MC, where she conducted the first two competitive funding processes launched by the foundation. In this role, she also supported, monitored, and evaluated the implementation of the six winning projects. Prior to that, Fernanda worked for two years at a management consulting firm, advising seven companies across various industries on strategic and financial initiatives. Her particular interests lie in social impact and poverty alleviation.

Fernanda holds a master's degree in Economics from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and a bachelor's degree in Business and Economics from the same university. Currently, she is an Imago summer fellow, focusing on scaling up projects in Chile and providing internal strategy support.

Kevin Drumm

Kevin Drumm

Summer Fellow, 2023

Kevin Drumm

Kevin Drumm

Summer Fellow, 2023

As a Summer Fellow, Kevin will be collaborating with the Cooperation Fund for Social Development (FONCODES) in Peru. He will also be interning with the World Bank’s Kenya Digital Public Works for Urban Resilience (DPWUR) project in Nairobi. Kevin is a student in the Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Previously, he worked as a Program and Faculty Assistant with the MPA/ID Program, where he also conducted research on redistribution politics in India.

Kevin served as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 2016 to 2018, working on grassroots water, sanitation, and hygiene promotion in rural Peru. In 2019, he served as a Virtual Peace Corps Volunteer, for which he collaborated with the national leaders of the Peruvian social program Comedores Populares to develop and facilitate health promotion training in the context of food assistance programs in Peru. Kevin has also worked as a Spanish teacher, a small business financial manager, and an international education advisor. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and BA in Spanish from the University of Rhode Island.

Santiago Segovia

Santiago Segovia

Summer Fellow, 2023

Santiago Segovia

Santiago Segovia

Summer Fellow, 2023

Santiago holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Economics from Universidad Externado (Colombia). He is in his second year of the Master’s in Computational Analysis and Public Policy (MSCAPP) at the University of Chicago.

He worked for six years at the Financial Stability Division at the Central Bank of Colombia, where he conducted data analysis, research, and policy recommendations focused on Colombia’s financial system. In 2021, he was a Data Science 4 All (DS4A) Fellow, a program offered jointly by the Colombian Ministry of Technology, Information and Communications, and Correlation One (USA), focused on teaching data science skills. This motivated him to pursue a degree at the intersection of data science and public policy. While in the MSCAPP, he worked at the Data Science Institute at the University of Chicago as a Community Data Fellow, helping local community organizations to determine how best to use data, build data capacity across program staff, and scope projects that advance their mission.

Santiago is interested in designing, implementing, and analyzing policies and programs while leveraging quantitative, qualitative, and data science methods that could help organizations scale up their impact and improve people’s livelihoods. He is currently an Imago Summer Fellow in the Knowledge Area, where he will be working on process tracing/agile toolkits and adaptive evaluation of some of Imago’s projects.

Tanya Jain

Tanya Jain

Summer Fellow, 2023

Tanya Jain

Tanya Jain

Summer Fellow, 2023

Tanya's career spans four years in public and private consulting, where she has developed a profound understanding and proficiency in supporting state governments and civic organizations in India across a diverse range of sectors and dimensions. Her expertise is particularly notable in the areas of education, healthcare, gender, and employment, and she has actively contributed to projects involving program design, strategy development, and evaluation.

Tanya recently worked on a significant initiative in the state of Haryana, where she played a vital role in re-designing a financial assistance program for school children. As part of this project, she conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the existing program, identifying areas for improvement and providing valuable recommendations to enhance coverage, benefits, and the overall delivery of the program to citizens.

Academically, Tanya holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Hansraj College, University of Delhi, and is currently pursuing her Master's in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. She is an Imago Summer Fellow in the India Office, where she will be working on the adaptive evaluation of the social accelerator of the Self-Employed Women Association (SEWA).

Sofia Aron

Sofia Aron

Summer Fellow, 2023

Sofia Aron

Sofia Aron

Summer Fellow, 2023

Sofia has 5 years of experience working in development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously, Sofia worked at the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), at the Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness Office. Before that she worked at the Ministry of Economics and Finance of Peru as Director of the Public Budget Monitoring and Formulation Office, heading the office that leads the allocation, definition of priorities and monitoring of the Peruvian national budget (US $ 54,500 million). Also she has experience at the Ministry of education of Peru where she led the design of a national strategy to close the digital gap within the Peruvian school system.

Sofia is currently studying a master’s in Public Administration and International Development (MPA-ID) from Harvard Kennedy School and she holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad del Pacifico in Lima Peru.

Claudia Boscan Medina

Claudia Boscan Medina

Summer Fellow, 2023

Claudia Boscan Medina

Claudia Boscan Medina

Summer Fellow, 2023

Claudia Boscan Medina is a dynamic professional in public policy and international affairs. Currently pursuing a Master's in Public Policy (MPP) at the University of Chicago, she holds a Bachelor's degree in International Studies from American University.

With experience at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Foundation, the Aspen Institute, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Amnesty International, Claudia has provided strategic advice, drafted policy briefs, and facilitated engagement with stakeholders. Her multicultural upbringing across Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, and Mexico, along with her fluency in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, equips her to navigate diverse cultural landscapes.

Passionate about promoting equitable policies and fostering international collaboration, Claudia seeks to leverage her expertise in law, public policy, and development to make a global impact. She is currently an Imago Summer Fellow in the Global Office and provides support to the Latin America Office projects.

Daniela Paz Cruzat

Daniela Paz Cruzat

Research Fellow, 2022-2023

Daniela Paz Cruzat

Daniela Paz Cruzat

Research Fellow, 2022-2023


Daniela holds a master's degree in international development, MPA/ID, from the Harvard Kennedy School, as well as undergraduate and graduate degrees in Economics from University of Chile. As a PhD student in Economics at UC Berkeley, Daniela's research interests are broad and include a variety of topics related to applied microeconomics. Her passion lies in addressing inequality, and most of her projects relate to its different forms.

Currently, Daniela is working on projects related to gender inequality in the labor market in Chile and Brazil. In addition, she has projects related to food economics where she studies the role of food banks and private initiatives to decrease waste.

Andrea Restrepo

Andrea Restrepo

Program Associate

Andrea Restrepo

Andrea Restrepo

Program Associate

Andrea is a Program Associate at Imago Global Grassroots for the global office and Latin America. She is a political scientist and professional in International Relations from Universidad del Rosario in Colombia, as well as a specialist in Organizations, Social Responsibility and Development from Universidad de los Andes.

Prior to joining Imago, Andrea worked for more than two years for the British Government in Colombia, first in the International Trade Department and then in the Prosperity Program team during its closing phase. In addition, Andrea is a Master's degree student in Economics of Public Policy at the Universidad del Rosario. Her policy interests include gender, environmental sustainability, peace, inequality, among others.

Rema Hanna

Rema Hanna

Chair of the International Development Area at Harvard Kennedy School.

Rema Hanna

Rema Hanna

Chair of the International Development Area at Harvard Kennedy School.

Rema Hanna is the Jeffrey Cheah Professor of South-East Asia Studies and Chair of the International Development Area at Harvard Kennedy School. She serves as the Faculty Director of Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) at Harvard University’s Center for International Development and is the co-Scientific Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South East Asia Office in Indonesia. In addition, Reema is a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and an affiliate of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD).

She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a B.S. from Cornell University with Honors and Distinction. Her work has been published in leading economics journals, such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy, among others. She is particularly interested in how governments can improve and strengthen social protection, tax collection, and environmental safety.

In addition, Rema is currently on the editorial board at the American Economic Review and previously was on the board of Review of Economics and Statistics and VoxDev and served as a co-Editor at the Journal of Human Resources.

Verónica Zavala

Verónica Zavala

Chair at Imago Global Grassroots

Verónica Zavala

Verónica Zavala

Chair at Imago Global Grassroots

Verónica Zavala is an executive with broad experience in management and development in Latin America. After completing her MPA at Harvard’s JFK School of Government, she started her career in the public sector in her native Peru where she focused in public sector modernization and public private partnerships (PPPs). She has held several positions with the Government of Peru, most recently as Secretary of Public Management and Minister of Transportation and Communication.

In 2008 she was appointed to the Executive Board of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), representing Peru and Colombia. After a brief stint as Manager with the World Bank Ms. Zavala returned to the IDB where she served successively as Manager for Strategy and Development Effectiveness Manager, Manager for the Andean Countries, Country Representative in Mexico, and Regional manager for Mexico, Central America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. 

