OUR TEAM

• • Leila Janah is the founder and CEO of Samasource. She serves on the boards of CARE, OneLeap and TechSoup Global and as an advisor to mobile shopping app RevelTouch.

    Prior to Samasource, Janah was a a Visiting Scholar with the Stanford Program on Global Justice and Australian National University’s Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. She was a founding Director of Incentives for Global Health, an initiative to increase R&D spending on diseases of the poor, and a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners (now Booz & Co.). She has also worked at the World Bank and as a travel writer for Let’s Go in Mozambique, Brazil, and Borneo.

    She is the recipient of a 2011 World Technology Award and a 2012 TechFellow Award. She received a BA from Harvard.

    

    Leila Janah

    Founder and CEO

     

  • As Samasource’s Chief Operating Officer, Mary Ann Byrnes helps the organization alleviate poverty around the world by overseeing sales, field operations, service delivery and engineering.

    Mary Ann arrives at Samasource with many years of experience advising non-profits and leading high tech companies. She acted as CEO in Residence at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, where she mentored and advised founders of early-stage companies. As the founding CEO and board chair of Corsair Communications, Mary Anne guided the software provider from its inception through a successful IPO. She was also the first CEO of LogicTier, an innovative Internet cloud computing company, and President and CEO of Citizen Sports, a next generation fantasy sports company that Yahoo acquired. Mary Ann is currently on the Harvard Business School California Research Council, and was formerly on the Wellesley College development council, the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California board, and the board of Intraware Corp.

    Mary Ann holds a BA in economics from Wellesley College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. When taking a break from making game-changing decisions at tech companies and on nonprofit boards, Mary Ann runs, hikes, and cheers for the 49ers and the Giants.

    

    Mary Ann Byrnes

    COO

     

  • Victor brings more than two decades of sales management experience in communications, hardware, and software sales environments with proven success in building high performance sales organizations at start-ups and turnaround companies, which has resulted in four acquisitions. Prior to Samasource, Victor served as senior vice president of sales at data center infrastructure and energy management software platform company Power Assure. Previous to Power Assure, he served as vice president of sales at Evault, which delivered storage software, software as a service (SaaS), disaster recovery, and email compliance services. Seagate acquired Evault in January 2007. Victor’s track record for growing sales and increasing customer retention also encompasses his senior level positions at Axcient, MFN, NorthPoint, WinStar, and Allnet. He holds a B.S. in Finance from CSUC.

    

    Victor Neeley

    VP, Sales

     

  • Martin Anderson brings over ten years of extensive, hands-on experience crafting enterprise solutions with an eye toward the end user experience.

    Martin began his career in the telecommunications industry, first on text messaging platforms and then building mobile games and applications. He joined Alexander Interactive in 2006 and rose to the Director of Technology position where he oversaw the implementation and deployment of high-availability e- commerce, enterprise resource planning and sales management systems.

    Martin graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College-Annapolis, where he studied philosophy, mathematics, science, literature and languages.

    

    Martin Anderson

    VP of Engineering

     

  • Jill manages Samasource’s business operations and impact evaluation program.

    She started her career as an investor relations consultant for enterprise technology companies including Riverbed Technology and Aruba Networks. She was also responsible for new business acquisition at the Blueshirt Group, focused primarily on technology IPOs.

    Jill has had a variety of responsibilities Samasource as the organization has grown, including roles in operations, fundraising, impact evaluation, and business development. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Public Policy from Duke University.

    

    Jill Isenstadt

    VP Business Operations and Strategy

     

  • Jen is responsible for leading Samasource’s efforts and expansion in East Africa.

    Prior to Samasource, Jen was Vice President, Head of India Research Operations at Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), where she led their global research operations center in Gurgaon, India. Earlier at GLG, she managed GLG’s panel of real estate experts in the Americas, significantly expanding its size and coverage. Before GLG, she evaluated and managed technology solutions, projects and partnerships for the franchise headquarters of Keller Williams Realty International in Austin, Texas. Jen’s more than 17 years of experience also include various roles at organizations including: EDS (now HP), A.T. Kearney and Lante Corporation (now Razorfish).

