We have committed our working lives to shaping the organizations and institutions that are custodians of our shared future, working from both inside them and out.
From this, we have developed an approach to inspire collective action and transformational change in teams, organizations, coalitions, and movements.
Justin D. Stokes, Co-founder and Managing Partner
Justin believes that re-defining the relationship between business and society is critical to addressing the globe's most pressing issues. He works with corporate executives, non-profit leaders and social entrepreneurs to harness the potential of purpose-driven teams to create prosperity and social value. His experience spans movement-building, corporate strategy, economic growth, social development, and behavior change.
Over the past 25 years, Justin has advised executive leaders across multi-national companies, international organizations and governments, including, Danone, Unilever, Nike, Audi, World Bank, USAID, DFID, and directly with numerous heads of state. Along the way, Justin has had the opportunity to work in over 30 countries across four continents.
Prior to Ananda, Justin worked at Purpose, JE Austin, and Marakon. At Purpose, Justin served as Senior Director of Strategy, and led the Corporate practice. Prior to Purpose, Justin advised business and government leaders on strategies for economic growth and development as a Director at JE Austin. With Marakon, Justin advised executives of Fortune 500 companies in mergers and acquisition, market expansion, and global organization.
Justin graduated with an MPA/ID from Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Science in Economics and History from Duke University.
Claire G. Stokes, Co-founder
Claire's personal and professional choices have always been fueled by the desire to contribute positively to her environment, to take on exciting challenges, and to seek meaning and purpose in everything she does.
Claire brings to her clients 20 years of experience across 3 continents in the private sector and the international development world, and skills in marketing & sales, management consulting, strategic planning, program management, team leadership and team development. She likes to experiment with new approaches and techniques to engaging purposefully in life (hypnotherapy, meditation, mindfulness, relaxation, self help, yoga, coaching, visioning). She has a very high capacity to adapt, a taste for change and risk taking, and a demonstrated resilience to chaos. She has worked for Unilever, Marakon Associates, Voluntary Service Overseas and PSI. She holds an MBA from ESSEC business school and is a Certified Professional Coach from IPEC.
Vanessa Valentino
Vanessa believes in the tremendous potential for transformative and sustainable impacts through more creative and innovative approaches to economic development and social progress. Fueled by a strong passion for harnessing business for social impact, she has over 10 years experience working with business leaders, private sector associations, civil society organizations, and a broad range of government stakeholders — from Ministers to technocrats — in over 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa.
She is a leading adviser on market-development for the poor for flagship programs funded by the Australian and UK governments, including most recently DFID's Business Innovation Facility. She has worked for PWC, Palladium, JE Austin, IESC, World Bank, Aga Khan Development Network, and the Poverty Action Lab. Vanessa graduated with an MPA/ID from Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Columbia University.
Marie-Marguerite Sabongui
Marie-Marguerite has spent her career thinking about how to help people connect to a deeper sense of purpose and how to catalyze that energy into social impact. She brings more than 10 years of experience in purpose-driven storytelling, campaign strategy, organizational design, and team development.
Most recently, she was Chief of Staff of Here Now, a strategic communications start-up engaging new audiences on climate. At Purpose, she delivered campaign strategies on a variety of issues for non-profit and foundation clients including the Gates Foundation. Prior to Purpose she worked in international climate communications, including as advisor to the Alliance of Small Island States.
Marie-Marguerite also led a successful acting career - starring in projects with Fox and MGM, and directing award-winning theatre. She holds an MPA from Columbia University and a BA in Cultural Studies and International Development from McGill University. She serves on the board of Leadnow.
Rebecca Baron
Rebecca is an award-winning campaigner with 15 years’ experience of activism and movement building. She believes in the power of good storytelling, and that it takes people across all sectors to create change.
Rebecca spent the first half of her career campaigning in the charity sector across issues including climate justice, tax justice, LGBTQ rights and refugee and migrant rights. She led the social mission team for ice cream activists Ben & Jerry’s, helping to develop campaigns across Europe to support refugees and migrants, before working as a consultant to help organisations from grassroots groups up to multinational companies better achieve their purpose and impact goals.
Rebecca is a trustee of the brilliant Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and People’s Economy, UK charities working to create more justice and equity for people currently marginalised by the system. She holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Magdalen College, Oxford, and a masters’ degree in campaigning and social change from the University of Westminster.
