Bangalore

Karthik Kittu (LA '11) holds a Bachelor’s in Science & Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Bangalore University. He has Served Rotaract, the Youth wing of Rotary in various capacities, from being a member in 2001 amongst 8 people to being President of one Rotaract Club managing 360+ people to heading the District as District Rotaract Representative. Karthik has a wealth of experiences working with various Departments in the Government, NGO’s, Schools, Colleges & Media Houses.

Beijing

Zhang Dongli (BOS '09) is passionate about driving social and environmental changes through market innovations, technology, youth empowerment and cross-cultural collaboration. She is currently building a start-up in Beijing that leverages crowdsourcing and technology to provide fair and flexible job opportunities for the underprivileged population. Prior to this, she was an energy consultant, designing frameworks and tools for policymakers and enterprises to drive large scale action in energy efficiency and sustainability. Dongli has also lived in India and South Africa and serves as a youth advisor for two non-profits and a foundation in the Greater China region. .

Boston

Rhiannon Kopynec (BOS '11)is a Special Projects Manager at Root Cause, a nonprofit research and consulting firm that partners with nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and business to advance solutions to today’s toughest social issues. Before coming to Root Cause, Rhiannon worked as a Senior Consumer Research Analyst at Zeo Inc., a local start-up company in the health and wellness sector, helping to develop a new product category in the sleep industry. Previously, she worked for President Obama's campaign in North Carolina developing local relationships across sectors and implementing a challenging field plan. Outside of work, she enjoys mountain biking and winter mountaineering (all you outdoor enthusiasts in Boston, drop a line!), a cappella, and singing jazz.

Chicago

John Hoeppner (LON '07) is a 'Product Specialist' at a mainstream asset management firm where he is charged with product management for passive equities and driven by the opportunity to lead the firm's Socially Responsible Investing product development. Prior to his current role, John worked at an investment consulting firm which helps endowments and foundations with their investing strategy. John received a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Delhi

Saurav Patyal (BOS '10) graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Economics from BITS Pilani in the summer of 2011. Currently, he is pursuing a full time fully sponsored Liberal Arts Fellowship - The Young India Fellowship - under UPenn in New Delhi for a year. The non-profit venture he founded in 2009 with his college buddies, The Parivartan Foundation, works out of Southern India in the areas of community development, digital divide alleviation, e-education, support for marginalised farmers and telemedicine. Currently, he serves the organization in an advisory role. He has worked for a year with HSBC in its Risk Management department at Bangalore and is currently acting as an external consultant to a solar energy developer, SunBorne Energy at Gurgaon. He is adventure sports enthusiast and loves fantasy fiction literature.

London

Vinay Nagaraju (LON '07) graduated from University of Oxford in 2009 with an MBA, specializing in Strategy and Social Entrepreneurship. He works as a Business Analyst with Riders for Health, an award winning Social Enterprise. In 2001, he co-founded an NGO called 'Spandana' aimed at empowering underprivileged children in their education. He is also an invitee to the IYPF (International Young Professional Summit) to discuss the implementation of UN Millennium Development Goals and an an international award winning Philatelist and Numismatist.

Los Angeles

Sally Hall (NY '11)Sally Hall has dedicated her post-undergraduate professional life to the non-profit world. As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, Sally began her career building houses in Nashville as an Americorps volunteer at Habitat for Humanity. Today, she splits her time between two coasts as a member of the dynamic team at AIDS Walk Los Angeles and New York, where she heads communication efforts. Sally is excited to learn more from her innovative fellows at StartingBloc and begin working toward their common goal of doing well by doing good. She likes to play tennis, go hiking, play the piano, and learn new languages. She is also the undefeated, undisputed push-game world champion.

Mumbai

Nairobi

New York

Nikki Bruce (NY ’11) works at Teach For America in strategy and operations for internal talent acquisition. She is just as passionate about innovating efficient systems and processes to maximize results and get the right talent in the right role as she is about meeting new people and learning what really makes them move. She previously managed a Planned Parenthood clinic in Somerville, MA and has worked in the social sector since graduating from Tufts University with a BA in Economics in 2008. She occasionally consults for her parents’ small businesses and dreams of one day earning an MBA and owning a pug.

San Francisco

Washington, DC

Sophie Waskow (BOS '07) is currently the stakeholder engagement coordinator in the Office of Sustainability at The George Washington University. Sophie previously worked at SustainAbility, a corporate social responsibility consulting firm. She is committed to promoting the benefits of StartingBloc to the DC region and works with an amazing group of fellows in DC to bring that vision to reality. Sophie graduated from Brown University with an A.B. in English Literature and is pursuing an MPA with a focus in Urban Sustainability at GW.

Laura Tomasko (LON '08) serves as Manager of Public-Philanthropic Partnerships at the Council on Foundations, where she works with foundations and federal agencies interested in leveraging intellectual and financial capital to drive positive social change. For two years, she led a team to design a performance measurement system for StartingBloc focused on programmatic impact and organizational results. Additionally, Laura has mentored and volunteered at several institutes, led a team of ambassadors to recruit StartingBloc candidates, and served as a member of the New York Regional Chapter leadership team in its first year. Laura received a BA in history from Occidental College and holds a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where she served as the Vernon Snow Fellow in Nonprofit Management.