Who We Are
Our Story
Originally known as Orphans Against AIDS (OAA), Even Ground was founded in 2002. From the beginning, Even Ground has worked to break the cycle of HIV/AIDS by ensuring that children and youth affected by the epidemic receive high-quality education, nutrition, and care. To do this, Even Ground brought together a group of small, like-minded organizations, all started by young people, to address the impacts of the HIV epidemic on children and youth. Even Ground worked to facilitate the operations of these projects and to cultivate a network of support and collaboration between them. Even Ground's partner projects have each developed unique models of education support and care for young people and families in communities affected by HIV/AIDS. Orphans Against AIDS became Even Ground in 2013.
Each of the Even Ground projects was initiated by a young social entrepreneur who took the risk to help children in need. Today, the projects are run and supported by a network of family, friends, and donors.
Board of Directors
|
Andrew Klaber, President |
|
|
Sid Shenai, Vice Chairman
Rohan Nirody, Secretary |
|
|
Rohit Sahni, Treasurer |
|
|
Christopher Eaglin, Executive Director
Scott Grinsell |
|
|
Brian Kaufmann |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our Team
Christopher Eaglin, Executive Director
Christopher Eaglin is the Executive Director for Even Ground. Prior to this role he was a Principal at Pegasys Strategy & Development in New York and in Cape Town, South Africa. He focused on infrastructure and energy related services and economic analysis in the US, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. He has previously served as a Regional Manager for Business Development in Southern Africa for the AES Corporation, a leading international power company. He also has been a strategy analyst at BP and at CARE USA. Chris graduated from Oxford with a MPhil in Economic and Political Development as a Marshall Scholar. Prior to attending Oxford, Mr. Eaglin attended Morehouse College graduating as valedictorian with a degree in Economics and Mathematics. He is also a classically trained tenor having given concerts in Africa, Europe, and the USA.
Andrew Klaber, Founder of Even Ground
Originally from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Andrew Klaber graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa president from Yale College, earned Masters of Science degrees in Financial Economics and Economic History as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, and holds a JD/MBA from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, where he graduated with Distinction. In addition to other honors, he was selected as a Goldman Sachs Global Leader, was invited to the White House to receive the President’s Environmental Youth Award, and served with the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Orphaned and Vulnerable Children. He co-authored a chapter in a book, Social Entrepreneurship in the Age of Atrocities: Changing Our World, published in December 2012. Andrew serves on the boards of the Bowery Mission Young Philanthropists, Echoing Green Social Investment Council (Co-Chair), Harvard Law School Board of Overseers, Learning Matters, United Jewish Appeal Young Wall Street (Co-Chair), among others. Klaber currently serves as an Associate Fellow at Trumbull College, Yale University and is an investor at Paulson & Company, a multi-strategy hedge fund in New York.
Lindsey Reynolds, Founder of Thembanathi
Lindsey Reynolds is the Project Director of Thembanathi, which she co-founded in 2004. She is also a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In 2012, Lindsey was awarded a joint doctoral degree from the Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Department of Anthropology, Krieger School for Arts and Sciences at the the Johns Hopkins University. She also holds a master's degree in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has conducted more than a decade of research on global health, humanitarian intervention, and the lives of young people and families in rural South Africa, with a particular focus on the experiences of young people affected by HIV/AIDS. Reynolds has been awarded several prestigious grants to support her research, including a Fulbright Fellowship, a US National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award, a Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Award, and most recently, a South African National Research Foundation Postdoctoral Innovation Award.
Angela Larkan, Founder of Thanda
Originally from South Africa, Angela spent years researching support structures for children as a student at Wesleyan University. In 2006 at age 22, Angela founded Thanda, which is today a leader in community development in South Africa. She is currently the Executive Director of Thanda. She was awarded the Mzanzi Soul Award for her contributions in 2010 and was a finalist for the 2011 Feather Awards for Community Building. She was one of six global pioneers chosen to be part of Levi’s Go Forth campaign in September 2011 and was the winner of the Clarin’s Most Dynamic Woman of the Year award 2011. She is consistently chosen as one of the Mail & Guardian’s Most Successful Youth and Thanda After-School is currently a finalist for the Drivers of Change award.
Jake Masters, Founder of Dikatole Scholarship Fund
Jake Masters, a recent graduate and Ingram Scholar at Vanderbilt University, received a degree in Economics and is currently in the management rotational program at The Linde Group. He is the Director of the Dikatole Scholarship Fund, which initially started as a toy drive in 2006, and has grown into a program which fully funds 13 scholars at various private schools in Johannesburg, South Africa. The program also works with a local homework center to support an additional 80 students in an after school environment. In his spare time, Jake is an avid basketball player, runner, and rock climber.