Our in-house experts specialize in global health, finance, and economics, thereby offering the right mix of experience and skills to design and implement innovative finance solutions with partners representing government, the business and finance sector, implementers, and international organizations.
Andrea brings extensive leadership experience in academia, the public sector, international organizations (WHO, WB, OECD), and the global non-profit sector. Andrea’s past work focused on the economics and policies of preventing and treating the economic burden of chronic diseases, as well as on health financing and governance. Andrea has been recognized as the innovator of the Evidenced Formal Coverage Index metric for universal healthcare coverage, has co-founded the Young Professional Network for Chronic Diseases (YP-CDN), and is the recipient of multiple prestigious awards. She has authored several high level reports, including Development Aid Flows for Chronic Diseases for the Center for Global Development and a leading WEF/Harvard report on the global economic burden of chronic diseases. A native of Austria, Andrea received her PhD in global health from Harvard University, MPH and BSc (First Class Honors) with a full scholarship from Simon Fraser University in Canada, and IB from Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway.
Mariah’s skill set is multifaceted and unique, with previous experience in banking and consumer services for people living with disabilities, and has supported over 180 global companies. At HFI, she provides comprehensive support to the CEO and manages the organization’s office operations. She completed her undergraduate degree in Business Administration at Bowie State University and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Human Resources Management from the University of Maryland University College.
Jingxuan (Thomas) Wang is a public policy student at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Syracuse University, double majoring in international relations and economics, focusing on international political economy. Jingxuan had internships in multiple fields, including think tanks, international organizations, and consulting. His policy interests include economic and finance policy and macroeconomics, with a future career goal in macroeconomic research. He has business-level language skills in Chinese, English, and Japanese.
Sumi is an independent consultant working in the fields of noncommunicable diseases and development for nearly a decade. She is passionate about innovative and smart investments to advance equitable access to NCD services for all, and her expertise in the subject spans various regions, including Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. She has published extensively on the subject of NCDs, the political economy of health and pro-poor policies. She has worked in technical roles leading research and programmes to advance access to health services and to strengthen policy-making processes with the World Health Organization, Partners in Health and a range of research collaborations. She is an alumna of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Autonomous University of Chapingo in Mexico.
Shellie brings a variety of human resources and business operations experience. She is passionate about creating an inclusive and positive team culture. Her work history includes government contracting and the private sector. She completed her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus with a minor in International Business and her MBA from the University of Maryland Global Campus. In her free time, you can catch her reading a good book, relaxing at a movie theater, or working out on the treadmill.
Tanya is a second-year Master’s student at the University of Chicago with a Bachelors in Economics and four years of professional experience in public and private consulting. Prior to joining the graduate school, she supported the political head of a state government in India in re-designing policies and initiating new state programs to plug in systemic gaps. She spent her first year working with UChicago’s early-stage venture capital fund and teams at DigitalDx Ventures and Nia Impact Capital to understand the social impact that financing can create and learn key due diligence skills. She aspires to utilize her skills to drive more innovative impact investment in the healthcare domain.
Gloria combines her passion for performing arts and sciences to create artistically innovative and impact-driven solutions to global challenges. Gloria’s work focuses on using art to transmit scientific knowledge more effectively. In her current role at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Gloria forges partnerships between artists and scientists to support the transformation toward sustainability. Gloria holds a Bachelor of Liberal Arts with a concentration in Social Sciences (Government) from Harvard University and graduated from the English National Ballet School.
Joel is a financial services professional with over 30 years of experience in banking, trade finance, investments, credit, access to finance, and business development in Africa, North America, and Asia. Mr. Carter has held several high level management positions in the financial services industry and international development. Prior to forming Verdant Heights Global, LLC, Joel served as CEO of a $100+ million U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded non-bank financial institution supporting the agricultural sector, after assisting a team of international development experts to establish the organization. Joel holds an MBA degree in finance from LeTourneau University in Houston, TX, USA.
Dr. W. Douglas Evans is Professor of Prevention and Community Health & Global Health in the Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University. Dr. Evans has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters on health education, communication, and social marketing behavior change interventions. Specifically, Dr. Evans’ work focuses on the translation of marketing strategies, including health branding and digital technologies, into intervention strategies to promote adoption of health behaviors and avoidance of health risk behaviors, both in the United States and in LMIC worldwide.
Marina brings over 15 years of experience in corporate development, business and strategic market analysis, marketing, and sales. Having led corporate development efforts and sales efforts at UBS Investment Bank, J.P. Morgan, Mackenzie Financial Services, Burcon NutraSciencce Corp, and Mesko Health Ventures, she is passionate about new technologies and development in health. Other focus areas include effectively communicating complex and scientific principles.