Currently she is on the board of directors for Engie (Peru), where she also serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee, for Promed (Panama), and for Calisto Cobre Resources (Canada), where she chairs the Environmental Social Governance Committee. On a personal level, consistent with her interest in promoting diversity and inclusion. She enjoys sharing her expertise with younger professionals,  and has substantial experience mentoring on a pro bono basis. Verónica volunteers with key gender and LGBT+ initiatives, as well as with an organization advancing Sustainable Development Goals in Peru.

Pritish Priyedarshi

Pritish Priyedarshi

Program Manager

Pritish Priyedarshi

Pritish Priyedarshi

Program Manager

Pritish has experience of more than five years of handling multiple Agri-Produce Value Chain interventions, driving tech-enabled projects in rural supply chain & distribution, and cultivating strategic partnerships with private and government. Before joining Imago Global Grassroots he worked with prominent organizations in Agri-Input, Commodity business, and AgTech industry where he handled a cross-functional set of roles in Business Development, Product Marketing, Forward & Backwards Linkages, and Strategy while working closely with Farmer community and Collective institutions - FPOs, SHGs, Co-operatives, and other stakeholders. At Imago Global Grassroots, Pritish takes care of Scale Up Program Implementation for two states in India.

Pritish is passionate about helping build sustainable and scalable rural enterprises which lead towards solving intrinsic issues of the farming landscape in India and aid the economic upliftment of rural households by creating opportunities for their deeper participation in commerce.
Pritish graduated from Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar with a degree in Rural Management in 2018.

Zeineb Ben Yahmed

Zeineb Ben Yahmed

Research Fellow, 2023

Zeineb Ben Yahmed

Zeineb Ben Yahmed

Research Fellow, 2023

Zeineb is a Tunisian national and a public policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to Harvard, she was a fellow at the World Bank, where she supported early childhood development projects in the MENA region. She was also a Research Analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where her research focused on the political economy of the MENA region.

Zeineb holds a Master's degree in Political Economy from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a Bachelor's degree with a double major in Economics and Politics from SOAS. She is fluent in Arabic, French, and English.

Arundhita Bhanjdeo

Arundhita Bhanjdeo

Research Fellow, 2019 – 2023

Arundhita Bhanjdeo

Arundhita Bhanjdeo

Research Fellow, 2019 – 2023

Arundhita has worked across diverse research areas for the past nine years. Currently, she is working as an independent researcher, consulting with IFPRI, University of East Anglia, UK and Charities Aid Foundation, India. Previously she has worked with PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action), a grassroots NGO working with women’s collectives in rural and remote parts of India. As a part of PRADAN, Arundhita has worked with IMAGO to conduct a qualitative study to assess the functionating of government promoted (NRLM)Self Help Groups in Madhya Pradesh in India. She has also worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the TIGR 2 ESS project led by the University of Cambridge on building Sustainable and Transformative Agrarian and Rural Trajectories. Her core interest lies in bringing grassroots voices, knowledge, practices and perspectives into research and policy narratives and shaping the field of developmental and social change. She has experience conducting action research on complex systems, sustainable food systems, sustainable livelihoods, distress migration in India, women’s collectives and an overall lens of gender and intersectionality.

Arundhita has a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Philosophy from Miranda House and Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. She completed her PhD as a ACIAR-John Allwright Fellow from Charles Sturt University, Australia.

Rameshwara Nand Jha

Rameshwara Nand Jha

State Program Manager

Rameshwara Nand Jha

Rameshwara Nand Jha

State Program Manager

Rameshwara has more than 9 years of experience working with the private sector, civil society organisations and the Government of Kerala. Prior to this, as part of the Mission Karmayogi he supported the Capacity Building Commission (Govt. of India) in designing
the competency-based capacity development training systems for public sector employees. He has also worked with Kudumbashree NRO on economic and social empowerment of women and poverty alleviation. His work included establishing systems and processes for the flagship entrepreneurship programs (SVEP) under National Rural Livelihood Mission, Ministry of Rural Development across multiple states.

Rameshwara has also worked on product planning in the automotive sector. He holds an undergraduate degree in engineering from VIT University, M.A in Development from Azim Premji University and M.A in Public Policy from Harris School of
Public Policy, University of Chicago, where he was an Obama Scholar.

Ojas

Ojas

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Ojas

Ojas

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Ojas comes with five years of experience in the development landscape in India and has worked across sectors and verticals. She spent the initial years of her career at Samhita Social Ventures assessing and furthering the impact of large-scale social impact programs funded by CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility.) She also led Monitoring and Evaluation for Samhita’s national COVID-19 response program, REVIVE – a blended finance facility and livelihood accelerator to help informal workers and micro-entrepreneurs recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and thrive. Ojas is passionate about designing equitable health systems in developing countries and has experience in leading process design and quality improvement at Swasth Foundation, a grassroots primary healthcare organization based in Mumbai, India.

Ojas holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce (Delhi, India) and a post-graduate diploma in Liberal Arts from Ashoka University (Sonipat, India). She is currently a second-year student pursuing her Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

She is currently an Imago Summer Fellow in the Global Office.

Vinicius Bueno

Vinicius Bueno

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Vinicius Bueno

Vinicius Bueno

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Vinicius is pursuing a Master of Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and is working as a research assistant in education projects in Recife, Brazil. Previously, he graduated from two of the best universities in Brazil - in Public Administration at FGV and in Economics at USP. His purpose is to build a world in which any child, regardless of social origin or any other characteristic, has ample opportunities to dream and achieve their dreams and reach their full potential.

Vinicius dedicated his entire career to social impact, especially to large-scale educational policies - at the São Paulo State Department of Education, at the Brazilian Ministry of Education, and at the Lemann Foundation. At the São Paulo State Department of Education, Vinicius led the "Learning Management", a priority project whose objective was to improve the learning of almost 3.5 million students in the state.

Prior to that, Vinicius worked at the Democratic National Committee; at the GPP Lab (public policy management laboratory that promotes events and research on how to make the State more efficient, effective, and innovative); and at the São Paulo State Department of Planning and Regional Development.

Ignacia Lecaros

Ignacia Lecaros

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Ignacia Lecaros

Ignacia Lecaros

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Ignacia Lecaros has five years of experience working in the public sector and non-profit organizations focusing on reducing poverty and inequality in the world, especially among marginalized groups. She worked first as a project manager in a non-profit organization that contributes to the reintegration of people deprived of liberty in the Chilean prison system. Then, she worked at the Ministry of Social Development within the Government of Chile as a Department of Studies Analyst. At the Ministry, she worked analyzing and evaluating social programs of the government. Also, she was in the team that determined the allocation of the bonus for families in Chile during the pandemic COVID-19.

She studied a B.A in Economics and Business at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Later on, she studied an M.A in Economics concentrating on Public Policy. At the time, she is a second-year graduate student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree focusing on Social Policy, Gender, and Development.

Ignacia is currently working as an intern at IMAGO Global Grassroots on Latin America-focused projects in adaptive evaluation, scaling up grassroots projects, organizing a program for emerging leaders in Chile, and conducting research on inequality in Chile.

Surili Sheth

Surili Sheth

Research Fellow, 2017, 2019 – 2023

Surili Sheth

Surili Sheth

Research Fellow, 2017, 2019 – 2023

Surili brings experience in governance, gender, rural livelihoods, data analytics, program evaluation, and community development work in India and other developing countries. Prior to joining IMAGO, she served as Manager for IDinsight, in the Concurrent Evaluation Cell for the Andhra Pradesh Society for the Elimination of Rural Poverty (Ministry of Rural Development) and for various other governance -related projects. She has also worked with the MIT Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL South Asia), the Affordable Housing Institute, and the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics in Kenya. Surili holds a B.S. in Economics and Political Science from The Ohio State University and a Masters in Public Administration, International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Pablo Tillan

Pablo Tillan

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Pablo Tillan

Pablo Tillan

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Pablo is a Masters in Public Administration in International Development candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Prior to commencing his graduate studies, Pablo was a poverty consultant in the Bangladesh poverty team of the Poverty and Equity division of the World Bank. In his role, he focused on the analysis of the dynamics of rural incomes in Bangladesh and understanding welfare implications of displaced populations within the scope of the Rohingya refugee crisis. Previously, Pablo worked in government institutions of San Juan, Argentina and Merida, Mexico. Pablo holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad Catolica de Cuyo and a master in Economic Development and Growth from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Ricardo Pommer Muñoz

Ricardo Pommer Muñoz

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Ricardo Pommer Muñoz

Ricardo Pommer Muñoz

Research Fellow, 2022 – 2023

Ricardo's work applies modern behavioral economic theory to development contexts, with a particular focus on climate change. He is a member of the Cognition and Decision Lab at Columbia University, which is an interdisciplinary team that develops and tests novel advances in decision-making in economics, psychology, and cognitive science. His work has continually attempted to formalize and analyze the processes and information constraints that lead to high-stakes decisions in the real world and spans statistical topic models of the Chilean constitution to predict changes in political regimes and freedoms, sentiment analysis of the constitutional discussion, experimental tests of changes in demand for climate abatement products, and bounded rationality models of decision-making.

