"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."
                                                    - Henry David Thoreau

About Us

Philanthropist.org was started by seven entrepreneurs, inventors and technologists with extensive building sustainable and profitable business ventures. With superb academic credentials from MIT, MIT Sloan, BU, Penn State, and Harvard Business School, the team also represents multiple backgrounds: management consulting, mathematics, social work, security, entrepreneurship, non-profits, IT consulting, philanthropy, investment banking, search engine marketing, and internet advertising. Our world-class Board of Advisors includes renowned university professors, business leaders, well-known entrepreneurs, and leaders at nonprofits and NGOs. philanthropist.org is currently managed by a small staff of mobile executives. Since the positions are mostly unpaid, the passion, dedication, and generosity these individuals exhibit allows our service to exist. 

Our Story
Our Founders Bios
Our Advisors Bios 
Our Workerteers Bios
Our Career Opportunities
Our Partners
Contact Us
The Starfish and the Spider

We welcome additional inquires from those with extensive management, technical, NGO, non-profit, or banking backgrounds to join our mission. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA we have representatives across the United States and Overseas. 
 

Founders:

Dennis Behrman       Product Marketing Exec
Jeffrey Brewer           Logistics & Operations Exec
James Chen             MIT Nerd & Chief Technologist
Shelley Lau              Chief Innovation Officer
Ben Lichtenwalner     Servant Leadership & Non-Profit Exec
Eric Melin                 Social Entrepreneur & SEO Guy
Ali Yeyinmen            Startup Guy & Emerging Markets Analyst 

Workerteers:

Beruk Ambatchew       Customer Support Manager
Ellen Driver                Fellowships Coordinator  
Jonathan Frazier         Web Interface Developer  
Ellie Hagopian            Micro-Finance Field Study Manager
John Quinn                Finance Manager   
Reggie Jones:            Link Partners & Sponsorships Manager
Voury Ignegongba:     Business Development Manager
Austin Everhart:          Communications Manager

Advisors:
 
Banking Advisor:                   Douglas Emond
Entrepreneurship Advisor:       Bill Bartmann
Legal Advisor:                       William R. Rodgers
Non-Profit Advisor:                 Trent Stamp
Innovation Advisor:                Ann Swift
Planned Giving Advisor:          Thomasin Bentley
Social Investing Advisor:         
Intellectual Property Advisor:   Kyle Robertson
Product Marketing Advisor:      David Silver
Economics Advisor:                 Wesley Yin
Venture Capital Advisor:                 
Public Policy Advisor:
Internet Advertising Advisor:    Abhinav Soni
Internet Engineering Advisor:   
Micro-Finance Advisor:
Strategy Advisor:
Startup Advisor:
Education Advisor:
Human Resources Advisor:       David Becker
E-Commerce Advisor:
Communications Advisor:

Founder Bios:

Dennis Behrman has extensive experience in the financial services industry and currently leads the Product Marketing at venture-backed ID Analytics serving Fortune 500 companies. Formerly, Behrman was a Senior Analyst with IDCs Financial Insights, and worked at UBS. Behrman holds a BS in Business Administration from Boston University. Contact: dennis @ philanthropist.org

Jeffrey Brewer has eight years of project management, logistics, and operational experience in the US Coast Guard where he received multiple military awards for leadership. Jeff led the entire Corps of Cadets (900+) as senior ranking cadet at the CG Academy. He has been involved in various non-profit organizations including Reach Out and Read, Social Capital Inc., Volunteer Match, Global Giving, and the United Way.  Jeff is currently a candidate for MBA at Harvard Business School.  Contact:  jeff @ philanthropist.org

James Chen was the Founder of CampusCraze, Inc. a successful collegiate web portal he sold after MIT where he competed in two 50k events. Currently, serves as the CTO of the acquiring firm and has managed budgets in excess of $10 million. James has worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Microsoft, Merrill Lynch and the Media Lab at MIT. James holds a BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT.  Contact:  james @ philanthropist.org 

Shelley Lau is an experienced intrapreneur, and has led several multi-million dollar project initiatives into profitable products at IBM for Fortune 500 companies.  Shelley is active in various charity events and community programs.  Shelley is the author and co-author of 4 filed invention patents and received her MSc in Management and Engineering at MIT. Contact:  shelley @ philanthropist.org