Geoffrey So is the Executive Director, Oncology Policy & Healthcare Systems at Novartis Oncology. Previously, he was Head of Partnerships at the Novartis Foundation, where he worked across the portfolio of global health initiatives to identify strategic partnerships needs and actively cultivate collaborations with partners across private, public and civic sectors to operationalize opportunities that maximize health impact and sustainability. Prior to joining the Novartis Foundation in March 2016, Geoffrey worked at the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, he served as a global health specialist for the Every Woman Every Child initiative and worked on the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; and as an advocacy and communications lead in the Post-2015 Unit in support of the adoption and launch of the 2030 Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Goals Campaign. At WHO/Roll Back Malaria Partnership, Geoffrey was responsible for external relations with governments, civil society and the private sector to raise the political profile of malaria and to mobilize resources to combat the disease. Geoffrey holds a MS in Population & Public Health Research Methodology (Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics) from McMaster University, a BS in Microbiology from the University of Toronto and a college diploma in biotechnology.
Dr. Cary Adams has a BSc Honours degree in Economics, Computing and Statistics from the University of Bath, United Kingdom and a master’s degree in Business Administration. He is a Harvard Business School Alumni, having attended the school’s Executive General Management program. In 2009, Dr. Adams made a career change, moving from the management of international businesses in the banking sector to become CEO of UICC based in Geneva. UICC unites and supports the cancer community to reduce the global cancer burden, to promote greater equity, and to ensure that cancer control continues to be a priority in the world health and development agenda. Its membership base of over 1100 organisations features the world’s major cancer societies, ministries of health and patient groups and includes influential policy makers, researchers and experts in cancer prevention and control. Dr. Adams also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the NCD Alliance and is an advisor to the City Cancer Challenge Foundation and the McCabe Centre for Law on Cancer. In 2014, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in International Relations from the University for Business and International Studies in Geneva and in 2015, an Honorary Doctorate in Health from Bath University. In May 2015, Dr. Adams was awarded ‘CEO of the year’ at the International and European Association conference organized by the Associations Network.
Ranajoy Basu focuses his practices on structured and impact finance with key experience in debt capital markets and impact finance transactions. Ranajoy is recognized as one of the world’s leading lawyers in cross-border impact finance structures, including social and development impact bonds, renewable energy and “green” structured finance transactions as well as being a legal expert in adaptive and sustainable finance. Ranajoy has advised on some of the most innovative financial inclusion structures around the world, including The International Finance Facility for Education. The Educate Girls Social Impact Bond, which aims to improve the education of children in India, and the ground-breaking Utkrisht Bond, which is aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality. He was one of the leading lawyers advising on the IFFIm structure and led the team advising on the International Finance Facility for Education, which is expected to raise $10 billion to help educate 700 million children. Ranajoy’s key clients include supranational, multilateral development banks, NGOs, not-for profit entities, impact funds, industry bodies, regional authorities, banks and corporates on structuring social impact finance solutions.
Lena Konanova is a partner at Selendy & Gay PLLC, a New York litigation, investigations, and disputes law firm. Following her graduation from Harvard Law School, she clerked for Hon. Kim McLane Wardlaw of the Ninth Circuit and then spent a year as litigation fellow in the Racial Justice Program at the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union, where she litigated civil rights cases involving indigent defense, school desegregation, and debtors’ prisons. At Selendy & Gay, Lena has led trials, arbitrations, and successful appeals before federal and state courts. In her plaintiffs’ side practice, she has held wrongdoers and entire industries accountable while securing constitutional rights and recovering billions of dollars in commercial matters. She has also led defenses of high-stakes commercial disputes. Her commitment to the public interest is exemplified by her work helping teachers and other public servants obtain life-changing loan forgiveness, doing her part in addressing America’s $1.6 trillion student debt crisis.
Since 2019, Prabhat Pani is associated with the top Indian Business school in India, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, as Head of Social Sector Interventions and Projects, and as Chairperson of their Post Graduate Program in Development Management. Since 2016, Prabhat is associated with the premier philanthropic organization in India, Tata Trusts, currently, as Senior Advisor for Partnerships, and earlier managing diverse portfolios such as Head of Partnerships, Head – Tata Water Mission, and Head – Digital Interventions. He is currently a member of the Board of Governors of IIM, Sambalpur, India, a Trustee in Tata Power Community Development Trust, India, and on the Advisory Council of YES Foundation, India. During the earlier 30+ years, Prabhat managed roles in for-profit entities in Consumer goods, Telecom and Hospitality spaces, much of it in the Tata Group in India. His last two such roles were as Executive Director in TajSATS Air Catering, India, and as CEO of Ginger Hotels, India.
