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In order to help Design for Change spread its vision to as many countries as possible and empower every child with the I CAN belief, we are grateful to have the leading minds in the field of education, design and strategy from around the world as members of our board.
Andrew is an award-winning social entrepreneur dedicated to unlocking the power of people to change their world for the better. He loves to partner with inspiring leaders to bring big ideas in this spirit to life.
As the co-founder of The Future Project, he pioneered a new model for turning high schools into places where young people could discover their passions and purpose — and learn how to solve complex problems creatively in their schools, communities, and beyond. As a co-founder of the Promise Prize, he is helping to build a global fellowship for the world’s most inspiring young leaders to help them realize their “moonshots” for society. As co-founder of Future Coach, he is helping to build a human/AI-hybrid coaching system for young people with limited resources but unlimited potential.
Andrew is also the co-founder of a half dozen other national or global initiatives that brings teams together to solve complex and urgent problems facing society, such as Bigger Picture, a media venture to unite our divided world; Welcome.us, the hub for empowering Americans to help resettle refugees; Frontline Justice, the hub for a new category of legal support; Bedrock, an all-hands initiative to reduce hate-fueled violence; and the Office of American Possibilities, a studio for civic moonshots that inspire common purpose.
A recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and Draper Richards Kaplan Fellowship, Andrew attended Yale University and served as a speechwriter to then-Vice President Biden before attending Oxford on a Marshall Scholarship to study education and social entrepreneurship.
Sanjli is the National Director of Design for Change USA.
As the Director of DFC USA, she manages a national team of designers, educators and technologists and forging partnerships with Teach for America, IDEO, Harvard and Stanford among many other school schools and school networks. She travels state-to-state fundraising, delivering hands on professional development workshops, and doing speaking engagements. Sanjli has spoken at the National Association of Independent Schools, Yale, Harvard, Ashoka, SXSWEdu and the United Nations International School. She is deeply passionate about helping young people strengthen their agency to create a fair and just world for all.
She received her Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. When she is not working, you can find her globe-trotting, or pursuing her love for hip hop dancing and baking. Sanjli lives in Boston with her husband Vinay and their two children, Leela (7) and Niam (4).
Madhav Chavan moved from the field of Chemistry to the field of literacy a few years after his return to India having acquired a Ph. D. in the United States and some post-doctoral experience there. He worked in the field of adult literacy from 1989 to 1994 inspired by the National Literacy Mission launched by late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. In 1994, Unicef in Mumbai put him in charge of creating a ‘societal mission’ to universalize primary education in the city of Mumbai. As a result he co-founded Pratham that started in 1994-95 as a Mumbai based organization and has now grown to be one of India’s largest NGOs working across the country with millions of children every year with a focus on basic learning outcomes including reading and math. Its flagship programs, Read India and the Annual Status of Education Report have earned the organization a reputation as a pedagogy and advocacy innovator that has influenced policy and practice at the national and international level. He stepped down as CEO of Pratham Education Foundation but continues to be on its Board and actively leading the new experimentation in use of technology for education.
Madhav has been personally recognized for his work with the WISE Prize and The Skoll Award for social entrepreneurship among other honors.His organization, Pratham, has received the Kravis Prize for Leadership,the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award for developmental work and the LUI Che Woo Prize for positive energy.
Vikas Pota is the Founder and CEO of T4 Education. T4 Education is building the world’s largest community of teachers and schools and is providing opportunities for educators to network, collaborate, share best practices, and support each other’s efforts to improve learning. T4 Education works to amplify teachers’ voices because the world in which every child receives a good education will only be built by listening to those at the heart of education. Its Best School to Work programme helps schools certify and transform their culture and working environment so they can tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, while its World's Best School Prizes are the world's most prestigious education awards. Vikas was previously CEO of a philanthropic foundation, has been recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and as one of London’s 1,000 most influential persons. Vikas was named European regional honouree for the 2022 YPO Global Impact Award.
Kate is founder and the CEO of Taiwan Youth Creative Action Association (TYCAA) TYCAA is the promoter of Design for Change in Taiwan. Kate is a TEDx speaker, and was also awarded as the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the Year in Taiwan. She believes that we should blur the boundary between the classroom and the world by understanding and solving real-life problems. Through Design for Change, she aspires to bring the power of I CAN to children.