Global Advisory Committee

Known as champion of girls' education, Aïcha Bah is a founding member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). She is chair of the Network for Education for All in Africa (REPTA).

Alesha is a program officer at ProLiteracy, a non-profit educational organization that works to enable adults and youth to acquire the literacy skills they need to solve the problems they encounter in daily life.

Alexandre has been working as a climate activist and a serial entrepreneur in the tech and media industry for the past 30 years.

Bhanu provides strategic direction to Worldreader’s global portfolio of digital reading products and the buildup of India Organization.

Bill is passionate about building a fully literate world, and has devoted many years of his life to the cause through his work with Rotary Youth for a Better World.

Chetnaa, a renowned Applied Theatre practitioner, is a Board member of International Playback Theatre Network (IPTN) and Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed (PTO).

Cindy is the Founder and President of Kupanda Sisters, Inc. as well as an Executive Administrator for JP Morgan Chase & Co. An advocate of literacy for all.

David is Partnership Manager at DEIP, which is the first Web 3.0 domain-specific protocol for tokenization and governance of high-value intangible assets.

David was the director of the Adult Literacy Resource Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston from 1986 to 2003. He is the co-author of two online guides on blended learning for adult basic skills education.

Ernesto has served as Minister of Education of Chile, Director of Planning of the Ministry of Education, an expert in Educational Planning for the Regional Employment Program (1974-1976), and a visiting professor at Harvard University (1973-1974).

Fred began his career as a teacher and school principal. In 2000, he founded Teachers Without Borders (TWB) to connect teacher leaders to information and each other to close the education divide. “Brains are evenly distributed throughout the world,” he is fond of saying, “but education is not”.

Gail formed TheCreators2030 UN SDGs Arts & Youth Initiative (TheCreators2030.Org) to support Creative Professionals, Youth, Sports, NGOs, Private Sector and all citizens.

Girish joined STiR as its Chief Executive in January 2021 after five years as Chief Executive at ActionAid UK. He brings more than 35 years’ experience as a leader in the international development sector, having previously held roles as International Programmes Director and Deputy CEO at WaterAid UK.

Inger is both founder and galvanizing force behind ground-breaking deep ecology projects that bring together specialists in business, the arts, science, and education from around the globe.

Born in Chicago, Joanne has always been an adventurer. She has lived and worked in France, Pakistan, Egypt, and Qatar. Joanne is fluent in French and can get by in Arabic.

Jon has been recognized as a 20 to Watch Educator by the NSBA, and was a 2020 Edtech Digest Awards Trendsetter Winner. Jon is also the Co-Author of the Eduprotocol Field Guide Books 1 and 2 and assisted with the new Eduprotocols Math Edition.

Kyle founded First Book to provide quality books to underserved children. She developed two groundbreaking models of social entrepreneurship: the First Book Marketplace, an award-winning, self-sustaining program.

Mary is a literacy specialist who worked with children as a public school educator for over three decades in the United States. She is a dyslexia advocate and literacy consultant.

Michael has been an instructor teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), ABE, and ASE for over 20 years and was a high school teacher for 10 years before that.

Anand is a media and communications professional having worked for over 20 years in large media houses, academics and corporate sector. In 2010, he founded GreyMatters Communications & Consulting.

Nicolas has published widely in the fields of public economics, including the measurement of inequalities, poverty, and social mobility, the analysis of processes of human group formation, tax competition, contribution to public good and decision under uncertainty.

Nixon comes to Children’s LoveCastles Trust India after a distinguished career in the banking and non-profit sectors. Most recently, Mr. Nixon served as President & Chief Operating Officer of SBI Foundation-the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) unit of State Bank of India & Deputy General Manager of SBI.

Peter works closely with our teams in Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal to deliver a high-quality, inclusive education to all of the children UWS supports. He is also responsible for introducing programmes into new countries.

Peter is currently the Secretary-General of AASU, where he previously served as the Head of Research and Communications. He is one of the youngest persons to ever serve on the Board of the Ghana AIDS Commission.

Pradeep has been working in the Indian development sector for over 18 years, managing education, protection and humanitarian programs with grassroots, national and international NGOs both in rural and urban settings.

Rana, a Ph.D. molecular cell biology from U of Iowa, is currently Cmalakova Fellow at the Jepson school of Leadership at the University of Richmond. She is founder of We Love Reading.

Ravi has worked for 24 years in the corporate sector, most of which was at HSBC where he was the Regional Marketing Head for Middle East and Africa. He quit his corporate career and switched to the social sector in 2011, joining Azim Premji Foundation.

Rebecca is currently a teacher and School Director. She is the African coordinator for the World Climate School, and is heavily involved in climate change. She is also the founding director of Vadiwa Trust Organization that assists the elderly.

Richard is a recently retired public school Principal and Central Office Administrator. Serving learners, teachers, educators, and parents for more than 34 years, Richard finished his career by leading the first early college high school in NJ. Currently serving as the Director of Partnership with VOYCE.

Robert is an international educator and former principal with more than thirty years’ experience in various educational systems and cultural settings. He is a proponent of learner-development-centred approaches to education.

Samuel leads the Education and Students Rights Working Group at AASU. He is AASU’s primary contact to the UNESCO COVID-19 Global Education Coalition as well as the focal person for the Union at the Education Cannot Wait’s Youth Subgroup.

Driven with the strong belief that everyone deserves equal opportunities regardless of their background, Shrutika left her corporate job in search for something more meaningful. Her journey began in 2009 as a teacher in a low-income school where she worked closely with the community for two years.

Sigamoney was also a National Commissioner on the Committee for Education Support Services appointed by the then President, Nelson Mandela to investigate the state of Special Education during South Africa’s transition to a democracy.

Sig has more then 20 years experience working with start-up initiatives and early stage companies in China. He now focuses mainly on companies in the EdTech sector. Sig is the founder of the Children reading platform Pickatale, aiming to disrupt the way kids learn to read and provide high quality reading material to children around the globe.

Stephen is the CEO and president of the Peters Group, an education consulting company that is dedicated to creating and sustaining success in schools and districts by supporting educators. Key areas include: leadership, social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Swati, President of Podar Education Network, is a global educator with over 32 years of experience and holds many important positions in the field of early childhood education. She is the President of the Early Childhood Association of India.

Sylvia is an educator, co-founder and president at Vaga Lume, which promotes education and culture in rural communities in the Brazilian Amazon region, where it has established 82 community libraries in 20 municipalities.

Vaibhav is passionate about leading strategic projects for one of the biggest and most innovative development organizations in the world, looking to hear from people breaking through from the norm, and innovating models delivering impact.

Laureate of the first edition of the Yidan Prize for Education Development (2017) and 2013 WISE Prize for Education Laureate, Vicky is founder and director of Escuela Nueva Foundation.

Yogesh has more than sixteen years in development sector, with wide experience of designing & implementing multi-sectoral projects. Core areas of experience include Education, Health, Agriculture & rural livelihood and green energy (Solar).

Yogesh is an Indian Administrative Services officer. He is presently the Additional Commissioner of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Uttar Pradesh, India. Previously, he was posted as the District Magistrate of Banda and Amethi districts.