His prior experiences restructuring undervalued companies at Morgan Stanley’s Leveraged Buy-Out Group in New York and co-creating and co-managing India’s first venture philanthropy fund Impact Partners has enabled Deval to develop a unique social investment model that brings the rigor and discipline of an investment banker to the social sector. In the past eight years, Deval has played a key role in incubating and scaling organizations including Magic Bus, Rural Innovations Network, Anjali, Dreamcatchers Foundation, Sharanam Centre, and Aangan Trust. Deval has also created an institutional hub for international organizations entering into India including International Training and Education Centre on HIV/AIDS (I-TECH) and Technoserve leading to over $1 million in disbursements.

In addition to Dasra, Deval serves as a trustee of the Post Graduate Diploma in Social Enterprise Management Program at South Indian Education Society - College of Management Studies, and serves as a founding board member of Magic Bus and Rural Innovations Network and on the advisory board of Aangan Trust. He began his career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley New York in the Leveraged Buyout Group after completing his Bachelor of Business Administration with a dual degree in Honors Business and Finance and a minor in Asian Studies from The University of Texas at Austin.

Her experiences at Morgan Stanley, UBS Warburg and Harvard Business School bring an analytically rigorous, impact-oriented perspective to portfolio organizations. Neera has assisted portfolio organizations such as Prerana, Ruchika, and Stree Mukti Sanghantana, international donor agencies including the Global Fund for Children, and social venture funds such as Aavishkaar to refine their strategies, invest in micro-enterprise, and develop metrics for tracking impact. She has also organized and facilitated portfolio meetings bringing together non-profit leaders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the United States creating a platform to share best practices and learnings.

In addition to Dasra, Neera incubated Disha, a rural development program for children and women in Kharagpur, West Bengal and is a lecturer for Strategic Planning and Management in Social Enterprises at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. She has also worked with Women’s World Banking and SEWA evaluating equity investment options in microfinance institutions. Neera holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School, a Bachelor of Science in Statistical Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in Honors Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario.

Hayley moved to India in October 2006 and up until March 08 was AVP in HR for GE Capital Services India based out of Mumbai. Her focus in this role was on employee relations and engagement as well as training and development.

Hayley holds a BSc in Psychology and has commenced study for a diploma in clinical and pastoral counseling skills.

Prior to joining Dasra, Ms. Rai worked with South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) a regional network of human rights organisations, based in its office in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Much of her work in human resource development and organisational transformation/change processes has been with NGOs, ranging from community-based organisations to larger regional and international NGOs. She also has considerable experience in gender issues, and her special interests lie in working with youth, women and children. She believes in participatory processes and people-centred development.

For the past several years, Ms. Rai has been working closely with refugees from Bhutan and Burma in Nepal and India respectively, providing capacity building, advisory and management support services. She is also the author of the first-ever research based report on the situation of conflict displaced persons in Nepal , that has been widely used as a reference document for planning and strategizing by governmental and non governmental agencies in Nepal. She has been a member of a group involved in providing input to the Nepal government Ministry of Peace and reconstruction into the development of a set of directives for assistance to IDPs in Nepal. In India, she has worked closely with partner organisations on issues concerning Burmese refugees and is currently in the process of co-authoring a report on the status and situation of Somali refugees in India.

As a founding member of People’s Watch, he established its human rights education programme and scaled it up to reach more than 2,000 teachers across the state of Tamil Nadu. He also serves on the Child Welfare Committee in the Social Welfare Department and is a Zonal Convener for Tamil Nadu’s state-level Campaign Against Child Trafficking. Due to his in-depth understanding of the sector and its needs, numerous philanthropists and donors including American Jewish World Service (AJWS) have looked to Vana for hands-on-support and guidance leading to over $1 million in funding for development in disaster-affected areas. He has also been instrumental in facilitating 12 learning exchanges and in strengthening community participation and problem solving capacity.

In addition to Dasra, Vana is the founder/chairman of Manitham Trust, an organization improving the quality of education in ten villages. Vana completed his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the American College of Madurai and his Bachelor of Arts in Education from Bharathiar University.

As manager based in Delhi at a professional services firm, the Smart Cube, she has also developed management expertise to provide value-added business intelligence for Europe and US-based blue-chip companies. Shweta has consistently worked in close collaboration and cultivated relationships with the private sector, country governments, civil society and international funding agencies. Additionally, she has published several working papers and articles for the World Bank and the media.

Shweta has a Master of Arts degree in International and Development Economics from Yale University, and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University. She is addicted to yoga, scuba diving, reading and travel.

Prior to Dasra, Parthiban worked at the Department of Social Work at the American College of Madurai as a lecturer.

Parthiban has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Masters of Arts in Social Work from the American College, affiliated to the Madurai Kamaraj University.

Parthiban has a great passion for traveling, photography and watching films.

Sameer had been working with the Diamond Jubilee High School in Mumbai under the Aga Khan Education Service India for seven years before joining Dasra. There, Sameer had been looking after the schools’ finances. In his free time, Sameer volunteers in Mira Road as the head of the education development committee in order to help students in that area secure their education. He also enjoys watching cricket games, going to the movies and listening to music.

Sameer completed a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai in 2000.

Prior to Dasra Himanshu has worked with corporations like Gammon, ICICI Bank and IDFC Private Equity mainly focused on the public private partnership model for development of physical infrastructure. He has worked on financial modeling, documentation and financial closure of projects in the transport sector. Himanshu is an MBA in Finance from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. An avid hiker and keen amateur photographer, he loves to wander over little known hills and dales.

Before joining Dasra, Sarika worked with “Diamond Jubilee High School for Girls” in the Administration Department for the last 2 and half years. In her free time, Sarika enjoys listening to music, seeing movies and going on picnics.

Sarika holds a Post Graduation Degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai in 2006.