Munir Ahmad

Munir serves as the Global Innovation Lead at the Aga Khan Foundation Lead at AKF, driving design and innovation by leading global teams, managing collaborative creativity, mentoring internal innovation champions and supporting strategic design-led social impact initiatives. Munir leads AKF's Innovation portfolio globally, focusing on leveraging design and technology to co-create innovative solutions together with communities to scale, replicate, and bring to life impactful and sustainable ideas. A graduate of the Designing for Social Systems Program at Stanford d.school, his passion is to apply approaches from the world of design and the private sector to problem-solving for development. Prior to joining AKF, Munir worked at Hewlett-Packard as an Educational Innovation Specialist where he coordinated a social investment initiative helping unemployed youth acquire business and technology skills to start their own businesses and enter professional life. This training programme was implemented in more than 500 training centres on five continents and reached more than one million beneficiaries. In addition to his experience in the social sector, he also created his first tech start-up when he was 22 years old. Munir holds a Master's in Computer Engineering. He speaks Portuguese, English, and Hindi.

Sarayu Agarwal

Sarayu is the Global Innovation and Design Advisor at Aga Khan Foundation, where she collaborates with teams across country offices to develop their mindset and capacity for using human-centered design tools and methodologies to create impactful and contextually relevant social innovations. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, London, Sarayu is dedicated to championing end communities by elevating their lived experiences to inform decision-makers, fostering a shared understanding of complex challenges, and co-designing transformative innovations. With over a decade of experience, Sarayu has led design initiatives across various sectors, including healthcare, education, agriculture, financial inclusion, youth justice, and employment. Her clients have ranged from philanthropic foundations and non-profits to government bodies and businesses, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, Oxfam, International Rescue Committee, and the Ministry of Justice, UK.

Luis Angarita

Colombo Canadian designer, product innovator, professor, and entrepreneur with a bachelor’s in industrial design, a master’s in design from Domus Academy in Milan, and a master’s in environmental design from UQAM in Montreal, Associate Professor, Head of the Industrial Design Program, and Co-Director of the Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Arizona State University, focusing on fostering innovation and interdisciplinary learning. His work has earned awards like the Red Dot Design Award, three Steel Pencil Awards, and the Arts and Business Personality Award of Montreal. He co-founded CD&I Associates, where he has helped global companies innovate. Luis has also taught at OCAD University and Toronto Metropolitan University and created innovation courses for universities in Canada, Colombia, and the USA. A frequent speaker at international institutions, Luis's research focuses on fostering creativity and innovation. He is actively involved in equity and inclusion initiatives, using design to address global challenges.

Ana Barfield

Ana Barfield is on a mission to improve access to learning opportunities for the world’s remotest communities. With more than fifteen years' experience designing and implementing innovative training solutions for underserved communities around the world, Ana has led the development of hundreds digitally enabled learning solutions adapted to target audiences in low-tech environments, including video-based and blended courses, learning management systems, and learning platforms. In her current role, Ana is responsible for amplifying the Aga Khan Foundation’s best practices across the international development sector globally and for catalysing an inclusive organisational culture of learning, sharing, innovation and collaboration. Ana leads on AKF’s Learning Hub (www.akflearninghub.org), initiated in 2014 through the very first Human-Centred Design process AKF conducted. Ana has designed and facilitated trainings for adult learners and completed professional assignments in China, Egypt, France, India, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Uganda, the USA. Ana is fully professionally proficient in English (native), Serbo-Croatian (native), French, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish, and has lived in Switzerland (current), China, the USA, the UK, Syria, and ex-Yugoslavia.

Annette Brown

Annette Brown, Ph.D. is an economist and organizational leader with more than 25 years of experience in the field of international development. She is currently the Chief Strategy and Evidence Officer at FHI 360. Her expertise includes organizational leadership and growth, strategy and innovation, research and evaluation, program management, and technical assistance. She has worked in corporate, nonprofit, and multilateral organizations and in academe. Her research and program experience spans most development sectors, including economic growth, democracy and governance, and global health. Brown has worked in more than thirty countries and advised policy makers in all regions of the world.

Cristian Rodrigo Romero Chávez

Christian Rodrigo Romero Chávez is a dedicated and passionate mental health professional and researcher, recognized for his innovative contributions to psychosocial support for vulnerable populations. With a strong academic background in psychology from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Romero is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on the intersection of migration, substance use, and public health, with a particular emphasis on addressing mental health disparities in marginalized communities.

Ralitsa Diana Debrah

Ralitsa Diana Debrah (PhD.) is a designer and educator with over a decade of experience in local and international consulting. She lectures at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana and is a facilitator and researcher for the e/merge Africa Network at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. As an ambassador for Open Design Afrika (ODA), co-founder of Inclusive-Tech Group (ITG), and Technology and Innovation Specialist, she is committed to leveraging design for social change and sustainability. She is actively involved in several design organizations, including the World Design Organization (WDO), DESIS Network, Cumulus Association, and Pan Afrikan Design Institute (PADI), where she promotes innovation and inclusion through design.