Ricardo holds a Bachelor's in Psychology from New York University, a Master's in Statistics from Columbia University, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Economics at Columbia University.

Aulikki Kuusela

Aulikki Kuusela

Senior Advisor

Aulikki Kuusela

Aulikki Kuusela

Senior Advisor

Aulikki Kuusela is a sought-after management consultant specialized in organizational assessment, change management and human capital management in international organizations. Her experience spans from leadership positions in line management to management consulting in bi-lateral and multi-lateral development agencies, international NGOs, national and local governments and the private sector.
Ms. Kuusela understands international development from the policy and program perspective as well as from the organizational and human capital management perspective. This unique combination of expertise enables her to help align organizational structures, cultures and people strategies to effectively support strategic business goals and priorities. Ms. Kuusela is familiar with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the ongoing overarching change process in the UN-system and some of the subsequent change streams now being implemented at agency level.

Ms. Kuusela’s most recent successful consulting assignments include (i) Fit-for purpose assessment of the global HR function and subsequent structural and capacity building work for a UN Agency; (ii) Co-created People Strategy for a UN Agency, including organizational development interventions; (iii) HR capacity assessment, HR policy review and aligning the corporate HR strategy to support the business strategy in a large global NGO; (iv) internal justice reviews for a multi-lateral development bank; (v) advisory services on HR strategy and organizational management for a regional development bank; (vi) Assessment of organizational culture and development of a subsequent change strategy for a UN Agency; and (vii) Workforce analysis, risk analysis and development of a comprehensive workforce strategy for a UN Agency.

Kerry Yang

Kerry Yang

Imago Fellow, 2014-2015

Kerry Yang

Kerry Yang

Imago Fellow, 2014-2015

Kerry is a second year PhD candidate in Financial Economics at Columbia University, with a focus on credit and banking systems. She has experience working in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in New York, consulting at McKinsey & Company in China, and investing with Acumen Fund in West Africa. Prior to her PhD, she completed her MBA/MPA-ID at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Kerry has worked with IMAGO in various capacities since 2014, in both Ahmadabad and Washington DC. Kerry is from South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and studied Economics at Harvard College.

Lucila Arboleya

Lucila Arboleya

Imago Fellow, 2014-2015

Lucila Arboleya

Lucila Arboleya

Imago Fellow, 2014-2015

Lucila holds a Masters in Public Administration and International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School. She has several years of experience working in the energy and infrastructure sector, focused on trading of oil derivatives and solar power. She also served as a television anchor of economics for two years, and has co-founded two NGOs, one in education and another focused on volunteering.

Mauricio Martínez

Mauricio Martínez

Operations Manager

Mauricio Martínez

Mauricio Martínez

Operations Manager

Mauricio has around 4 years of experience working in the financial and commercial sector. Previously, Mauricio worked as a Financial Analyst for a banking institution in Paraguay, serving as the main point of contact between multilateral organizations and the bank.
While serving as a financial analyst Mauricio was in charge of managing the liquidity of the financial entity and negotiating time deposits with correspondent banks abroad. Mauricio has also worked as a Commercial Manager for a tech retail company in Paraguay, while serving in this role he conducted market research and analysis to create detailed business plans on commercial opportunities. Mauricio holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Kansas State University.

Navneet Bhatt

Navneet Bhatt

Senior Research Manager

Navneet Bhatt

Navneet Bhatt

Senior Research Manager

Navneet has 11 years of experience working with the Private Sector, Civil Society, and State governments of Bihar and Odisha, India. His work cuts across various aspect of gender based equitable development. His experience is a balenced mix of implementation (of large interventions focussed on developing women led institutions of poor) and research assignments. He has led various qualitative and quantitative research studies and is adept in various social research methods. Before joining Imago, Navneet has worked with Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) where he designed and implemented research projects in RNMCH area.

He holds a postgraduate degree in management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, and a Masters in International Social and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science(LSE). He attended LSE on the prestigious Chevening Scholarship award.

Loretta Turner

Loretta Turner

Senior Advisor

Loretta Turner

Loretta Turner

Senior Advisor

Loretta is a San Diego-based ICF accredited wellness & leadership coach and nonprofit professional. Her mission is to enrich the wellness of individuals and organizations that strive to DO GOOD and create more positive impact in their communities. With over a decade of experience in the nonprofit and wellness sectors, Loretta brings a mindful, people-centered, and mission-driven approach to her coaching, facilitation, and consulting work.

Ojas

Ojas

Summer Fellow, 2022

Ojas

Ojas

Summer Fellow, 2022

Ojas comes with five years of experience in the development landscape in India and has worked across sectors and verticals. She spent the initial years of her career at Samhita Social Ventures assessing and furthering the impact of large-scale social impact programs funded by CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility.) She also led Monitoring and Evaluation for Samhita’s national COVID-19 response program, REVIVE – a blended finance facility and livelihood accelerator to help informal workers and micro-entrepreneurs recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and thrive. Ojas is passionate about designing equitable health systems in developing countries and has experience in leading process design and quality improvement at Swasth Foundation, a grassroots primary healthcare organization based in Mumbai, India.

Ojas holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce (Delhi, India) and a post-graduate diploma in Liberal Arts from Ashoka University (Sonipat, India). She is currently a second-year student pursuing her Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

She is currently an Imago Summer Fellow in the Global Office.

Claudia Rivas

Claudia Rivas

Summer Fellow, 2022

Claudia Rivas

Claudia Rivas

Summer Fellow, 2022

Claudia has five years of experience working with the government and multilateral organizations in Peru to strengthen delivery capacity at the local level. At the Ministry of Education, she worked closely with the local education boards to improve budget execution and textbooks delivery to schools. Then, she joined the World Bank, where she supported the design of projects targeting school management and teacher professional development. Here, she also accompanied the design of EdTech projects in Paraguay, Costa Rica and Brazil. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with different NGOs in the fields of education, civic engagement and entrepreneurship.

Claudia holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad del Pacífico (Peru), and is in her second year of the master’s in Public Administration and International Development (MPA-ID) at the Harvard Kennedy School.

She is currently an Imago Summer Fellow in the India Office, where she will be working in the adaptive evaluation of the social accelerator of Self-Employed Women Association (SEWA).

Geet Chawla

Geet Chawla

Summer Fellow, 2022

Geet Chawla

Geet Chawla

Summer Fellow, 2022

Geet Chawla is a Master of Public Administration (MPA) candidate at Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) where her concentration is Economic and Political Development her specialization is International Conflict Resolution.

Geet has previously worked in a variety of industries—including journalism, aerospace, not-for-profit, financial services, management consulting, and technology. Most recently, she developed and operationalized a growth strategy for a large offshore team at Better, a New York-based FinTech startup. She grew up in India and is fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu. She is particularly interested in the intersection of international law, public policy, and development and hopes to transition to a globally impactful career after graduating from Columbia University.

Geet holds a BA in Business Administration with a double concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurship from University of Washington, Michael G. Foster of Business. She is currently a Summer Fellow at IMAGO where she is working on rolling out interventions for social enterprises under the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) as well as providing internal strategy support for IMAGO’s India office.

Ignacia Lecaros

Ignacia Lecaros

Summer Fellow, 2022

Ignacia Lecaros

Ignacia Lecaros

Summer Fellow, 2022

Ignacia Lecaros has five years of experience working in the public sector and non-profit organizations focusing on reducing poverty and inequality in the world, especially among marginalized groups. She worked first as a project manager in a non-profit organization that contributes to the reintegration of people deprived of liberty in the Chilean prison system. Then, she worked at the Ministry of Social Development within the Government of Chile as a Department of Studies Analyst. At the Ministry, she worked analyzing and evaluating social programs of the government. Also, she was in the team that determined the allocation of the bonus for families in Chile during the pandemic COVID-19.