Ben Lichtenwalner has a diverse background in IT, crossing support, development, engineering and management in Fortune 500 companies.  Currently, Ben works fulltime for non-profit organizations.  Ben holds a BS in Management Science and Information Systems from the Pennsylvania State University and a MBA with concentration in Corporate Entrepreneurship from Lehigh University. Contact:  ben @ philanthropist.org

Eric Melin is an entrepreneur and was president of SpiderSplat Consulting, Inc. a Search Engine Marketing Consultancy based in downtown Boston. He founded the SEO/SEM venture in 1997 and self-funded and bootstrapped the business into a successful professional services firm which serviced dozens of clients including Fortune 500 brands.  He also served on the management team as VP, Traffic Generation for an $8M Series A Venture-Backed Startup in the SaaS space building a B2B buyers web portal. He previously was the Founder & CEO of The Corporate Awareness Group, Inc. a startup which developed wireless and technology tools for Socially Responsible Investors.  He also serves on the Board of Advisors to several high-tech startups and non-profit organizations. Eric began his career in Management Consulting and he attained his BS from Boston College and Boston University's School of Management.  Contact: eric @ philanthropist.org 

Ali Yeyinmen has diverse academic background ranges from Bio-informatics to Nanotechnology.  He is a strategy consultant interested in socially responsible investing & philanthropy.  He helps start-ups with market analysis and business modeling in the areas of information technology and life sciences. Ali competed in the MIT $50K in 2004 with team Ligeia, a drug discovery company out of the Harvard Medical School.  He holds a BS degree from the University of Vermont and a MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. Contact:  ali @ philanthropist.org 


Advisor Bios:

Bill Bartmann, Author, Billionaire: Secrets to Success.  Inc. Magazine and the Wall Street Journal labeled Bill “The Billionaire Nobody Knows”. Bill has gone from poverty & welfare to 25th wealthiest person in America, from Homeless to a 12,000 square foot home, from a High school drop-out to a Lawyer.  Harvard Business School did a Case Study on his management techniques; from Working at a traveling carnival to being named National Entrepreneur Of The Year by NASDAQ, USA Today, Inc. magazine, the Kauffmann Foundation and being inducted into the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and named one of the top 100 entrepreneurs in America for the last 100 years. He’s gone from Street gang member to Granted a permanent place in the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History; from Teen age alcoholic to Recipient of the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award, previously bestowed upon five U.S. Presidents and three Nobel Prize Winners; from Riding a city bus to Flying his own $25 million jet aircraft. He’s gone from eating out of a dumpster to dining at the finest Five-Star Restaurants in the world; from drawing unemployment to employing more than 10,000 people. In addition, he is the world’s leading authority on borrowing money for privately held or start-up companies. He personally borrowed over $3 billion from 120 different lenders in more than 180 separate transactions for over two-dozen privately held, start-up companies. He created seven different businesses in seven different industries including a $3.5 billion, 3,900 employee international company from his kitchen table with an initial loan of $13,000 while in bankruptcy and $1 million in debt.  One of his companies was named by Inc. magazine as one of the 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America four years in a row.  Bill has helped thousands of people start and fund their own successful businesses. He has also helped thousands of people improve their employment situation. Bill now spends his time as a motivational speaker. Over the past 20 years, Bills teachings have impacted the lives of millions of people. Bill has made many people millionaires.  Bill has been covered by Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, New Yorker, Barrons Wall Street Journal, USA Today, People Magazine and Fox News, CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC.  He has been endorsed by Sam Donaldson (ABC News), Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Theresa). Clarence Thomas (U.S. Supreme Court Justice), Muhammad Ali (Athlete), Brian Tracy (Author), Lou Holtz (Coach), Terry "Hulk" Hogan (Athlete), Roger Staubach (Athlete), Mark Victor Hansen (Author) and many others. Fortune Magazine said Bill Bartmann is a Populist Capitalist. Bill Bartmann put a seedy and inefficient industry on the road to respectability. Bill Cosby said "Bill is living proof that business success and family values are not incompatible.  He has demonstrated that “the more you give, the more you get."

