 | Team:Our leadership team shares no single office, occupation, or expertise, yet we are bound by a common vision and our shared commitment to the actualization of our educational mission. |
 | Willy Oppenheim - Founder and Chief Executive Officer Email: willy@omprakash.org Willy came up with the initial idea for Omprakash after serving as a volunteer English teacher at the Louisiana-Himalaya Association (LHA) in northern India in the autumn of 2004. He then attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he completed a self-designed major in religion, education, and anthropology. Willy is pursuing a career as an educator and enjoys rock climbing, telemark skiing, playing guitar, and baking bread. In 2009, he received a Rhodes Scholarship and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Education at Oxford University. Willy sits as President of the Board of Directors and remains involved with all operations of Omprakash. |
.jpg)  | Joanna Sese - Volunteer and Partner Coordinator Email: info@omprakash.org |
 | Michael Levy - Senior Web Developer Michael lives and works in Burlington, VT. He uses a holistic approach during the Web creation process. Consideration is given to accessibility, search engine optimization, and usability throughout the course of Web site construction. When not working in Web media, Michael practices photography and jazz guitar. |
 | Vance Walstra - Outreach Coordinator Email: vance@omprakash.org Vance Walstra is a freelance archaeologist and a former Omprakash volunteer. Originally from New England, Vance graduated from the University of Montana before relocating to Portland, Oregon. In 2008, Vance was awarded an Omprakash Volunteer Grant to work with Helping Hands, an education and environmentally-focused Partner in Cusco, Peru. During that trip, he also traveled throughout Peru, introducing new non-profit Partners to the Omprakash network. |
 | Lacey Worel - Outreach Coordinator Email: lacey@omprakash.org Before joining the Omprakash team, Lacey volunteered with Omprakash Partner Helping Hands, where she spent 8 months developing an ecological kindergarten and curriculum. Originally from Washington, Lacey now lives and works in San Francisco, California. A graduate of Cal State San Bernardino, she has experience teaching middle school students with special needs and is particularly talented at community organizing. She is an avid runner, biker, hiker and backpacker. |
 | Anoop Jain - Outreach Coordinator Email: anoop@omprakash.org Anoop spent his youth growing up in Canada, Syria, Scotland, and the US. He attended Northwestern University where he studied Environmental Engineering. After graduating, he helped support two Omprakash Partners, LHA and Deep Jyoti. Anoop is interested in supporting Partners from a public health perspective. He is currently a graduate student studying Public Health at Tulane University and hopes to attend medical school. |
 | Alexandra Carelli - Outreach Coordinator Email: alexandra@omprakash.org Alexandra found Omprakash in 2011 while working with Omprakash Partner Abriendo Mentes in Playa Potrero, Costa Rica. She claims that she found her truest self while digging in the Central American dirt creating a community garden and empowering the local women to start their own groups and businesses. Alexandra holds a BA in English Literature from San Francisco State University and currently works as the Development Director for a nonprofit in Bronx, New York called CampInteractive. Hailing from New Hampshire, Alexandra finds happiness in root vegetables, on yoga mats, and while walking her pitbull Nala through unknown streets. |
 | Sam Modest - Photopals Coordinator Sam grew up in the suburbs of Boston and attended Bowdoin College with a degree in South Asian Studies, an interest in education, and experience teaching digital photography to fifth grade students. After graduating, he received a Seed Grant from Omprakash to purchase eight digital cameras. He used these cameras to teach photography at the Rainbow Academy, an Omprakash partner in West Bengal, and develop an image sharing and exchange program, dubbed PhotoPals, between students in Maine and his students in India. Since then he has worked to make digital cameras available to other Omprakash volunteers interested in teaching photography, and manages the Omprakash Camera Grant and PhotoPals image sharing initiative. In his other life, he is teaching outdoor environmental education in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. |
.jpg) | Jonathan Katzenberg - Photopals Coordinator In 2011 Jonathan traveled to Central America to try capturing the work of various social development projects through his lens. While living in Costa Rica he received the Photo Pals Camera Grant and ran the program with a group of young students at Abriendo Mentes in Playa Potrero. He has since joined forces with Sam to co-coordinate the Photo Pals program and continue the multi-cultural visual conversation that Omprakash has created. Jonathan has a BFA in Photography and is currently living and working in NYC as the Program Coordinator for The CHILL Foundation. |
 | Ellen Oppenheim - Treasurer Email: ellen@omprakash.org Ellen is a loving mother of five children, a committed supporter of multiple community-based educational organizations, a lifelong runner, an avid golfer, and a reckless skier. She provides the bedrock for financial operations at Omprakash and thrives most when managing logistical and organizational tasks that would drive most people crazy. |
 | Kelly Rula - Board Member and Advisor on Communications and Outreach Email: kelly@omprakash.org Kelly grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended Bowdoin College in Maine. She graduated in 2007 with degrees in Biochemistry and Environmental Studies. She joined the Omprakash team in the fall of 2009 to help with social media development, web marketing, and outreach. She also reviews applications from prospective Partners and grantees. Kelly currently works as an environmental consultant for Cascadia Consulting Group in Seattle, WA, and spends her free time skiing, sailing, and climbing. |
 | Nick Smith - Co-Founder, Board Member, and Advisor on Marketing, Corporate Outreach, and Development Email: nick@omprakash.org |
 | Gordon Guthrie - Board Member Email: gordon@omprakash.org Gordon Guthrie was raised in Georgetown, Kentucky, and joined the Omprakash family in 2007. He attended the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, where he met many of the Omprakash directors, and completed an undergraduate degree at Emory University in 2008. He enjoys kayaking, skiing, and soccer, and is currently pursuing a degree in international law at Louisiana State University. Gordon currently sits as Secretary of the Board of Directors. |
 | Elliott Wright - Board Member and Advisor on Fundraising and Strategic Planning Email: elliott@omprakash.org Elliott Wright has spent the past six years advancing nonprofits through grant writing, community organizing, event management and donor outreach. He currently serves as Development Director for Canopy, an urban forestry nonprofit based in Palo Alto. After graduating in 2004 from Bowdoin College, Elliott spent three years with El Pomar Foundation in Colorado serving as their Senior Program Associate. From 2007 through 2009, Elliott worked as Development Associate for Sempervirens Fund, and recently served as Event Manager for Acterra. Elliott grew up playing in the mountains of New Mexico, and today calls Northern California home. Elliott currently sits as Vice-President of the Board of Directors. |
“My name is Kyle Clark and I went to New Delhi to help with Project Why…What I really mean to say is that I feel you have given me so much and I don’t even really know who you are. Therefore I’d love to stay in touch and help…especially because that one month of my life has put so many things in perspective for me and made me feel truly blessed and motivated.”
–Kyle Clark- Vermont, USA/New Delhi, India