Before launching Boldly Go Philanthropy, Kyle Peterson led all philanthropic activities on behalf of the multi-generation Walton family, including serving as the Executive Director of the Walton Family Foundation. In this role, he oversaw the transformation of one of the nation’s largest private foundations to support $600 million in annual grant making. Prior to the foundation, Kyle helped to launch, lead, and build FSG, a global consulting firm. During his tenure at FSG, Kyle led over 150 consulting engagements for foundations, companies, and nonprofits and served on FSG’s board of directors. Prior to FSG, Kyle was a country director in Zimbabwe and Rwanda for Population Services International, a consultant with Monitor Consulting, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone. Kyle holds an MBA from the McCombs School of Business and an MPA from the LBJ School of Public Affairs (University of Texas) and a BA in International Studies from the American University.
George Vradenburg serves as Co-Chair of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, a coalition focused on driving global scientific, business, policy and financial coordination in Alzheimer’s preparedness, co-convened in January 2020 by the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s Disease (CEOi) and the World Economic Forum. In this role, George provides general oversight and advocacy and works to ensure the Collaborative remains sustainable and action oriented. George is the Chairman and Co-Founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s (UsA2), a disruptive and catalytic force committed to stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020.
Shelley Zalis is a pioneer for online research, movement leader, and champion of gender equality. She is an internationally renowned entrepreneur, speaker, mentor, mother, and founder and CEO of The Female Quotient.
Zalis works with Fortune 500 companies to advance gender equality across industries. The FQ’s signature pop-up experience, the FQ Lounge (formerly the Girls’ Lounge), brings a Home of Equality to major conferences, companies, and college campuses around the world. The FQ Lounge is the gathering place for leaders of all levels at events such as the World Economic Forum, Cannes Lions, Consumer Electronics Show and the Milken Institute Global Conference. Through the destination-turned-movement, Zalis has connected more than 18,000 women in business and created the largest female-led community to transform workplace culture.
Hafeez Ladha provides advisory services to impact investing and development finance institutions seeking to deploy capital towards socially-driven investments. Most recently he has served as a Private Sector Consultant to the World Bank, an Adviser to the CDC Group on investments in health commodities across LMICs and as the Director of Innovative Finance at the Financing Alliance for Health, overseeing financial instrument designed, deal structuring and negotiations for various blended finance instruments. Prior to this, Hafeez served as a Case Team Leader in Bain & Company’s Washington, DC office focused on serving Private Equity clients and leading Bain’s Global pro bono global social impact team. Hafeez started his career at the Clinton Foundation’s Health Access Initiative helping scale performance-based financing mechanisms for health across Sub-Saharan Africa. Hafeez holds a MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a MPH from Columbia.
Dorje Mundle has spent 20 years working at the nexus between private sector innovation, sustainable markets and social development. Having led CSR efforts at Novartis, Novo Nordisk, among other companies and most recently as Head of the Healthcare Practice at BSR, he is passionate about enabling entrepreneurial innovation within corporations in collaboration with civil society, development and impact investing partners. He’s driven and supported the development of inclusive business models for low income communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Other focus topics and areas of expertise include healthcare, agriculture, food & nutrition, innovative financing, climate change, human rights, supply chains, business ethics, CSR and leadership development.
Vanessa Candeias has worked extensively in global health exploring what systems changes are needed to enable healthier populations. She was up until recently the Head of Global Health and Healthcare Industries and a Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum where she lead a dynamic platform for businesses, governments, civil society organizations and world class experts to shape the global health agenda and co-design and accelerate the implementation of partnerships across the continuum of care. During her time at the World Economic Forum, she was responsible for the work on NCDs including the economic burden of NCDs in collaboration with Harvard School of Public Health, the return on investment for NCD prevention and the role of the private sector in NCDs. She previously worked with the World Health Organization Headquarters on global guidelines, technical assistance to countries and policy development for noncommunicable diseases. Prior to that, she worked at a national level on developing and implementing health promotion policies with the Ministry of Health in Portugal and the Institute of Preventive Medicine of the University of Lisbon. She trained as a nutritionist at the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences in Porto University, holds a Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and graduated as a Global Leadership Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
Dr. Nina Rawal is the founder of emerging health ventures, a global health focused venture capital fund. Previous experience includes the role as Head of Life Science at Industrifonden, Boston Consulting Group in Stockholm and New York, and VP Strategy and Ventures at Gambro. She serves as advisor to Medecins Sans Frontieres’ Innovation Unit and on the nomination committee at Stockholms Sjukhem, a non-profit hospital. She holds a MSc in Biomedicine and a PhD in Molecular Neurobiology, both from the Karolinska Institute, with research work done at Columbia University in New York and Hopital la Salpetriere in Paris. Recognition for her work includes the selection as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and ’40 under 40 – European Young Leader’ by Friends of Europe/Europanova.
