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Ernst Grabowski

Ernst A. Grabowski is currently Vice President of ING's debt capital markets division in Hong Kong, and is responsible for raising growth capital, strategic financing, liability management, and distressed capital and restructuring solutions for corporates in non-Japan Asia, with a specific focus on China and Indonesia.

Previously, Ernst was a debt capital markets banker for Credit Suisse's Global Markets Solutions Group in Hong Kong, focusing on bond transactions and liability management exercises for Asian corporates, financial institutions, and sovereigns. He started his career with Credit Suisse First Boston in the Fixed Income Division in London. Ernst holds BSc and MSc degrees from the London School of Economics.

Emily Hannum

Emily Hannum is currently a University Lecturer in the Sociology of China, Oxford University. She will be returning to the University of Pennsylvania in the fall term. Her research focuses on education, child and youth welfare, and social inequality, particularly in China. In China, she has conducted research on gender, ethnic, and geographic disparities in education and employment, changes in the impact of education on income and occupational attainment under market reforms, rural teachers and their links to student outcomes, and children's and adolescents' welfare under market reforms. She co-directs the Gansu Survey of Children and Families, a collaborative, longitudinal study of children in rural northwest China and has recently published Education and Reform in China, co-edited with Albert Park. She is interested, more broadly, in educational expansion and educational inequality in comparative perspective. She is part of the Universal Basic and Secondary Education (UBASE) collaboration at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is co-editor of Research in Sociology of Education and Comparative Education Review, and serves on the consulting editorial board for American Journal of Sociology. She is also an adviser to the Rural China Education Foundation.

Jay Nanduri

Jay Nanduri is a Principal Development Manager for the Mobile Search and MSN Mobile Experiences Team at Microsoft. He currently oversees design and development of the Next Generation Search, Mapping and Mobile Platforms for mobile devices. Jay has over 15 years of experience running high performance teams in different capacities at mid to large enterprises including the last 10 years at Microsoft Corporation. Jay has experience in working in both mature and startup businesses covering the spectrum from strategy to execution and international product launches. Jay holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA program at Wharton Business School. Jay lives in the greater Seattle area with his wife and two beautiful daughters. His greatest passions outside of work include hiking, tennis and spending time with his family.

David Roberts

David Roberts is a Senior Managing Director of Angelo, Gordon and a member of the firm's executive committee. He joined Angelo, Gordon in 1993. David manages the firm's private equity and special situations area and was the founder of the firm's opportunistic real estate area. David has invested in a wide variety of companies and special situations, including companies in the business services, healthcare services and financial services industries. Previously, he was a principal at Gordon Investment Corporation, a Canadian merchant bank, where he participated in a wide variety of principal transactions. Prior to that he worked in the Corporate Finance Department at L.F. Rothschild where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions. David has a B.S. degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Katherine Torrington

Katherine Torrington manages research and customer relationship initiatives aimed at measuring client outreach and retention at FINCA International. She is a Co-Facilitator for the SEEP Network's Social Performance Working Group (SPWG) and serves in an advisory role to the DC Steering Committee for Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM). Ms. Torrington previously worked as a Research Associate for The Caribbean Project on micro enterprise development. Ms. Torrington holds a Masters degree in International Development from American University.

Gene Wade

Gene Wade is the CEO and Co-founder of Platform Learning. Platform Learning is a leading provider of supplemental educational services to low-income students attending public schools that have been identified as being "In Need of Improvement" under the federal No Child Left Behind Law. Since March 2003, Platform has grown from a startup to a company that has tutored approximately 70,000 students in over a 15 school districts. Prior to co-founding Platform, Mr. Wade was Executive Vice President for Development at Edison Schools and CEO and Co-founder of LearnNow, Inc, an education management company that managed charter schools and struggling public schools throughout the United States. Over a 22-month period, Mr. Wade grew LearnNow from a startup to a company serving more than 6,000 students attending 10 schools in four states. In July 2001, LearnNow was sold to Edison in a transaction valued at more than $36 million. Prior to LearnNow, Mr. Wade was a corporate and bankruptcy attorney at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn in Detroit, Michigan and at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison in New York City. Mr. Wade holds a BA from Morehouse College, a JD from Harvard Law School and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Wade grew up in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts and has been actively involved in youth development and education reform throughout the United States.

Joyce Meng

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Contact: joyce.meng@givology.org
Link to profile: Joyce Meng

The idea of Givology came to Joyce Meng when she started thinking about ways to leverage online social networking communities to support education worldwide. Joyce is a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University (Balliol College), reading for a MsC in Economics for Development. She graduated from the Huntsman Program of International Studies and Business at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Finance and International Studies with minors in Mathematics and Spanish.

