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Joost Bonsen (MIT)
 Joost
Bonsen is a Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Joost joined the Advisory Board of Educate Lanka in
2011 when he advised its founder to become a finalist of MIT
$100K Elevator Pitch Contest through his course – Development
Ventures – at the Media Lab. Joost studies innovation everywhere,
from invention in research labs through action in entrepreneurial
startups and innovation ecosystems generally. He most recently
finished the Management of Technology program at MIT Sloan with
his thesis The Innovation Institute: From Creative Inquiry
Through Real-World Impact at MIT.
Prior to MIT Sloan, Joost ran the MIT Founders Project which
quantified the economic impact of MIT-related entrepreneurs,
findings ultimately published by BankBoston as MIT: Impact of
Innovation. Formerly an entrant, mentor, judge, and Lead
Organizer of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, he was
instrumental in the growth of and recent doubling of the prize
fund to include a Development and Social Impact Track. He is
co-founder of the Howtoons Project which distributes educational
cartoons showing kids everywhere "How To" build things using
everyday materials and tools. He is co-founder of the MIT
Innovation Club, TechLink and numerous entrepreneurial events and
gatherings, including the MIT Chairman’s Salons. Joost was
co-creator and founding Teaching Assistant or instructor of
several MIT classes and seminars, including the IAP Nuts &
Bolts of Business Plans with Joe Hadzima and Developmental
Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovations with Sandy Pentland, and
most recently Neurotechnology Ventures with Ed Boyden &
Rutledge Ellis-Behnke.
He has hosted a weekly television show HighTechFever since
1999 (over 250 unique interviews with inventors, entrepreneurs,
venture capitalists, professional service providers, and more)
and has run entrepreneurial networking VentureNights at the MIT
Muddy Charles Pub since the mid-1990s. Joost did his Bachelor's
in Bio-Electrical Engineering also at MIT.
Bhaskar Chakravorti (The Fletcher School |
McKinsey)
 Professor Bhaskar
Chakravorti joined The Fletcher School at Tufts University in
2011 as the Senior Associate Dean for International Business and
Finance and Executive Director of Fletcher’s Institute for
Business in the Global Context and the Center for Emerging
Markets Enterprises (CEME). He also serves on the Fletcher
faculty as Professor of Practice in International Business.
Professor Chakravorti joined the Advisory Board of Educate Lanka
in 2012 when its founder was a student of his at the Fletcher
School.
Prior to Fletcher, professor Chakravorti was a Partner of
McKinsey & Company and a Distinguished Scholar at MIT’s
Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship. He also
served on the faculty of the Harvard Business School and the
Harvard University Center for the Environment. He was a leader
of McKinsey's Innovation and Global Forces practices and served
on the Firm’s Knowledge Services Committee. In a 20+ year career
as consultant and educator, he has advised over 30 companies in
the Fortune 500, policy-makers, investors and entrepreneurs. His
work has spanned multiple geographies: the Americas, EU, Asia and
Africa. At Harvard, he taught innovation, entrepreneurship
management, and new venture formation, co-chaired an immersion
program to India, and published research on innovations triggered
by adversity and crises.
Professor Chakravorti’s prior appointments include: Partner
and Thought Leader at Monitor Group; game theorist and member of
the technical staff at Bellcore (formerly, Bell Labs); assistant
professor of economics at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign; officer of TAS, the executive cadre for the
Tata Group. His economics PhD is from the University of
Rochester where he was a University Fellow. He is a graduate of
the Delhi School of Economics and in economics with honors from
Delhi’s St. Stephen’s College. Professor Chakravorti and his
wife, Gita, live in Brookline, MA with their two children, Tarit
and Sahana, and two fairly agreeable cats.
John Hammock (The Fletcher School | Oxford |
ACCION)
 Professor
John Hammock is a Professor of Public Policy at the Fletcher
School at Tufts University and a Research Fellow at the Frederick
S. Pardee Center for the study of the Longer-Range Future at
Boston University. He is the co-founder of the Oxford Poverty and
Human Development Initiative established to build a
multidimensional economic framework for reducing poverty.
Professor Hammock joined the Advisory Board of Educate Lanka in
2012 when its founder was a student of his course – Understanding
and Managing International NGOs: Ethics and Practice – at
Fletcher that used Educate Lanka as a case study.