She studied a B.A in Economics and Business at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Later on, she studied an M.A in Economics concentrating on Public Policy. At the time, she is a second-year graduate student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree focusing on Social Policy, Gender, and Development.

Ignacia is currently working as an intern at IMAGO Global Grassroots on Latin America-focused projects in adaptive evaluation, scaling up grassroots projects, organizing a program for emerging leaders in Chile, and conducting research on inequality in Chile.

Isabela Fonseca

Isabela Fonseca

Summer Fellow, 2022

Isabela Fonseca

Isabela Fonseca

Summer Fellow, 2022

Isabela is currently pursuing her Master’s in Public Policy at the University of Chicago, with a focus on International Development and Education.

Prior to pursuing her graduate degree, Isabela worked at Simple Mills, where she continues to consult, analyzing sales and consumer data for their growing business. Previously, Isabela worked for over 4years in the Beauty industry in various Data Analysis capacities. Out of college, she began as an HR data analyst at L’Oréal, shifting over the next 2 years to Business Analysis. After L’Oréal, she worked at Revlon doing category and competitive business and consumer analysis.

Isabela holds a bachelor’s degree from NYU in Economics and Politics, with a minor in Mathematics. She is currently an IMAGO summer fellow at the LATAM office. She is primarily focused on IMAGO’s developing projects in Brazil, where she is from.

Pablo Tillan

Pablo Tillan

Summer Fellow, 2022

Pablo Tillan

Pablo Tillan

Summer Fellow, 2022

Pablo is a Masters in Public Administration in International Development candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Prior to commencing his graduate studies, Pablo was a poverty consultant in the Bangladesh poverty team of the Poverty and Equity division of the World Bank. In his role, he focused on the analysis of the dynamics of rural incomes in Bangladesh and understanding welfare implications of displaced populations within the scope of the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Previously, Pablo worked in government institutions of San Juan, Argentina and Merida, Mexico. Pablo holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad Catolica de Cuyo and a master in Economic Development and Growth from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Sarah Nzau

Sarah Nzau

Summer Fellow, 2022

Sarah Nzau

Sarah Nzau

Summer Fellow, 2022

Sarah is interested in the design, implementation, and analysis of policies and programs aimed at alleviating poverty in Kenya, especially in the education sector. She is a candidate for the Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS).

Prior to HKS, she worked on issues related to economic mobility at The Brookings Institution as a project manager and senior research assistant in the Economic Studies program. Sarah also worked at The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL Global), where she contributed to J-PAL’s policy team’s mission to analyze and disseminate research results to ensure policy is driven by scientific evidence.

Sarah holds a B.A. in Economics from Wellesley College, and she spent a year studying abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is currently a Summer Fellow at IMAGO’s global office where she contributes to Knowledge and Communication management.

Sneha Venkata Krishnan

Sneha Venkata Krishnan

Summer Fellow, 2022

Sneha Venkata Krishnan

Sneha Venkata Krishnan

Summer Fellow, 2022

Sneha has 4+ years of experience in public health consulting, partnerships with the Ministry of Health in India and financial marketing analytics. She earlier worked with Clinton Health Access Initiative to introduce and scale public health interventions, for improving the lives of pregnant women and infants. In 2020, I collaborated with the Ministry of Health to lead COVID-19 diagnostics for India. Previously, at Citibank, I led marketing analytics efforts and gained exposure on financial markets and modeling.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi. She is a Master in Public Administration in International Development candidate at Harvard Kennedy School.

She is currently an IMAGO Summer Fellow in the Global Office where she is offering strategic support in developing the implementation roadmap for the UN Women Strategic Plan.

Vivek Kaila

Vivek Kaila

Summer Fellow, 2022

Vivek Kaila

Vivek Kaila

Summer Fellow, 2022

Vivek is interested in the political economy of development, specifically relating to the emerging economies of South Asia, Latin America and Africa. His policy interests include gender, education and poverty alleviation, with particular emphasis on key drivers of inequality that lie at the intersection of market mechanisms, and non-market factors such as systemic discrimination, class stratification, and social exclusion.

He has previously worked in education. He was a researcher in STEM pedagogy at the University of Colorado for the CIRTL Network, a national network of research universities focused on advancing effective teaching practices for STEM in the United States. He has also worked with first generation school-and college-goers in India’s Northeastern state of Meghalaya. As a Summer Fellow at Imago, Vivek is working with grassroots social enterprises in India like SEWA and TRIF, in collaboration with the National Rural Livelihood Mission, to improve women’s agency and economic empowerment in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Prior to studying international development and policy at The University of Chicago’s Harris School, Vivek worked as an aerospace engineer. He did post-doctoral work at the University of Colorado and worked for the Indian Government’s Defence Research and Development Organisation. He has degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Physics from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

Xoán Fernandez

Xoán Fernandez

Advisor

Xoán Fernandez

Xoán Fernandez

Advisor

Xoán is an innovation for development and social innovation expert with more than 12 years of work experience in Europe, Latin America and the US. He has worked in several innovation labs of multilateral development banks (CAF and IDB) designing, managing and advising innovation projects with entrepreneurs, NGOs, companies and governments using disruptive models and technologies. Currently, it works with organizations such as IFRC, IDB and several B Corps and UN agencies on innovation for the water and sanitation sector, inclusive fintech for climate change adaptation and neurodiversity as a strategic asset for the technology industry. He has a master's degree in innovation for sustainable development at the University of Sussex/SPRU and training in ICT, knowledge management. He is been recognised as a Responsible Leader by the BMW Herbert Quandt Foundation, and is an active researcher in Innovation for Development of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Xoán advises IMAGO on innovation for development and social innovation projects with a particular focus on Latin America

Shaida Badiee

Shaida Badiee

Managing Director, Open Data Watch

Shaida Badiee

Shaida Badiee

Managing Director, Open Data Watch

Managing Director of Open Data Watch, Shaida brings decades of experience in managing global development statistics as the Director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group. In 2010, she led the World Bank’s Open Data Initiative, a ground-breaking program to provide full and free access to the World Bank’s extensive statistical databases.

Jimena Vallejos

Jimena Vallejos

Director of Programs

Jimena Vallejos

Director of Programs

Jimena has over seven years of program management experience in poverty elimination and financial inclusion programs. She is Imago's Director of Programs and is working directly with Lever for Change, UN Women, SEWA Bharat, National Marine Mammal Foundation, the World Bank, and Poverty Stoplight. Previously, she worked as manager of the Poverty Stoplight, a participatory poverty assessment tool that has been replicated in over 29 countries and has consulted with the Government of Paraguay on Early Childhood Development policies. Jimena holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University. Prior to joining Imago, she was part of our Fellows’ program and collaborated with Transforming Rural India in New Delhi. She is a certified scrum master.

Jimena Vallejos

Jimena Vallejos

Summer Fellow, 2018

Jimena Vallejos

Jimena Vallejos

Summer Fellow, 2018

Jimena has over seven years of program management experience in poverty elimination and financial inclusion programs. She worked as manager of the Poverty Stoplight, a participatory poverty assessment tool that has been replicated in over 29 countries and has consulted with the Government of Paraguay on Early Childhood Development policies.

Jimena holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University. Prior to joining IMAGO, she was part of our Fellows’ program and collaborated with Transforming Rural India in New Delhi. She is a certified scrum master.

Zachary Green

Zachary Green

Co-Founder & Director for Leadership and Training

Zachary Green

Co-Founder & Director for Leadership and Training

Zachary has 30 years of experience working with grassroots organizations, helping them unleash possibilities and reach their deeper potential. He has a PhD in Clinical and Community Psychology from Boston University, and Med in Counseling from Cleveland University. He is an executive coach, Professor of Practice, and the Associate Director of the Leadership Institute at the University of San Diego.

Zachary Green

Zachary Green

Co-Founder & Director for Leadership and Training

Zachary Green

Co-Founder & Director for Leadership and Training

Zachary has 30 years of experience working with grassroots organizations, helping them unleash possibilities and reach their deeper potential. He has a PhD in Clinical and Community Psychology from Boston University, and Med in Counseling from Cleveland University. He is an executive coach, Professor of Practice, and the Associate Director of the Leadership Institute at the University of San Diego.