Joyce is deeply interested in microfinance and international development, with particular focus on social entrepreneurship. In microfinance, she has done field work and social impact assessment research with FINCA International, the Nantik Lum Foundation, and Opportunity International. Her experiences in rural villages instilled in her the belief that poverty should never be tolerated - that if given the opportunity, the poor can creatively transform their lives and the lives of their children.

Joyce believes that Internet microphilanthropy is a powerful tool to enable individuals to make a difference. She considers education as one of the most important and sustainable resources for individual empowerment, advancement, and poverty alleviation. Givology is a manifestation of her dream of making high quality education accessible to aspiring students throughout the world.

Her website is: http://www.joycemeng.com

Jennifer Chen

President

Contact: jennifer.chen@givology.org
Link to profile: Jennifer Chen

Jennifer Chen graduated from the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She was born in Nanjing (Jiangsu Province), China. After moving to the U.S. at age three, she benefited from opportunities resulting from a quality education. Her draw to education led her to work closely with Dr. Emily Hannum on sociology and rural education in China while at Penn, researching rural education in Northwest China. Jennifer’s past work experiences include development work for the Opera Solutions Consulting (Shanghai, 2005), building and launching the Small Business Resource Center at the American Chamber of Commerce (Beijing, 2006), and consulting at the Small Business Development Center at Wharton. Currently, besides working on Givology, Jennifer is a Private Equity analyst at Neuberger Berman Alternative Investments in New York (ex-Lehman Brothers). She enjoys many "E" activities: entrepreneurship, education, eating, exploring, and occasional existential enquiry.

Xiang Li

Vice President

Contact: xiang.li@givology.org
Link to profile: Xiang Li

A native of Chengdu, Xiang Li is a product manager at Microsoft. In 2008, she graduated from the Huntsman Program at the University of Pennsylvania, double-majoring in International Studies and Marketing, with a minor in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. After her move to the US at age four, she has remained very passionate about her Chinese roots and heritage. In high school, she created and taught a Mandarin course to educate her peers about the Chinese language and culture. During her semester abroad in Beijing, she led a team of Peking University students on a two-day research expedition on rural education in the villages outside Beijing. Xiang is committed to the ideals of rural education improvement for China's underprivileged youth because she recognizes the equalizing power of education.

John DeCosta

Chief Financial Officer

Contact: john.decosta@givology.org
Link to profile: John DeCosta

A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, John DeCosta graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in Finance and spent his junior year at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. At Penn, John was a member of the Penn Hawaii Club, Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and a producer at UTV, the University's television station.

His interests include soccer, television production, cooking, and the Daily Show. He hopes that one day Givology can leverage social networking and microfinance to create rewarding and long-lasting relationships with generous people and aspiring students in all corners of the world.

Carl Mackey

Chief Technology Officer

Contact: carl.mackey@givology.org
Link to profile: Carl Mackey

Maria Davydenko

Chief Creative Director

Contact: maria.davydenko@givology.org
Link to profile: Maria Davydenko

Maria Davydenko is a student at the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences, where she is currently pursuing degrees in International Relations and Economics. Her interests include foreign languages, photography, and journalism. Like any true Alaskan, she remains a fan of the great outdoors. Maria has been a member of the team since September 2008. As the Chief Creative Director, she has applied her extensive experience in web design and Photoshop in supporting the mission of Givology.

Jennifer Jia

Chief Marketing Officer

Contact: jennifer.jia@givology.org
Link to profile: Jennifer Jia

Jennifer Jia joined Givology in July 2008 and currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of Givology. Jennifer also works in the Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley. She joined Morgan Stanley in 2007. Previously, she was with HSBC Securities, where she focused on financial institutions. Jennifer has a B.S. degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Catherine Gao

Chief Development Officer

Contact: catherine.gao@givology.org
Link to profile: Catherine Gao

Catherine Gao is a current sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School) studying Finance and Marketing. She is extremely proud and excited to be involved with the Givology team. She was born in Nanjing, China and moved overseas when she was 4 years old. She has lived in Canada and the United States. Catherine believes in the mission of Givology and knows that this organization will greatly impact the lives of many students across the globe.

