Watson Institute Team
Watson Institute is led by a team of strong-hearted individuals who aim to shape the future of education while supporting some of the world’s most promising next generation leaders and entrepreneurs.
Watson Institute is led by a team of strong-hearted individuals who aim to shape the future of education while supporting some of the world’s most promising next generation leaders and entrepreneurs.
Executive Director
Saarika manages the team, preceptors and development of Watson Institute, South Florida. In her role, she oversees all programming including workshops, Impact Series, and both our Mentor and Employer Networks. She also serves as a liaison to the broader South Florida community for the program and scholars.
Programs Manager
James is a pioneer graduate of our inaugural cohort at Watson Institute at Lynn University and is the Founder and current Board Member of Street Priests, which is an organization that supports street children in Nigeria. In his role, James supports the implementation of all of the programming elements at Watson Institute at Lynn University.
Operations Coordinator
Anshika leads the design and implementation of world class logistics and organizational experience for scholars selected to attend Watson Institute. This position implements and coordinates a large portion of daily Watson Institute admission and programmatic operations, in addition to building community and a vibrant student life experience.
Preceptor
Ali is a dedicated facilitator and strategist with 15+ years of experience, passionate about empowering teams and communities for positive change. She specializes in systems change, well-being, and empowering young changemakers, artists, and movement-builders. Her work is rooted in our shared humanity and guided by creative and spiritual practice, always with a focus on justice and well-being for all.
Preceptor
Denise has over 35 years of experience in the behavioral health field. She serves as the Executive Director at The Guidance Center, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic in rural Northwestern Pennsylvania. Her passion and commitment are to the underserved. Believing that obstacles can be overcome, Denise has spent most of her career developing new programs to fill identified gaps in services. She believes in the importance of strong communities and enjoys opportunities that foster team building and leadership development.
Preceptor
Manuel leads financial inclusion and impact investing projects across the US and LatAm. He was born and raised in Buenos Aires, went to University in the UK, and earned his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at Duke University. His most recent experiences include working for one of the largest CDFIs in the US, leading the US office of a Latin American NGO as interim CEO, and orchestrating the RISE Fund in South Florida.
Preceptor
Santra currently serves as the Interim Executive Director for the Miami Workers Center, a strategy and action center whose purpose is to build the power and self-determination of South Florida’s most oppressed communities, and help to build a progressive voice and platform that can nurture the growth of movements for social change in Florida and in the United States.
Preceptor
Stephanie is an applied economist and Founder of DataCents Analytics, LLC specializing in data strategy, value, and impact estimation and applications of public sector data. She is an Advisory Board member of AtliQ, a Thought Leadership Partner with Public Sector Network, and a Contributor to Forbes Ignite.
Preceptor
Pranati “Pranoo” Kumar (Skomra) has taught, led, worked with and founded a number of elementary school systems and programs on the East and West Coast – from the South Bronx to Harlem and Seattle – committed to identity driven and empowering learning experiences. She is currently the owner and education leader of Rohi’s Readery, a social justice driven children’s bookstore and learning center committed to critical literacy that promotes inclusivity and diversity.
Preceptor
Brian Knowles is a dynamic speaker, writer, researcher, and educator with the distinction of being twice named by Legacy Magazine as one of South Florida’s Top Black Educators (2018 and 2022). Brian is the founder of Power Builders Curriculum and Pedagogies, an educational consulting company that supports schools, community organizations, and education-focused nonprofits in creating culturally affirming spaces. This includes: policy, curriculum design, and professional development for educators.
Preceptor
Andrew is an entrepreneur who is a strong advocate for AI and big data to improve quality of life. He is the founder of SurfBigData, dedicated to intelligent algorithms to remove long-standing choke points in enterprise management. Andrew has chief experience in healthcare, smart city, and intelligent transportation. He is an advisory member of multiple advanced technology developments. Andrew’s mission and passion is to “try and make a dent in the Universe.”
Preceptor
Alexina Prather is a social impact professional and entrepreneur, with a background in Sustainable Business and Human Resources. Alexina is a consultant at a social-impact firm based out of Kingston, JA providing ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) services. In 2019, Alexina founded a sustainable fashion brand that promotes the secondhand clothing industry and upcycling. Recently, Alexina directed an initiative that supported minority and women-owned businesses in accessing funds and resources in Miami-Dade County.
Preceptor
Madison works as the Director of Special Projects for the Office of the President at Lynn University. Madison manages a wide variety of projects including a 10,000 sq ft coworking space, a 112,320 sq ft student housing project opening in fall 2022, Lynn’s online program partnership with Kaplan, and Lynn’s student housing master plan. Her past experiences cross multiple paths from creating a non-profit organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo to project management in the entertainment, telecommunications, CRM, and direct marketing industries.