Mike co-founded several biopharmaceutical and nanotech companies, including angel and venture capital funds in these same industries. He is a general partner with the Hexagon Regenerative Medicine Fund, which is focused on building companies in the gene and cell therapy space, partnered with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Another of Mike’s companies, Henslin, is developing a next-generation insulin for diabetes. Mike was previously a co-founder and CEO of a pharmaceutical company targeting ocular complications of diabetes, and specialty Contract Research Organization (eyeCRO), which was #264 fastest growing private company in the 2009 Inc. 500. He co-founded Nanopolaris (now Unidym), which was acquired in 2011 by a publicly traded South Korean company for $145M USD, and NanoSource, which was acquired by DuPont in 2002, largely considered the first major acquisition in the nanotech space. Mike was a Trustee for the $9B USD Oklahoma Pension Employees Retirement System (OPERS), and a member of the audit committee. He is a regular attendee of the flagship TED conference, and the World Economic Forum in Davos. He holds a degree in biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma, with additional coursework from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. Mike was named a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2017.
Diana Silimperi is an international public health pediatrician and epidemiologist. She brings over 30 years of global experience leading the planning, design and implementation of integrated healthcare service delivery and health systems strengthening programs in 40 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Silimperi has specialized in the implementation of maternal, newborn and child health; infectious disease; and, more recently, non-communicable disease programs, working with both the public and private sectors on actions ranging from community-based interventions through hospital care. Silimperi leads Abt Associates’ global health portfolio, which includes nearly 2000 staff members working in approximately 60 low- and middle-resource countries. Before joining Abt in 2012, Silimperi was vice president of the Center for Health Services at Management Sciences for Health, where she managed projects in 25 countries and focused on expanding the coverage of quality care and strengthening financial health systems. Her previous experience includes technical leadership on global health and quality projects as well as country program leadership in Africa and Asia.
Nawal Roy is founder and chief executive of Holmusk, a global digital health and big data platform. Roy has deep operating experience in North America, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and South Africa in the financial and health-care sectors. He has significant P&L and operations experience, coupled with more than ten years in top-tier consulting with C-suite executives globally. Roy has been deeply involved in business development and platform building throughout Asia and North America. Before founding Holmusk, Roy was founder and chief executive of fintech ventures at Rocket Internet. Before that he was a junior partner leading the banking and risk practice service line at McKinsey & Company Singapore. Before joining McKinsey, he was managing partner of Shobhit Capital Group, an independent advisory and capital investment firm in New York. Earlier in his career, Roy was a vice-president at Moody’s Investors Service covering financial institutions globally. He also has experience at the KPMG capital markets practice in New York City and has worked as a trading strategist and global risk manager at Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank. Roy has been actively supporting and mentoring social entrepreneurs in the US, Singapore and India. He is an adviser and mentor for Singapore International Foundation’s Young Social Entrepreneurs programme. He is one of the founders of Professional Risk Managers’ International Association. Roy has master’s degrees from both the US (MA in economics and MS in quantitative finance) and India (MA in economics).
Stuart qualified as a doctor from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School, London, and spent the first 10 years of his career as a Royal Navy Surgeon. He completed multiple patrols as a nuclear submariner and subsequently earned his green beret, prior to deploying in the field as a special forces operator. Over the past 20 years, Stuart has lived and worked in Europe, the USA, South East Asia, South Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, and the Middle East, with varied experience, including building businesses from the ground up, to managing multiple site operations with > 2,000 employees. Following 3 years as a sell-side Equity Research Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Stuart moved to the buy-side, where he has transacted on > US$1.5Bn of venture capital and private equity healthcare deals, across multiple sectors including hospitals, diagnostic services, primary care, digital health, and health tech.
Dedicated to improving healthcare delivery globally, Stuart has spent the majority of the past decade on the ground in emerging markets, investing in and then scaling healthcare companies that are primarily targeting low to middle-income patients, with a focus on quality, access, affordability. In addition to his medical degree, Stuart holds a bachelor’s degree in medical sciences with his major in psychology, and completed his MBA with a concentration in Finance at London Business School and Columbia GSB, achieving Dean’s List Honors.
