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What We Do -- We grew out of research programs in psychology and economics at top\n academic institutions, and our work draws on decades of experimental scientific research.\n We use these insights to design scalable ways to improve programs, policies and products\n in the real world. We work with a wide range of partners, from leading foundations\n and non-profit organizations, to government bodies and businesses. In short, anyone\n who wants to make a positive difference to peoples’ lives.\n

Who We Are -- From a small project at Harvard in 2008, when a team of top academics\n joined forces to create the first behavioral design lab in the world, we have grown\n into an organization with global reach and influence. We now have offices in New York,\n Boston, and Washington, D.C., and work on projects in almost every corner of the world.\n ideas42 is made up of a group of talented, creative professionals from different backgrounds\n and disciplines, united by our expertise and experience in applying insights from\n the behavioral sciences to today’s most difficult social problems.\n

Executive Director -- Josh Wright is an Executive Director at ideas42. In addition\n to responsibility for the organization overall, Josh focuses on designing and implementing\n behavioral solutions to problems in financial services, poverty, healthcare, and education.\n Josh has extensive experience in the for-profit, non-profit, and public sectors; industry\n experience in financial services, media and entertainment, housing, and youth development;\n and functional expertise in business strategy, new business development, and new venture\n creation. Immediately prior to joining ideas42, Josh headed up the Office of Financial\n Education and Financial Access at the United States Department of the Treasury, where\n he worked with ideas42 founder Sendhil Mullainathan. Previously, Josh held positions\n at the Center for Community Change, Booz Allen and Hamilton’s Commercial Management\n Consulting business, and was a Senior Executive at Bertelsmann’s Random House, Inc.\n In addition, Josh served two terms as an elected City Councilmember for the City of\n Takoma Park, Maryland. Josh has been a visiting lecturer at the Princeton Woodrow\n Wilson School, serves on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Behavior,\n and is a frequent public speaker on applied behavioral science. He holds a BA in Economics\n from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.\n

Executive Director -- Piyush Tantia is co-Executive Director at ideas42. Since joining\n ideas42 in 2009 he has worked closely with leading academics from Harvard, MIT and\n Princeton to design and implement solutions in various areas including household finance,\n education, international development, poverty, criminal justice and healthcare. Along\n with ideas42’s co-founders, he transitioned the organization from a research initiative\n at Harvard University to an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit. Prior to joining ideas42,\n Piyush was a Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Retail Banking and Finance & Risk practices.\n During his 14 years at Oliver Wyman, he advised clients in a vast array of retail\n financial services businesses including consumer lending, deposits, microfinance,\n and serving the unbanked and underbanked. Piyush has been a visiting lecturer at\n the Princeton Woodrow Wilson School and frequently lectures at Harvard, Wharton and\n Columbia. Piyush has served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Behavior\n and the board of the MIX. He is on the executive committee for Innovation for Poverty\n Action’s Financial Capability Research Fund. He holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy\n School of Government, a B.S.Econ from the Wharton School and a B.S.E. in Computer\n Science from the University of Pennsylvania.\n

Managing Director -- Alissa Fishbane is a Managing Director at ideas42. She has\n extensive experience converting innovative, evidence-based ideas into practice, having\n designed, tested and scaled interventions in developing countries and the United States\n across areas including global health, education, criminal justice and financial inclusion.\n Before joining ideas42, Alissa was the Managing Director and a founding executive\n of Deworm the World, which she helped grow from zero to serving 35 million children\n annually by scaling school deworming programs with government partners. Prior to that,\n she was the Latin America Director and founding Mexico Country Director for Innovations\n for Poverty Action, where she developed and implemented randomized evaluations reaching\n over 375,000 low-income families. Most recently Alissa was a Senior Director at City\n Year, where she led the design and business planning process to create a new secondary\n school for underserved youth. Alissa graduated with honors in Political Economy from\n the University of California, Berkeley and has a Master’s in Public Policy from the\n Harvard Kennedy School of Government.\n

