Team

Indonesian Field Director

Alfan Rodhi

Alfan has been working on education, good governance, and community development projects for over ten years. He has extensive experience working in urban poor communities throughout Indonesia including in Jakarta, Malang, Makassar, and Aceh; in building and managing teams of people for user acquisition; and conducting user interface studies. Alfan manages user acquisition, onboarding, user feedback, and manages a team of community moderators who post regularly on AtmaGo and provide feedback on features needed.

Operations and Program Director

Ari Turrentine

Ari is an organizational change leader, passionate about DI&E, and organizational development/design. Ari has a background in social impact technology organizations and was the VP of Operations at Next Thing Co., the startup that invented the $9 computer. Ari brings a learning and data perspective to her work, ignited by her time as a Research and Evaluation Analyst at VentureWell, and a Fellow at the TexasConnector. Ari holds a Masters of Science in Social Work and a certificate in Nonprofit Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. in Psychology from Lewis and Clark College.

Community Manager and UI/UX Developer

David Khoirul

David is a translator, graphic designer, and community outreach specialist. He speaks English, Indonesian and Javanese. David has worked for HBO Asia, Google, Uber, and Motorola. He was a member of the English Student Association of the University of Ronggolwre from 2005 to 2008, and the FKPPG Youth Communication Forum in Lamongan from 2006 to 2009. David graduated from the University of Ronggolawe with a degree in language education.

Head of Technology

Ardy Satria

Ardy Satria is a Technology Strategy Advisor / Consultant, Ecommerce Specialist, Software Architect. He has more than 10 years building tech startups. Ardy has built and lead software engineering teams from 0 to 35 software engineers in (Pegipegi.com, Groupon Indonesia, Mbiz.co.id, and LYKE). He loves to design system architecture, to solve complex problems, to deliver solutions that meet specific business objectives, take the lead on the development process, and help businesses to be successful.

Chief Financial Advisor

Barbara Finnin

Barbara Finnin has over 18 years of experience providing finance, human relations and executive leadership for emerging and established nonprofits and businesses. She is a consultant to The Democracy at Work Institute and served as a LeaderSpring Fellow from 2012-2014. Barbara has advised the City of Oakland on land use planning and also served as Executive Director of City Slicker Farms. She holds a BA in Anthropology Sociology from University of Maryland College Park where she graduated Magnum Cum Laude.

Frontend Developer

Eka Jayani Ayuningtyas

Eka is a self-taught front-end developer who is passionate about user experience, progressive enhancement, and accessibility. Previously, she has worked as a media and admin staff, language instructor, interpreter and translator in local and international organizations as well as independently. Her interests include food, music, digital art, subcultures, and interdisciplinary creative communities.

Founder, CEO

Meena Palaniappan

Meena has been implementing community-based technology projects in the developing world for nearly two decades. An environmental engineer and technologist, she has launched technology projects in Africa and Asia. Meena was the principal investigator for a $1.3 million USAID project to build the WATER SMS mobile to web crowd-sourced mapping system to improve water services for the poor in Indonesia. She has worked with the Pacific Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) on sustainable community development, pollution prevention, and environmental justice, co-authoring the EDF’s Environmental Sustainability Kit. Meena received a Master of Science degree in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and an Engineering degree from Northwestern University.

Social Media and Evaluation Manager

Jimmy Welles

Jimmy is on our Indonesian team working to understand, measure, and evaluate AtmaGo’s social impact and outreach. He has extensive experience as a market researcher, translator and teacher. He was an AusAID/ADS Scholarship awardee 2010-2012 and holds a Master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Australia’s La Trobe University.

Partnerships and Operations Associate

Natasha Mevs-Korff

Natasha is experienced in data collection and research having worked with the Texas Policy Evaluation Project and an array of nonprofits that advocate for underserved and marginalized populations in Austin, TX. She holds a B.A. in Geography and Latin American Studies from The University of Texas at Austin.