Sagrario Espinosa

Sagrario Espinosa has been a teacher since 1990, she loves to share her knowledge with others, especially math. She is developing a program to learn math as a language and combining the best practices in math teaching. She studied Electronic Engineering and is a postgraduate in Humanistic Psychology for Human Development. She was a professor and had directive roles at several universities and high schools in Tijuana, Rosarito and Guanajuato, México. Her practice has been characterized by constant innovation and the search for the development of critical and creative thinking in her students. Her proposals for curriculum design and teacher training reflect her search for healthier ways of being human and for making a dignified life viable for all. In 2017, she and her husband Humberto Macías developed ZEITGEISTprogram and over the past seven years they have been iterating with Agile methodology, until the current state of the project. ZEITGEISTprogram is a team. Humberto Macías is also a Chemical Engineer and has a postgraduate degree in Philosophy and Social Sciences. He is the mind behind the innovations in resources and technology. In 2020 Mariana Barrena joined the project to implement a better financial administration, and with the economical support of Sara Mora, ZEITGEISTprogram could take place in its current home, a rustic, environmentally respectful and warm village. Since January 2022 Omar Lozano has collaborated as a wonderful tutor, giving close and careful mentoring to each kid and his/her family.

Lilián González-González

Lilián González-González is an Industrial Designer and Academic Coordinator at Anahuac University of Mexico. She serves as a Board Advisor (2024-) and previously as a Board Member (2022-2023) of the World Design Organization (WDO), and is on the Editorial Board of "Worldesign" Magazine by DOMUS. She also holds a position on the Board of Advisors at the Don Norman Design Award. Lilián holds a Ph.D. in Critical Theory focusing on "Social Design Experience for a common good” and a Certificate in Critical Theory on Disability. She obtained her Master's degree in Contemporary Art and a Specialty Certificate in Art from Florence, Italy. With a diverse professional background, Lilián has worked both as a designer in the industry and as a professor at various universities across Mexico. Her tenure at General Electric Energy spanned 6 years, during which she acquired multiple certifications in quality and design. She is actively engaged as director, organizer, speaker, and curator for numerous international awards, conferences, talks, symposiums, and exhibitions on art and design worldwide. Served as a jury member for prestigious international design awards such as TICSD Taiwan, Sit Furniture Switzerland, ePDA European Product Design Award, Indian Excellence Design Award, and DNDA USA, among others. Lilián's expertise in design research and development encompasses social design, design for the common good, inclusion, disability, aesthetics, healthcare, arts and crafts, and sustainability. She has collaborated on many workshops with renowned international designers, including "Inclusive Watchmaking" with Vito Notto from Italy, "Utensilios y Luz" with Marusella Granell and Manuel Bañó from Spain, "Ritualiobjects”, with Carsten Lemme from Germany, and "Obsidian objects” with Marion Friedmann from Austria, held at the London Art Gallery, and "Design From Peace" with Pier Paolo Peruccio from Italy. Lilián currently writes on philosophy, art, and design for various magazines and books, in addition to maintaining her blog since 2008 at www.designforsociety.org. She is also the founder of the "Design From Peace" initiative, detailed at https://designforsociety.org/2023/08/08/design-from-peace/.

Sourabh Gupta

Sourabh is one of India’s leading architects with a large portfolio of public work. He is also the founder of The Design Village (TDV) India’s first social design school, with a vision to impact through design. Sourabh is an Aspen fellow who believes the world needs to transition from success to significance and therefore is a part of multiple initiatives and dialogues to elevate the role of design in society.

Bogdan Ivanel

Bogdan holds a PhD in International Humanitarian Law (Science Po, Paris, France). With an academic journey that includes BA & LLM Utrecht University, MSc Oxford University, Visiting Scholar UC Berkeley he worked extensively as a researcher in war zones, documenting the strife of war-torn communities. In 2016 he founded Code for Romania which rapidly became under his leadership the largest and most impactful civic technology organization in the world with 50+ digital solutions that have served over 30 million people in need. He first started working on the vision of a globally shared digital infrastructure for good in 2017 as the first manager of the Code for All network. He took this vision further in 2022 when he founded CommitGlobal with the objective of consolidating tech for good efforts from around the world and putting technology at work for NGOs and the most vulnerable no matter their geography.