Thomasin Bentley has ten years of Asset Management experience.  She most recently was a Relationship Manager, High Net Worth Investment Team at Credit Suisse Asset Management in New York, NY. She works with proprietary equity, fixed income and alternative products to foundations and large high net worth clients.  Thomasin Brought in $1 BN in new business in 2004 and $900 MM in 2005 for her firm where she managed a staff of five. She previously worked in International Equity Management at John Hancock Funds, Inc. and CSAM Structured Core Fixed Income Group. Thomasin holds a B.A. in Economics and History from Fordham University, with Additional coursework completed at Swarthmore College and Harvard University. She is Series 7 and 63 Licensed and a CFA Level I Candidate. She won Fordham University’s Angelo Rodriguez Prize for writing and the Mateo Ricci Fellowship which funded travel to Brazil for research in Economics. She was Principal Member of CSAM Diversity Committee, mandated with building a culture of inclusion at the firm.  Procured high profile guest speakers to Diversity events including the CEO of Genentech, the UN Liaison to Doctors Without Borders. 

Douglas Emond most recently was the Vice President of Multi Dimensional Profitability for Fidelity investments. Doug lead Fidelity's profitability models that create client, product and business stage profitability views for the firm. Prior to Fidelity, Doug was the Chief Technology Officer at Eastern Bank. Prior to joining Eastern, Emond spent 10 years with FleetBoston Financial and BankBoston. At FleetBoston, he served as director of the eCatalyst Initiative for credit infrastructure.  At BankBoston, he was Chief Operating Officer for the Corporate Wholesale Bank. Emond earned his MBA (Finance) and Bachelor's (BA) degree at Manhattan College.  

Reverend Gene is the Founder and CEO of Good News Network, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. He was also Founder and CEO of several other organizations which help people change their lives spiritually and financially. Beginning his career as a black box scientist traveling the world, his second career was a public speaker working small town America. The topic was "Your Success." During those years he was also a consultant in the financial industry advising individuals and corporations and helping them identify and implement the keys to success. He was able to achieve personal financial success at a young age. He built upon the entrepreneurial mindset of "making something happen" and although the career as an entrepreneur taught a lot about business and relationship building, there was always something missing. Even when he was making money he was still searching for something, he just didn’t know what it was yet... At a major turning point in life, Gene gave away everything he owned and became a missionary serving America. He fed poor people by semi-truck loads, got vehicles donated, gave blankets and clothing and helped in every way he could think of. It was gratifying work and he learned a lot about how to give effectively. He realized that philanthropy was his calling started making the necessary changes to fine tune talents and position himself to help others via his Coaching services. He realized he had to shift gears and help people in the same way he had taught others so many years before. “Be who God made you to be” was the simple message. Gene holds a several degrees including a doctorate degree.

William R. Rodgers, Attorney, Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers. Bill is a founding member of Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers and manages the firm's corporate department. His firm of over 20 attorneys in Boston’s Prudential building is a multi-dimensional practice offering experienced counsel in litigation, environmental law, business law, contracts, corporate finance, real estate law, domestic relations, estate and business planning, intellectual property, software licensing, health care, secured lending, securities law and taxation. He routinely serves as general counsel for a wide range of the firm's clients in addition to more traditional engagements. As such, his practice is focused in the areas of mergers and acquisitions; debt and equity financings; management led buyouts; strategic alliances and joint ventures; corporate operations, computer law; contracts; and commercial real estate. Bill has counseled several start-ups and entrepreneurial enterprises and has served as lead council through dozens of transactions, mergers, acquisitions, venture capital financings and private placements. Bill earned his Bachelor of Arts from Boston College, cum laude, in 1976 and his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Northeastern University School of Law in 1982. Bill is admitted to the bar in the states of Massachusetts and New York, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He is a member of the Boston and Massachusetts Bar Associations. In 2004 and 2005, Bill was named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer.

Kyle Robertson Kyle is a Lawyer with a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School.  He participated in the International and Comparative Law Review and was a Negotiations Competition Semi-Finalist from Iowa State University where he received his Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, 2004 in Computer Engineering and Economics; Minor in Math Honors. His was honored with a Cardinal Key (most distinguished Iowa State Student), as well as Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, 2003 Outstanding Student Leader. Honors Thesis: Price Discovery in Multi-Market Models.  At Progress Software Corporation Kyle reported directly to an Associate General Counsel of a 14 person in-house legal department of a 1,400 employee international software company. He has organized intellectual property material into patentable properties and filed both provisional and extended patent applications.  Prior to Law, Kyle has been a Software Engineer where he designed artificial intelligence algorithms. He was a Team lead for .Net Development with Specialization in graphical user interfaces and remote device communication as well as General Purpose Input Output Bus and Peer to Peer Protocol Complex Adaptive Systems. Working draft in pre-publication: Price Discovery in Multi-Market Models where he designed artificial intelligence algorithms to simulate real world economic interactions. 