Erin Gregor brings multi-sectoral experience from Bain & Company, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Nations Development Programme, and Congressional campaign management. She also brings significant international experience, having worked in the US, India, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. Her journey with HFI started off as a research and strategy partner to Andrea and Surabhi during the founding of HFI, and she more recently worked to enable leadership success and effective streamlining in the organization. Erin received her Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and prior to that, her Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Journalism at Queensland University of Technology.
Surabhi marries her background in health financing, innovative partnerships and networks, and NCDs with a love of building new things at HFI. She has been dedicated to improving healthcare around the world since 19, starting with her first internship at Amref Health Africa and co-founding GlobeMed. Apart from her work at Results for Development, where she worked on health financing and governing issues with country governments, she has also worked with Novartis Social Business and Global Business Coalition for Health (GBCHealth). Surabhi is the recipient of various awards, such as the Global Health Corps Fellowship, and she received her Master of Public Health from Harvard University and her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and History of Art from the University of Virginia. In her free time, you can catch her reading up on startups, technology and science and applications to population health, art history, and going on hikes.
Michael integrates a background in finance, health, and design, and is a member of the Impact Bond Working Group. He has advanced impact finance in the areas of health, sanitation, education, and mental health, and is a director at the Stanford School of Medicine’s Population Health Sciences Center. Michael has held appointments at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, UC Berkeley’s Blum Center for Developing Economies, and University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Northwestern University, and has advanced collaborations with Oxford and MIT. Apart from that, he has also written two books and has contributed to Forbes.
Iván is a researcher specialized in the field of applied microeconomics. Throughout his career, Iván has developed a balance between policy-oriented research and academia. As an academic he has focused on the application of mathematical modeling, causal inference methods and machine learning to investigate the economics of non-communicable diseases. As a consultant, Ivan has worked extensively for the World Bank, OECD and in the health cabinet at the Mexican Presidency of the Republic. Ivan received his Master and Doctoral degrees in Economics from the Paris School of Economics and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
Sarbani is a senior global health executive with 25 years experience in multilateral development organizations (World Bank), the private pharma and biotech sector and global public-private partnerships (The Global Fund). In her work at the Bank she worked with countries on health financing reforms to drive high performing health systems in Europe and Central Asia, East Asia and Pacific and Africa. She worked with Merck KGaA (EMD Serono in the US) and Roche on driving access strategies in emerging markets with a focus on non-communicable diseases and public-private partnerships. Her area of focus in global health is equitable and sustainable uptake of health care innovations for better population health outcomes in low and middle income countries.
Tagbo combines his unbroken healthcare leadership experience as a physician executive and entrepreneur to effectively build multi-sectoral stakeholder collaborations. He led the largest private hospital integration in Nigeria, post-acquisition and was responsible for the expansion project as the pioneer Medical Director of Lagoon Hospital, Ikoyi (Formerly GCH Bourdillon), a member of the Hygeia group. His current work includes strategic planning and project management of the African Medical Center of Excellence focusing on 3 high burden non-communicable diseases. Tagbo received an MBA, International Healthcare Management from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany and is an alumnus of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, where he earned his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, MB BS.
Charlotte is a Public Health Consultant with interests in NCDs, health policy, women’s health, and the commercial determinants of health. She works across program and policy development, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations. She has an MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her work has taken her from London to Ethiopia, Moldova, South Africa, Myanmar, Laos, the US, Dubai and Cambodia. With HelpAge International she spearheaded a successful $3m grant to strengthen public health capacity for NCDs in Myanmar. She moved to Cambodia in 2016 to take up a role as development advisor with GIZ, focusing on health systems financing, working closely with the Ministry of Health. In 2019 she founded the Cambodian NCD Alliance, an advocacy alliance whose mission is to put NCDs on the political agenda, accelerate action and mobilise resources for NCD prevention and control.
Kanyinsola is a Master of Public Health (Health Management) graduate at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and also works as an Investment Adviser and Healthcare Specialist at the UK-Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF). Prior to her time at Harvard, Kanyinsola led the healthcare investments team at the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) in developing, investing in and operating healthcare infrastructure projects in Nigeria that deliver sustainable risk-adjusted returns and positive social impact. She has clinical experience in the UK National Health Service and also worked as an investment banker with Deutsche Bank, London. She studied medicine at Oxford University and Imperial College, London.