Michael Walton

Michael Walton

Director For Economic Development, Research, And Strategy

Michael Walton

Michael Walton

Director For Economic Development, Research, And Strategy

In addition to his work with IMAGO, Michael has been teaching at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government since 2004. He is also Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. Prior to moving to Harvard, he worked for over 20 years at the World Bank, including as global Director for Poverty Reduction, Chief Economist for East Asia, and director of two World Development Reports, on labor and on inequality. Michael is also a dancer and continues to take modern dance classes as an integral part of his life.

Michael Walton

Michael Walton

Director For Economic Development, Research, And Strategy

Michael Walton

Michael Walton

Director For Economic Development, Research, And Strategy

In addition to his work with IMAGO, Michael has been teaching at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government since 2004. He is also Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. Prior to moving to Harvard, he worked for over 20 years at the World Bank, including as global Director for Poverty Reduction, Chief Economist for East Asia, and director of two World Development Reports, on labor and on inequality. Michael is also a dancer and continues to take modern dance classes as an integral part of his life.

Michael Walton

Michael Walton

Director For Economic Development, Research, And Strategy

Michael Walton

Michael Walton

Director For Economic Development, Research, And Strategy

In addition to his work with IMAGO, Michael has been teaching at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government since 2004. He is also Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. Prior to moving to Harvard, he worked for over 20 years at the World Bank, including as global Director for Poverty Reduction, Chief Economist for East Asia, and director of two World Development Reports, on labor and on inequality. Michael is also a dancer and continues to take modern dance classes as an integral part of his life.

Isabel Guerrero

Isabel Guerrero

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Scaling Up, Livelihoods

Isabel Guerrero

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Scaling Up, Livelihoods

Isabel Guerrero is driven to change the world in which she lives. Throughout her career, she’s helped those with the least break out of the cycle of poverty while celebrating the intrinsic beauty and dignity in each person. With this goal in mind, Isabel and Zachary Green co-founded IMAGO Global Grassroots, an organization focused on giving people living in poverty the tools to build their own destiny. Isabel worked for 30 years at the World Bank, including five years as Vice-President for the South Asia region, managing a US$39 billion portfolio.
While presenting a different set of challenges, Isabel’s work with IMAGO offers tremendous potential to change the world through tackling some of the most intractable development problems we face today.

In addition to her work with IMAGO, Isabel is on the board of the Presencing Institute at MIT and a Council Member of the United Nations University. She is an economist from London School of Economics and a psychoanalyst trained at the Washington Psychoanalytic Society. Isabel teaches “Scaling Up for Development Impact” at Harvard and is a Senior Lecturer in leadership at MIT.

Isabel Guerrero

Isabel Guerrero

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Scaling Up, Livelihoods

Isabel Guerrero

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Scaling Up, Livelihoods

Isabel Guerrero is driven to change the world in which she lives. Throughout her career, she’s helped those with the least break out of the cycle of poverty while celebrating the intrinsic beauty and dignity in each person. With this goal in mind, Isabel and Zachary Green co-founded IMAGO Global Grassroots, an organization focused on giving people living in poverty the tools to build their own destiny. Isabel worked for 30 years at the World Bank, including five years as Vice-President for the South Asia region, managing a US$39 billion portfolio.
While presenting a different set of challenges, Isabel’s work with IMAGO offers tremendous potential to change the world through tackling some of the most intractable development problems we face today.

In addition to her work with IMAGO, Isabel is on the board of the Presencing Institute at MIT and a Council Member of the United Nations University. She is an economist from London School of Economics and a psychoanalyst trained at the Washington Psychoanalytic Society. Isabel teaches “Scaling Up for Development Impact” at Harvard and is a Senior Lecturer in leadership at MIT.

Ronnie Brodsky

Ronnie Brodsky

Summer Fellow, 2016

Ronnie Brodsky

Ronnie Brodsky

Summer Fellow, 2016

Ronnie is pursuing joint Masters degrees in Business Administration and Economic Policy (an MBA and MPA-ID) at the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Prior to graduate school, Ronnie worked in data-driven policy consulting for seven U.S. government agencies, focusing on financial regulation and loan guarantee programs. She has also worked in humanitarian relief in Guatemala. Ronnie graduated first in her graduating class and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Marcela Gutierrez

Marcela Gutierrez

Summer Fellow, 2016

Marcela Gutierrez

Marcela Gutierrez

Summer Fellow, 2016

Marcela is a research analyst at the World Bank Group. When she was working with IMAGO she was pursuing a Masters in Public Administration and International Development at the Kennedy School of Government. Prior to graduate school, Marcela gained five years of experience designing, implementing and evaluating social programs in more than 10 countries in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and the Western Balkans. Among others, she worked with the World Bank as project coordinator of the STEP Skills Measurement Program (the first initiative to measure cognitive and socio-emotional skills in developing countries). Prior to that, she was the Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Social Protection and Inclusion in Peru. Marcela graduated cum laude from Universidad de los Andes with Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Management.

Namrata Saraogi

Namrata Saraogi

Summer Fellow, 2017

Namrata Saraogi

Namrata Saraogi

Summer Fellow, 2017

Namrata is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Administration, International Development (MPA/ID) at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. Previously, Namrata was working with the World Bank Group on education policies and service delivery in East Asia and Pacific, South Asia and Middle East.

Namrata holds a B.A. Honors in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University and an M.Sc. in Economics from University College London.

Vince Jeong

Vince Jeong

Summer Fellow, 2017

Vince Jeong

Vince Jeong

Summer Fellow, 2017

Vince is a consultant at McKinsey & Company and a recent graduate of Harvard Kennedy School’s MPA/ID Program. Throughout his career, he has focused on tackling development issues from different angles: as a management consultant advising global development organizations, as a project manager leading program implementation for a healthcare NGO in Tanzania, and as a business designer launching new companies for the emerging Latin American middle class at a venture builder in Colombia. Vince graduated top of his class in the Operations Research & Financial Engineering Department from Princeton University.

Paroma Husain

Paroma Husain

Summer Fellow, 2017

Paroma Husain

Paroma Husain

Summer Fellow, 2017

Paroma is a development professional with more than 5 years of international experience in microfinance, digital financial services, qualitative research and project management. She worked as a Deputy Manager at BRAC – one of world’s largest NGOs – for nearly 4 years in several large-scale projects in Bangladesh and Uganda. She holds a Bachelor degree in Finance from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a Master degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University – where she studied Development Economics and Business for Social Impact. She has also consulted for various financial institutions and development agencies including FinTech Sandbox, Fundación Paraguay, and IMAGO Global Grassroots.

Niriksha Shetty

Niriksha Shetty

Summer Fellow, 2018

Niriksha Shetty

Niriksha Shetty

Summer Fellow, 2018

Homa Koohi

Homa Koohi

Summer Fellow, 2018

Homa Koohi

Homa Koohi

Summer Fellow, 2018

Homa is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Administration, International Development (MPA/ID) at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Before joining Kennedy school as an student, Homa was a Research Assistant at MIT, Sloan School of Management. In that role, she investigated how retail industry corporations can transition effectively from “bad jobs strategy” to “good jobs strategy”, in which employees have higher wages, more predictable schedules and more advancement opportunities. In this research, Homa focused on designing and developing human subject experiments to understand barriers to effective implementation of this transition.

Previously, Homa worked with several educational non-profits in Iran, including Asemaan, where she worked as an executive and project manager, developing systems thinking skills in young children. Homa holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Sharif University of Technology, Iran.

Kerry Yang

Kerry Yang

MIT Faculty

Kerry Yang

Kerry Yang

MIT Faculty

Kerry is an Assistant Professor in Finance at MIT Sloan, with a research focus on credit and banking systems. She has experience working in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in New York, consulting at McKinsey & Company in China, and investing with Acumen Fund in West Africa. She received her PhD at Columbia University, and her MBA/MPA-ID at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Kerry has worked with IMAGO in various capacities since 2014, in both Ahmadabad and Washington DC. Kerry is from South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and studied Economics at Harvard College.

