Meet the next class of Acumen Fund Fellows!
Acumen Fund Fellows - Class of 2009
Premal Desai
Premal is a Senior Program Manager
at Microsoft Corp, India, responsible
for strategy, planning and delivery of software to enterprises. He
has volunteered for LV Prasad Eye Institute and is a former owner of a Gymboree
Play & Music franchise in California.
Premal earned his MS in Computer Science from University of Texas.
Sophie Forbes
Sophie is a
consultant to economic development and microfinance projects in Africa. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer and has
worked in ten different countries in
senior management and technical advisor roles. Sophie earned her MS from
Carnegie Mellon in Public Policy and Management.
Ramakrishnan Hariharan
Ramakrishnan
is a consultant in the development and banking sectors with a background in
consumer banking and industrial goods. He has served as Head of Operations for
Pratham, an NGO working in primary education in India. Ramakrishnan earned a Masters in Management
Studies and a BS in Chemistry from Mumbai
University.
Joanna Harries
Joanna is a
Brand Manager at Unilever in Toronto,
where she also leads community focused projects. She has previous experience in natural
resources at Conoco Oil and Gas for their UK Division and in hi-tech
marketing with Microsoft. Joanna earned
her MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University
with a focus in Sustainable Strategy.
Mubarik Imam
Mubarik is
an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company and the President of the
Association for the Development of Pakistan. Mubarik founded the Mobile
Science and Computer Labs Project, which provides rural schools in Pakistan
with science and computer facilities. She graduated from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology with a BS in Electrical Engineering.
Karthik Janakiraman
Karthik is a Senior Engineering Manager at Applied Materials
in Santa Clara, California, responsible for new product
development. He has been awarded five patents in the area of semiconductor
design. Karthik holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from
the University of
Michigan.
Heidi Krauel
Heidi is the Director of Employee OnRamp at Pacific
Community Ventures in San Francisco,
California. Previously, she was a founding member of
AOL Time Warner Ventures and worked in Investment Banking at Deutsche
Morgan Grenfell and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Heidi earned a BA from Princeton and an MBA from Stanford University.
Joel Montgomery
Joel was recently a consultant with the Business Development
Center in Amman,
Jordan and Endeavor Global
in Istanbul, Turkey. He has experience in 18 countries, in the
areas of Business Development, Strategy, and Operations. Joel earned his MBA from Thunderbird School
of Global Management with an emphasis in International Development.
Nicole Orillac
Nicole is
pursuing her MBA and Msc in Development Management from HEC, Paris
and LSE, London. Previously, she was the Manufacturing Plant
Manager and Continuous Improvement Team Leader for Frito Lay in Panama and a volunteer for Plan International in
the UK. Nicole earned a BS in Chemical Engineering
from Purdue University.
Suraj Sudhakar
Suraj is
currently working on a variety of consulting projects in market research and
healthcare. He has served as a Team
Leader for Rural Innovations Network and as a programmer analyst at Cognizant
Technology Solutions. Suraj earned a B.
Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from Cochin University
of Science & Technology.
Meet more of the Fellows!