YES Inc. Board

Poonam Ahluwalia
President, Youth Employment Summit (YES) Inc., USA.

Ms Poonam Ahluwalia is the Founder and the President of Youth Employment Summit (YES) Inc, an international, nonprofit and development organization with its base in Newton, Massachusetts.

YES Inc. launched a decade long YES Campaign at YES Alexandria 2002, the first YES global summit, under the co-chair of former President Bill Clinton and the First Lady of Egypt, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, to pave the way for providing youth with avenues for leadership building, access to education and training, skills development opportunities, and access to resources, including credit, needed to build productive, decent, and sustainable livelihoods. Presently, she leads YES Campaign in over 64 countries and to her credit, there were three global YES Summits, two YES Regional Summits and today there are over 64 youth-led YES Country Networks that works to promote youth employment policy, programs and activities. There are over 400 programs locally initiated and managed by the YES Country Networks. 
  
Ms. Ahluwalia is often on the road, traveling all over the world, to generate awareness and to raise the resources needed to support the Country Network teams, by meeting with government leaders, foundations and international aid agencies to fund the work.  She has received significant support from the UN and government agencies and private foundations.

The California Legislature and the Indian-American Trade and Commerce Council have honored Ms. Ahluwalia for her work as "an outstanding youth community leader." In 2006, at the YES Kenya 2006 summit, the 64 YES Country Networks recognized her as their torch bearer of hope by presenting her plague and citation.

Prior to starting YES in 2002, she was a Project Director at Education Development Center, (EDC) Inc. where she planned and coordinated USAID funded global workshops on workforce development in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.  

She holds an M.S. in mass communications from Boston University, Boston, Mass. and an M.A. in political science from Rajasthan University, Jaipur, India.  

Dr. Akhtar Badshah
Sr. Director Community Affairs, Microsoft Corp

Akhtar Badshah is Senior Director of Microsoft Community Affairs, where he administers the company’s global community investment and employee programs. Last year the company invested $68million in cash grants and $331 million in software donations supporting more than 12,000 nonprofit organizations around the world.

Among his responsibilities, Dr. Badshah manages Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP), a global program to promote digital inclusion and increased access to technology skills training in underserved communities. Dr. Badshah also oversees programs aimed at improving technology access and helping nonprofit organizations improve their effectiveness through increased technology capacity. This includes Microsoft’s signature relationships with organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America and NPower

Prior to joining Microsoft, Dr. Badshah was the CEO and president of Digital Partners Foundation, a Seattle-area nonprofit organization whose mission is to utilize the digital economy to benefit the poor.

Dr. Badshah is a Board Member of the Global Knowledge Partnership and The Indus Entrepreneurs. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the following organizations: World Affairs Council, Santa Clara University Center for Science Technology and Society, University of Washington South Asia Center, and University of Washington Business School. He has co-edited “Connected for Development – Information Kiosks for Sustainability,” and authored “Our Urban Future: New Paradigms for Equity and Sustainability” and several articles in international journals on ICT4D, megacities and sustainability, urban and community development, and housing.

Dr. Badshah is a doctoral graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the former president of the Lambda Alpha International New Jersey Chapter, an honorary land economic society. He is very active in the Seattle area community and serves on various local committees.

Cynthia Brandt
President, Brandt Associates Treasurer

Ms. Cynthia Brandt is the President, CA Brandt & Associates LLC., committed to providing practical and cost-effective solutions to clients using state of the art technologies that allow for the efficient delivery of tax and accounting products.

She also served for ten years as CFO and a key manager of a manufacturing company where she learned first hand the ins and outs of running a business.

Cynthia holds a Master of Taxation degree from Bentley College and an MBA from Northeastern University. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants and is actively involved in the community.

She is also the president of the Boston Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Cindy is also the Secretary-Treasurer of the Peabody Mass chapter of BNI.

Stephen J. Brown
Partner, Deloitte

Stephen Brown is a Partner with Deloitte and leader of the Firm’s Consumer Packaged Good industry segment in Canada. He has been with Deloitte for 11 years and has served leading Food and Beverage clients across North America including Heinz, Frito-Lay, Pepsi-QTG, Chiquita, Sara Lee, Del Monte Foods, Nestle, Clorox and George Weston.

Stephen has 16 years of supply chain management experience in both consulting and industry roles. He specializes in delivering shareholder value improvement initiatives for Manufacturing companies. He has published several articles on Food Industry issues and has presented at a number of Food Industry conferences.

He serves on the Board of Directors of a local Canadian charity focused on International youth development and on the Board of an International charity focused on global youth employment.