Jossie Fahsbender

Jossie Fahsbender

Program Manager

Jossie Fahsbender

Jossie Fahsbender

Program Manager

Jossie has eight years of experience working in development projects, mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is a Program Manager at Imago focused on advancing scaling up and adaptive evaluation projects in the Latin American and Global office. She’s also a co-author of the book “Scaling Up Development Impact” with Isabel Guerrero and Siddhant Gokhale.

Previously, she worked with the Division of Social Protection and Jobs at the World Bank on projects on labor markets and good quality jobs in Colombia, Mexico, and Chile. Before that, Jossie worked with the Rural Development Division of the Inter-American Development Bank. She collaborated on the impact evaluation of rural development projects in several countries of Latin American and the Caribbean, including Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Peru. Before joining the IDB, Jossie was an analyst at the Department of Economics Studies at the Central Reserve Bank of Peru.

Jossie holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad de Piura, and a master’s in Public Administration and International Development (MPA-ID) from Harvard Kennedy School. She also holds a Certificate in Management, Leadership, and Decision Sciences from Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to joining Imago, she was part of our Summer Fellows program and collaborated with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India.

Kesone Phimmasone

Kesone Phimmasone

Senior Advisor

Kesone Phimmasone

Kesone Phimmasone

Senior Advisor

Kesone Phimmasone built her career deploying scalable digital platforms, transforming digital into a key growth engine for global brands like Estée Lauder Companies, Apple and WarnerMedia. At Estée Lauder, Kesone drove the company’s online growth from $1M to 4B+ by unifying and actioning real-time data in an enterprise data platform, led global website redesigns for Estée Lauder and M·A·C Cosmetics, and delivered hundreds of successful digital features in 63+ markets around the world. At Apple, she managed the portfolio of worldwide digital product design for Apple Retail in stores and online.

Yalda Amini

Yalda Amini

Summer Fellow, 2018

Yalda Amini

Yalda Amini

Summer Fellow, 2018

Yalda is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Policy Administration in International Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Before attending Harvard, Yalda worked as a data analyst and policy consultant in Iran’s Ministry of Social Welfare. She also has experience as a public relations supervisor in the private sector, IT industry. She has MBA and BSc in Electrical Engineering.

Hannah Clifford

Hannah Clifford

Program Manager

Hannah Clifford

Hannah Clifford

Program Manager

Hannah has eight years of program management experience in media development and gender-focused programming.

Previously, Hannah worked as a Senior Program Manager at an international media development organization. She managed projects at the intersection of human rights, gender, press freedom and access to information in Jordan, South Africa and across Canada focusing on Indigenous representation in media, combatting disinformation and misinformation and policy responses to support independent media in the country.

Hannah holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) where she specialized in Gender and Public Policy and Technology, Media and Communications. She also holds a certificate in Non-Profit Leadership for Impact, and is a graduate of the University of Toronto majoring in International Relations, and Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies and minoring in Women and Gender Studies. She is particularly interested in the intersection of representation, gender, public discourse, and policy. She joined Imago as a Program Manager at Imago after being a summer fellow in 2021.

John Wilton

John Wilton

President, and CEO of Wilton Strategy Inc.

John Wilton

John Wilton

President, and CEO of Wilton Strategy Inc.

John runs his own consulting firm focused on marrying strategy with the financial dynamics of companies and institutions. He has worked for multinational institutions, private sector investment firms, universities and consulting companies. Most recently, he was asked by the Japanese government to serve as a member of a newly created ten person board that is tasked with allocating the funds from a new $100 billion endowment fund designed to incentivize the reform of the Japanese University system. He has served as the Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance at both the National University of Singapore and UC Berkeley, where he was focused on reforms designed to address the financial future of the universities and to professionalize the administrative and financial functions. Before these assignments he was a Managing Director and Director of International Research at Farallon Capital Management, a multi-strategy investment management firm and an Advisor for Hellman and Friedman, a private equity firm. Prior to this he worked at the World Bank, including serving as Vice President for Strategy, Finance and Risk Management.

John also worked as a Senior Adviser for higher education at McKinsey & Company. He currently serves on the boards of several companies and organizations including Enfoca, a private investment firm in Peru, Leblon a public/private investment company in Brazil, and Auna an integrated health care company which operations in Mexico, Colombia and Peru.

Vince Jeong

Vince Jeong

Co-Founder & CEO, Sparkwise

Vince Jeong

Vince Jeong

Co-Founder & CEO, Sparkwise

Vince brings a multifaceted perspective that cuts across sectors and geographies. He's currently the CEO of a VC-backed edtech company. Previously, he led large-scale transformation programs for McKinsey, directed on-the-ground initiatives for an NGO in Africa, and incubated 3 startups for a venture studio in Latam. Vince holds a BSE from Princeton and an MPA/ID from Harvard.

Krystin Jones

Krystin Jones

Head of Marketing Innovation and Insights, Amazon

Krystin Jones

Krystin Jones

Head of Marketing Innovation and Insights, Amazon

Krys Jones is the Head of Marketing Innovation and Insights for the Consumables business at Amazon, where she leads and architects inclusive and inspiring customer engagement strategies across Beauty, Grocery, Health, Personal Care, Wellness, Baby Care, and Pet Care. Krys has nearly 20 years of brand management and marketing strategy experience from General Mills and Procter & Gamble, where she helped develop national brands like Betty Crocker, Olay, and COVERGIRL. She’s a bold, mission-driven, entrepreneurial leader passionate about scaling capabilities and amplifying social impact. Krys has a B.S.B.A from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a M.B.A. from Duke University.

Trinidad Zaldivar

Trinidad Zaldivar

Chief Creativity And Culture Unit At The Inter-American Development Bank

Trinidad Zaldivar

Trinidad Zaldivar

Chief Creativity And Culture Unit At The Inter-American Development Bank

Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz

Founding Imago Board Member Nobel Memorial Prize In Economics

Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz

Founding Imago Board Member Nobel Memorial Prize In Economics

Joe is a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics (2001) and the John Bates Clark Model (1979). He is a former Chief Economics of the World Bank and a former chairman of the US president’s Council of Economic Advisors. Joe founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), and co-chairs the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. He also chairs the University of Manchester’s Brooks World Poverty Institute

Praful Patel

Praful Patel

Urban Planner, MIT

Praful Patel

Praful Patel

Urban Planner, MIT

Praful is an urban planner from MIT with decades of experience in the World Bank, including as a Regional Vice-President for South Asia. He is on the Board of Association for Social Advancement, now the largest micro-finance institution in Bangladesh.

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

Founding Imago Board Member Former Finance Minister, Nigeria

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

Founding Imago Board Member Former Finance Minister, Nigeria

Ngozi has served twice as Minister of Finance in Nigeria as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs. She led the restoration of macroeconomic stability, tripling growth, and initiated a strong fight against corruption. She was Time Magazine European Hero of 2004, Euromoney Magazine Global Finance Minister of the year, and Financial Times Finance Minister of the Year in 2005. Ngozi was also a Managing Director at the World Bank between 2007-2011.

Naoko Ishii

Naoko Ishii

Founding Imago Board Member CEO, Global Environmental Facility

Naoko Ishii

Naoko Ishii

Founding Imago Board Member CEO, Global Environmental Facility

Naoko is the CEO of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the world’s largest public funder of environmental projects. Previously, Dr. Ishii was a Deputy Vice Minister of Finance, responsible for Japan’s international financial and development policies.

Patricia Armendariz

Patricia Armendariz

CEO Of Financiera Sustentable

Patricia Armendariz

Patricia Armendariz

CEO Of Financiera Sustentable

Patricia is the CEO of Financiera Sustentable and Board member of Banorte, one of the largest Mexican banks. She was a Director of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel and a regulator in charge of the supervision of the Mexican banks during the 1994 crisis.

Nisha Agrawal

Nisha Agrawal

Founding Imago Board Member, CEO Of Oxfam India

Nisha Agrawal

Nisha Agrawal

Founding Imago Board Member, CEO Of Oxfam India

CEO of Oxfam India, Nisha has been working on poverty and inequality for more than two decades. She has been the CEO of Oxfam India since its inception in March 2008. Prior to that she has worked with the World Bank on development issues for 18 years in East Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia) and in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda).

Ellie Walton

Ellie Walton

Filmmaker

Ellie Walton

Ellie Walton

Filmmaker

Ellie is a film-maker and educator. She directs and produces documentaries with communities across Washington D.C. and is a recipient of the 2011 Mayor’s Art Award. Last year, she spent nine months in India as a Fulbright Scholar, working with adolescent girls in Gujarat. She holds a Masters in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh and a Masters in Screen Documentary from the University of London.