Director of Engineering

Ramadhi Irawan

Rama is a project manager, systems designer, and developer who loves to solve problems using technology. He has worked for Brodo Ganesha Indonesia, Atreus Global and Gellies Media building systems using Java, PHP, C and other technologies. Rama has taught computer science and holds an MS in Information Systems and Technology from Swinburne University of Technology.

Product Owner

Hesti Wulandari

Hesti specializes in Indonesia’s high traffic mobile app consumer market in terms of product strategy, partnership, content, and growth. Her tech expertise comes from past experience at Alibaba (UCWeb – UC Browser & UC News app) and ByteDance (Mainspring Technology – BABE app). She holds BA in Criminology from University of Indonesia and online course certifications in Consumer Analytics from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and Fundamentals of Market Structure from the New York Institute of Finance.

Global Strategic Advisor

Minh Chau Nguyen

Minh Chau spent 25 years working with the World Bank Group in Washington DC. As an economist at the World Bank, Minh Chau was responsible for policy dialogues, project evaluations, and loan negotiations for projects in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She also served as the head of the Gender and Development Division at the World Bank. In this position, she led the World Bank delegation to the Women’s World Conference in Beijing in 1995. Minh Chau received her M.S. in economics from the University of Washington, and Advanced Management Training certificate from Harvard Business School.

Senior Partnerships Manager

Silvia Yulianti

Silvia has been working for almost 20 years both in the profit and non-profit sectors, while maintaining her interest in the field of environment, sustainability and community development. Her role is to increase women’s participations and to build partnerships with women’s organizations throughout Indonesia. She received her bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Universitas Indonesia and Master of Science degree in Environmental Science and Technology from the UNESCO-IHE Delft, The Netherlands.

Business Development Manager

Yvonne Chen

Yvonne Chen supports Atma Connect’s business development activities. She works with the US staff and the Indonesia team to cultivate business relationships and convert them into business opportunities. She has arranged business deals and coordinated million-dollar proposals across Indonesia. For four years she lived and worked in Indonesia where she become proficient in Indonesian language and political economy and where she worked for the American Chamber of Commerce, USAID SEADI business enabling environment project, and the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV). Yvonne holds a master’s in international development studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and political science degree from Middlebury College. She leverages her extensive network and skills to support Atma’s revenue goals. During her stay in Indonesia, Yvonne saw first-hand the power of complete strangers helping her, an immigrant, in times of need–when she was in a motorcycle crash, when she was stranded in a Jakarta flood. That is why she is proud to work for Atma, a company that amplifies the work of neighbors helping neighbors.

I am delighted to be the Board Chair of Atma Connect, now an award-winning technology non-profit in the San Francisco Bay Area, and take part in Atma Connect’s exciting future. – Lisa Nash

Board

Board Chair

Lisa Diaz Nash

Lisa is the Co-Founder of a national political advocacy organization. She is an expert marketer with 30+ years of consumer and cause marketing experience to create strong customer satisfaction, deep engagement and high retention. Lisa was formerly the Chief Marketing Officer of Thrive Networks and Executive Director of Blue Planet Network, an award-winning global clean water and sanitation nonprofit. She is a member of the Swarthmore College President’s Council and serves on the Board of Directors of We Players, a San Francisco arts nonprofit. Lisa was recognized as Silicon Valley 100 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in November 2012. Lisa holds a Graduate Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from National Taiwan Normal University and a BA with Honors in Political Science and Asian Studies from Swarthmore College.

Board Officer

Kush Amerasinghe

Kush is a Computer Scientist / Futurist at Adobe, exploring new frontiers of creativity, business, and technology. He has co-founded 4 technology and media companies and pioneered many internal initiatives within them. He has gained a diverse set of working experiences spanning across 6 countries in 3 continents and many industries such as computer graphics, video, disk based media, to web and mobile. Kush also has a strong focus on problem solving and improving the world. He serves on multiple boards of non-profits and acts as an advisor and volunteer for organizations covering areas including art, community, environment, and well-being.