He was founder and Director of the Tufts University Feinstein
Center that undertakes research and technical assistance in
humanitarian emergencies. He was President of Oxfam America for
eleven years and served as Executive Director of ACCION
International that provides credit to micro-enterprises. He was
the Managing Director of Global Equity Initiative at Harvard. His
work centers around human development and values, with particular
focus on policy issues and implementation. Professor Hammock
co-authored Practical Idealists: Changing the World and Getting
Paid. He is Chair and Acting Executive Director of Episcopalians
for Global Reconciliation. He holds a doctoral degree in
International Relations from Tufts University and an Honorary
Doctor of Laws degree from Denison University. He was born in
Cuba. He has two daughters and two grandchildren.
Raj Melville (Deshpande Foundation | MIT)
 Raj
Melville is an Executive Director at the Deshpande Foundation
where he develops overall strategy and channels the Foundation’s
efforts to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation. Raj joined
the Advisory Board of Educate Lanka in 2011 when he mentored the
Educate Lanka team to finals at MassChallenge 2011.
Previously, as Principal at Ambient Engines, Raj provided
marketing and strategy consulting to emerging social
entrepreneurs. He founded the annual Forum for Social
Entrepreneurs, organized and moderated numerous panels and
workshops on social entrepreneurship, and currently mentors
several startups focused on addressing key social issues. Raj has
over 25 years of product management, marketing and consulting
experience including managing overall product strategy and
features as Vice President, Product Management for nTAG
Interactive, a spin off from the MIT Media Lab. As V.P. Product
Management and Marketing, and later V.P Client Services, at
mobile software vendor Vaultus, another MIT spinoff, (now part of
Antenna Software) he provided marketing, product management and
client services direction. Prior to that he was Sr. Director,
Product Management at Be Free Inc. (now Valueclick), a market
leading affiliate marketing ad server and e-commerce solution.
Earlier he managed the launch of two high-end Internet server
products at Electronic Book Technologies (later acquired by
Inso). His early career included working at Microsoft Corp.,
Digital Equipment Corporation, and Booz Allen & Hamilton.
He is an active member of TiE Boston and the India Society
of Worcester and co-founded the TIE Social Entrepreneurship
Group. He has been a mentor and judge for several entrepreneurial
competitions such as MassChallenge, MIT 100K, MIT IDEAS, as well
as the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at
MIT. Raj has a Doctor of Science in engineering from MIT focusing
on optimizing the operation of computerized manufacturing
systems; a Master’s from MIT’s Sloan School; and a Bachelor’s
from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
Patrick Mendis
 Professor
Patrick Mendis is a distinguished senior fellow in the School of
Public Policy and an affiliate professor of public and
international affairs, both at George Mason University. He serves
as the founding chair of the Board of Advisors at Educate Lanka.
A former American diplomat and a military professor in the
NATO and Pacific Commands during the Clinton and Bush
administrations, professor Mendis served as the vice president of
academic affairs at the Osgood Center for International Studies
and a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins University’s Nitze
School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. In
2012, American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed him as
a commissioner to the US National Commission for UNESCO. He is the
author of several books, including Commercial Providence, Trade
for Peace, and Glocalization, and more than 100 articles.
Dr. Mendis earned his PhD in geography/applied economics from
the University of Minnesota, MA in international development and
foreign affairs from the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs,
and BS in business administration and economics (first class
honors) from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. An alumnus of
the Harvard Kennedy School, Professor Mendis is a fellow of the
World Academy of Art and Science.
He is the founder of the Tsunami Leadership Caring “TLC”
Foundation. He has established a number of tsunami scholarships,
the Sarvodaya Peace Prize, and two annual awards at the University
of Sri Jayewardenepura. Professor Mendis has also funded over 100
Kiva micro-loan projects in more than 35 countries and established
the annual Edward Burdick Legislative Award at the University of
Minnesota. He has traveled to and worked in more than 100
countries and visited all 50 states in the United States. He and
his family live in the Washington, DC, area.
Srilal Perera
 Professor Srilal
Perera is Adjunct Professor of Law and International Research
Scholar in Residence at the Washington College of Law of the
American University in Washington DC. He retired in 2010 as the
Chief Counsel at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
(MIGA) of the World Bank Group after serving there for 21 years.