Giovanna Prennushi

Giovanna Prennushi

Senior Advisor

Giovanna Prennushi

Giovanna Prennushi

Senior Advisor

Giovanna Prennushi is an independent consultant with 25 years of experience as a development economist, practitioner, and lecturer. She worked at the World Bank from 1993 to 2015, focused on poverty reduction strategies, poverty analysis, monitoring and evaluation, and equity and development in various African and South Asian countries. She spent five years as Economic Advisor in the World Bank New Delhi, India office. She lectures at Cattolica University in Milan, the University of Pavia, Kenyatta University in Nairobi, and Stanford University. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Economy from Carnegie Mellon University and a Laurea in Discipline Economiche e Sociali from Bocconi. She is also a professional hiking guide.

Ana Revenga

Ana Revenga

Senior Advisor, Poverty And Gender

Ana Revenga

Ana Revenga

Senior Advisor, Poverty And Gender

Ana Revenga is a non-resident Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution and an Adjunct Lecturer at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She also serves on the board of the BBVA Foundation and is the President of the Board of ISEAK, a new foundation for the study of social policies based in Bilbao, Spain. Her areas of expertise are development policy, international economics, poverty and inequality, labor economic, employment, social policy and gender.

Ana Revenga’s professional career has spanned a variety of assignments at the World Bank and at the Spanish Central Bank, as well as teaching assignments at the Centre for Economic and Financial Studies in Madrid and Brown University. She is a member of the COTEC network for innovation in policy in her home country of Spain and a Nonresident Research Associate at the German Development Institute/Deutches Institut fur Entwicklungspolitik (DIE).

She has a Ph. D. and an M.A. in Economics from Harvard University, a B.A. in Economics and Mathemathics from Wellesley College, and a certificate in Human Rights from the Law Faculty at the University of Geneva.

Salman Zaheer

Salman Zaheer

Senior Advisor, Energy And Leadership

Salman Zaheer

Salman Zaheer

Senior Advisor, Energy And Leadership

Salman Zaheer is a development professional with over 35 years of work experience, the last 25 years at the World Bank and before that in the private sector. He specializes in co-creating and executing development strategies, drawing on insights from his international work experience and his multi-disciplinary education, and effectively facilitating action-oriented dialogue and forging productive partnerships.

At the World Bank, Salman was an energy specialist for most of his career, retiring in early 2018 as Senior Adviser to the Energy & Extractives Global Practice, growing the Bank’s South Asia energy program (as Sector Manager 2006-10 and the Lead Specialist for India 2004-06), and providing investment and advisory support to improve energy services and establish market-based systems in several countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (1993-2001). He was the first director of the newly-created South Asia Regional Integration program (2010-15), seeding an innovative “championing” process which has combined high quality policy-level dialogue with concessional investment financing to ramp up cross-border connectivity, trade and broader cooperation, most visibly in electricity and transport. From 2001 to 2004, as part of the donor-funded Global Water & Sanitation Program, Salman worked with urban local bodies in India to design and implement strategies to improve water and sanitation services.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Salman worked in the petrochemical industry in the USA and internationally, initially as a technical service engineer and later in marketing and product management. Salman has a Bachelor of Science degree from the Delhi University, and graduate degrees in Business Administration, and in Economics/International Relations from the USA.

Wilnisha Sutton

Wilnisha Sutton

Advisor

Wilnisha Sutton

Wilnisha Sutton

Advisor

Wilnisha Sutton (she/her) is currently a Community Response Advocate at NVRDC in Washington DC but at heart is a healer. She has always wanted to give back to those impacted by injustice and makes it her duty to serve folks who are trauma survivors. She is a lived experience expert (Survivor), so she knows how important it is to reach out and inspire others who have been through similar hardships as her. Wilnisha is also a powerful speaker: she has spoken on many platforms, panels, organizations, and colleges regarding topics such as human trafficking, racism and activism, self-love, and empowering others to be their authentic self. Wilnisha lives to inspire others to become the best version of themselves and motivates them to find their purpose in life.

Jeni Klugman

Jeni Klugman

Senior Advisor, Gender

Jeni Klugman

Jeni Klugman

Senior Advisor, Gender

Jeni Klugman is Managing Director at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, and a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government’s Women in Public Policy Program at Harvard University. Previous positions include Director of Gender and Development at the World Bank, and director and lead author of three global Human Development Reports published by the UNDP. She sits on several boards and panels, including for the World Economic Forum and the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Australian National University and postgraduate degrees in both Law and Development Economics from the University of Oxford where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

Carlos Chango

Carlos Chango

Advisor, Indigenous Issues And Leadership

Carlos Chango

Carlos Chango

Advisor, Indigenous Issues And Leadership

Carlos has accumulated experience working outside of Ecuador in countries such as the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, and Kazakhstan. In Ecuador, he has held positions in the Dutch Cooperation, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry Coordinator of Production, Employment, and Competitiveness, National Secretariat for Planning and Development, Cooperative Ambato and Pronaca. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of iChasky consulting, a social company whose mission is to improve the world through the formation of people who, believing in themselves, achieve their dreams. He is Kichwa from Chibuleo San Francisco, an indigenous community located in the province of Tungurahua at the central Andes of Ecuador. He holds an Agricultural Engineering degree from Zamorano, is an Ontological Coach certified with the Newfield Network, and has a Masters in Public Administration in International Development from Harvard University.

Elena Serrano

Elena Serrano

Senior Advisor, Coaching And Communications

Elena Serrano

Elena Serrano

Senior Advisor, Coaching And Communications

Elena has worked on communications for public and private institutions. Recently, she worked as a director at Chile Image Foundation, creating an identity for Chile in the world. Before that, she managed communications for Latin America at the World Bank, the Central Bank of Chile, and Citibank. Elena is Development Director at Alberto Hurtado University and an Executive Coach.

Mohini Malhotra

Mohini Malhotra

Senior Advisor, Leadership

Mohini Malhotra

Mohini Malhotra

Senior Advisor, Leadership

Mohini Malhotra is a development economist, organizational facilitator, and founder and CEO of Shakti LLC (www.artbywomen.gallery), a social art venture to better women’s and girls’ lives globally. She teaches at Georgetown University, and provides strategic consulting and organizational development services to several international development organizations.

She worked at the World Bank from 1995 to 2014 in various leadership capacities: founded and managed CGAP, a global program focused on increasing poor people’s access to financial services; led a program to upgrade slums and improve housing access for the poor through a global partnership, Cities Alliance; headed the South Asia program based in India to build client capacity across a range of topics (governance and accountability, HIV/Aids and health systems, urban development) in partnership with civil society organizations; and advised governments in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia on small business and private sector development initiatives. In her last position she managed the Leadership and Staff Learning Department and chaired the Learning Board.

Prior to the World Bank she worked in several economic development focused consulting companies (Nathan Associates, Development Alternatives Inc). She serves on the voluntary boards of CHANGE, focused on global gender equity health rights; and SITAR Arts Center, focused on low-income and largely immigrant youth through the arts in DC. Mohini has a B.A. in Development Economics from the University of Minnesota, a Master’s in Business Administration from American University (Rome, Italy/Washington, DC), a certification in Facilitation from Georgetown University, and has participated in several leadership development programs at Harvard and other institutions. She is originally from Nepal and speaks Spanish, Italian, Nepali and Hindi, and is the author of numerous publications on economic development issues, and more recently, of literary fiction.

Siddharth Yadav

Siddharth Yadav

Senior Associate

Siddharth Yadav

Siddharth Yadav

Senior Associate

Siddharth works as a Senior Associate at IMAGO Global Grassroots, working primarily with the India Office.

His previous assignments as Senior Research Associate at LEAD at KREA University were to study the methodologies to estimate the prevalence of bonded/forced labor in Tamil Nadu, India, and understanding the role of last-mile technology-based solutions to remove barriers to business growth among rural artisans in Rajasthan, India. His primary research interests include questions in the field of labor economics and poverty alleviation in South Asia.

Siddharth holds a master’s degree in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hansraj College, University of Delhi.

