Social Enterprise Annual Conference

Master of Ceremonies - Premal Shah, Kiva

As President, Premal leads Kiva's efforts to scale its partnerships and member base. Prior to Kiva, Premal was a Principal Product Manager at PayPal, an eBay company. During his 6 year career at PayPal, Premal drove a number of key initiatives including a year long project defining eBay's role in economically empowering the global working poor. A number of corporate initiatives have come out of this effort, including PayPal's support of Kiva. Prior to PayPal, Premal was a strategy consultant at Mercer Management Consulting in New York. Premal has had a long standing interest in microfinance. In 1997, he was awarded a grant from Stanford University to research microfinance in Gujarat, India. More recently Premal co-founded the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network and spent 2 months in India working to refine / validate Kiva's model. In 2006, Premal was a featured speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and Global Microcredit Summit. Premal graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.

"If you look at Kiva.org, people with a very modest amount of money can make a huge positive impact all around the world. There are so many people who want to give but don't really know how to do it. Through Kiva.org, people around the would can become micro-bankers to developing world entrepreneurs, who have their own ideas, so we can give them a chance to raise their kids with dignity, send their kids to school, and in troubled places like Afghanistan we can marginally increase the chance that peace can prevail, because people will see there is a positive alternative to conflict." - President Bill Clinton

As a member of the Root Cause Consulting team, Scott works with nonprofits and local government agencies on strategy, process optimization, and performance measurement to sustainably increase social impact.  His current focus is on education and childhood nutrition.  Prior to joining Root Cause, he co-founded and served two years on the senior management team of an e-commerce/retail services firm providing outsourced programs to national consumer electronics chains. He has over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, having served in a variety of leadership roles for organizations including Outward Bound, the YMCA, and the JCC. Scott holds an M.B.A. from Babson College and a B.A. in Psychology/History from Rutgers College.

Tax Hussein, The Bridgespan Group

Taz Hussein is a Manager in the Boston office of The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit strategy consulting firm.  At Bridgespan, Taz has worked with several nonprofits and foundations focused on education, youth development and public health.

Taz joined Bridgespan after 7 years of for-profit consulting, first with McKinsey & Company and then with the Strategic Planning Group at American Express.  While at McKinsey, Taz led the firm’s pro bono work with The Boston Foundation (TBF) which resulted in TBF substantially increasing its annual giving to Boston-area nonprofits.

Earlier in his career, Taz spent several years in the nonprofit sector working with advocacy, human service and public health organizations addressing issues of homelessness, substance abuse and access to care for people with HIV/AIDS.  

Taz’s nonprofit volunteer activity includes volunteer consulting with Boston-area nonprofits through the Community Action Partners program for Harvard Business School alumni.  Taz has also served on the New England Steering Committee for the Human Rights Campaign and on the Board of the AIDS Housing Corporation.

Taz is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School.

Brandon Busteed, Outside the Classroom

Brandon Busteed has led Outside The Classroom from its inception in June 2000 to its status today as the global leader in student alcohol prevention research and programs.  The company has created widely adopted programs addressing high-risk drinking, sexual assault, and mental health, which have been used by more than 500 colleges, universities and secondary schools in North America. AlcoholEdu, the company’s flagship program, is the most widely used Internet-based course in the world having been taken by more than 2 million students.  Outside The Classroom was the winner of the 2009 American Business Award “Stevie” for Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program.

Prior to Outside The Classroom, Busteed co-founded CIRCLe Network, a nationally focused nonprofit organization that worked jointly with students and administrators to find solutions to complex campus issues. Busteed is a former Duke University trustee and a former member of the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy Board of Visitors at Duke University. 

Busteed has keynoted at numerous conferences nationally, speaking and writing frequently on higher education policy as it relates to alcohol prevention and risk liability. He is a frequent guest lecturer at academic institutions, including MIT's Sloan School of Management, where he holds the distinction of being their highest-rated guest lecturer.  Busteed is the author of numerous articles and academic papers, and has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, and Trusteeship Magazine.