Team

The Nutrients For All team brings a strong and diverse professional experience, while all holding Ashoka’s core values of empathy, leadership, teamwork, and changemaking.

To be in contact with the Nutrients For All team, please contact Charlotte Hastings at chastings@ashoka.org.  You may indicate in your comments if you would like to reach out to a particular member of the team.  Due to the high volume of activity, the Nutrients For All team may not be able to respond to all requests.

 

Bill Carter

wcarter@ashoka.org

Director of Rural Innovation and Farming

Bill leads Ashoka’s Africa Team as well as Ashoka’s Rural Innovation and Farming Initiative. He served on Ashoka’s International Board for twenty-nine years, focusing on strategy development, and was a founding member of that Board. In that capacity he interviewed many hundreds of candidates to become Ashoka Fellows. In 2009 he stepped down from the Board so he could serve as a member of the Ashoka staff.

 

Dr. Allen Hammond

ahammond@ashoka.org

Senior Entrepreneur

Al Hammond is Senior Entrepreneur at Ashoka, where he leads efforts to transform healthcare. He is also: a serial social entrepreneur, with five prior start-ups to his credit; an author who has published extensively in the scientific, policy research, and business literature and a mover behind the Base of the Pyramid concept; a consultant who has worked with numerous corporations, foundations, government agencies, and international organizations; a former journalist who went on to found and edit several national publications, win national magazine awards, broadcast a nationally-syndicated daily radio program, and oversee the launch of a prominent blog, www.nextbillion.net. Dr. Hammond holds degrees from Stanford University and Harvard University in engineering and applied mathematics.

 

David Aylward

daylward@ashoka.org

Senior Advisor, Global Health and Technology

David is leader of two related efforts: the RIF initiative seeking to solve malnutrition and Ashoka’s Health for All initiative. He is focused on building collaborative partnerships to transform those fields for populations at the base of the pyramid. He has forty years of experience in health, public policy, information technology, and finance in both the public and private sectors. Among his diverse professional accomplishments are establishing National Strategies, a successful business and public policy consulting firm that he led for 24 years; acting as Founder, Director, and Chief Strategist for the non-profit 100 organization COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance; and being the first Executive Director of the mHealth Alliance. David holds a BA in Government from Dartmouth College and a JD with High Honors from George Washington University Law School.

 

David Strelneck

strelneck@ashoka.org

Senior Advisor, Rural Innovations, Farming and Ecosystems

David lead Ashoka’s integration of environmental innovations with focus on the role of ecosystem services as a stimulant to rural innovation and environmental vitality for several years. Over several years this has led to focus on nutrient generation and supply, through soils and water systems, as a high-leverage point for action – with substantial results for carbon retention, biodiversity conservation, watersheds and more. Since 1990 David has also helped design and lead initiatives to eliminate CFC pollution by car mechanics in 18 developing countries; publicize the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor by launching the world’s first live wilderness webcam (Quetzalcam); and use social networks to motivate kids to go outside and explore nature (Backyard Jungle on PBS Kids). David holds degrees from Stanford University and Harvard University.

 

Richa Govil

rgovil@ashoka.org

Program Director, RIF India

Richa leads Ashoka’s Rural Innovation and Farming Initiative in India. In this capacity, Richa is designing an agriculture sector platform with the triple objectives of increasing farmer incomes, creating economic opportunities in agri-business and developing an effective agri-sector ecosystem, including support institutions and infrastructure. Having served as Associate Vice President at Infosys Technologies and a strategy consultant at Bain and Company, Richa now combines her expertise in business strategy with her long involvement in the development sector through organizations such as Asha for Education, where she served as President and Board Member. Richa holds a Ph.D. in Physics from University of California, at Berkeley, USA.

 

Erin Richardson

erichardson@ashoka.org

Wellness Initiative Director

Erin works with RIF and Health for All on projects related to health, nutrition and wellness. Erin earned her Master of Social Work degree from Washington University in St. Louis, with a concentration in international health and health policy. During her graduate studies, Erin lived in Tamil Nadu, India where she worked with issues related to water and sanitation. Before graduate school Erin completed a Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs. She concentrated on health policy and health literacy projects, specifically related to the Affordable Care Act. She attended the University of Notre Dame, where she studied Political Science, Peace Studies, and Anthropology in the United States, Africa and Europe.

 

Jessica Maiorca

jmaiorca@ashoka.org

Change Manager

Jessica leads RIF’s Strategic Partnerships. Prior to this, she acted as Project Manager of Future Forward, a collaboration between Ashoka and the MasterCard Foundation, as well as with Ashoka Social Financial Services.
Jessica’s experience includes consulting for companies in Liberia to recruit workers, develop workforce training, and ensure compliance with labor laws. She also worked with the country’s Ministry of Labour and consulted for the International Labour Organization. Before receiving her Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, Jessica volunteered with the Peace Corps in Ghana and worked with women’s cooperatives to establish microenterprises and provide business trainings.

 

Charlotte Hastings

chastings@ashoka.org

Program Manager

Charlotte works with the Rural Innovation and Farming team on Nutrients for All. Throughout college she did internships related to emergency response, mental health, international women’s health, and domestic public healthcare. Taking this passion abroad, she did a Medical Practice and Policy program in Denmark that compared national healthcare systems and following graduation lived in South Africa working for an HIV prevention organization. In 2011, she moved back to the US to finish pre-med and conducted pathology research at Massachusetts General Hospital. Before coming to Ashoka, she worked in DC doing domestic health policy research on Medicaid and FDA regulation. She holds a BA in Neuroscience and Behavior from Wesleyan University (CT).

 

Qin Zhou

qzhou@ashoka.org

Senior Institution Builder

Qin is the lead finance and grant manager for the Rural Innovation and Farming team and for AshokaHub. With experience working in both developed and emerging markets, she possesses critical knowledge and insights in financial and operational capacities. Before joining Ashoka, Qin co-founded a global culinary school in South Korea and built up exchange programs between Korea and China. She also led a solar energy project in Johannesburg, South Africa during her MBA study. Qin holds degrees from Beijing Technology and Business University, Yonsei University in Korea and Georgetown University.