    

    Jen Cantwell

    Managing Director, East Africa

     

  • After more than ten years in the private sector, Patricia joined Samasource to lead Delivery and Work Center Management, merging her business experience with her passion for social mission.

    Prior to Samasource, Patricia co-founded a VC-funded online start-up in China. She was also an experienced advertising operations director at an online advertising company, and a strategy consultant at Swander Pace and Co.

    Patricia’s travels around the world have taken her through South America, Southeast Asia, and parts of Tibet and Western China, where she understood that global poverty required innovative, scalable, and sustainable solutions.

    She enjoys painting, dancing, scuba diving, hiking and traveling in her spare time. Patricia holds a B.A. from Stanford in International Relations and Economics.

    

    Patricia Li

    Director of Delivery

     

  • Tess is responsible for leading SamaUSA, Samasource’s US-based program that helps low-income community college students find and succeed in online work.

    Prior to Samasource, Tess was Assistant Director of Employment and Education at First Place for Youth, where she led their education and employment programs in four bay area counties. Before First Place, she managed education programs in underserved public schools in New York City. Her expertise lies in creating impactful and innovative workforce development programs that focus on empowerment and tangible outcomes for participants. Tess is passionate about how education and work can transform individuals and communities.

    Tess holds her masters in social work from Columbia University, where she focused on Social Enterprise Administration.

    

    Tess Posner

    Director, SamaUSA

     

  • Robert Jenkins joins Samasource following five years managing financial planning, accounting, and billing operations at Health Care for the Homeless, Inc.— a Baltimore, MD-based nonprofit dedicated to alleviating the incidence and burdens of homelessness.

    Robert is passionate about working to ameliorate the human suffering that stems from structural inequalities in the global political economy. His expertise lies in nonprofit accounting & internal control, financial planning & analysis, and process improvement.

    Robert holds an M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia, and a B.S.E. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In his free time, he enjoys bass fishing, skiing, hockey, debating the existence of free will, and defending use of the Oxford comma.

    

    Robert Jenkins

    Director of Finance & Business Operations

     

  • Goldie joined Samasource in June 2012 through the Associate Program and quickly advanced to her role as an Impact Manager. In this role, she manages the design, implementation, and data analyses of our impact evaluation methodology and survey instruments. Additionally, she supports the analysis of worker performance and skills improvement to inform business operations.

    Goldie has experience in quantitative research methods. Most recently, she conducted field research on the barriers to growth for small firms in Tamil Nadu, India. Goldie also worked for General Mills where she drove pricing strategy and business development.

    Goldie grew up in Tokyo, Taipei, and Singapore. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a M.A. in International and Development Economics from the University of San Francisco.

    

    Goldie Chow

    Impact Manager

     

  • Rajesh brings more than 15 years of product management, startup and consulting experience to his role at Samasource as a Product Manager for the SamaHub. He’s passionate about developing products and services that benefit customers and society as a whole.

    He has taken leading roles in defining the roadmap and business strategy for both software products and service offerings. As the Director of Product Management at VerticalResponse, he ensured the execution of product initiatives against the product roadmap and grew out a team of rockstar Product Managers. Prior to his time at VerticalResponse, he was the Product Manager for several strategic releases, including VR Surveys and the API. He also co-founded a social venture based in Thailand called Go Without Borders (GWB). GWB used the profits from its ecologically and culturally sensitive travel tours to fund its community development projects in rural areas. The company was profitable and served several thousand travelers during the course of its existence.

    Raj holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from the Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. He also holds a B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University.

