Vera takes pride in welcoming the eight members of the 2014-2015 Fellowship Program, the second cohort selected for this year-long, hands-on consulting experience. Nikhil Kalambur, Lexa Koenig, Aleksa Krolls, Caroline Liegey, Vivaan Misra, and Josh Wunderlich will be based in our growing Mumbai hub, while Katie McCloskey and Ayo Oti have joined our newly opened Boston office.
This class of Fellows widens the perspective and experience Vera brings to designing data systems to tackle tough social problems. Combined, the Fellows have lived in a total of twelve different countries and speak seven languages. They join Vera from a range of fellowship programs, non-profits, consulting firms, and universities. Josh, who hails from Michigan, moves to India after completing a Princeton in Africa Fellowship, while Nikhil spent the last three years working in a data analytics firm in New York City.
“The best part of my first two weeks at Vera has been getting to know the people behind the company,” said Lexa, who joins from the Earth Institute at Columbia University. “Everyone comes from a different background and brings a unique perspective to our work, but we share a common passion for catalyzing social change through technology. It’s been invigorating to be surrounded by incredibly intelligent and committed co-workers. I’m so excited to learn from them this year.”
Fellows started work in Boston and Mumbai on 4 August, after a weeklong training retreat that brought Verites from around the globe together in the United States. The leadership team, including co-Founders Zak, Taylor, and Karti, guided a fun camping and canoeing trip in Vermont followed by technical training at Amherst College.
Like the other fellows, Ayo—a Harry S. Truman Scholar who spent the last year in Peru—learned the basics of system configuration during training. After completing the week, she was pleasantly surprised to jump into a project and start building a system on her first day in the Boston office.
“To me, this speaks to the thoroughness of the training but also reassures me that I can do this,” she says. “This year will be challenging, but knowing that I’ve already exceeded my own expectations in my first week is a great feeling.”
About the Vera Fellowship Program:
The Vera Fellowship Program provides energetic, hard-working, and impact-driven young professionals with the opportunity to help solve problems with some of the most innovative NGOs, social enterprises, and grant-making institutions worldwide.
Vera anticipates opening applications to the 2015-2016 Fellowship in early 2015. To read more about our 2014-2015 fellows, check out their bios on the Our Team page.