Trent Stamp was President and Executive Director of Charity Navigator since its inception in April of 2001 to 2008. Prior to Charity Navigator, Trent worked as a legislative aide for U.S. Representative Robert Matsui, as a public school teacher in rural North Carolina, as an analyst and manager for the Social Security Administration, and as vice-president and director of communications for Teach For America. Trent received his Master's in Public Policy from Duke University and his B.A. in Law and Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Upon leaving Duke, Trent was selected into the highly-prestigious Presidential Management Fellow program, where he served for two years.  Trent appears as a regular expert analyst for both The Factor with Bill O'Reilly and all CNN shows. He has provided opinion and commentary for each of the network morning shows--NBC's The Today Show, ABC's Good Morning America, and CBS's The Early Show. He also has appeared on FOX News, CNBC, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and Comedy Central's The Daily Show, among others, and served as a regular contributor to National Public Radio programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has been profiled in Fast Company magazine, Philanthropy Roundtable, and The Washington Post, and quoted in nearly every major American newspaper or weekly magazine. He has published editorials and articles on charity issues, the role of government regulation in the charitable sector, fund-raising ethics, and non-profit leadership in over 50 newspapers, journals, and magazines, including The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and The Los Angeles Times.  Trent is a presenter and speaker at many national conferences and seminars on issues affecting the non-profit sector, including the future of American philanthropy, the role of watchdogs, the rights of donors, board leadership, accountability, transparency, the correlation between efficiency and efficacy, the need for national professional standards for charities, ethical fundraising, and the role of government in charity regulation. Trent is also the author of "Trent Stamp's Take", a highly popular and nationally-recognized blog about the non-profit sector. In 2004, he was selected by New Jersey Business Magazine as one of "40 Business Leaders Under 40" in the state. He recently served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the ePhilanthropy Foundation, a national non-profit organization devoted to fostering secure and ethical online philanthropy, and now acts as a member of the Editorial Board of Advisors for FundRaising Success Magazine.

David Silver has a breadth of experience in marketing/brand management, technology, and finance. He currently works with Sunny Delight Beverages (formerly under P&G) as an Assistant Brand Manager. Dave was a senior client manager overseeing engagements for P&G, Blue-Cross Blue-Shield, and others to develop consumer feedback and reporting tools for an online data mining and consumer analytics company called Intelliseek. Prior to that he worked as an analyst at Cooper & Lybrand, moving into the consulting practice under PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a senior consultant where he worked on a team to develop web-based order management and CRM systems at P&G.  Dave is a certified SAP consultant and holds an MBA from Indiana University with a Marketing major / Finance minor and a BS in Business Administration from Boston University with a dual major in Marketing and Finance.   

Abhinav Soni is currently CEO of an Internet Marketing firm based out of New Delhi, India and before this had been a consultant with various outsourcing firms advising them on Technology Infrastructure, Human Resources and Business Process Management (BPO). He has vast experience in business development, line management, strategic alliance management, channel management, and channel marketing gained while holding business development and sales leadership roles with companies such as Oracle, Orange Business and American Power conversion. Abhinav had successfully handled million dollar alliances with large enterprise customers such as IBM, DELL, General Electric, Reliance, EMC, Cisco and APC and has a successful track record of growing them to a higher base. He has experience managing a large set of System Integrators, Channel Partners, and Distributors across India. Abhinav holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering, majoring in Computer Science from Kurukshetra University.

Anne Swift is President and Founder of Young Inventors International and has an extensive background in entrepreneurial ventures and leadership. Glamour Magazine included Anne in a list of "the top ten college women who will change the world". Anne was also one of eleven finalists chosen from over six hundred participants in the Magna for Canada "As Prime Minister, I Would..." Scholarship competition. Anne holds patents of her own and is managing a not-for-profit organization that educates students to commercialize innovations; where she grew the organization to more than 1,300 members around the world (members hold more than 400 patented and patent pending inventions). Anne recently completed her undergraduate degree in Honours Economics and Political Science at the University of Toronto, where her education was financed entirely by scholarships. She is expecting her Ph.D. in Decision Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University in the doctoral program for Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Technological Change. In her spare time, Anne manages a consulting company, Anne Swift Enterprises. Anne worked with the corporate philanthropy team and CEO at Magna International to design an international program in girls education. Anne was the International Conference Coordinator for Free the Children where she organized three international conferences addressing obstacles faced by children in less developed countries. Anne has received numerous scholarships and awards including, Institute for Humane Studies  Research Fellowship, Nomination for the Top 40 Under 40 Award, Miller Thomson Foundation Scholarship, and Debbie Adam Memorial Scholarship.  Anne frequently speaks around the country at trade shows and leading universities and has been the subject of media coverage for her expertise as an Innovator. Anne's passion includes social innovation and entrepreneurship.

