Born in Belgrade, Serbia, Branka enrolled in the Harvard Kennedy School Mid-Career Master in Public Administration program in July 2010. She already holds a MA in International Relations and European Studies from the Central European University and MA in Theory of Literature from the Belgrade University, Serbia. Before HKS she was a visiting scholar at the Center for European and Eurasian Studies, UCLA, where she also worked on the 2010 UNDP Human Development Report for Europe. Branka was a Head of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Development department in UNDP Serbia until 2008. As UN expert she advised the Government of Serbia on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, employment activation programmes for disadvantaged populations, civil society participation in public policy formulation and in this capacity closely worked on breaking poverty and social exclusion in Serbia.
Michael is a first year Master in Public Policy student with a focus on nonprofit management and social enterprise. Before coming to Harvard Kennedy School, Michael worked at a startup economic consulting firm in Boston, where he conducted econometric and statistical analysis for the company's law firm and business clients. He also consulted for several nonprofits in the Cambridge area and helped start an organization focused on social enterprise and economic development. Michael is on the executive team of World Partners in Education, a nonprofit that seeks to improve the performance of primary schools in Africa. Michael holds an AB in government and economics from Dartmouth College.
With over thirty years of experience in the public, private and non-profit sector, Jim is a frequent lecturer and speaker on social enterprise, capitalization and financial strategies for non-profits and non-governmental organizations. Jim is Managing Director of the Center for Applied Philanthropy and a trustee of a number of national boards and foundations including The Kresge Foundation, The Non Profit Finance Fund, Case Western Reserve University, Lesley University, The National Public Radio Foundation, The Public Citizen Foundation, The Trustees of the Reservation, the Women’s Funding Network as well as an Overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a member of the executive board of WBUR (Boston Public Radio) and former Chairman of its Board of Overseers and an Overseer of WGBH Public TV and Radio. In his board service he serves on the Investment Committees of boards with aggregate endowments in excess of $5.0B and serves as chair or a member of the finance, investment and/or audit committees of eight boards. Jim earned his AB from Dartmouth College, his J.D. from Case Western Reserve School of Law and his M.F.A. from Lesley University, and is currently pursuing a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School. . He is a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Eadie has been working in China as a journalist for seven years, of which five years was with Reuters News and two years was with China Daily. Her reporting lines ranged from social issues, economic policies to financial regulations and most recently energy policies. She won Reuters Journalist of the Year Award in 2008, the highest global individual award of Reuters News, for her exclusive and in-depth reporting. She is currently pursuing her Mid-Career Master in Public Administration degree at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is highly interested in non-profit industry development in China and aspires to use her journalist skills and knowledge about China to work with people in the sector and help bring about changes to the Chinese society.
Desiree was the Program Officer for Health programs at the Ms. Foundation for Women, where she led grantmaking, fundraising and programmatic work for the Foundation’s Reproductive Rights Coalition and Organizing Fund, Women and AIDS Fund, and Sexuality Education Advocacy Initiative. She was active in the Funders Network on Population, Reproductive Health and Rights and Funders Concerned about AIDS, where she served as board chair. Before joining the Foundation, Desiree was a Fellow with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute where she worked at the National Endowment for the Arts and National Organization for Women Legal Defense and Education Fund. She is a UCLA graduate where she majored in Dance and Chicana/o Studies. Desiree is currently a student in the Harvard Kennedy School Mid-Career Master in Public Administration program.
Sujeet comes to the Harvard Kennedy School Mid-Career Master in Public Administration program with a decade’s experience in the private sector, grassroots and international NGOs and government. Sujeet is the Executive Director and co-founder of Kalinga Kusum, a social enterprise that addresses challenges tied to education and entrepreneurship in rural communities in India. Previously, he worked as a Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Geneva, Switzerland. Earlier, he worked for the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) and for Infosys Technologies in India. Sujeet also holds a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Oxford, where he received the Skoll Foundation’s inaugural Skoll Scholarship in Social Entrepreneurship. An avid reader, his passions are political advocacy, learning about other cultures and building linkages between them, livelihood-enabling education, and the role of social media in contemporary society.
Jesse is a first-year Master in Public Policy student with a focus on International and Global Affairs. He comes to the Harvard Kennedy School with diverse experience in faith-based organizations, community organizing, and human rights. He was Founder and President of Men Against Abuse Now, a campus based organization dedicated to domestic violence and sexual assault prevention at Stanford University. In addition to work with Amnesty International, Jesse was awarded a fellowship to work with United Religions Initiative—a faith-based NGO working to end religiously based violence and promoting enduring interfaith cooperation. Jesse studied comparative religion at Stanford and graduated with Honors and Phi Beta Kappa. Upon graduation he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Uganda working with local government on a variety of community development and health initiatives.