    

    Rajesh Jambotkar

    Product Manager

     

  • Jason brings over 12 years of experience in building and delivering technology solutions. Before joining Samasource, Jason worked for companies such as RiskMetrics Group (and MSCI), University of Michigan Health System and Dell. He has worked on projects ranging from the translation of mainframe docs into PDF and/or HTML to an organ transplant information system as well as in-house tools to multi-tenant web service applications. Professionally, his passion lies in using his skills to ease the burdens that life places on us daily and teaching others about programming.

    Jason earned a B.A. in Vocal Music Performance from Old Dominion University. Outside of work, Jason loves studying the Bible, rock climbing, tinkering, and homeschooling his four kids. He still enjoys singing Gospel, German lieder and Italian art songs as well as duets with his wife.

    

    Jason Rogers

    Senior Software Engineer

     

  • John has been working in web development for 12 years throughout the UK and Australia. Before taking his position at Samasource, he spent four years working in 15 countries across the developing world. The experience fostered his curiosity in international development and the means through which technology can help underprivileged communities.

    John earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of Queensland, Australia, specialising in Logic and Ethics.

    

    John Bayne

    Software Engineer

     

  • Alex manages design, user experience, and visual communication on the Samasource technology platform, the Samahub, as well as our other platforms.

    He has worked on projects for UNFPA, the State of Vermont, and non-profits at the local and international level. Alex brings a passion for the integration of design with social impact, with experience across interactive and traditional media.

    In his personal time he enjoys reading, printmaking, traveling, and dreaming. Alex graduated summa cum laude from Champlain College with a B.S. in Graphic Design & Digital Media.

    

    Alex Dahl

    Lead Designer

     

  • James joined Samasource through the Associate Program and quickly advanced to a full-time Design Specialist. He is responsible for creating all donor and client facing visual communications.

    Prior to joining Samasource, James studied at Texas Tech University where he received a B.F.A. in Communication Design. Through a close friend, he has been exposed to effective non-profit work for several years. He strongly believes that design can serve as a vehicle for change and awareness of social issues.

    In his spare time, James loves to read, play guitar, and annoy friends with snarky comments about typography.

    

    James Stephens

    Design Specialist

     

  • Celie brings over six years of sales and development experience to Samasource.

    Prior to Samasource, Celie worked for Boston Magazine and Where Magazine, developing sales and marketing partnerships with national and local entrepreneurial clients. Her primary responsibilities were advertising sales, marketing events and community outreach. While at Where Magazine she was elected to the Board of the Newbury Street League, a prestigious non-profit business association devoted to the development of the downtown Boston area.

    Previous to these media roles, Celie worked as a Senior Sales Consultant at Smithsonian Student Travel at EF Education First, an internationally recognized student tours company. Celie is a passionate traveler, inquisitive cook and a devoted film enthusiast.

    Celie graduated summa cum laude from Dickinson College with a BA in English and Creative Writing.

    

    Celie Jenkins

    National Sales Manager

     

  • Julia is responsible for leveraging Samasource’s technology and delivery capabilities in scoping prospective projects. With eight years of IT and Project Management experience, she joins Samasource to fuse her passions for social enterprise and technology.

    Prior to Samasource, Julia spent several years in IT consulting, with a specialization in SAP FI/CO, for industries ranging from Pharmaceutical to Government. Subsequently, she enhanced her project management expertise as the IT Project Manager for Planetshoes.com, based in Guangzhou, China. There, she managed a team of developers to build and maintain e-commerce solutions for several retail clients.

    Julia graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Electrical Engineering and is currently an MBA candidate at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. She is conversational in Chinese (Mandarin) and Spanish.

    

    Julia Elliott

    Sales Engineer

     

  • Karolina comes from a background in Telecommunications and Cloud Services sales at Cbeyond, where she excelled as a National Sales Leader.

    Prior to coming to Samasource, Karolina first spent time working abroad as an assistant English teacher in Japan through the JET program. Upon returning from Japan she taught English as a Second Language at Mission College in Santa Clara for several years before discovering that the same enthusiasm for meeting new people, understanding others’ perspectives, and presenting and explaining new information translated very well to a career in sales. She is excited to bring her excitement and drive to succeed to Samasource’s Social Business model.