Prior to entering Consulting he served as an officer in the Canadian Forces for seven years including a tour with NATO in Europe and a peacekeeping mission with the United Nations in the Former Yugoslavia.

He has an engineering degree from the Royal Military College of Canada, and an MBA from the University of Calgary.

Scott Leland

Scott Leland is the Executive Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. In this role, he lends support to the Center's research programs, general administration, strategic planning, and day-to-day operations.

Prior to joining M-RCBG, he was the Administrative Director of the Center for International Development at Harvard from 1998 to 2004 and manager of a workforce development project at the Education Development Center from 1996-1998, with programs in Peru, Namibia, and India.

From 1992 to 1995, he worked as a Project Assistant with the Harvard Institute for International Development in Singapore where he taught courses in economics and policy analysis at the National University of Singapore.

He has also worked as a Research Fellow with the Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle, a Program Coordinator for Vision Health International in Costa Rica, and Regional Director for South America and the Caribbean with Amigos de las Americas based in Houston, traveling extensively through Latin America.

He is a graduate of Stanford University and has a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Debra Deanne Olson
President, the Global Green Company

Ms. Debra Olson is the President of Global Green Company. She has been in the forefront of launching futuristic ideas and facilitating paradigm shifts for over 25 years. As a connector of both concepts and people, she has been instrumental in advancing partnerships and movements, raising the bar of possibilities that are changing the World for the better.

She is a recognized leader in design and implementation of compelling strategic roadmaps for organizations that are facing complex challenges. She renders her services as a Trustee of the New Visions Foundation in Santa Monica. S he is the Executive Producer of “Two Americas” a documentary addressing the deteriorating educational system in America. Debra is also a member of the Clinton Global Initiative in NYC and is on the Advisory Board of the Art Center of Design.

As President of the Global Green Company, Ms. Olson saw the synergy of joining forces with the Space Island Group to make Sun Power and all its glory a reality in our lifetime. TGGC's main focus has been on bringing the best of merging green technologies to the marketplace, energizing the green economic sector by creating jobs and organizing teams to build sustainable communities and new cities worldwide.

Ms. Olson has strong relations and access in the political and financial sectors worldwide, and is using her abilities to connect world innovators, emerging new technologies, corporations and financial institutions to facilitate partnerships that will foster sustainable economic and entrepreneurial solutions for future generations.

P. Rajendran
COO, NIIT

Mr. P. Rajendran is the Director and Chief Operating Officer of NIIT Ltd, an Indian multinational company in the IT Sector. He joined NIIT at the time of its inception in 1982 and has been a part of the core team that has developed the company and brought it to its present position of international standing. An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Rajendran leads NIIT’s People initiatives, Information Resources management, and the highly innovative IT and Computer Assisted Learning in schools covering over 1.4 million children every year. He takes keen interest in the area of deployment of ICT for human development and creation of new jobs.

A people-person and a believer in leveraging Information Technology for HR competitiveness, he has helped NIIT emerge as one of the most preferred employers in the Indian IT Industry. The company received the 1998 National HRD Award for the best HR practices, the World HRD Congress 2000 Award for Innovative HR practices and the Delhi Management Association – Watson Wyatt Award 2004 for Excellence in Innovative HR Practice.

Dr. Mahesh Sharma
President, Cambridge College

Dr. Sharma is the President and Professor of Mathematics Education at Cambridge College. Internationally known for his groundbreaking work in mathematics education, he is an author, teacher and teacher-trainer, researcher, consultant to public and private schools, as well as a public lecturer. He is an author and Chief Editor of Focus on Learning Problems in Mathematics, an international, interdisciplinary, research mathematics journal with readership in more than 70 countries, and the Editor of The Math Notebook, a practical source of information for parents and teachers devoted to improving teaching and learning for all children.

He is the founder and President of the Center for Teaching/Learning of Mathematics, Inc., of Framingham and Wellesley, Massachusetts, as well as the President of Berkshire Mathematics in Reading, England. He is also the Co-host of The Learning Center, a Cable Network television program that brings information about learning, teaching, and education to the general public.

Professor Sharma's areas of interest and expertise include all areas of mathematics education, cognitive developmental psychology, problem solving, mathematics learning problems (particularly dyscalculia), and remediation. His pioneering work in the area of the psychology of learning mathematics, dyscalculia and mathematics learning problems, and mathematics learning personality has become an important way of looking at the diagnosis and remediation of learning problems in mathematics.

