Global Team

Meena Palaniappan 

Founder. CEO

An award-winning entrepreneur and social impact leader, Meena Palaniappan founded Atma Connect, a tech non-profit developing technology and engagement solutions that empower people and organizations for social good. With over 25 years as an Environmental Engineer and technologist, Meena has created global impact with teams in three countries and programs reaching 300 cities across three continents. Meena has led technology projects in Africa, Asia and North America, including a $1.3 million USAID project to build a WATER SMS mobile to web crowd-sourced mapping system to improve water services in Indonesia. She has worked with the Pacific Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) on sustainable community development, pollution prevention, and environmental justice. Meena received an M.S. in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley and an Engineering degree from Northwestern University. 

Karen Risa Robbins

Business Development and Partnerships Lead

Extensive track-record negotiating multi-sector partnerships and building communities of purpose. Played key role in introducing drones to the marketplace. Entrepreneur and advisor on using digital platforms to build networks to drive social and institutional transformation and scale social impact. Incubated precursor to ReliefWeb. Ren focuses on social impact and building networks supported by digital platforms, with special interest in community-first businesses, entrepreneurial communities, and systems-level Changemakers.

Aisyah Gunung

Head of Product

Grew and led product teams in tech startups with experiences in marketing, education, online retail and e-commerce sectors (Zenius Education, Blibli, Ogilvy, and REA Group Asia-Australia). She was a part of senior management teams, providing directions for product management, development, innovations, and business strategies. Aisyah is passionate about products sustainability and the issues of economic resilience, discrepancy, and digital/information literacy. She holds BA in Electrical Engineering from Bandung Institute of Technology and is an alumni of XL Axiata Future Leaders programme.

Dave Turner

Senior Technology Adviser

David was the CTO at a series of technology startups in Online Advertising, Search Engine Marketing in Australia. Upon successfully exiting those companies David was founder and CTO of biNu, a company delivering phone technology solutions to the least connected in Africa through specialised apps, low data technologies and the reverse billing of mobile data cost. The focus was on efficiency, simplicity and easy adoption with the objective of extending the reach of mobile technology to the most disadvantaged and increasing the positive impact of mobile solutions. David joined Atma Connect in 2018 as an advisor on technology and product direction.

Technology Team

Ef

Technical Lead

Ef loves to design system architecture, to solve complex problems, to deliver solutions that meet specific business objectives. He takes the lead on the development processes and provide solutions to help businesses to be successful.

Eka Jayani Ayuningtyas

Front-End Developer

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.

Dian Manullang

Software Quality Assurance

Dian is responsible for the quality and assessments of the Atma platforms. She translates requirements into the design of comprehensive functional and automated tests. Dian graduated from Del Institute of Technology in Sumatera and is continuing her studies in information technology.

Rahma Batari

Product Manager

Rahma is passionate about product and business management, especially about digital businesses. Rahma has some experience in the startup industry for marketplace, property, and EduTech. Rahma got a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science at Padjadjaran University, majoring in Information Systems.

David Wibisono

UI/UX Designer

David is responsible for the design of the Atma Connect platforms and websites. He started his career as an operations officer in a commercial company before shifting his career to UI/UX. He seeks to learn new things throughout his career and is happy to be able to help people through what he does. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities from the University of Indonesia.

Field Teams

Silvia Yulianti

Program Director

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.

Alfan Rodhi

Indonesian Field Director

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.

Erika Marrero

Puerto Rico Program Manager

Erika is in charge of community outreach, growing AtmaGo presence, and project design. Having lived Hurricane María and its aftermath, Erika was interested in learning what others did to overcome the disaster and enjoyed sharing her ingenuity in fighting crisis. She advocates the uplifting of voices concerning social justice, human rights, and heritage. She has worked with the National Park Service and Fundación Dr. Francisco López Cruz, and has been a lecturer in Ghana and St. Croix. Erika holds an MA in Linguistics and an BA in Audiovisual Communications, from the University of Puerto Rico. Her hobbies include agriculture, reading comics, and playing video games.

Indra Alfonso

Operations Manager

Indra Alfonso is Finance and Operational manager with experience in finance, accounting, and operational field for more than ten years in commercial & development fields. An experienced leader with a history of development in Business Planning and Development, Data Management, Project Coordination, Talent Acquisition, Account Reconciliation, Due-Diligence, and Financial Reporting. Over the past ten years, he has been involved in the World Bank Project (PNPM Mandiri), FHI 360, Mercy Corps, GGGI, Embassy of Netherland, and Oxford Policy Management project.

David Khoirul

Community Manager and Designer

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.

Jimmy Welles

Social Media and Evaluation Manager

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.

Dian Anggreini

Program Manager

Dian has 15 years of experience working in the Development Areas. One of Dian’s experience was with the Association of City Governments Throughout Indonesia (APEKSI) for the development of regional capabilities in performing decentralized functions, delegated by the central government to the region, assisting policy advocacy for the implementation of these functions, and facilitating cooperation between regions. Another experience was accompanying 12 districts in developing their economic potential and empowering women.

Communications

Laurie Kretchmar

Communications Lead

Laurie Kretchmar, communications lead, is a communications strategist and former business journalist (FORTUNE, The Wall Street Journal and founding editor in chief of Women.com Networks, the first major U.S. for women). She works with great companies and causes to amplify their brands and reach their target audiences. Laurie is the author of the business book, “Tweet This! How to Amplify Your Brand on Twitter.” She can be found on Twitter as @LKhere.

Daniel Morton

Grants Consultant

Daniel Morton is a fundraising professional from Canada, currently living in South America. After graduating in Journalism in 2008, Daniel’s career took him from newspapers to television and finally to international development, where he specializes in raising funds to in support of  the good. He’s thrilled to be with Atma, and believes in the power of neighbors helping neighbors to achieve a better world.

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 a seasoned community leader, social entrepreneur and consumer marketer with proven success building communities, companies, and causes. She currently is a candidate for San Mateo City Council, the President of the San Mateo Library Board and Co-Captain of Sister District CA Peninsula. Lisa was formerly the Chief Marketing Officer of Thrive Networks and CEO of Blue Planet Network, an award-winning global clean water and sanitation nonprofit. Her background includes senior marketing positions with American Express, VISA, Charles Schwab, E*TRADE and Yahoo!. She spent nearly a decade working and living across Asia. Lisa was recognized as a Silicon Valley 100 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2012. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from National Taiwan Normal University and a BA with Honors 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

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.

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.

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.