Director of Finance & Administration -- Mark Eden is the Director of Finance and\n Administration at ideas42, where he applies over 20 years accounting and operations\n experience gathered from Europe and America. Primarily working in the audit, services\n and education sectors, he has frequently assisted startups and rapidly growing organizations\n in commercial and non-profit environments. Prior to ideas42, Mark worked at the Brooklyn\n Kindergarten Society working with New York ACS, helping to roll out their Early Learn\n program for a group of early childhood education centers in low income areas of Brooklyn.\n When not discovering new tips and tricks for Excel, Mark is a passionate collector\n of underground music and can often be found in his basement studio deconstructing\n his favorite tracks. Mark has a BA in Accounting and Financial Management from the\n University of Sheffield (UK), and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified\n Accountants.\n

Managing Director -- Saugato Datta is a Managing Director at ideas42. He works with\n partners to design, test and scale programs and products that use behavioral economics\n to benefit poor people in developing countries. He is also helping ideas42 think about\n its strategy for impact in the developing world, and writes extensively on the application\n of behavioral economics to development programs and more generally. Before joining\n ideas42, Saugato spent three years writing about economics at The Economist in London.\n His beat included behavioral and development economics, international trade, academic\n research, and the international financial institutions. He also edited the third edition\n of Economics: Making Sense of the Modern Economy, an edited selection of Economist\n articles about economics. Prior to this, he was a researcher at the World Bank in\n Washington, DC. He has published papers on discrimination in Indian labor markets\n and the effects of infrastructure development in developing countries. Saugato has\n a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and undergraduate and\n Master’s degrees from Cambridge University and the University of Delhi.\n

Managing Director -- Ted Robertson is a Managing Director at ideas42. He works on\n the strategy and application of behavioral science to health care, city government,\n and national civics. He has extensive experience across government, non-profit, and\n for-profit sectors transforming existing organizations as well as launching and scaling\n new ventures. Immediately before joining ideas42, he was a Visiting Scholar and Fellow\n at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in its civic innovation practice. At HKS,\n he focused on the watershed nation-building process by Native American governments\n and the burgeoning civic technology and data-smart government space. Prior to that,\n he worked with the Los Angeles Transportation Authority, Bus Riders Union, and NAACP\n Legal Defense and Educational Fund to lead a data-driven redesign of the Los Angeles\n transit system, particularly focused on people-centered design, public health, and\n sustainability. He holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School focused on digital\n management and transformation, creating innovation cultures, and business strategy,\n and a B.A. in History from Oberlin College.\n

Managing Director -- William Congdon is a Managing Director at ideas42. His work\n covers the application of behavioral insights to topics including public finance,\n labor economics, and consumer finance, with an emphasis on the role of testing and\n evaluation in program design. Prior to joining ideas42, he was a Research Director\n in the Brookings Institution’s Economic Studies program. He has previously served\n as the Staff Economist for education and labor at the Council of Economic Advisers.\n He holds a PhD in Economics from Princeton University.\n

Director of Communications -- Andy Plews is Director of Communications for ideas42.\n He is responsible for driving the organization’s strategic communications to support\n overall growth, project development, brand and reputation. Before joining ideas42,\n he spent 12 years based in Toronto leading Corporate Communications, Government Relations\n and Community Affairs for BMO Financial Group, a North American financial services\n company. He joined BMO in 2002 as Vice President Corporate Communications for BMO\n Harris Bank in Chicago. Prior to joining BMO, Andy was Director of Media Relations\n for United Airlines in Chicago, responsible for the airline’s media relations strategy\n in North America and 26 countries around the world. In that capacity he was a key\n member of the airline’s executive crisis management team on 9/11. Andy serves on\n the Board of the Immigrant Defense Project and is a past Board member of City Year\n Chicago. He has a B.A. in Modern History from St John’s College, Oxford.\n

Vice President -- Anthony Barrows is a Vice President at ideas42 where he focuses\n on domestic poverty, local government, post-secondary education, and civic engagement.\n Anthony previously worked over ten years in child welfare, spanning positions in direct\n service, supervision, training, advocacy, project management and system improvement.\n He is also a practicing artist and has led art classes and arts-oriented youth development\n programming. As a native Bostonian, he is also sports-obsessed and spends much of\n his spare time trying to convince his wife and son to care as much about the Red Sox\n as he does. Anthony holds a BA in Philosophy and Art from UMass Boston, an MFA in\n Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy\n School of Government where he was a Gleitsman Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership.\n