Sanath Jaishankar
Sanath strongly resonates with the ideology of collectivism and the belief that purpose-driven organizations fundamentally take a leading role in building the resilient, transformative societies needed to mitigate systemic inequalities as well as environmental injustices.
Sanath’s passion for social impact has been refined through his experiences in policy strategy. His professional experiences include negotiating policy positions within the G-77 on behalf of the Indian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, developing carbon profiles and mitigation strategies for 54 African countries at Climate Reality, and strategizing purpose-driven sustainability campaigns for a luxury ecotourism company based in Southern Africa.
Sanath holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Rights, and Development from New York University as well as a Graduate LLB from Edinburgh Law School. More recently, Sanath has completed his Master of Science in Applied Development Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has also successfully completed an Executive Certificate in ESG and Corporate Sustainability from NYU Stern School of Business.
In his free time, Sanath enjoys balancing his work life by pursuing his childhood hobbies as a competitive equestrian and as a qualified safari guide and aspiring wildlife photographer.
Emma Bloomfield
Emma is a senior social impact strategist with 10+ years’ experience supporting foundations, nonprofits, and businesses looking to do good. Emma co-founded and served as the first Director of the High Line Network, a learning community for “infrastructure reuse” projects around the country working to create vibrant and equitable public spaces. Prior to co-founding the High Line Network, Emma spent five years as a senior strategist and Director of Learning at Purpose, where she advised foundations on their public engagement strategies and led capacity building programs for grantees. Emma graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College and was awarded highest honors in her concentration, Visual and Environmental Studies. She also holds a Master of Architecture degree from Yale University.
David Chernicoff
David is a strategist, facilitator, and writer who works at the intersection of social impact, communications and creativity. His work includes 4+ years on the strategy team at Purpose, where he led project teams tackling impact analysis, brand positioning, and organizational development strategies (and, let's face it, writing occasional tweets) for clients across sectors, including the Gates Foundation, Unilever, Omidyar Network, Walk Free, and dozens more. His background is in communications, including work in nonprofits, media, and the arts; consulting for multinationals and startups in the social impact sector; and speaking engagements at SXSW and the Social Innovation Summit. Outside his communications and consulting work, David is an awfully interesting person: He has been a working improvisational comedian with NYC's Chicago City Limits, has won money on a televised game show, and has officiated nine weddings. David lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, his two children, and his devious dog.
Lila Schreiber
Specializing in engaging audiences to create social change, Lila has 15 years of experience designing, leading, and winning innovative advocacy campaigns. From strategic conception through tactical implementation, she knows how to get things done. A master storyteller across mediums, an expert facilitator, and a point guard on and off the court, Lila is grateful for the opportunity to work with progressive changemakers throughout the movement.
She has run scores of advocacy campaigns with dozens of organizations, from the ACLU, to the Wildlife Conservation Society, to electoral political campaigns. She has been lucky to work alongside brilliant organizers, activists, and strategists and to learn from organizing legend Marshall Ganz at the Harvard Kennedy School. Lila is always down to nerd out about Network Theory, hip-hop, or grilling. She holds a degree in Government and Mind Brain Behavior from Harvard College.
Adrienne Le
Adrienne is dedicated to building a more compassionate society through individual healing and collective action. She is a writer and engagement strategist with a background in nonprofit advocacy, fundraising, and communications.
In recent years, Adrienne has had the privilege of partnering with a range of clients including HIAS, USA for UNHCR, Perception Institute, MTV, and The San Francisco Film Society. Previously, she worked at Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization the U.S., where she managed digital campaigns and a record-breaking online fundraising program.
Adrienne serves on the board of the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation and is a Senior Fellow at Humanity in Action. She holds a BA in History from Yale University.
Ali Weiner
Ali is moved by the possibility of helping others face challenges, foster deep connections and make meaningful change. She is presently a concurrent degree student pursuing an MPA at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and an MBA at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. At Harvard, she helps teach the Kennedy School's foundational course on adaptive leadership.
Prior to school, Ali built and consulted with organizations dedicated to advancing human rights and social impact. Most recently, she was a senior strategist at Purpose, where her clients spanned the private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors; her work there included the creation of a new advocacy organization dedicated to effecting change on the crisis in Syria. Prior to Purpose, Ali founded an anti-human trafficking organization in Thailand and served at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. She holds bachelors degrees in History and Political Science from Yale University.