Management

Sasha Fisher

Executive Director, Co-Founder

Sasha Fisher is working in East Africa to launch Spark MicroGrants. Her experience with NGOs in South Sudan, South Africa, India, and Uganda has led to her passion for community-led development. She holds a BA from the University of Vermont in Human Security, a paradigm for development that recognizes the rising legitimacy of non-state actors in securing basic human needs.

Based in Kigali, Rwanda, Sasha works with a growing team of remarkable Rwandan and Ugandan facilitators to develop systematic approaches to scaling locally appropriate solutions.

Neal Lesh
Chief Strategic Officer, Co-Founder

Neal Lesh is a computer scientist with field experience in applying information technologies to help organizations address poverty in low-income regions. He has published and lectured extensively in data visualization, data mining, and automated planning and logistics. He has developed medical record and analysis systems for Partners in Health, the government of Rwanda, and a large AIDS treatment program in Tanzania, and worked with many other Universities and NGOs. He is coordinating a Harvard-funded research project in South Africa.

Neal holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Washington and a masters degree in global health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Teddy Svoronos

Chief Policy Officer, Co-Founder

Teddy Svoronos first conceived of Spark MicroGrants as a Fulbright Scholar in Tanzania working with health workers in a rural clinic. Their ingenuity, drive, and intimate knowledge of their environment left a deep impression on him, and he has since worked to tap into that knowledge and energy around the world.

Teddy holds a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University, focusing on effectiveness and outcomes research. He received his Bachelor's degree from Georgetown University.

Andy Pritchard
Director of Outreach

Andy Pritchard has worked on community health programs in resource-scarce settings both domestically and abroad. His main areas of focus are program design and evaluation. His work with Spark MicroGrants includes developing and coordinating the Spark Advocates program.

Andy has a Masters of Public Health in Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He also has certificates in Global Health and Community Based Participatory Research.

Justine Esquivel

Special Projects Director

Justine Esquivel has a background in communications, business development, research and project management in the private sector. She has traveled, worked and studied in Africa, Europe, Australia and South America and has volunteered with a wide range of health and education non-profits both in the US and internationally. She will work in Rwanda to support the MicroGrant projects and lead Spark Voice. Justine holds Bachelor's degrees in Communication and Spanish from the University of Washington.

Heather Zornetzer

Heather Zornetzer has a background in rural community health and development and has worked on numerous zoonotic disease prevention and public health capacity building projects in the US and Latin America since 1999. She currently directs the ICT for Health program for the Sustainable Sciences Institute, based in Managua, Nicaragua, identifying and implementing eHealth tools with high potential for public health impact in limited resource settings, especially relative to maternal and child health and priority infectious diseases.

Heather has a Masters of Public Health (MPH) from UC Berkeley, a MS from UC Davis in International Agricultural Development, and a BA in Biology from Reed College.

Jonathan Jackson

Jonathan Jackson is an entrepreneur and innovator with extensive experience in technology solutions. He co-founded Dimagi, an open source global health technology organizations that has projects in over 20 countries. He advises numerous social enterprises on financing, strategy, and operational plans. Jonathan earned bachelors and masters degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jonathan also co-founded Cogito Health, a pioneering company using speech analytics for depression management, and Doctor Kares Hospital, a low-cost orthopedic surgical hospital in New Delhi. He is also a visiting scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Decision Systems Group, and a lecturer at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.