Janet Whitla
President (1981-2006), Education Development Center

Ms. Janet Whitla is the President Emeritus of Education Development Center (EDC) Inc., an international Non-Governmental Organization conducting research and development, having 1200 staff worldwide with an annual outlay of over 130 million US dollar. From 1981 to 2006, Janet served as EDC's President and Chief Executive Officer and was responsible to its Board of Trustees for all aspects of the organization's operations with particular emphasis on overall leadership and direction.

During Janet's 25 years as President, EDC has seen unprecedented growth, becoming one of the world's leading health and education research organizations. Her vision and outstanding leadership skills have guided EDC through unprecedented growth, including the spectacular expansion in EDC's international work. She was instrumental in laying the foundation for the YES Campaign, at its infancy stage, by hosting it at EDC for over 8 years, until it became an independent international organization, able to stand on its own.

Janet promoted constructive dialogue and engaged in open and respectful discourse to bring out new concepts and ideas for development. She used this technique to distribute responsibility and authority to her colleagues. She was against too many rules, restrictions and hierarchies, which according to her can squash people's ideas, initiative and energy.

Current Service on Boards:

Member, and Past President, Board of Governors, Handel and Haydn Society
Chair, Board of Trustees, New Bedford Whaling Museum
Vice President, Board of Trustees, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra
Member, Board of Trustees, Cambridge College
Member, Board of Trustees Young Audiences of Massachusetts
Member, Board of Trustees, ATLAS Communities ( NAS School Reform Program)

Publications, Research and Professional Presentations:

Janet has written and contributed to numerous publications, many research works and made a variety of professional presentations on a wide variety of educational topics at national and international platforms. Some of her important and co-authored publications are "School Reform Behind the Scenes", "Curriculum in ATLAS", The Diagnostic Teacher, Constructing New Approaches to Professional Development", Curriculum Materials and Teaching", Healthy Development: A Basic Goal for Education", "Social Studies Tests", "Classroom-Centered Evaluation: A Humanistic Approach for the Social Studies" and "Learning About Learning". Some of the other publications are  "The Evaluation Tool Kit", "Success or Failure in Curriculum Development: Six Ways to Know: A Workbook for Teachers and School Administrators", One Nation Indivisible: A Re-Evaluation", "Responsiveness and Reciprocity: The Role of the College Board in Puerto Rico" and "Testing in the Freshman Year, A Handbook for Harvard Advisors" to name a few of them.

YES Campaign Committee

Hafsat Abiola
Director, KIND, Nigeria

Nahas Angula
Former Prime Minister, Namibia

Jennifer Corriero
Co-Founder, TakingITGlobal, Canada

José-María Figueres
President of Costa Rica (1994-98), Switzerland

Samuel Gonzalez
Executive President, Fundación E, Mexico

Koosum Kalyan
Sr. Business Development Advisor, Shell International, South Africa

Sithembiso Nyoni
Founder, ORAP, Zimbabwe

Thoraya Obaid
Executive Director, UNFPA, USA/Saudi Arabia

Ismail Serageldin
DG, Library of Alexandria, Egypt

M. S. Swaminathan
World Food Prize Laureate, India

Anna K. Tibaijuka
Executive Director, UN-Habitat, Kenya/Tanzania

Janet Whitla
President (1981-2006), Education Development Center, Inc, USA

Ms. Janet Whitla is the President Emeritus of Education Development Center (EDC) Inc., an international Non-Governmental Organization conducting research and development, having 1200 staff worldwide with an annual outlay of over 130 million US dollar. From 1981 to 2006, Janet served as EDC's President and Chief Executive Officer and was responsible to its Board of Trustees for all aspects of the organization's operations with particular emphasis on overall leadership and direction.

During Janet's 25 years as President, EDC has seen unprecedented growth, becoming one of the world's leading health and education research organizations. Her vision and outstanding leadership skills have guided EDC through unprecedented growth, including the spectacular expansion in EDC's international work. She was instrumental in laying the foundation for the YES Campaign, at its infancy stage, by hosting it at EDC for over 8 years, until it became an independent international organization, able to stand on its own.

Janet promoted constructive dialogue and engaged in open and respectful discourse to bring out new concepts and ideas for development. She used this technique to distribute responsibility and authority to her colleagues. She was against too many rules, restrictions and hierarchies, which according to her can squash people's ideas, initiative and energy.