He is one of the Founding Board of Advisors of Educate Lanka and
has been a personal mentor to its founders.
Professor
Perera has an extensive professional and legal experience with
international organizations such as the Colombo Plan, UNDP, and
the World Bank. Prior to joining MIGA, he served as an attorney
and legal counsel to the president of the Iran–United States
Claims Tribunal in the Hague in the Netherlands.
Professor Perera had his legal education at the University
of Sri Lanka where he earned an LL.B (1972) and received his
licentiate to practice law from the Sri Lanka Law College (1975).
He took his oaths as an Attorney at Law in 1975 before the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Thereafter, he earned a Masters
Degree in International Affairs (M.A.) at the School of Advanced
International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, in
1977, with specialization in international law and international
economics. He completed his Ph.D. at Georgetown University,
Washington, D.C. in 1985, with specialization in International
Law and International Relations.
An alumnus of Harvard Business School’s Executive
Development Program, professor Perera has published a number of
journal articles and traveled extensively. He was recently
nominated and appointed by the Government of Sri Lanka to the
Panel of Arbitrators and Conciliators of Sri Lanka with the
prestigious International Centre for the Settlement of Investment
Disputes (ICSID) in Washington DC. He and his family reside in
Virginia, USA.
Fernando Reimers (Harvard Graduate School of
Education)
Professor Fernando M. Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of
International Education and the Founding Director of the
International Education Policy Program at the Graduate School of
Education and an Affiliated Professor at the Law School at
Harvard University. Professor Reimers joined the Advisory Board
of Educate Lanka in 2011 when its founder was a student of his
course - Educational Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship in
Comparative Perspective – that examines the role of entrepreneurs
and of public private partnerships to generate and sustain
educational innovation.
He is the founding co-chair of the
Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative. He is a member of the
Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, a member of the Council
of Foreign Relations, a Fellow of the International Academy of
Education, Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda
Council on Education and Member of the Middle East and North
Africa Advisory Group of the World Economic Forum as well as a
member of the United States National Commission for UNESCO.
Prior to joining the Faculty at the Graduate School of
Education in 1997, professor Reimers was Senior Education
Specialist at the World Bank. He also worked as Research
Associate, Institute Associate and Fellow at the Harvard
Institute for International Development and on the faculty at
Universidad Central de Venezuela. He has extensive experience in
the area of international development assistance with the USAID,
the World Bank, the IADB, and other Development Organizations. He
has worked in China, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and most countries
in Latin America.
He serves on a number of other advisory boards of
educational organizations, including the Board of Directors of
Room to Read, the Board of Directors of CEDAC in Brazil, the
Advisory Board for the Inter-American Program on Education for
Democratic Values and Practices at the Organization of American
States, the Board of Overseers of the Boston Museum of Science,
the Advisory Board of the World Computer Exchange; the Advisory
Board of the Federal Institute for the Evaluation of the Quality
of Education in Mexico.
In 2009, he received an honorary degree from Emerson
College for his work promoting human rights and the right to
education around the world. Professor Reimers is married to
Eleonora Villegas-Reimers, Professor of Education at Wheelock
College. They have two sons, Tomas and Pablo.
Kim Wilson (The Fletcher School)
Kim Wilson is a Lecturer at the Fletcher School at Tufts
University and a Fellow with Feinstein International Center,
Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University. Kim joined the
Advisory Board of Educate Lanka in 2012 when she advised the
founder on his thesis on Educate Lanka – “From Educate Lanka to
Educate World: Tackling Development through Innovative
Educational Solutions, One Nation at a Time”
Spending time in India beginning in 2001 through 2005,
Professor Wilson worked closely with savings groups, connecting
them to banks with a particular focus on tribal areas. Prior to
joining Tufts, she was Director of the Global Micro-Finance Unit
at CRS (Catholic Relief Services), responsible for redesigning
strategy for CRS’ global microfinance programming – shifting
focus on credit to the poor to savings of the poor. She has also
consulted to UNDP, WFP, and many international NGOs including
CARE, CRS, and the Aga Khan Foundation as well as commercial
financial institutions. She is co-editor of Financial Promise for
the Poor, Kumarian Press. Previously, she was in the private
sector, occupying senior management positions in finance and
franchising.
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