Our Team
Anu Sridharan - Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer: Anu holds of Masters Degree from the University of California Berkeley where her research focused on the optimization of pipe networked systems in emerging economies. She also worked on business models for the dissemination of water purification technologies for arsenic removal in emerging economies. Anu served as the Education and Health director for a water/sanitation project in the slums of Mumbai, India called "Haath Mein Sehat" where she piloted a successful volunteer recruitment and community training model.
Ari Olmos - Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer: Ari holds a Master's from the Goldman School of Public Policy at University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor's in economics from Stanford University. Ari worked on the design of a Market Information System for smallholder farmers in Senegal and worked on order aggregation technologies for micro-enterprises in Mexico. Previously, Ari directed a microfinance and economic development program at Supporting Kids in Peru (SKIP), an NGO in Trujillo, Peru.
Ashish Jhina - Co-Founder: Ashish holds an MBA from Stanford. He has a Bachelor's and a Master's in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. Ashish worked as a management consultant for The Boston Consulting Group for 4 years in India and in the US. He has developed market entry strategies for a number of companies entering the Indian market and also has experience designing systems for the provision of public services through public-private partnerships in India.
Thejovardhana Kote - Co-Founder Thejo holds a Master's from the School of Information at University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering from Visveswaraiah Technological University. Prior to his education at Berkeley, Thejo worked on one of the largest SMS based information delivery systems in the world which had around 14 million users.
Emily Kumpel - Co-Founder: Emily is a PhD candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, with research focusing on water quality in intermittent water supplies. She has worked on improving water and sanitation in India, Tanzania, and Madagascar, and contributed to research on water supply distribution systems and community water supplies for Health Canada and the World Health Organization.
Tapan Parikh is an Assistant Professor at the School of Information at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on the use of computing to support sustainable economic development across the world, and he has worked in India, Africa, Latin America and the US to increase access to and empowerment through technology. Working collaboratively with communities, he designs, evaluates, and deploys appropriate information systems that support sustainable economic development. MIT's Technology Review in 2007 named Parikh "Humanitarian of the Year" and a top innovator under the age of 35.
David Lehr has over fifteen years of experience in international business and development focused primarily on information technologies. His work focuses on leveraging market-forces to achieve scale and sustainability and he has consulted to firms and organizations including Gates Foundation, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, Ideo.org, Vital Wave Consulting, Acumen Fund, BP, and Reuters (co-founder Reuters Market Light). Previously David was the Senior Advisor to Mercy Corps’ Social Innovation team, and held senior management roles at Adobe Systems where he ran their business development and strategic partnering in the areas of digital content delivery and led their entry into China.
George Scharffenberger has more than 35 years' experience in the design, management and evaluation of international economic and social development activities including long-term assignments in Senegal, The Gambia, Morocco and Madagascar. George was the founding executive director of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley after having held executive positions in the international NGOs World Links, VITA and Pact. He is currently Special Assistant for International Development Policy and Practice, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley.
Catherine Berman – currently serves as Astia’s Senior Vice President. Astia is global social venture with a distinct focus and mission – to propel women's full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses. As a passionate entrepreneur, Catherine founded a number of successful ventures including Evins Technology, Deloitte Center for Leadership & Community, ITC and most recently, Global Brigades – the world’s largest student-focused development organization.