    Karolina studied at UC Santa Cruz on a Regent’s Scholarship, and graduated with Highest Honors in Philosophy. She holds an MA from San Jose State in TESOL. In her spare time she enjoys Samba and Capoeira.

    

    Karolina Zajac

    National Sales Manager

     

  • Katherine joins the Samasource sales team as a molded professional from over a year of intensive B2B sales at Cbeyond Communications where she specialized in telecommunications and cloud services for SMB companies. She believes in solution-based selling and building lasting relationships with clients through attention to detail, asking questions and listening for every client’s true “need.”

    Katherine graduated from UC Santa Cruz where she majored in Business Management Economics with an emphasis of Accounting.

    

    Katherine Mendoza

    Inside Sales Consultant

     

  • Mike joined the Samasource Sales Team in September of 2011. Prior to Samasource, Mike worked in marketing for a Los Angeles based musician, managing direct and Internet marketing programs.

    Mike graduated from the Claremont Colleges where he studied Economics and Studio Art and played varsity baseball. In 2008, Mike joined the non-profit Kuru Family of Organizations to direct a market research project in Botswana, Africa in an effort improve the country’s struggling handicraft industry. Mike became hooked on using technology for social good after founding a student-run discount and fundraising platform.

    In his free time, Mike likes to play outdoors, paint, try great restaurants, and invent new things.

    

    Mike Goldberg

    Marketing Manager

     

  • Lorea joins Samasource with over a decade of experience working in Emergency Response and International Development. She has written and supported proposals resulting in approximately $90 million in public and private funding for domestic and international programming for international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and United States government contractors including CARE, International Medical Corps, and DAI. She also developed and managed monitoring and evaluation systems, including remote monitoring, for projects in conflict, post-conflict and development contexts. Lorea has lived and worked in Kenya, Somalia, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan, Syria, Uganda, Indonesia, and Haiti.

    Lorea has a master’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and a B.S. in Political Science and B.A. in French and Francophone Studies from Santa Clara University. She also finds herself comfortable among our poly-lingual team, as she is fluent in Spanish, French and English with budding linguistic skills in Arabic.

    

    Lorea Russell

    Grants Manager

     

  • As Content Writer, Joseph Jon Lanthier helps to craft the language of the ongoing Samasource story. Aside from managing the official Samasource blog, Jon works closely with our development and impact teams on messaging strategies in a variety of contexts, including grants, fundraising materials, and promotional collateral.

    Jon earned a degree in English Literature from UC Berkeley, and has nearly a decade of experience managing successful communications projects in retail, public service, and global development. Past clients, employers, and collaborators include VeriSign, MINI Cooper, the Automobile Association of America, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and buildOn.

    Jon additionally enjoys a side career as a film critic for journals such as Slant Magazine, MUBI, and Documentary Magazine. He devotes the very spare remainder of his time to western swing scholarship, experimental vegan baking, and novelty song composing.

    

    Joseph Jon Lanthier

    Content Writer

     

  • Eric is responsible for managing client projects on the Professional Services and Delivery Team.

    Prior to joining Samasource, Eric was an analyst in Internet and Media investment banking for Lehman Brothers and Perella Weinberg Partners. After his finance endeavors, Eric started a business in the specialty foods industry with an aim to produce high quality foods using local and natural ingredients.

    Eric holds a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from Georgetown University.

    

    Eric Turri

    Senior Project Manager

     

  • Sam is responsible for managing client projects on the Professional Services and Delivery team.

    Prior to joining Samasource, Sam worked as an executive compensation analyst for Towers Watson in San Francisco and Farient Advisors in New York. He focused on implementing strategic compensation programs for top executives at client organizations. He’s an avid hiker, traveler, and SF explorer.

    Sam holds a B.A. in Mathematics, with a concentration in Economics, from Columbia University.

