|
 |
|
|
| Advisors & Management Team |
|
|
|
| Advisors |
| |
| Dr. Kedar Bhakta Mathema,
Former Vice Chancellor, Tribhuvan University |
|
|
| Dr. Bal Gopal Baidya, Former National Planning Commission Member, Government of Nepal |
|
|
| Dr. Ishwar Upadhya, Former Chief Secretary, Government of Nepal |
|
|
| Dr. Richard Rowe, Founding Partner,
Open Learning Exchange Inc. |
|
|
| Dr. Paul Glewwe,
Professor, Dept of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota |
|
|
| Peter Dalglish,
Executive Director, South Asia Children’s Fund |
|
| |
|
|
| Management Team |
| |
| Rabi Karmacharya, Executive Director |
|
|
 Rabi has extensive experience in technology and management fields, and a strong commitment to help build Nepal’s economy through education. Born and brought up in Kathmandu, he went to the US to earn B.Sc. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. After spending three years in the Silicon Valley working as a Design Engineer at 3Com Corporation, he returned to Nepal in 2000 with a conviction that young educated Nepalis can help move Nepal to a better future. To tap into the growing global software outsourcing market, he co-founded HimalayanTechies, one of the first successful software outsourcing companies in Nepal, which he has managed for the past seven years. He helped HimalayanTechies grow into a company that placed high value on empowering its employees while providing an opportunity for young Nepali talent to make productive contributions within the country.
Rabi believes that quality education holds the key to sustainable growth. He has traveled widely in Nepal, and is keen on bringing quality education to each Nepali child. He volunteered with the One Laptop Per Child movement for almost a year before starting OLE Nepal. He was involved in raising public awareness about OLPC and lobbying with the Nepali government to undertake the OLPC project as a government program. |
|
| Dr. Saurav Dev Bhatta, Education Director |
|
|
Dr. Bhatta's main responsibilities include overall project planning and guiding the educator-driven process of developing digital content at OLE Nepal. He is also in charge of relations with universities in Nepal and abroad, and interactions with the larger education community in Nepal.
Dr. Bhatta was an Assistant Professor in the Urban Planning and Policy Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago from August 2000 until July 2007. His educational training combines electrical engineering, economics, and planning. While a professor at the university, he did extensive research on Nepal's education sector.
As a professor, his areas of research were:
- Education, technological development, and economic development.
- Determinants of academic performance of school-level students in Nepal
- Economic impact analysis and evaluation research of social intervention programs.
- Determinants of inequality and poverty in the urban and rural areas of both developing and industrialized countries, and strategies/policies for dealing with these phenomena
- Relationship between technological development and urban poverty and inequality.
- Development planning and regional planning in South Asia, with special focus on Nepal.
- Viability of alternative technologies in developing countries.
Prior to entering academia, Dr. Bhatta was a Business Analyst in the Private Banking group of the Union Bank of Switzerland, Zurich office.
His daughters Priyata and Asmita, ages 6 and 9, advise him in his work at OLE Nepal. They also assist our content development team by recording audio clips and providing feedback on our learning activities.
Education: BS in EE, Lafayette College (1990); MS in EE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1993); PhD in City and Regional Planning, Cornell University (2000). |
|
| Rajeev Adhikari, Government Affairs |
|
|
 Rajeev manages OLE Nepal's relations with the government of Nepal. More specifically, he is charge of developing the capacity of the Nepali government to implement the One Laptop Per Child project in Nepal.
Rajeev has managed projects in sectors such as education, governance reforms, and social inclusion for government of Nepal on behalf of multilateral and bilateral agencies operating in Nepal.
Rajeev cites his two-year-old son as his primary motivation for joining OLE Nepal.
"My son Kaustuv will start Grade One in four years. I want to make sure that he and his classmates get the best possible education. That's why I am working on this initiative."
He earned a Bachelor's degree in Finance from Suffolk University in Boston, MA and an MBA from Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island, USA. |
|
| Upaya Sharma, Finance Manager |
|
|
Upaya had interest in development field and ICT while he was in banking career and looking for opportunity to get into it. He found that synergy in OLE Nepal and hopped into it. With the background of M.Com degree and finance he is looking after the financial aspect of the organization and also getting attached with ICT in education. |
|
| Mahabir Pun, Community Relations |
|
|
 Mahabir is in charge of project implementation at the the local level. He has extensive experience implementing ICT projects in Nepal. He started his professional career as a teacher in Chitawan. After several years in Chitawan, he went to the United States to earn a master's degree in education at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
After graduation he returned to his native village of Nangi, in Myagdi District, to found Himanchal high school. He then formed the NGO Nepal Wireless to connect his high school and the five surrounding villages to the Internet, starting in 2004. Since then, he has constructed computer labs at various locations throughout Nepal. He won the prestigious Magsaysay award in 2007 for Community Development. |
|
| Bryan Berry, External Relations |
|
|
 Bryan has worked on the One Laptop Per Child Project as a volunteer organizer for over a year, primarily as a grassroots organizer. He is a native of the USA and currently lives in Kathmandu. He has committed to working in Nepal for an additional two years.
For the last five years Bryan was a member of the United States Diplomatic Corps. He has served as IT Manager at US diplomatic missions in the Middle East, Asia, and most recently Kathmandu. At the American Embassy in Kathmandu, Bryan managed a staff of 17 persons and a $2 million dollar annual budget. He oversaw IT services for over 540 staff at the embassy.
His responsibilities at OLE Nepal include:
- OLE Nepal’s relationships with OLE International and OLPC.
- OLE Nepal’s dealings with other International NGO’s
- Coordinating Foreign Volunteers
- Internal IT management
Bryan has a B.A. in Computer Science and has ten years experience in IT. His previous positions included beingan IT Trainer, project manager, software developer, and marketing IT services. |
|
|