Preceptor
Danielle St. Luce is a non-traditional fundraising consultant focused on access to capital for first-time and novice entrepreneurs. She is experienced in supporting social ventures needing first-time capital and operational consulting. Her work focuses primarily on supporting government agencies and nonprofits in building capital programs for entrepreneurs in their communities.
Preceptor
Marte is a classically trained professional musician and strategic planner, founded Cultured Innovations to help clients translate vision into value and facilitate success on purpose. Her work as a coach and consultant, allows her to support artists, nonprofit leaders and boards in creating more value, visibility, and financial security.
Preceptor
M-T is a Decatur, GA native that ended up at Missouri S&T (Rolla, MO) by way of the Atlanta University Center Consortium’s Dual Degree Engineering Program (AUC DDEP). After attending Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA), where he studied Mathematics, M-T traveled to Rolla, MO, to complete a BS in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Programmable Logic Controllers. After graduating, M-T worked in the industry for some of the top product supply chains in the world in roles from manufacturing to martial coordination. With this breath of exposure, M-T is excited about the future of Metric Mate, bringing exceptional value to its users and changing people’s fitness journey forever.
Preceptor
Vanessa Zamy, The Business Defibrillator®, is empowering women nationwide to lead prosperous community enterprises. Her background includes a Management Science and Engineering Degree from Stanford University, and strategic leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies. A Consultant, a Professor, a Speaker, and Bestselling Author, in her spare time, Vanessa enjoys sleeping, and living by her mantra: “have fun, grow money, and share”.
Associate Search Operations Manager
Monica supports our global search for promising next-generation leaders and entrepreneurs for our Accelerator and Fellowship programs, in addition to providing world class technical and operational support to the team’s recruitment, admissions, and marketing functions.
Senior Director of Operations
Alberto organizes and leads the daily operations at Watson Institute, including but not limited to: hiring, people operations, financial management, and program operations. Prior to his role at Watson Institute Alberto served as a Wildland Firefighter and is a Veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
Operations Coordinator
Daniela designs and implements a world-class logistics and operational experience for Watson Institute’s Immersives. She also implements and coordinates a large portion of Watson Institute’s daily operations, including elements of a vibrant student life experience.
Senior Director of Development
Ariana leads our global development function with the goal to build relationships and meet fundraising goals required to expand our impact. This includes compelling writing of grant proposals and strong funder communication, project management of fundraising related projects, prospecting and research into new partners and marketing.
VP of Admissions & Programs
Isabel leads our global admissions team with the goal to strengthen our search strategy and impact worldwide. In addition, she oversees our Career Accelerator program. In this capacity, she advises program design, identifies and assesses technical and operational requirements, and ultimately translate those requirements into an implementation strategy that meets the needs of both our partners and Watson Institute.
Associate VP of Programs
Dwayne leads the program implementation team for Watson Institute’s Accelerator and Fellowship programs and ensures the highest level of programmatic quality and impact. The Fellowship programs include award-winning training, seed funding, committed mentorship, and a vast network of resources. He is a pioneer graduate of our inaugural cohort at Watson Institute at Lynn University.
VP of Design & Innovation
Tyler leads our global program design team with a goal to elevate and strengthen the quality of our programs. She does this through ongoing measurement and evaluation and strives to ensure that programming meets the north-star impact goals for each program. In addition, Tyler is closely involved in our strategy in order to experiment with ways to innovate our programs to reach a large market and therefore grow our impact.
COO & Co-Founder
Andrew serves as the internal lead of the organization and manages our organization-wide functions: Program Implementation, HR/Operations, Design, Admissions and Development. He builds and instills culture in our top-notch teams and supports each team in achieving their goals. He is known as a GyShiDo Master and aims to set the foundation for Watson Institute to become a hundred year old institution.
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Recognized as an Ashoka fellow, Echoing Green fellow, and one of Forbes 30 social entrepreneurs under 30, Eric’s work is driven by a simple belief: to solve the toughest challenges facing humanity, the place to start is within the hearts and minds of the next generation.
CEO, Lily's Sweets
A recognized leader in the natural and organic food industry, Jane is former CEO of Lily’s Sweets (sold to Hershey’s), co-founder of Haevn (with several Watson Institute alums!) and has 30 years of executive experience in PepsiCo, Heinz, and Rudi’s Bakery. Jane publishes the popular blog JaneKnows.com on the tips, tools, and truths to lead a meaningful career.
Retired Microsoft executive
Mike is a retired Microsoft executive where he led high profile, global products and most recently the Community Development program that supports 50+ global communities. Mike is an early-stage investor, advisor and board member of numerous non-profit and for-profit start-ups.
Founder, Amani Institute
Roshan is the Founder of Ashoka’s Globalizer and the Amani Institute. He is a guest lecturer at over a dozen universities – from Harvard to Paris’ HEC Business School. His course is entitled: “Scaling Social Enterprises Globally.” Roshan is also a Preceptor at Watson Institute at Lynn University.