BOARD

In order to help Design for Change spread its vision to as many countries as possible and empower every child with the I CAN belief, we are grateful to have the leading minds in the field of education, design and strategy from around the world as members of our board.

BOARD

  • Sanjli Gidwaney
    Design for Change USA,
    Director

    Sanjli Gidwaney


    Sanjli is the National Director of Design for Change USA. As the Director of DFC USA, she manages a national team of designers, educators and technologists and forging partnerships with Teach for America, IDEO, Harvard and Stanford among many other school schools and school networks. She travels state-to-state fundraising, delivering hands on professional development workshops, and doing speaking engagements. Sanjli has spoken at the National Association of Independent Schools, Yale, Harvard, Ashoka, SXSWEdu and the United Nations International School. She is deeply passionate about helping young people strengthen their agency to create a fair and just world for all.

    She received her Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. When she is not working, you can find her globe-trotting, or pursuing her love for hip hop dancing and baking. Sanjli lives in Boston with her husband Vinay and their two children, Leela (7) and Niam (4).

  • Madhav Chavan
    Pratham Education Foundation,
    CEO & Co-Founder

    Madhav Chavan


    Madhav Chavan moved from the field of Chemistry to the field of literacy a few years after his return to India having acquired a Ph. D. in the United States and some post-doctoral experience there. He worked in the field of adult literacy from 1989 to 1994 inspired by the National Literacy Mission launched by late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. In 1994, Unicef in Mumbai put him in charge of creating a ‘societal mission’ to universalize primary education in the city of Mumbai. As a result he co-founded Pratham that started in 1994-95 as a Mumbai based organization and has now grown to be one of India’s largest NGOs working across the country with millions of children every year with a focus on basic learning outcomes including reading and math. Its flagship programs, Read India and the Annual Status of Education Report have earned the organization a reputation as a pedagogy and advocacy innovator that has influenced policy and practice at the national and international level. He stepped down as CEO of Pratham Education Foundation but continues to be on its Board and actively leading the new experimentation in use of technology for education.

    Madhav has been personally recognized for his work with the WISE Prize and The Skoll Award for social entrepreneurship among other honors.His organization, Pratham, has received the Kravis Prize for Leadership,the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award for developmental work and the LUI Che Woo Prize for positive energy.

  • Vikas Pota
    T4 Education,
    CEO & Founder

    Vikas Pota


    Vikas Pota is the Founder and CEO of T4 Education. T4 Education is building the world’s largest community of teachers and schools and is providing opportunities for educators to network, collaborate, share best practices, and support each other’s efforts to improve learning. T4 Education works to amplify teachers’ voices because the world in which every child receives a good education will only be built by listening to those at the heart of education. Its Best School to Work programme helps schools certify and transform their culture and working environment so they can tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, while its World's Best School Prizes are the world's most prestigious education awards. Vikas was previously CEO of a philanthropic foundation, has been recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and as one of London’s 1,000 most influential persons. Vikas was named European regional honouree for the 2022 YPO Global Impact Award.

  • Kate Hsu
    TYCAA,
    CEO & Founder

    Kate Hsu


    Kate is founder and the CEO of Taiwan Youth Creative Action Association (TYCAA) TYCAA is the promoter of Design for Change in Taiwan. Kate is a TEDx speaker, and was also awarded as the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the Year in Taiwan. She believes that we should blur the boundary between the classroom and the world by understanding and solving real-life problems. Through Design for Change, she aspires to bring the power of I CAN to children.

ADVISORY COUNCIL

  • Alison Bellwood
    The World's Largest Lesson, Creator & Director

    Alison Bellwood


    Alison is a creative communications expert with a specific focus on children and education. She worked extensively with some of the world’s most recognised brands (PepsiCo, Unilever, Nestlé) before partnering in the creation of a children’s learning programme to encourage global citizenship in K6 students.


    Since 2014 Alison has created and directed the World’s Largest Lesson, a programme delivered in partnership with UNICEF, to build understanding for the UN Sustainable Development Goals and inspire social activism in students. She has worked to bring together United Nations agencies, NGOs, high profile figures such as Sir Ken Robinson and Malala Yousafai and the educator community, to introduce thousands of educators and millions of students to the Global Goals in over 130 countries.


  • Yaccov Hecht
    Education Cities - the Art Of Collaborations, CEO

    Yaccov Hecht


    Each and every one of us is unique and exceptional. Yaacov Hecht has been carrying with him this belief since early childhood, as a dyslexic "problematic" schoolchild, and until today as CEO of Education Cities - the Art of Collaborations.


    Yaacov’s belief along with his desire to help every child find his/her uniqueness and bring it to fulfilment, drove him to found, 30 years ago, the Democratic School in Hadera, Israel - the first school in the world to be called a democratic school.


    Next, in 1993, he initiated IDEC - International Democratic Education Conference as an instrument to maintain his support of the international network, which convenes every year in a different continent. IDEC has facilitated the establishment of hundreds of innovative democratic schools around the globe, 30 of them in Israel.


    After the assassination of Israel's Prime Minister, 22 years ago, Yaacov was asked by the Israeli Ministry of Education to promote democratic values and democratic educational perception in schools nationwide.


    In 1996, he founded IDE - the Institute for Democratic Education that worked on integrating democratic and innovative processes in Israeli public schools. As part of Yaccov’s work in IDE, he opened the first academic program for training of democratic education teachers in Kibbutzim College of Education, Israel's leadingcollege of education. Then, he opened a graduate program in Democratic Education in Tel Aviv University. In 2007, Yaacov initiated the Pioneer training program for innovative and groundbreaking school principals.


