Bangalore

Karthik Kittu (LA '11) is passionate about social development, traveling & education. He has served for Rotaract, the youth wing of Rotary in various capacities, from being a member to being the President, Rotaract South Asia where he led more than 20000+ Rotaractors. He also is a Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary Foundation Alumnus & has represented Rotaract in India at various forums around the world. He has a wealth of experience working with various departments in the Government, NGO’s, Schools, Colleges & Media Houses. He has also led the Project Team that set up the Wireless Network for TEDIndia 2009. He used to work as a Network Security Consultant & currently is restructuring the educational system at a underprivileged school where he also teaches science. He holds a Bachelor’s in Science & Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Bangalore University and a Certificate in Cosmology from the Center for Theology, Berkeley, USA. He is married to Dr Raksha, who runs a dance academy for the visually impaired.

Beijing

Zhang Dongli (BOS '09) is passionate about driving social and environmental changes through market innovations, technology, youth empowerment and cross-cultural collaboration. She is currently building a start-up in Beijing that leverages crowdsourcing and technology to provide fair and flexible job opportunities for the underprivileged population. Prior to this, she was an energy consultant, designing frameworks and tools for policymakers and enterprises to drive large scale action in energy efficiency and sustainability. Dongli has also lived in India and South Africa and serves as a youth advisor for two non-profits and a foundation in the Greater China region. .

Boston

Stephanie Koh (NY '11) brings to StartingBloc a passion for network-building and connecting fellows in the Boston community. She works at a consulting and research firm called Root Cause, focusing on project management and performance measurement for clients in the social sector. Previously, she worked in Kenya at a forestry social enterprise and studied abroad in London and the South Caucasus while in college. Stephanie holds a BA in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Vlad Antohi (BOS '12) strives to live an exceptional life. What makes him really come alive? Connecting like-minded people in memorable ways! As one of the Boston Co-Chairs for StartingBloc, Vlad strives to surround himself with inspiring people from all walks of life. In the past, Vlad has done fun things ranging from starting his own club promoting business in Barcelona, to working as a top-performing sales professional at a tech start-up while in college, to advising Fortune 500 clients on how to manage their application security programs. You can read more about Vlad, including current projects and interests, at vladantohi.com. Feel free to reach out - he loves meeting interesting people! :).

Boulder

Shane Rasnak (LA '12) works with ReWork in Boulder, CO, a start-up that connects exceptional young professionals to work opportunities at impact-driven organizations. Since graduating from college in 2010, he has taught English in Venezuela, volunteered for a social enterprise that supplies solar systems in developing countries, and led a pilot project on the ground in rural Kenya. He holds a BS in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and studied abroad in the Mediterranean with Semester at Sea. Shane loves traveling, Thai food, and is passionate about helping others build careers doing meaningful work.

Chicago

John Hoeppner (LON '07) is a 'Product Specialist' at a mainstream asset management firm where he is charged with product management for passive equities and driven by the opportunity to lead the firm's Socially Responsible Investing product development. Prior to his current role, John worked at an investment consulting firm which helps endowments and foundations with their investing strategy. John received a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Delhi

Saurav Patyal (BOS '10) graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Economics from BITS Pilani in the summer of 2011. Currently, he is pursuing a full time fully sponsored Liberal Arts Fellowship - The Young India Fellowship - under UPenn in New Delhi for a year. The non-profit venture he founded in 2009 with his college buddies, The Parivartan Foundation, works out of Southern India in the areas of community development, digital divide alleviation, e-education, support for marginalised farmers and telemedicine. Currently, he serves the organization in an advisory role. He has worked for a year with HSBC in its Risk Management department at Bangalore and is currently acting as an external consultant to a solar energy developer, SunBorne Energy at Gurgaon. He is adventure sports enthusiast and loves fantasy fiction literature.

London

Vinay Nagaraju (LON '07) is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Riders for Health. Riders for Health is an award winning international social enterprise. Riders has managed vehicles in Africa for over 20 years to overcome the barriers that distance and isolation cause, for delivering equitable health care. The organization runs fleets of vehicles in sub-Saharan Africa for ministries of health and other partners on a non-profit basis, ensuring health workers regularly reach isolated and vulnerable people on an efficient and cost-effective basis. Riders has its operations in The Gambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Lesotho. Vinay is responsible for the operations in their Africa based programs through the Country Directors and in-country management teams. Vinay holds an MBA from Said Business School, University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from Bangalore University, India. Prior to his MBA, he worked with Honeywell Aerospace for six years. In 2001, he co-founded an NGO called 'Spandana' aimed at empowering underprivileged children in their education in Bangalore, India. He is an ardent writer, passionate traveler, a numismatist and an international award-winning philatelist. He finds it fulfilling and purposeful in making a difference to communities.

Nairobi

New York

Nikki Bruce (NY ’11) works at Teach For America in strategy and operations for internal talent acquisition. She is just as passionate about innovating efficient systems and processes to maximize results and get the right talent in the right role as she is about meeting new people and learning what really makes them move. She previously managed a Planned Parenthood clinic in Somerville, MA and has worked in the social sector since graduating from Tufts University with a BA in Economics in 2008. She occasionally consults for her parents’ small businesses and dreams of one day earning an MBA and owning a pug.

North Carolina

Allie Treske (BOS ’11) is passionate about grassroots development and empowering individuals with the tools and skills they need to succeed. Currently, Allie works with Nourish International (nourish.org) as the Chief Operating Officer. Her previous experience with Nourish includes working on the programmatic staff as the Chapter Coordinator, mentoring and supporting 24 college chapters around the U.S. and on the marketing and publicity team as the Chapter Founders Team Leader, recruiting students to join the Nourish movement. Allie holds a B.A. in political science and international studies with a focus in social movements, nation states, and international politics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In her spare time, Allie enjoys playing tennis, dancing, reading, cooking and planning her next adventure.

San Francisco

Rebecca Offensend , (LON'08), is passionate about connecting people. Currently, she heads up the San Francisco/Bay Area chapter of StartingBloc and leads a team on the Fellowship Advisory Committee for the Board of Directors. She does online marketing and social media for Viator.com, a travel and ecommerce site in San Francisco, as well as serves the Kravis Leadership Institute as a Kravis Fellow. In previous lives, she was a snowboarding instructor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, worked in finance in London, and researched the Vietnamese coffee industry. She holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Claremont McKenna College with a minor in Leadership Studies.

Washington, DC

Beeta Ansari is Ashoka U’s Exchange Manager, the world’s only global convening on social entrepreneurship in higher education. Each year, the Exchange brings together hundreds of innovative faculty, students, social entrepreneurs and Ashoka Fellows and arms them with the resources to disseminate and embed social entrepreneurship at their institution. In addition to managing all logistics related to the Exchange, Beeta serves as the main point of contact for all attendees, develops content to be shared and presented at the Exchange, and moderates an online community for participants. In addition to the Exchange, Beeta also manages Ashoka U’s communications and finances. Previously, Beeta worked as a Procurement Manager at a tech startup and tutored students at KIPP Academy in Houston. Beeta graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BS in Economics.