~ Photograph Gallery ~

~ Speaker's Biodata ~

Mr Michael Chertok,  Partner, Origo Inc (http://www.origoinc.com)

Michael advised foundations and development agencies on strategic program development and capacity building with grantees as founder and Principal of Social Change Consulting, the activities of which were absorbed by Origo Social Enterprise Partners when he joined the firm in 2004. He is co-founder and previously served as the Managing Director of Global Catalyst Partners to improve peoples’ lives through the effective application of information technologies. He established the foundation’s reputation as an innovative pioneer, applying technology to philanthropy. He also initiated the foundation’s annual Small Tech Grants competition, engaging more than 100 international philanthropists in a participatory grant-making program.

Prior to his involvement with Global Catalyst, Michael helped start Schools Online, a nonprofit organization that has enabled students at more than 5,000 schools around the world to gain access and use the communication and information resources of the Internet for learning and cross-cultural dialogue, where he also served as Director of Marketing and Development. He previously managed a public-private partnership initiative to assemble a multimedia-based curriculum for at-risk youth at Computer Curriculum Corporation (now Pearson Education Technologies) the leading provider of educational software and services to the school market, and a unit of Simon & Schuster.

Michael began his career as a math and computer science teacher in Elmsford, New York. He later became the Education Coordinator at the Computer Museum in Boston and then joined the research staff at the Institute for Research on Learning in Palo Alto, California. Michael is the co-founder of svi2, the Silicon Valley Forum on International Development and Information Technology, an education and networking group for individuals in the nonprofit, foundation and corporate communities interested in how technology is being applied to the challenges of international development work. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Digital Divide Data in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a social enterprise that employs, and provides educational opportunities for, disadvantaged young adults in South East Asia. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Volunteers in Asia (VIA), a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization dedicated to increasing understanding between the U.S. and Asia by providing young American with an opportunity to work and live within an Asian culture. Michael holds a BA, summa cum laude, in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University and an MBA and a Certificate in Public Management from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He was a Fellow in the Stanford Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders. Michael speaks Russian.

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