    

    Sam Wechsler

    Project Manager

     

  • Meghan is responsible for managing client projects on the Professional Services and Delivery Team.

    Prior to joining Samasource, Meghan worked in online marketing and data analysis as a Media Web Producer for Quinstreet. She developed her passion for International Development and Economics as an undergraduate at Santa Clara University, and had the unique opportunity to work in non-profit management through several internships in South Africa, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

    Meghan holds a B.S. in Economics and a B.S.C. in Marketing from Santa Clara University.

    

    Meghan O’Connell

    Project Manager

     

  • Ashley joined Samasource in August 2012 through the Associate Program and is now a full-time Project Analyst on the Delivery Team.

    Prior to Samasource, Ashley studied Economics and Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where she became passionate about inspiring and driving social change. Throughout her coursework and research with the Earth Institute, Ashley learned how holistic approaches are needed to affect lasting social and economic progress. Especially after her volunteer experiences in Guatemala and China and recent trip to Bangladesh, where she studied environmental and urbanization issues, Ashley firmly believes that working with local communities and investing in people are pivotal in alleviating poverty.

    In her spare time, Ashley loves to dance, travel, enjoy the sun and outdoors, and tackle her long to-do list of art projects.

    

    Ashley Chin

    Project Analyst

     

  • Kim has over eight years of experience in operations, customer service, sales and marketing.

    He joins Samasource from Horizon Contact Centres, where he managed several client relationships, including Samasource. At Horizon, Kim quickly proved to be an integral partner with Samasource. Kim has also worked for Quik Data Business Process Outsourcing and KenCall EPZ, the first call center in East Africa. He also consulted for Citidell International and set up their call center in Nairobi.

    Kim holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Nairobi and a certificate in team management. Over the last few years, Kim has worked closely with huge multinational organizations such as Orange Telecom, Earthlink, Toyota and Cordaid.

    

    Kim Matu

    Field Manager, East Africa

     

  • Monicah is responsible for the SamaLab and is responsible for managing and training capable youth from marginalized backgrounds to work as SamaLab agents. Monicah joined us from Kenya Women Finance Trust Microfinance. In Monicah’s eight years with KFTM, she served as a Banker in Nairobi and as Unit Manager running several branches across Kenya (Nakuru, Nyahururu, and Taita Taveta) where she was responsible for training staff, approving loans, supporting clients, managing worker performance, and supervising all unit operations. Monicah is pursuing a Master of Business Administration at Kenyatta University. She holds a BBA from Kenya Methodist University, and two Diplomas, one in Technical Education and another in Business Administration.

    

    Monicah W. Njuguna

    SamaLab Manager

     

  • Carolyne joins Samasource as a Field Project Manager. She is responsible for managing projects in the field to ensure timely and quality project delivery. She comes with over seven years of rich experience in the non-profit, corporate and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors.

    Most recently, Carolyne was a trainer at the African Centre for Women, Information and Communications Technology (ACWICT) in a youth employability program, where she trained over 600 women from marginalized backgrounds. Prior to ACWICT, Carolyne worked in the corporate sector including at Barclays Bank. Carolyne started her career at Kencall, one of Kenya’s largest BPOs as a sales representative, and later, a team supervisor.

    

    Carolyne Komen

    Field Project Manager

     

  • Martin joins Samasource as a Field Project Manager and he works to ensure both quality and timely implementation of projects.

    Prior to joining Samasource he started and led the Analytics team at Horizon Contact Centers; the function of this unit was Performance & Insights in operations, business development and value additions. Before that he worked at ILRI, a CGIAR center, where he was responsible for managing research projects and programs across East, West & Southern Africa and South East Asia.

    He was also part of the setup team of Kencall (1st Contact center in Kenya) and there he worked in MIS and later started the business analysts unit.

    Martin holds a BSc in Biochemistry, International Project Management diploma and is concluding an MBA in International Business management.

