Samasource

Leila first developed the idea behind Samasource while working as a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners (now Booz & Co.), where her clients included global leaders in the outsourcing and telecom sectors and a number of prominent non-profits.

Along with Professors Thomas Pogge and Aidan Hollis, she founded Incentives for Global Health and helped produce a plan for incentivizing the development of new drugs for neglected diseases. As an undergraduate, Leila authored background papers for the World Bank’s Development Research Group and Ashoka on equity and social rights.

Leila is a recipient of the Rainer Arnhold and TEDIndia Fellowships, and serves on the San Francisco board of the Social Enterprise Institute. She is a former Visiting Scholar at the Stanford Program on Global Justice and the Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at Australian National University.

When she’s not running Samasource, Leila blogs on Social Edge and tries to keep up with her Twitter account. She holds a B.A. from Harvard.

Elizabeth brings over 20 years of global operations experience from Zuora, eBay, Providian Financial (now Chase) and American Express.

As an Advisory Board Member and the Vice President of Customer Operations at Zuora, she helped lead the organization from initial startup to the market leader in online subscription management. While at eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, Elizabeth was responsible for overseeing worldwide billing, payments and collections operations. During her tenure, she was the driving force behind the implementation of the most advanced billing, payment processing & collections systems in the ecommerce industry. Elizabeth also held several executive positions at both Providian Financial and American Express proving her leadership in Customer Management & Operations.

Elizabeth holds a BA from Yale University and a MBA from Cornell University. While at Yale she received the Branford College Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community. She also received the Henny Wittink Marketing Prize for top marketing student while at Cornell.

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.

Jill joins Samasource after four years of investor relations consulting for tech IPO clients including Riverbed Technology and Aruba Networks.

She is a Peer Support Volunteer for the Shanti Project, and is enthusiastic about combining her work and volunteer experience to analyze new business opportunities for a social enterprise.

Jill holds a B.A. in Economics from Duke University, and in her free time enjoys exploring the great outdoors.

As Director of Development at Samasource, Rosalyn Mahashin is responsible for building relationships and partnerships that help Samasource connect more people living in poverty to dignified jobs.

Rosalyn previously conducted research on information technology and international development trends for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries initiative. A seven-year Google veteran, Rosalyn served as a product liaison for AdWords, coordinated B2B and B2C marketing campaigns, and managed global employee engagement and grant-making initiatives for Google Grants, Google’s largest in-kind product donation program. She previously consulted for the Martinez Foundation, GreatNonprofits, Literacy Bridge, and Vittana.

Rosalyn holds an MPA with honors in Nonprofit Management from the University of Washington and a BA in Communication from Stanford University. She is the recipient of a GO-MAP Fellowship, Eben Tisdale Public Policy Fellowship, and Google Alumni Impact, Google Luminary and Stanford Community Service awards.

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, leading GLG’s global research operations center in Gurgaon, India.  Before GLG, she evaluated and managed technology solutions, projects and partnerships for the franchise headquarters of Keller Williams Realty International in Austin, Texas.  Jen started working in technology with EDS (now HP) at the headquarters of A.T. Kearney management consultants in Chicago, IL.

She holds a BA in Anthropology, Sociology & Ethical Studies from Albion College.

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.

Seamus is responsible for the accounting and finance functions at Samasource.

Prior to joining Samasource, Seamus had worked as a Controller at HopeLab Foundation. He has worked in Finance at many large companies in the Bay Area including Visa, The Gap, and The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Seamus has a BA in Economics and is currently completing his Executive MBA thesis from San Francisco State University.

David brings over 10 years of experience developing technology solutions to Samasource.

Prior to Samasource, David was a technical lead at Alexander Interactive, where he worked on projects ranging from startups to enterprise e-commerce systems. David got hooked on using technology for social good while working on the Donorschoose.org platform. In 2009, he founded Idealistech.org and worked with several social enterprises in Brazil.

David earned a degree in Computer Engineering from McGill.

Ronnie Cheng works on developing the software platform used by Samasource’s workers to enable them to do more types of work, more effectively.

Prior to working at Samasource, Ronnie was a Software Engineer at Facebook. He helped launch Facebook Connect, built ad products such as the Ads API, and worked on back-end payment processing. He is currently involved with Zidisha, the first peer-to-peer microlending service to offer direct interaction between lenders and borrowers across the international wealth divide.

Ronnie graduated from Columbia University, where he majored in Computer Science and minored in Economics.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jenni joins the Samasource delivery team as an Account Manager after spending two years working in the private sector.

Prior to joining Samasource, Jenni was an Analyst at investment bank Barclays Capital, providing capital raising services to clients predominantly in the municipal government sector. Jenni’s other experience includes working for NERA Economic Consulting, where she served as a Research Associate in the Antitrust and Competition Policy group.

Jenni holds a B.A. from Stanford University in Economics. When she’s not in the office, Jenni loves to hike, speak Spanish and learn about new places and cultures – preferably all at the same time!

As Director of Major Gifts at Samasource, Lauren Lyon is responsible for building relationships and partnerships with individuals and corporations, coordinating events, and creating donor-side brand strategies that help Samasource connect more people living in poverty to dignified jobs.

Previously, Lauren was a Director of Marketing and Investor Services at Pinnacle Asset Management, L.P., a $2BN+ fund of funds focusing on the commodities and natural resources sector, where she led fundraising and investor relations efforts globally. During her almost five-years in finance, she built out Pinnacle’s New York and west coast based investor services operations. Prior to Pinnacle, Lauren was the North East Development Manager for Operation Smile based in New York City where she focused on development of Operation Smile’s grassroots network, international outreach, and cause related marketing partnerships.

Lauren graduated with both an AB in English Literature and a certificate in Women and Gender Studies from Princeton University. She is a board member of ArtPoint (San Francisco Fine Arts Museums), and previously held board and committee roles at the American Friends of the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, among others. She enjoys wine knowledge and consumption, culinary adventures, exploration, works by female authors, and trekking.

Sarah joined the Samasource Development team in February through the associate program and is now a full-time Development Specialist.

Prior to Samasource, Sarah graduated with degrees in political science and journalism from Santa Clara University, where she was a leader in several grassroots organizations focused on labor rights, immigration issues, and social justice activism. She has experience in international development and social entrepreneurship through her work at Ashoka in Washington, DC, the Aarti Home & Vijay Foundation Trust, a women’s empowerment organization in rural India, and through her studies in Granada, Spain.

Sarah comes to Samasource after backpacking through South America for much of 2011 and working on a farm in Patagonia. She loves to explore San Francisco, spend time outdoors skiing and hiking, and train in mixed martial arts.

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.

Abel is responsible for managing special programs in the East Africa region. Prior to joining Samasource, Abel worked as a Programme Officer at the Youth Initiatives Kenya (YIKE) overseeing multifaceted donor funded programs in health, livelihood, governance and ICT. He had previously worked with the Ujana Future Outlook-Kenya, Youth Empowerment Strategic Scheme, Kenya Anti Corruption Commission and Kenya’s Centre for Governance and Development in different capacities. Abel has extensive experience running programs in many of Nairobi’s informal settlements. He holds a B.A (Honors) in Sociology, Philosophy and Geography from Kenyatta University and is currently pursuing a Diploma in Project Planning, Implementation and Management from the Kenya Institute of Management.

Surabhi joins Samasource as a Training and Quality Manager. She 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.