Board Officer

Tina Shakour

Tina has over 20 years in sales, marketing, and engineering in the tech industry and Silicon Valley. Formerly an engineer, she has had the opportunity to build marketing organizations for start-ups and top tech companies. She now leverages her technical background and analytical nature with the creativity needed to crack the code for large tech companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, Skype, eBay, and VMWare, along with early start-ups, and non-profits. As a woman in tech, she advocates for educating boys and girls in STEM and serves as a mentor for women in technology programs and her local community.

Board Secretary

Sergio Paluch

Sergio has 20 years of experience and has worked for Autodesk, Scribd.com and Wells Fargo. Sergio is the co-founder of Atma Connect and the founder of Montparnas, a firm that helps start-ups grow business lines and customer retention strategies. He has led and set product strategies for companies such as Tivo, Google, Scribd, Flurry, FairTrade USA, Wells Fargo, LeapFrog and HubSpot, among others. He holds an MA in Development Economics and International Development from Boston University.

Board Officer

Bapon Fakhruddin, PhD

Dr Fakhruddin is an expert climate change risk assessor with 16 years’ global experience in working on disaster risk and climate resilience projects. Dr Fakhruddin is currently working as a mentor and supervisor for post graduate study in disaster risk management in University of Auckland (UoA). He is a Science Committee Member of IRDR of ICSU/UNISDR, Co-Chair for the Disaster Loss DATA and Risk Interpretation and Applications (RIA) Working Group of IRDR of ICSU/UNISDR. He is also Co-Chair CODATA task group Linked Open Data for Global Disaster Risk Research (LODGD) and PSG member of the Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project (CIFDP) and Open Panel of Commission for Hydrology Experts (OPACHE) of WMO. Recently Dr Fakhruddin appointed by the Government of New Zealand to develop national climate change risk assessment.

Board Officer

Nicholas Cain

Nick is a cofounder of Atma Connect and served as VP and Deputy Director for four years. Nick currently teaches public policy at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy and works as a consultant. He has worked for the Sierra Club, the Pacific Institute, and Southern California Edison among other organizations. Nick holds a PhD in Environmental Policy and World Politics from Claremont Graduate University and an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University.

Emeritus Board Chair

Jennifer Mitrenga Maymon

Jennifer is the Founder and Managing Partner for Kijamii Capital and Vice President of Global Business Development and Women’s Philanthropy at Opportunity International. She invests her time, talent and treasure in individuals, organizations and ideas focused on women’s empowerment, social forward thinking, disruptive technologies and solutions to the world’s most significant problems. She has taken executive education courses at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business and holds a BA in Finance & Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Board Treasurer

Meena Palaniappan

“With Meena’s strong leadership, I am confident Atma Connect will scale globally to empower millions of poor people to become change agents of their own future. She is leading her team to build a robust technology solution in poor and vulnerable communities so they can help each other get better access to basic needs, respond to disaster, and improve their community from the ground up,” shared Lisa Nash, Board Member. Adrienne Bloch, Board Member shared, “I am inspired by Meena’s vision of AtmaGo. Meena’s twenty years of experience has given her the insight needed to address chronic problems faced by poor people globally. Her extensive fieldwork in Indonesia, Africa, Mexico and India has shown her the in-depth reasons of why existing systems continue to fail the very poor. One hallmark of Meena’s thinking that is unique and extraordinary is the innovative way that Meena approached studying the issues of water security, technology and the environment. She focused on perspectives that are too often missing in humanitarian aid and development – the voices of poor communities and those at the bottom of the pyramid. It was her frustrations with this disregard to the voices of the poor that influenced her in dedicating a lifetime to developing technologies that address this issue.”

Advisory Council

Public Investment Manager, Cisco Foundation

Erin Connor

Founder and Principal, Elevar Equity

Maya Chorengel

CEO and Founder, Flurry

Sean Bynes

Executive Director, Cisco Foundation

Peter Tavernise

Co-Founder, Institute for Transformative Technologies

Shashi Buluswar

Matleena Venable

Website Designer

Matleena Venable

Sam Shingledecker

Website Developer

Sam Shingledecker