Sonalini Mirchandani

Sonalini Mirchandani, a former civil servant, has extensive experience in the social sector. Her work in research, strategic design, capacity building and implementation has spanned sectors including HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, child rights, gender-based violence, governance, and others. She has held leading positions including that of Country Director, Johns Hopkins University Centre for Communication Programs, and Founder CEO, The Communication Hub. Her work has won international recognition, and she is a member of several advisory bodies including the Technical Resource Group- Department of AIDS Control, CDMC-MICA's Global Advisory Committee, and UNICEF's International Polio Communications Review Team. Sonalini serves on the Advisory Boards of Population Foundation of India, SNEHA, Pallium India’s Board Advisory Committee for Policy and Advocacy, and CCDT. She is a founding member of the Mumbai Palliative Care Network and Director and CEO at KeSV Foundation.

Sheba Najmi

Sheba Najmi, Founder & Executive Director of Code for Pakistan, has been instrumental in advancing civic technology in Pakistan. In 2013, she introduced the country's first civic hackathon and Civic Innovation Fellowship Program in collaboration with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government and the World Bank. Her work has led to the deployment of 70 open-source digital solutions, serving 1.5M citizens, and saving over 120,000 government hours, the opening of 6,000 government datasets, and significant citizen engagement. Code for Pakistan’s KP Women’s Civic Digital Internship Program enhances the skills, civic engagement, and employability of women technologists in remote areas of KP. The organization’s efforts extended to disaster response, launching FloodLight, a crucial tool during Pakistan's 2022 floods. Sheba also spearheaded Pakistan’s first Volunteer Tourism initiative in Gilgit-Baltistan. Sheba is a member of the Code for All steering committee and is a prominent speaker on civic engagement and government openness, including delivering a keynote at the Ukrainian Parliament. Previously a Code for America Fellow, she created Honolulu Answers, an award-winning open-source civic platform that has been redeployed in over a dozen cities around the world. Sheba's work has earned her the 2024 HUM Women Leaders Award for her pioneering efforts in public service technology. Sheba has a rich professional background in User Experience at companies such as LinkedIn and Yahoo!. She holds MS and BS degrees in Symobolic Systems from Stanford University and teaches the next generation of social impact oriented user experience designers at San Diego City College.

Lesley-Ann Noel

Lesley-Ann Noel is a designer, researcher, and educator, the author of "Design Social Change", and a co-editor of "The Black Experience in Design". She has created several design tools for critical reflection, such as The Designer’s Critical Alphabet, and the Positionality Wheel. She has a bachelor’s in Industrial Design from Universidade Federal do Paraná in Brazil, a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, and a PhD in Design from North Carolina State University. She was awarded honorary doctorates for service to the field of design by the University of the Arts London and the Pacific Northwest College of Art. She is the Dean of Design at OCAD University (Aug 2024). Before OCAD-U, she taught at North Carolina State University, Tulane University, Stanford University, and the University of the West Indies.

Mridu Sahai Patnaik

Mridu is a transformational designer and a design educator whose interests are driven by cross-cultural interjections across design and architecture. Traversing from education to practice, academia to management, since 2011, Mridu has been instrumental in initiating and running one of India’s first future-driven design thinking colleges called The Design Village with a vision to impact through design.

Olivia Vereha

Olivia has over 10 years of expertise in delivering technology in the public sector. She is the author and leader of the first higher education training programme for citizen-experience design, training generations of students in sustainable digital transformation for both the non-profit sector and public institutions. She is currently leading the team behind the digital infrastructure provided by Commit Global, coordinating a large group of senior UX designers, researchers and developers. She is currently pursuing her PhD on digital public services at Babes - Bolyai University in Romania. She has been invited as a keynote speaker on the role of technology for good to a variety of high profile conferences including GitHub Universe, Stockholm Internet Forum, CPDP Brussels and Google as well as at several TEDx events.

Karel Vredenburg

Karel has had a long and successful career as a design executive, most recently as the Global Vice President of UX Research at IBM. He is an Industry Professor at the McMaster University DeGroote Schools of Business and Medicine, an international keynote speaker, and the co-host of the Life Habits Podcast. He recently co-founded the Habits for a Better World organization with filmmaker Carly Williams, addressing global challenges like climate change, animal and human suffering, food insecurity, human health, biodiversity loss, and Generative AI issues through research-driven, documentary-inspired behavior change. He did undergraduate, masters, and doctoral studies at the University of Toronto and blogs at karelvredenburg.com and his social media coordinates are @karelvredenburg on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Ann Yoachim

Ann is the t and a professor of practice at the Tulane School of Architecture. As Director, she oversees projects and programs, stewards key relationships and executes key initiatives of the center. Ann has 20 years of experience in building partnerships across campus-community boundaries to promote meaningful change. As an educator, scholar and administrator, she is focused on facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and shaping built, natural and social environments that impact health and wellness in rural and urban settings. Ann holds a Master of Public Health degree from Tulane University and a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and political science from Dickinson College. In 2012-2013, she was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.