Adriana Pentz (BOS '07), Chief Executive Officer

Adriana Pentz became the CEO of StartingBloc in June of 2009. Since then, she has focused on the strategic direction of the organization. She successfully led the expansion of the StartingBloc brand to Los Angeles and builds relationships with values aligned companies and graduate schools. For over seven years, StartingBloc has helped social innovators address the most pressing global challenges of our time by giving them the skills and the tools they need to create lasting change. The StartingBloc Fellowship is a leadership program that exposes young emerging leaders to innovative methods of increasing their social impact. Prior to joining StartingBloc, Adriana was the Senior Director of Operations for Vision Education & Media and a founding member of the Board of Directors for Vision Ed Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to providing low income students with academic enrichment programs in science, technology, engineering and math. Adriana holds a bachelors' degree in English and Communications from the University of Pennsylvania, and she is a Boston 2007 StartingBloc Fellow.

Lora Stoyanova (LA '12), Fellowship Director

Lora manages the entire lifecycle of StartingBloc Fellows, including programs for the current community of 1800 Fellows around the world. Lora works on recruitment, curriculum design, and programming so that Fellows can get the resources they need to dramatically increase their impact. She is looking forward to facilitating many happy connections during and after the Institutes. Lora attended Florida State University where she completed a Master degree in International Affairs with a focus on Africa. Prior to working at StartingBloc, she served as Program Assistant at the International START Secretariat in Washington DC, where her program support facilitated START’s efforts in capacity building for global environmental change in developing countries. Her belief in alternative approaches to international development led her to become a Scholar at the Innovation Institute with ThinkImpact. She spent the summer of 2011 in the Coastal area of Kenya, where she participated in a social entrepreneurship program. Lora is a Los Angeles 2012 StartingBloc Fellow.