    

    Martin Njoroge

    Field Project Manager

     

  • Harriet joins Samasource as a Field Project Manager. She is responsible for managing Delivery centre relationships in the field and managing projects to ensure timely and quality project delivery.

    Harriet joins us from  Alliance Technologies Solutions, where she served in both a project management and business consulting capacity, and was responsible for scoping , delivery and implementation of  solutions on ERP projects for Kenyan government defense forces, the revenue authority and  the ministry of health.  Prior to Alliance Technologies,Harriet worked in a business consultancy role MicroLan Kenya ltd implementing Micro Business ERP Projects.

    Harriet holds a Bachelor of science Degree in information technology  from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology  and a  Diploma in Project management from Kenya Institute of management.

    

    Harriet Mutiso

    Field Project Manager

     

  • Surabhi comes with 10 years of experience in the BPO sector and was previously a Training Manager at GE Money Services. Apart from building strategies on Training, Surabhi also has 6 years of volunteer experience working with students in rural India in the field of education. She is Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certified and is responsible for driving process improvements in the quality team.

    

    Surabhi Kumar

    QA & Training Manager

     

  • Shweta comes with a total experience of seven years in varied roles, having worked with organizations like IBM, First Advantage and NetApp. She holds a Master’s degree in Commerce and was last employed with NetApp where she was in charge of Infrastructure and Security Operations for their Bangalore site along with managing the internal and SOX audits for APAC.

    

    Shweta Khanna

    Training & Feedback Analyst

     

  • Krishna Joins Samasource as a Training & Quality Assurance Analyst. Krishna comes with 4+ years of experience into Data Analytics, Quality Management and Process Improvement with companies like C3i Inc. and GE.

    Krishna started his career in the customer service industry. While in the industry he developed interest in Data Mining, Quality Management and Process Improvement which motivated him to get certified in Lean Six Sigma & ISO. Krishna is currently Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certified & also a certified ISO Lead Auditor. Krishna’s expertise lies in implementing measurement-based strategy that focuses on improving the overall efficiency.

    He enjoys photography & likes adventurous travels during his free time. He is also an Assistant Organizer for one the travel groups based in India.

    

    Krishna Murthy

    Training & Quality Assurance Analyst

     

  • Arnaud is responsible for managing the Internet Now project, a collaborative effort to create digital employment in Northern Uganda.

    Prior to Samasource, Arnaud was involved with the non-governmental organization, AIESEC, in France and in Puerto Rico, where he was responsible for local committee development.

    Arnaud has additional experience with technology start-ups in France, China and Panama for international consulting companies including KPMG and CSC in various roles including PMO, project coordinator and consultant.

    He holds a M.Sc IT from Telecom et Management SudParis.

    

    Arnaud Dalla-Costa

    Internet Now! Project Manager

     

  
  
  OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  • Leila Janah is the founder and CEO of Samasource. She serves on the boards of CARE, OneLeap and TechSoup Global and as an advisor to mobile shopping app RevelTouch.

    Prior to Samasource, Janah was a a Visiting Scholar with the Stanford Program on Global Justice and Australian National University’s Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. She was a founding Director of Incentives for Global Health, an initiative to increase R&D spending on diseases of the poor, and a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners (now Booz & Co.). She has also worked at the World Bank and as a travel writer for Let’s Go in Mozambique, Brazil, and Borneo.

    She is the recipient of a 2011 World Technology Award and a 2012 TechFellow Award. She received a BA from Harvard.

    

    Leila Janah

    Founder and CEO

     

  • Bill Unger joined Mayfield in 1984. Bill was an early investor in such industry leaders as Sandisk, Silicon Architects, Calico Commerce, nChip, Newport Communications, Simplex Solutions, Verplex Design Systems, and Excess Bandwidth Corporation. He continues to advise privately held companies.

    Bill has always dedicated time to philanthropic activities. Currently he serves as a board member of Samasource, CARE USA, The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, and is on the advisory boards of the Dean of Engineering of The University of California at Berkeley, the Dean of Engineering of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Environmental Entrepreneurs, the Global Philanthropy Forum, and the Entrepreneurs Foundation.

