Neela Saldanha
Neela is the Executive Director of Y-RISE, a Yale initiative which focuses on developing the science around scaling policy interventions to improve the lives of vulnerable people. A behavioural scientist by training, she also advises a range of initiatives on behavioural change, including recently working on a huge study to increase mask use during the pandemic. She was the founding Director of the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change at Ashoka University and sits on the board of several nonprofits.
Advisors
Monica Jain
Dr. Monica Jain is a development economist with over 20 years' experience in evidence-informed policy. As Lead Evaluation Specialist at 3ie, she manages a global portfolio of policy-relevant evaluations focused on immunisation and other sectors. Monica is also a member of the WHO working group tasked with developing guidance and tools to measure the drivers of vaccination uptake. She also conducts capacity development workshops on impact evaluation for policymakers in low-and middle-income countries.
Patrick Stadler
Patrick is a co-founder and chair of the board of GiveWell-recommended nonprofit, New Incentives. He helped New Incentives scale from 0 to over 100,000 programme users for their vaccination programme in Nigeria. As a consultant at Stadler Trails, he supports a range of impact-focused organisations. Patrick was previously a political advisor for Switzerland’s economic development agency and worked on strategic communications for peacebuilding and mediation at the UN.
Ujwal Thakar
Ujwal has led a distinguished career across the nonprofit and private sectors. He has served as CEO of both India's largest nonprofit, Pratham (driving its growth phase to ensure that "every child is in school and learning well"), as well as India's largest donation platform, GiveIndia. He is also on the board of several nonprofits, including Educate Girls. Before joining the social sector, Ujwal held various senior management positions in the banking sector. He now brings his expertise to support nonprofits in scaling and strategy.
Joey Savoie
Joey co-founded Charity Science Health in 2017 and led the development of our original SMS reminders programme, after conducting a systematic research process through which he identified SMS reminders for routine immunisations as one of the most cost-effective focuses for a new nonprofit.
Joey has since co-founded Charity Entrepreneurship, which provides entrepreneurs with support and training to launch impact-focused nonprofits.
Katriel Friedman
Katriel is the former CEO of Charity Science Health, which merged with Suvita in 2020. He led CSH's testing of enrollment strategies for SMS immunisation reminders, shaping the approach we use today. Katriel has also worked with the Center for Global Development, the World Bank and Innovations for Poverty Action on impact evaluations across the health, education and agriculture sectors. He holds a Masters in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard University.
Erik Hausen
Erik is a Research Manager at the Development Innovation Lab led by Nobel laureate Michael Kremer at the University of Chicago. The lab brings together actors across government, private and nonprofit sectors to refine and scale impactful interventions. Erik is an economist by training and was previously a Senior Research Advisor to Charity Entrepreneurship. Before this, he was the COO of Charity Science Health (which merged with Suvita in 2020) and led initiatives which shape our strategy today. He has also been a Research Manager at J-PAL.
Priya Ajmera
Priya is a former Director at The/Nudge Foundation, which incubates startup nonprofits (including Suvita) working to sustainably and scalably alleviate poverty. She has supported a range of high-potential startup nonprofits in India with strategic decision-making on the journey towards scale and impact.
Priya has a background in Strategy and Product Management with various major tech firms (including Yahoo and eBay). She has also provided strategy consulting to a range of tech startups. Priya has an MBA from IIM, Bangalore.