    After years of collaborative work in schools with the Israeli Ministry of Education, Yaacov came to the realization that the center of gravity is shifting from the State to local authorities. For instance, Mayors can implement today innovative educational programs in their municipalities, and promote the necessary collaborations for transforming the city into "one big school". Education Cities organization, which was founded in 2010 by Yaacov, perceives the task of weaving and maintaining these kind of municipal collaborations as a work of art.


    In January 2017, Education Cities was chosen by the Finnish project HundrED, as one of the ten leading education initiatives in the world.
    Today, Yaacov's work in Education Cities is wide-ranging and comprehensive and covers all levels of education: In the classroom, in the schools, in the city, nationwide and in the world.
    As a whole, Yaacov perceives the task of preparing the education system towards the future as his life’s mission.

  • Wendy Kopp
    Teach for America, Founder
    Teach for All, CEO & Co-Founder

    Wendy Kopp


    Wendy Kopp is CEO and Co-founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent organizations that are cultivating their nations’ promising future leaders to ensure their most marginalized children have the chance to fulfill their true potential.

    Wendy founded Teach For America in 1989 to marshal the energy of her generation against educational inequity in the United States. Today, more than 8,000 Teach For America corps members—outstanding recent college graduates and professionals of all academic disciplines—are in the midst of two-year teaching commitments in 52 urban and rural regions, and Teach For America has proven to be an unparalleled source of long-term leadership for expanding opportunity for children. After leading Teach For America’s growth and development for 24 years, in 2013, Wendy transitioned out of the role of CEO. Today, she remains an active member of Teach For America’s board.

    Wendy led the development of Teach For All to be responsive to the initiative of inspiring social entrepreneurs around the world who were determined to adapt this approach in their own countries. Currently, the Teach For All network is comprised of partner organizations in 53 countries on six continents, including its founding partners Teach For America and the U.K.’s Teach First. Wendy has been recognized as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards for public service. She is the author of A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn’t in Providing an Excellent Education for All (2011) and One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way (2000). She holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, where she participated in the undergraduate program of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Wendy resides in New York City with her husband Richard Barth and their four children.

  • Juan Antonio Ojeda Ortiz
    OIEC, Academic Director

    JUAN ANTONIO OJEDA ORTIZ


    Brother of La Salle. Doctor of Education from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, with the thesis: "The Universities in network for the generation and transfer of knowledge". Teacher and Bachelor of Pedagogy. Former Secretary General of Catholic Education in Spain. Former President of the National Association of University Teaching Centers of the Church, in Spain. Former Vice President for Europe of the International Association of Universities La Salle (AIUL). Former Dean of the La Salle University Center in Madrid, attached to the Autonomous University of Madrid. Speaker at multiple National and International Congresses. Trainer of trainers and Center Managers. Expert in Management and Organization of Educational Centers, as well as in educational trends, collaboration and networking. Advisor to different Educational Institutions, national or international, for the creation and development of a collaborative culture, working in their own networks and with others. He has been Director of the World Congress of Catholic Education, held in November 2015, in the Vatican, Rome. Gold Master Award from the Senior Management Forum and Gold Desk of the CEAAEC (Spanish Confederation of Alumni of Catholic Schools)

  • Marc Prensky
    Global Future Education Foundation, Founder

    Marc Prensky


    Marc Prensky is an award-winning, internationally-acclaimed speaker & author, working to empower the planet’s two billion kids to Better Their World via a new, third-millennium upbringing and education. Coiner of the term “Digital Native,” Marc has authored seven books and 100+ essays -- translated into a dozen languages -- and has spoken and consulted in over 40 countries. He founded and currently runs The Global Future Education Foundation and the Real-World-Impact Project Education Network (ARISE-NET.WORLD). Marc attended Oberlin College and the Sorbonne, holds an MBA from Harvard, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Yale, and has taught at all levels from elementary to college. Earlier in his career Marc acted on Broadway, spent six years at the Boston Consulting Group, headed an early prototype charter school, and founded a learning games company that ran for over a decade. Marc’s writings, interviews and videos can be found at www.marcprensky.com.

  • Sandy Speicher
    Former CEO, IDEO

    Sandy Speicher


    Sandy Speicher is a former CEO of the global design firm IDEO. As a practicing designer and educator, Sandy is internationally recognized for her expertise in designing large-scale systems.

    Sandy has stewarded some of IDEO’s most significant client relationships creating impact for business and society. Her iconic work in Peru designing a school system from the ground up has been lauded as a game-changing example of systems design. As of 2019,Innova Schools has grown to 43 schools, 2,000 teachers and 43,000 students in Peru. It has recently scaled to Mexico, and the model is widely cited as inspiration in other countries.

    Sandy has been widely cited in publications such as the New York Times, Quartz, and the Wall Street Journal, and has taught at the Stanford d.school, Washington University in St. Louis, and Redding Elementary School in San Francisco. She serves as a member of the Thought Leadership Council at the Khan Academy, is a strategic advisor to Pearson, and frequently speaks about the value of design thinking to designers, educators, and leaders in business and government around the world.

  • Saku Tuominen
    HundrED, Founder

    Saku Tuominen


    Saku Tuominen is a Finnish entrepreneur, education innovation specialist and the founder of HundrED. HundrED helps schools change by seeking and sharing scalable innovations in K12 education globally. He has written 14 books, consulted various companies and been teaching innovation in Aalto University in Helsinki.