    

    Bill Unger

    Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund

     

  • Bill is a partner at First Round Capital.

    As a founder, operator, advisor and angel investor, Bill has helped dozens of companies launch, manage through hyper growth and win. Before joining First Round, Bill led LiveOps to $100 million in sales and hundreds of employees as the industry’s leading cloud contact center. He also founded Jump Networks, a leading web calendar and personal organizer acquired by Microsoft.

    As an angel investor and Founder Partner and Founder Collective, Bill led investments in category killing companies including Uber, IronPort (acquired by Cisco), Adroll, PowerSet (acquired by Microsoft), Lending Club, HomeRun (acquired by Rearden Commerce), Tapulous (acquired by Disney), Slide (acquired by Google), and Chegg.

    Bill currently serves on the boards of Readyforce, LiveOps, Looker and Samasource, and is Vice Chairman of Entrepreneurship@Cornell.

    Bill has a Bachelor of Arts in science and technology studies from Cornell University.

    

    Bill Trenchard

    Partner, First Round Capital

     

  • Sebastien founded one of the largest and fastest growing social game companies which disrupted the video game industry by changing how millions of people play together. Playfish was acquired by video game giant Electronic Arts in November of 2009.

    Prior to starting Playfish Sebastien helped launch another startup, Macrospace, an early pioneer in mobile games (now Glu Mobile, which IPOed in 2007) and worked at other companies including Nokia and Booz Allen Hamilton. Sebastien is an active angel investor and is involved in several innovative non-profit projects which harness technology and visionary teams to change the world for good.

    Sebastien holds a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Imperial College and was recognised in 2010 by a TechFellow Award.

    

    Sebastien de Halleux

    Co-Founder of Playfish

     

  • Olana Khan serves as the Chief Operating Officer at ProFounder.

    Prior to this, Olana was the COO at Kiva. A 6-year Google veteran, she oversaw the International Sales Professional Services team and developed deep expertise in scaling teams and operations in rapidly changing environments. Prior to Google, Ms. Khan worked at The Economist, Netscape and AOL. She co-founded OZ Ventures. She has extensive volunteer experience in Thailand, focused on developing educational forums around women’s health and AIDS prevention.

    Ms. Khan graduated from the University of Michigan Honors Program with a B.A. degrees in Asian Economics and Psychology.

    

    Olana Khan

    COO, ProFounder, Kiva

     

  • Lloyd Taylor is an independent adviser, consultant, and investor who specializes in helping companies scale successfully.

    His professional work has included scaling LinkedIn’s infrastructure to support its rapid growth; developing, implementing and operating an infinitely scalable global physical infrastructure for Google’s server farms; building out a worldwide performance measurement infrastructure for Keynote Systems; and developing one of the first managed hosting architectures while at Digex.

    His pro bono work includes funding and advising a select group of non-profits working on zero-dependency methods for ending poverty throughout the world.

    

    Lloyd Taylor

    Technical Operations Expert, Google, LinkedIn

     

  • George Pavlov is a General Partner at Tallwood VC and brings broad experience in venture capital, private equity, operations and technology to Samasource.

    Prior to joining Tallwood, George was CEO of eTime Capital, a troubled enterprise software and services company that he restructured to achieve optimal liquidation. Earlier, he was General Partner and Chief Financial Officer of Mayfield, a venture capital fund. Before that, he was the Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director of Blum Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm and registered investment advisor. George also held several financial and sales management positions at NeXT Computer, where he prepared industry and company strategic overviews, developed an expanded distribution strategy and managed customer satisfaction programs.

    George serves on the board of directors of Alphion Corp., Astute Networks, Audience Inc., Calypto Design Systems, Ikanos and Quintic Corporation.

    George holds a B.S. in Accounting from Boston College.

    

    George Pavlov

    General Partner, Tallwood VC