Current Service on Boards:

Member, and Past President, Board of Governors, Handel and Haydn Society
Chair, Board of Trustees, New Bedford Whaling Museum
Vice President, Board of Trustees, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra
Member, Board of Trustees, Cambridge College
Member, Board of Trustees Young Audiences of Massachusetts
Member, Board of Trustees, ATLAS Communities ( NAS School Reform Program)

Publications, Research and Professional Presentations:

Janet has written and contributed to numerous publications, many research works and made a variety of professional presentations on a wide variety of educational topics at national and international platforms. Some of her important and co-authored publications are "School Reform Behind the Scenes", "Curriculum in ATLAS", The Diagnostic Teacher, Constructing New Approaches to Professional Development", Curriculum Materials and Teaching", Healthy Development: A Basic Goal for Education", "Social Studies Tests", "Classroom-Centered Evaluation: A Humanistic Approach for the Social Studies" and "Learning About Learning". Some of the other publications are  "The Evaluation Tool Kit", "Success or Failure in Curriculum Development: Six Ways to Know: A Workbook for Teachers and School Administrators", One Nation Indivisible: A Re-Evaluation", "Responsiveness and Reciprocity: The Role of the College Board in Puerto Rico" and "Testing in the Freshman Year, A Handbook for Harvard Advisors" to name a few of them.

Advisors

Sir David Bell
Chairman, Financial Times

Margaret Catley-Carlson
Chair, Global Water Partnership

Hanns Michael Holz
Global Head Public Relations, Deutsche Bank AG

Maritta Koch-Weser
CEO, The Global Exchange for Social Investment

Jeffrey D. Sachs
Director, The Earth Institute

Kamalesh Sharma
Commonwealth Secretary-General

The in-coming Commonwealth Secretariat Secretary-General, Ambassador Kamalesh Sharma had been serving as High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom and India’s representative on the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth since 2004.

He was educated in St. Stephen’s College, Delhi (1957-62), and King’s College, Cambridge (English Literature). He has been a member of the Indian Foreign Service (1965-2001) and has wide-ranging diplomatic experience culminating in five ambassadorial assignments. Ambassador Sharma served as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in Geneva, where he was spokesman for developing countries in United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) during the Uruguay Round (1988-1990). He later became Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. He was also closely involved in the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals.

Throughout his career, Ambassador Sharma has shown a strong commitment to all facets of equitable global relationships, enlightened governance, gender equity and engagement with issues of global regimes involving trade, technology and finance. He was instrumental in focusing consideration within the UN on the issue of youth unemployment and in the continuing initiative known as ‘YES’ (Youth Employment Summit).

He has honorary doctorates from De Montfort and Middlesex universities in the UK. He was a Director of the Peace Academy, New York. He is recipient of the medal of the US Foreign Policy Association of the US, is a Fellow of Harvard University, and is a Governor of Ditchley Foundation.

Ambassador Sharma is married and has two children. His interests include literature, cosmology, spiritual traditions, cricket, Indian classical music, opera and jazz.

Adele S. Simmons
Vice Chairman, Chicago Metropolis 2020

Hanne M Strong
President, Earth Restoration Corp

Cheryl Vince Whitman
Vice President, Education Development Center, Inc.

Muhammad Yunus
Managing Director, Grameen Bank

Staff

Poonam Ahluwalia
President, Youth Employment Summit (YES) Inc., USA.

Ms Poonam Ahluwalia is the Founder and the President of Youth Employment Summit (YES) Inc, an international, nonprofit and development organization with its base in Newton, Massachusetts.

YES Inc. launched a decade long YES Campaign at YES Alexandria 2002, the first YES global summit, under the co-chair of former President Bill Clinton and the First Lady of Egypt, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, to pave the way for providing youth with avenues for leadership building, access to education and training, skills development opportunities, and access to resources, including credit, needed to build productive, decent, and sustainable livelihoods. Presently, she leads YES Campaign in over 64 countries and to her credit, there were three global YES Summits, two YES Regional Summits and today there are over 64 youth-led YES Country Networks that works to promote youth employment policy, programs and activities. There are over 400 programs locally initiated and managed by the YES Country Networks. 
  
Ms. Ahluwalia is often on the road, traveling all over the world, to generate awareness and to raise the resources needed to support the Country Network teams, by meeting with government leaders, foundations and international aid agencies to fund the work.  She has received significant support from the UN and government agencies and private foundations.

The California Legislature and the Indian-American Trade and Commerce Council have honored Ms. Ahluwalia for her work as "an outstanding youth community leader." In 2006, at the YES Kenya 2006 summit, the 64 YES Country Networks recognized her as their torch bearer of hope by presenting her plague and citation.

Prior to starting YES in 2002, she was a Project Director at Education Development Center, (EDC) Inc. where she planned and coordinated USAID funded global workshops on workforce development in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.  

She holds an M.S. in mass communications from Boston University, Boston, Mass. and an M.A. in political science from Rajasthan University, Jaipur, India.  