Vice President -- Ethan Fletcher is a Vice President at ideas42. Ethan’s professional\n background is in technology startups, management consulting, and politics. He has\n co-founded and helped run three startups, including most recently serving as COO/CFO\n of Kandu, which aims to democratize the creation of touch-media with a product that\n lets kids make games and mini-apps without knowing how to code. Ethan has several\n years of experience in strategy, modeling, and data analysis — in both business and\n political settings. As a management consultant at Navigant Consulting and McKinsey\n & Company he built valuation, pricing-optimization, and related financial models to\n help Fortune Global 500 clients assess strategic choices. As a senior analyst at Washington\n DC-based NCEC Services, he advised Members of Congress and their legal counsel on\n redistricting strategy and worked with campaign managers to optimize voter contact\n plans. Ethan holds a BS in Civil Engineering and a BA in Economics from Tufts University\n and a JD from Yale Law School.\n

Vice President -- Karina Lorenzana is a Vice President at ideas42 working on a range\n of international development projects in health, environment, and financial services.\n Prior to joining ideas42, Karina worked at the Clinton Foundation Climate Initiative\n and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.\n Karina also served in the US Peace Corps in El Salvador. Karina graduated magna cum\n laude with high thesis honors from Tufts University with a BA in International Relations.\n She also holds an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University with\n a certificate in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy. When not immersed in\n behavioral economics and international development pursuits, Karina also acts as the\n resident vermiculturist and yoga instructor at ideas42.\n

Vice President -- Katy Davis is a Vice President at ideas42, where she specializes\n in economic mobility and education projects. As a student at Yale School of Management,\n Katy conducted research that applied insights from behavioral science to microfinance\n and savings products. Previously, she worked at Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC as a mergers\n and acquisitions analyst. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Okakarara,\n Namibia. Katy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Reed College with a BA in Mathematics\n and holds an MBA from Yale School of Management. She enjoys jokes.\n

Vice President -- Marina Dimova is a Vice President at ideas42. She designs, tests\n and scales behaviorally-informed products and programs in consumer finance, international\n development and financial inclusion. Her work spans projects with U.S. financial institutions\n aimed at improving financial management behaviors and loan repayment outcomes, as\n well as the scale-up of a heuristics-based financial management training for microentrepreneurs\n in developing countries. She also works on the design of pro-poor social programs.\n Prior to ideas42, Marina was an Associate Director at Ikatu International where she\n led the strategic research on the design of a youth employment and skills training\n program in West Africa. She has also worked on agricultural value chains and private\n sector development with the World Bank, as well as finance and healthcare consulting.\n Marina holds a BA in Economics and Government from Franklin & Marshall College, and\n an MPA degree in International Development from the Kennedy School of Government at\n Harvard University. She enjoys road trips, dance, mountains and good conversations.\n

Vice President -- Matthew Darling is a Vice President at ideas42 and Teaching Fellow\n in Economic Design at Harvard University. He has contributed to ideas42 projects in\n poverty, health care, early childhood education, financial literacy, mortgage default\n reduction, climate change, and labor economics. Like all humans, Matt has a limited\n memory – he might be forgetting a few project domains. Matt graduated from Hampshire\n College with a self-designed concentration in economics and cognitive science, and\n from Tufts University with a MS in economics. He has previously worked as a consultant\n at Kohlberg and Associates, and as a research assistant at the Stanford Neuroeconomics\n Lab. In his copious free time he enjoys reading, biking and playing ultimate frisbee\n or board games.\n

Vice President -- Will Tucker is a Vice President at ideas42, where he works on\n household finance, consumer protection, and anti-poverty projects. Born in his grandparents’\n house in Iowa, Will grew up in Iowa City and Japan. A Truman Scholar, he graduated\n with degrees in Africana Studies and Public Policy & American Institutions from Brown\n University, where he was a member of the President’s Steering Committee on Slavery\n and Justice. He also received an MPA from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School,\n with a certificate in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy. He has worked\n at the US Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management\n and Budget, as Director of the Rhode Island Urban Debate League, in public health\n and information technology evaluation, at the Department of Justice, and on the 2008\n Obama campaign in Iowa. Able to stumble through conversations and self-deprecating\n jokes in Japanese and Spanish, Will has been safety-certified in forklift, jackhammer,\n and chainsaw operation\n

