BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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  Shirine Al Khudari

  Shirine Al Khudari

  
  

  Shirine Al Khudari is an educator with more than 31 years of practical teaching, teacher training and leadership skills. She has led local and international schools and in the capacity of a school leader. She has also been a passionate advocate of children’s leadership skills and children’s rights for as long as she can remember, which led her to immediately fall in love with Design for Change and become a passionate advocate of this amazing initiative in Jordan; her beloved hometown. She is currently the official global partner at Design for Change Jordan and the director of the NGO’s executive committee.
  
  Her dream is to help support generations of responsible youth who will change their world for the better aiming at just and long lasting peace.
  
  

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  Natalia Allende

  Natalia Allende

  
  

  Natalia Allende is the Executive Director of Design for Change Chile, a non-profit organization devoted to helping children and youth develop their voice and put their ideas into action by following the FIDS framework. With a love for education and innovation and an optimistic view of the world, she has used her studies in education, aesthetics, and literature to build the organization. Natalia has formed a dedicated team of professionals just as passionate as her, created partnerships, raised funds and overseen the communicational aspects of DFC Chile.
  
  Her dream is that every child have the opportunity to discover their unique potential and exercise their full capacity to become their best self.
  
  

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  Alexia Belmont

  Alexia Belmont

  
  

  Alexia Belmont is the Founder and current president of the board of Design for Change Peru. Design For Change Peru is a non-profit organization witch aims to create opportunities for children to experience their power and ability to achieve their goals and dreams in collaboration with each other.
  
  Alexia studied Psychology at Immaculata University, Pennsylvania (USA), and years later found a passion for coaching studying several coaching programs such as: Professional Ontological Coach, (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru), Life Coach (IPO - Institute for the Practice of Ontology); specialization in Coaching. Certified Coach, Conscious Business Center with Fred Kofman. She was designated as an Ambassador for Peace, appointed by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF). Her dream is to contribute in constructing world freedom, where we can see ourselves as citizens of the world. In her free time Alexia spends her time sailing and hopes to sail around the world one day.
  
  

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  Sanjli Gidwaney

  Sanjli Gidwaney

  
  

  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).
  
  

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  Kate Hsu

  Kate Hsu

  
  

  Hsin Wei (Kate) Hsu is the founder and 1st Director General of Taiwan Youth Creative Action Association.
  
  TYCAA is the non-profit organization that runs Design for Change, Taiwan. As a former English Substitute Teacher in High School of Taiwan Normal University, Kate discovered the FEEL, IMAGINE, DO and SHARE process and was then "infected" by the I CAN bug. Kate then dedicated to promote simplified design thinking methods in Taiwanese education system. She is elected the “Ace” of 30 under 30 by The News Lens in 2015, and she is also the awardee of Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the Year in 2014. She is also the author of two books - “My Riverside Experience” and “Design For Change.”
  
  Kate wishes to stay an optimistic, energetic and enthusiastic learner, and she lives with her loving family in Taipei.
  
  

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  Carolina Pasquali

  Carolina Pasquali

  
  

  Carolina Pasquali is the executive director of Instituto Alana, a non-profit civil society organization that exists to honor the children and to promote its integral development and the guarantee of children's rights. She is a journalist who has worked for over a decade in major publications in Brazil, Spain and the United States. After becoming a mother, she dedicated herself to start Design for Change Brazil and then to grow the program - named Criativos da Escola - after joining Alana. She is now the happy mother of two smart and beautiful daughters, Clara and Joana.
  
  

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  Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg

  Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg

  
  

  In her continuing search for the very best educational intervention for empowering young people, her own journey began as an activist in a youth movement. Inspired, she made Aliyah at the age of 16, moving from New Jersey to Israel, where she graduated from Tel Aviv University. It was here that her love for informal education was secured and it became obvious that the natural path for her led into community work in poor neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. Years later, she opened a toy store in Ramat Aviv that specialized in educational toys and then segued into a theme party business. From there she fashioned a successful Birthday Angels Birthday Party Project NGO which enhanced the lives of thousands of young people who had never had the birthday party experience. Design impacted her process and this realization catapulted her into Design for Change. Thus her introduction and utter satisfaction with her "Theory of Everything," a perfect culmination of her previous experiences. The newest phase of this journey is with the DFC Israel and Global. Finding great joy in her work she looks back on the blessings of inspired parents, a trio of children who bring her great "nachas" and a superb and supporting husband. All the stakeholders of her life supported her desire to return to Tel Aviv University, where she received her Masters' Degree in Education. While her work is all consuming, she still finds time to read, cook, eat, host friends, watch heavy dramas, play scrabble and do yoga.
  
  

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  Madhu Verma

  Madhu Verma

  
  

  Madhu worked with various corporate and social sector organisations, such as the Microsoft Corporation and at Oxfam, New Zealand. Her independent study on ‘Cross-sector Alliances’ won the Australia and New Zealand Marketing Association Award from Massey University, New Zealand. Madhu is a certified NLP Master Practitioner and NLP Life Coach.
  
  Motivated by the belief that children can make a positive impact on society, Madhu founded SoCh (Social Change) in Action and Design for Change Singapore (DFC-S) in 2010. She is also the executive board member for Design for Change, USA
  
  SoCh (www.SoChinAction.com) is a Singapore-based social enterprise that designs and implements programmes to empower children to think, voice and act to shape society. SoCh runs the Singapore’s Design for Change (www.dfcworld.com) programme; the world’s largest movement of children driving change by unleashing their ‘I CAN’ spirit.
  
  Under Madhu’s leadership, SoCh has engaged with 120 over schools in Singapore and empowered about 16,000 children and teachers through Design for Change (www.dfcworld.com), a global movement of change by children.