Tim Chai

PR Coordinator

Contact: tim.chai@givology.org
Link to profile: Tim Chai

Tim Chai is a student at Carmel High School in Carmel, IN. He first noticed extreme educational inequalities when visiting his aunt's schoolhouse in rural Henan Province, China, where students were missing necessities as basic as pencils; on his latest trip to China as an international marketing intern for Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, he was shocked by the differences in educational opportunities in Shanghai and just a few miles outside the Metropolitan area. Other than Givoloy, he is involved with various other organizations and ventures. He serves on the national Youth Advisory Council and consults on the marketing team for Do Something, North America's leading teen-based non-profit, and the Alliance Youth Network (a national advisory team comprised of high school, college and graduate students from America's largest non-profits) for America's Promise Alliance, the largest association of its kind of non-profits and service organizations. Locally, he serves on the marketing team for the Youth Service Bureau of Central Indiana (currently in progress of being re-branded), which provides services to at-risk children and families in the greater Indianapolis area. His hobbies, interests and school activities include student government, Amnesty International, National Honor Society, orchestra, newspaper, DECA, the New York Giants (although the Indianapolis Colts come in a close second), Fashion Week, and video games (especially DotA). He plans to study economics and international studies in the future with minors in political science and public policy.

Yuqing Fan

Chapters Coordinator

Contact: yuqing.fan@givology.org
Link to profile: Yuqing Fan

Yuqing Fan is a student at The Wharton School and College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. A native of Sichuan, she grew up in China and witnessed the poor conditions of rural education first hand. This experience has motivated her to join Givology to empower students and change their lives. In addition to social impact and entrepreneurship, Yuqing loves fashion, the TV show House, graphic design, and traveling.

Danielle Matsumoto

Translation Coordinator

Contact: danielle.matsumoto@givology.org
Link to profile: Danielle Matsumoto

Danielle Matusmoto is a sophomore at the Wharton School and College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in History and either Finance or Business & Public Policy. Although she was born in California and has lived in Washington, D.C. and Zurich, Switzerland, she calls the small town of Somers, New York her home. In addition to education, international development, and social entrepreneurship, her interests include cooking, running, foreign languages, existentialism, travel and the Colbert Report. At Penn, Danielle is a member of Penn International Business Volunteers, a student organization that does nonprofit consulting work in developing countries, as well as the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project and the International Affairs Association.

Coonoor Behal

Director of External Relations and Outreach

Contact: coonoor.behal@givology.org
Link to profile: Coonoor Behal

Before joining Givology as a Marketing and Development Intern, Coonoor Behal worked in the international development sector in Washington, DC for two years. She is a summa cum laude graduate of New York University where she majored in Journalism and minored in Politics and Cinema Studies. She has an MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago where her final thesis addressed the influence of civil conflict on women's political representation. Coonoor plans to start an MBA program in 2010 to pursue nonprofit consulting and social enterprise. She is obsessed with professional tennis, television comedy, and objects made of chocolate.

Lauren Oswald and Amanda Ketchum

Co-Directors of Fundraising

Contact: lauren.oswald@givology.org
Link to profile: Lauren Oswald

Lauren Oswald graduated from the University of Pittsburgh cum laude in 2005 with a degree in Business Administration and a concentration in marketing. Since then she has worked as a marketing guru for one of the largest retail real estate companies in the United States. With her marketing background and her passion for volunteering she is excited and honored to be a part of Givology and looks forward to the fundraising to come!

Winnie Feng

Director of Campus Fundraising

Contact: winnie.feng@givology.org
Link to profile: Winnie Feng

Winnie Feng is a student at the The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, studying Finance and Accounting. She enjoys living in the city of Philadelphia, while still calling the community of Columbia, Missouri her home. At Penn, she is a tutor with the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project and a member of Penn Flutes. She enjoys attending concerts, watching independent films, and playing tennis. She is excited to further Givology's mission through fundraising and spreading awareness.

Jane Kim and Anjali Tsui

Volunteer Program Co-Coordinators

Contact: jane.kim@givology.org
Contact: anjali.tsui@givology.org

Jane Kim is a student currently attending The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is studying Finance and Management and plans to pursue a career in the business field after graduating from college. At Penn, she is a part of the Penn Chamber group, Wharton China Business Society, and Alpha Phi Omega, a community service fraternity. During her free time, Jane enjoys playing the piano or reading newspaper and magazine publications. After attending high school in Ohio, Jane loves the urban life that the city of Philadelphia has to offer. Jane grew up in Seoul, South Korea, and often visits friends and family there. She enjoys learning about new cultures, and just began studying Chinese last year at Penn.

Anjali Tsui is a student at the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She was born in Hong Kong and attended high school in the United Kingdom. Her interest in international development began with her involvement with the China Care Fund, a charity that aims to provide educational assistance to rural villages in China. She taught English for two consecutive summers at a rural high school in Guangdong province, China. This experience helped her to realize the impact that even small donations have on enabling students to complete their education. At Penn, Anjali is a member of Write-on, a children's literacy program, Penn Microfinance Club, Amnesty International and is a Night Editor at The Daily Pennsylvanian. She enjoys sending postcards from warm countries, baking cupcakes and reading poetry.