P.K. Joseph
Director-Programs, YES Inc., New Delhi.

Mr. P.K. Joseph works as Director-Programs, with Youth Employment Summit (YES) Inc., in New Delhi. He dedicated over 17 years of his professional career, in various capacities, focusing his attention on micro-enterprise, youth leadership building, entrepreneurship and managing various development projects.

Currently, he plays a leadership role in organizing YES Global Summits, held every alternate year, such as "YES Alexandria 2002", "YES Hyderabad Forum 2003", "YES Mexico 2004", and "YES Kenya 2006".  He also leads the YES Inc. Team based at YES Regional Center in India. In addition, he also supports the YES India Country Network, having its outreach in over 8 states of India to help them lead in-country youth employment projects and programs.

Prior to his assignment with YES Inc, Joseph worked as Deputy Director, Confederation of Indian Industry, (CII) India’s apex industry association, to manage its BYST Program. He has been engaged with developing a micro credit program that incorporated the provision of seed capital, business mentoring and business development services. He also worked with a few other international and national NGOs in various supervisory and executive positions.

He has a Master’s Degree in Social Work, and two graduate degrees in English Literature and Philosophy. He also holds a PG Diploma in Human Resource Management.

Dacil Acevedo Riquelme
Global Coordinator, YES Country Networks

Dacil Acevedo Riquelme is a Ph.D. candidate in International Relations from Universidad del Salvador (USAL) in Argentina. She has a Master’s degree in International Relations with emphasis in Political International Economy, as well as specializations on youth

Mamta Malik
Manager - YES Fund (India and Kenya)

Mamta has over 10 years of professional work experience, of which a major part of her career has been dedicated towards the development of Micro Credit Programs not only with respect to the provision of Seed Capital to start up businesses, but also providing Business Mentoring and other innovative business development services. She has networked with Financial Institutions / Banks to meet the additional financial requirements of micro entrepreneurs. She has also conceptualized and implemented Business Skill Development based training modules for the entrepreneurs, organized seminars & exhibitions on national & international levels.

Mamta is a Gold Medalist in Professional Diploma in Human Resource Development from AIMA. She holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from Delhi University. During her Masters program she was awarded the "B. C. Jain Memorial Award" & "Moses Scholarship" for outstanding academic performance.

Before joining YES, she worked with Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, looking after its social initiatives. Before joining Escorts, she worked as Head-Core Program with CII's social initiative Bhartiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST). As a part of the Micro Credit Program aiming at entrepreneurship and mentor development, the organization has managed to help over 1000 financially challenged young people to setup their own business units.

Mamta is a versatile and highly motivated management professional, experienced in social work, human resource development and business development, capable of achieving laid down objectives and meeting dead lines.

Karina Kumari
Research Associate, Youth Employment Summit (YES) Inc.

Karina Kumari has a Bachelor’s degree in English, a diploma in Internet Research and Content Mining and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Graphic Designing.

She has experience developing projects working in a charitable organization and awarding contracts on proposals submitted. She also performed as secretary to the same charity based in Rajasthan, India. She has experience in doing research and writing on a wide range of humanitarian discipline topics.

She has also experience in graphic designing of websites, portals, newsletters, etc. Her most relevant experience is in developing appropriate criteria and conducting evaluation for Micro-grants and investments and working to support the grantees.

Johnson Kottakalil
Program Associate, Youth Employment Summit (YES) Inc.

Johnson Kottakalil started his career in the mid 90s as a volunteer while pursuing his Philosophy course. He has served in the villages of eastern Uttar Pradesh ( India) as a campaigner and activist to promote education and health. In the tribal areas of Attappadi, Kerala, India, he joined the hands to empower the tribes to preserve their right on land. He has also rendered his service for the prisoners by conducting many cultural programs in the prisons as a prelude to help them find a better livelihood and bring them to the mainstream with dignity.

As an entrepreneur in the late 90s in the cable industry he has obtained a direct experience in entrepreneurship. He has come across many ground realities which a young entrepreneur has to undergo in this era of globalization. He inspires his friends and colleagues telling that I want to "Have a brain….that never drain…but reign" which he says encompasses the whole idea of empowerment.

He has recently expanded his experience with the Youth Employment Summit serving as Ministerial Liaison for YES Kenya 2006, where he supported the participation of over 60 ministerial delegates.

Johnson pursues his Masters in Rural Development from Indira Gandhi Open University, Delhi through a distance education program. He is a graduate in Economics and one among the aspirants who could not make it to Indian Civil Service.