Siddhant Gokhale

Siddhant Gokhale

Knowledge Manager

Siddhant Gokhale

Siddhant Gokhale

Knowledge Manager

Siddhant has five years of experience working in development economics research. He built the knowledge vertical in IMAGO and is responsible for leading IMAGO’s learning agenda, strategy, and framework. He co-wrote a theoretical paper on adaptive evaluation with Michael Walton and is involved in advising adaptive evaluations projects across Imago. Siddhant previously worked as a Research Associate at the Behavioral Development Lab, establishing J-PAL South Asia’s first project in the state of Goa. In Goa, he led a project that examined the effect of low-cost, peer-delivered psychotherapy to treat depression among the poor on economic well-being. Earlier, he worked with IFMR LEAD (now LEAD at Krea University), in which he was actively involved, in varying capacities, with randomized control evaluations on the impact of sleep deprivation and chronic pain on economic decision-making. He began his career scoping early-stage research projects on how savings behavior is correlated with subjective probabilities of life events and the impact of loneliness among migrant factory workers in Chennai.

Siddhant holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Cornell University and a master’s degree in economics from Columbia University. He also has a Master’s in Public Administration and International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Nicole Carpentier

Nicole Carpentier

Program Manager

Nicole Carpentier

Nicole Carpentier

Program Manager

Nicole has around 8 years of experience working in development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously, Nicole worked at Fundación Chile, a public-private institution that innovates on public issues, where she led the design and implementation of an unprecedented public-private partnership between the Chilean government and the mining sector to improve the quality of vocational education. Before that, she worked as a field coordinator and research analyst in J-PAL LAC, where she was part of the research team assessing the impact of a parental involvement program. At Imago, Nicole has been supporting diverse organizations in the creation of scaling up road maps, especially in Chile and Latin America.

Nicole holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad de Chile, and a master’s in Public Administration and International Development (MPA-ID) from Harvard Kennedy School. She also holds a Certificate in Management, Leadership, and Decision Sciences from Harvard Kennedy School.

Prakarsh Diwaker

Prakarsh Diwaker

Manager – Capacity Building

Prakarsh Diwaker

Prakarsh Diwaker

Manager – Capacity Building

Prakarsh has diverse experience of working with grassroot organizations, central government departments, and in engineering. He is currently part of the IMAGO India office. He has experience in project planning & implementation, creative problem-solving, stakeholder management and human-centered design. He is interested in people-centered communication, design thinking, and building humane & resilient organizations.

Prakarsh holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT (BHU), Varanasi and a Post Graduate Diploma in Liberal Studies (Young India Fellowship) from Ashoka University. A perpetual learner, he embraces the uncertainties and ambiguities with an overarching focus on leading a wholesome life of significance and joy.

Gayatri Rao

Gayatri Rao

India Head Of Office

Gayatri Rao

India Head Of Office

Gayatri Rao has more than 11 years of experience working with the private sector, civil society, UNDP, and the Government of India. She has worked with the National Rural Livelihoods Mission on women empowerment and poverty alleviation, as the Mission Manager for value chain development and organic farming across all States in India. Her work included the development and financing of farmer producer companies and women-led enterprises, the development of partnerships among technical support organizations, multilateral agencies, civil society, other Ministries, and individuals. She has also worked on citizen engagement campaigns in Bihar and Punjab, and in corporate strategy in the power and banking infrastructure sectors.

She holds a postgraduate degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, and a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, where she was an Edward Mason Fellow.

Johanan Rivera

Johanan Rivera

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Johanan Rivera

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Johanan has over 12 years of experience working in both the public sector and with multilateral donors. He is the COO of IMAGO and is working directly with Gates, Pratham, TaRL Africa, NMMF, PCIC and Financiera Sustentable. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, and a master’s in Public Administration and International Development (MPA-ID) from Harvard Kennedy School.

Johanan is a member of the LGBTQ Victory Campaign Board. Prior to joining IMAGO, he worked in the evaluation department of both the Interamerican Development Bank and the World Bank. He is a certified scrum master and small group facilitator.

Zachary Green

Zachary Green

Co-Founder & Director for Leadership and Training

Zachary Green

Co-Founder & Director for Leadership and Training

Zachary has 30 years of experience working with grassroots organizations, helping them unleash possibilities and reach their deeper potential. He has a PhD in Clinical and Community Psychology from Boston University, and Med in Counseling from Cleveland University. He is an executive coach, Professor of Practice, and the Associate Director of the Leadership Institute at the University of San Diego.

Isabel Guerrero

Isabel Guerrero

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Scaling Up, Livelihoods

Isabel Guerrero

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Scaling Up, Livelihoods

Isabel Guerrero is driven to change the world in which she lives. Throughout her career, she’s helped those with the least break out of the cycle of poverty while celebrating the intrinsic beauty and dignity in each person. With this goal in mind, Isabel and Zachary Green co-founded IMAGO Global Grassroots, an organization focused on giving people living in poverty the tools to build their own destiny. Isabel worked for 30 years at the World Bank, including five years as Vice-President for the South Asia region, managing a US$39 billion portfolio.
While presenting a different set of challenges, Isabel’s work with IMAGO offers tremendous potential to change the world through tackling some of the most intractable development problems we face today.

In addition to her work with IMAGO, Isabel is on the board of the Presencing Institute at MIT and a Council Member of the United Nations University. She is an economist from London School of Economics and a psychoanalyst trained at the Washington Psychoanalytic Society. Isabel teaches “Scaling Up for Development Impact” at Harvard and is a Senior Lecturer in leadership at MIT.

Nadine Bibawi

Nadine Bibawi

Summer Fellow, 2021

Nadine Bibawi

Nadine Bibawi

Summer Fellow, 2021

Nadine is a candidate for the Masters of Public Administration in Development Practice at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. She is passionate about bridging the gap between technology and sustainable development through social entrepreneurship among marginalized and vulnerable populations.

During her time at SIPA, Nadine led a team of graduate consultants in assisting a non-profit social innovation and venture philanthropy organization launch its first for-profit fund to support social entrepreneurs of color scale their impact in the future of the work sector.

Prior to commencing her graduate studies, Nadine spent six years working in the IT industry as a storage engineer before moving to a business development position in a development and innovation consulting firm in Cairo, Egypt. Nadine holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Informatics from the German University in Cairo, Egypt.

Kevin Vu

Kevin Vu

Summer Fellow, 2021

Kevin Vu

Kevin Vu

Summer Fellow, 2021

Kevin is currently a candidate at the School of International Public Affairs, pursuing a Masters of Public Administration in Development Practice at Columbia University. Prior to starting his master’s degree, Kevin served as a Peace Corps Community Economic Development Volunteer in Mbacké, Senegal. In this role, Kevin worked with the Ministry of Community Development to consult community members in MSME development and gender empowerment to build human capital and spark economic growth within the area.

Kevin initially started his career as a Certified Public Accountant and worked in the venture capital practices of KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers audit and tax teams, respectively. He was part of initial-public offering audit engagements and assisted in the tax preparation for Venture Capital partnerships through his experience at these accounting firms.

Julia Tauscher

Julia Tauscher

Summer Fellow, 2021

Julia Tauscher

Julia Tauscher

Summer Fellow, 2021

Julia is a candidate for the Master of Public Administration in Development Practice at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. Julia also holds a B.A. in Political Science and Government and an M.A. in Applied Economics.

Before commencing her graduate studies, Julia joined the Buenos Aires City Government’s Delivery Unit to support the Mayor’s top priorities. She also led a program of evidence-based initiatives to perform evaluations and to apply behavioral science interventions. Julia is interested in leveraging evidence-based policy design to raise the accountability and effectiveness of policymaking in developing countries.

Jessica Peck

Jessica Peck

Summer Fellow, 2021

Jessica Peck

Jessica Peck

Summer Fellow, 2021

Jessica Peck is a Masters of Public Administration in Development Practice candidate at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA.) At SIPA, she is focusing her studies on both global food systems and the potential for social enterprise to address development challenges.

Prior to SIPA, Jessica was a Senior Program Analyst at the Howard G. Buffett Foundation where she oversaw $100M+ in grants in Africa and Latin America. The grants were primarily related to the intersection of environmental concerns and livelihood building opportunities in agricultural development. Jessica received her BA in Spanish and French, with a minor in International Development, from the University of Notre Dame. While there, she studied abroad in Paris, France, and Toledo, Spain, and received funding for two independent research projects: an evaluation of a community-based organization in El Salvador and research on urban agriculture in Santiago, Chile.

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