Alex Martins

Director of Media

Contact: alex.martins@givology.org
Link to profile: Alex Martins

Alex Martins is currently a Masters student at Oxford University studying Comparative Politics, and has experience with teaching English in both urban and rural environments. She joined Givology in 2009 after working in a favela school in Rio de Janeiro, and since then has developed a passion for developing opportunities in education across the world. Originally from South Africa, she has now lived on four different continents and looks forward to bringing that global perspective to her work and ideas.

Her goal as Director of Media is to spread Givology's mission even further by using video technology and the internet to expand our support base and communicate our message to others even more effectively. Along with this, she hopes to create videos of and for Givology's many partners all over the world in order to foster a true sense of interconnectedness between them and the growing Givology community

Madhav Nandipati and Yibin Zhang

Project Managers

Contact: madhav.nandipati@givology.org
Contact: yibin.zhang@givology.org

Madhav Nandipati is a student at the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing a dual-degree with the Wharton School and School of Engineering and Applied Science. Besides his role with Givology, he also is a member of West Philadelphia Tutoring Project and CommuniTech, a community-service group focusing on bridging the digital divide. He enjoys experiencing the culinary diversity of Philadelphia and is especially ready to recommend or explore restaurants in Chinatown. In his spare time, Madhav likes to play football and basketball and cheer his local Washington DC sports teams. He also writes and hopes to continue publishing with the First Call magazine.

Ankit Shah

Campaign Coordinator

Contact: ankit.shah@givology.org
Link to profile: Ankit Shah

Ankit Shah is currently a student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His interests include meeting people, discussing useless things and discussing useful things. It was this last interest that brought him to Givology. Upon arriving to Penn campus, he was intent on finding his niche in something that not only enriched his life, but the lives of others as well. He has a strong belief in the power of education and its value as the most worthwhile investment one could make, and he is thoroughly excited to be on the team to bring Givology's goals to fruition. In his free time, Ankit runs, plays tennis, eats and sleeps.

Catherine Wei

Director of Social Media

Contact: catherine.wei@givology.org
Link to profile: Ankit Shah

Catherine Wei is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania.

Volunteers

As a 100% volunteer-driven organization, we depend on our network of global supporters to help us grow, forge new connections, and make an impact. By taking a few hours out of a busy week to support Givology's mission and operations, our volunteers help drive our organization forward, from translation and graphics to social networking and fund-raising.

Click here to view a list of our volunteers. If you are interested in contributing your time as a Givology volunteer, please visit our volunteering page.

Interns

The Givology internship provides a hands-on opportunity to lead a project for Givology and make a difference. From spearheading a campaign for literacy to helping develop a strategy to start Givology chapters worldwide, our interns utilize their creativity and dedication to help students throughout the world.

Click here to view a list of our interns. If you are interested in interning at Givology, please visit our internship page.

Fellows

Our Givology Fellows serve as the "ears and eyes" of our community. They visit our partners in the field, conduct research about education in the developing world, and write about the lessons and discoveries they make in our Notes from the Field Journal. Since not all of us have the opportunity to travel, the blog entries and reflections of our fellows are really important in shedding light on some of the most difficult challenges in providing access to quality education.

Click here to view a list of our fellows and a link to their journals. To learn more about the fellowship program, please visit our fellowship page.

Advisory Board

Our Givology advisory board is comprised of innovative young professionals from both the public and private sectors who contribute their expertise and time to helping our organization expand. Our advisory board provides us with important feedback that we use to improve the impact of our operations.

Click here to view a list of our Advisory Board members and their bios!

Supporters

As a 100% volunteer driven organization, we really depend on our supporters, who provide us with expertise, assistance, and funding to defray our hosting costs and expand the global impact of our organization. Our sponsors contribute in-kind donations, consulting services, as well as cash funding to help us sustain and scale our mission of providing access to quality education.

In particular, we would like to thank the following list of sponsors. If you are interested in become a sponsor of Givology, please visit our .

Chapters

Givology Chapters are volunteer-driven organizations that are affiliated with Givology. In support of Givology's mission, Givology Chapters recruit their own volunteers, establish their own goals, and devise their own strategies. Givology chapters not only contribute by raising funding to support community-driven education initiatives and student scholarships throughout the world, but also identify strategic partnerships for Givology and increase awareness locally about issues confronting education in the developing world. Starting a Givology chapter is a way to make an impact and run your own nonprofit!

Click here to view a list of our current chapters, and learn how to get involved!