Wesley Yin, an assistant professor, Harris School, University of Chicago. Yin received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University before coming to the University of Chicago. His research focuses on a broad range of economic topics in the areas of health, health care, microfinance, and economic development. In ongoing work, Yin is studying the impact of medical technology on health behaviors; the role of information and competitive forces on the insurance markets and the delivery of health care; and the relationship between health and labor market productivity. Yin’s interest in economic development has also led to ongoing research on microfinance and insurance and their impact on asset accumulation and savings. His work has been supported by grants and fellowships from the National Institutes of Health, the Social Science Research Council, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and has been published in outlets such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Health Economics, and the Journal of Development Economics. Yin teaches statistics in the advanced econometrics sequence for policy students and a course on the economics of innovation. Yin is also a faculty affiliate of the Population Research Center and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy (Harvard University) in 2006 and 2008.

Workerteer Bios:

Beruk Ambatchew is a first-generation Ethiopian American, born in New York and has been a resident of Framingham Massachusetts for the better part of a decade. Being the son of a representative of the United Nations Development Program and lived abroad in Africa for 5 years as a child, he received an early introduction to the issues of economic inequality and underdeveloped countries. A project coordinator with extensive experience in clinical trials, facilities management and a BA in History from Binghamton University. Beruk signed on as a worketeer in October of 2009, and is currently managing the site blog and facilitating philanthropist.org’s efforts in the area of social media marketing management and community outreach. Contact:  bambatchew @ philanthropist.org

Austin Everhart has a Bachelor of Science in Education.  He hails from Long Island, New York and immensely enjoys traveling and sports.  Since first buying stock three years ago, he has focused on learning about all things business and economics, with a propensity for micro-finance and community development.  He hopes to go back to school soon to obtain his M.B.A.  He currently lives in Boston with his girlfriend Madeleine.   Contact:  aeverhart @ philanthropist.org

Jonathan Frazier is political science major with an economics minor at MIT.  Jonathan has a strong interest in international development and microfinance. Jonathan has web programming experience and is currently working on the the SaaS platform (i.e. the philanthropist.org website application).  Contact:  jfrazier @ philanthropist.org     

Ellie Hagopian has been interested in Africa and in microfinance for a number of years now, but a trip to Africa this past summer solidified some views. She has a MBA from Babson and extensive internet startup experience. Ellie is developing the field study process and curriculum.  Contact:  ehagopian @ philanthropist.org

John J. Quinn, CFA is an experienced Finance Professional with extensive experience in investment and financial analysis.  John joined philanthropist.org as a “workerteer” in October 2009 and devotes one night per week to the project team in Boston.  John holds a BS in Economics from Northeastern University, an MBA from the Boston University Graduate School of Management, is a Six Sigma Greenbelt and is a CFA charterholder. John is currently working on developing the financial processes and procedures for Philanthropist.org. John was most recently a Vice President / Consultant Relations Associate with Columbia Management in Boston. He also has prior corporate finance experience as part of the Boston Globe Newspaper Co.’s finance team. John is from the metropolitan Boston area.  Contact:  jquinn @ philanthropist.org

Ernst Oddsund has more than 20 years experience in the software/Internet industry. He has led the product management function in three start-up companies. Under his leadership, the teams delivered numerous products, services and solutions to market. As a co-founder of Digibug, a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider and an application service provider (ASP) of e-commerce technologies for the online photo market, Ernst led the organization through growth and contraction, culminating in the sale of the assets of the company. Before joining the start-up world, he held marketing, sales and consulting positions at Lotus/IBM, mainly in the collaboration and knowledge management areas. Ernst was raised and educated in Norway and holds a Masters degree in Business and Economics from Norwegian School of Management.  Contact:  eoddsund @ philanthropist.org