Senior Associate -- Abigail Kim is a Senior Associate at ideas42. Previously, she\n served as a business development associate at International Relief and Development,\n a leading implementer of overseas development assistance. Abigail has also worked\n for The Management Center, an organization that helps nonprofits get better results\n by teaching critical management skills, and for the North East Asia field office of\n the International Crisis Group. In addition to fieldwork in North and Southeast Asia,\n she has conducted assessments in Haiti and post-revolution Egypt. Abigail holds an\n MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in International\n Relations from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.\n

Senior Associate -- Alex Blau is a Senior Associate at ideas42 currently focusing\n on challenges in consumer finance, design and decision-making, and international development.\n Prior to joining ideas42, Alex worked as a research analyst at Tufts University’s\n Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, examining the exit-strategies of\n a number of large, Title-II funded integrated nutrition interventions in Kenya. In\n addition, Alex has extensive experience developing agricultural supply chains for\n small-scale organic farmers in the Caribbean. Alex holds an MSc in food policy and\n applied nutrition science from Tufts University, and a BA in political science with\n a focus in international relations from Brown University.\n

Senior Associate -- Allison Daminger is a Senior Associate at ideas42, where she\n currently focuses on poverty alleviation and promoting economic mobility. Prior to\n joining the team, she worked as a program manager for The Food Project, a Boston-based\n nonprofit devoted to promoting urban agriculture and increasing access to fresh food.\n Allison holds a BA from Princeton University, where she majored in anthropology and\n global health. As a part of her studies, she conducted ethnographic research on (non)adherence\n to HIV/AIDS medication in Guatemala City. Outside the office, Allison can often be\n found cooking with obscure vegetables and exploring new neighborhoods with camera\n in hand.\n

Senior Associate -- Andreana C. Kenrick is a Senior Associate at ideas42, currently\n working on projects to promote youth civic engagement and the financial health of\n low income populations. Andreana received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Princeton\n University, where she investigated how social processes could be harnessed to reduce\n prejudice and improve intergroup attitudes and interactions. While at Princeton, Andreana\n also served as the Health and Life Chair for the Graduate School and advocated for\n mental health resources on campus. Andreana holds her B.S. with Honors in psychology\n from Arizona State University and her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University,\n Chicago, where she studied how familial and social factors influenced maladaptive\n eating habits and mental health outcomes over time.\n

Senior Associate -- Andrew Fertig is a Senior Associate at Ideas42. Prior to joining\n ideas42, Andrew was a William J. Clinton fellow with the American India Foundation\n where he worked on issues of professional skills development, health, and agriculture\n in Jharkhand, India. Passionate about sustainability and the environment, Andrew has\n also served as the director of a conservation biology field station in Equatorial\n Guinea, a research technician for the National Park Service in the Galapagos Islands,\n and as an expedition leader for National Geographic in various parts of South America\n . He holds a BA in Latin American history from Brown University.\n

Senior Associate -- Andrew Edward White is a Senior Associate at ideas42, currently\n responsible for managing behavioral economics intervention projects in financial aid\n policy reform. Prior to joining ideas42, Andrew received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology\n from Arizona State University where he investigated social influence, decision-making,\n and leadership preferences. His research has been published in both popular press\n outlets, such as the New York Times and Scientific American, and academic journals,\n such as Psychological Science and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.\n While at Arizona State University, Andrew also served as a research consultant for\n the university’s office of Enrollment Services and Communications.\n

Senior Associate -- Dan Connolly is a Senior Associate at ideas42. His current work\n focuses on designing and testing behavioral interventions in consumer finance, postsecondary\n education, and workforce development. Prior to joining the ideas42 team, Dan worked\n as a research assistant at Cornell University’s Laboratory for Experimental Economics\n and Decision Research, as well as Cornell’s Self and Social Insight Lab, where his\n research examined the incentivization of objective reasoning in political judgment.\n Dan holds a BA in Economics and Psychology from Cornell University. He misses his\n tuba dearly.\n

Senior Associate -- Dana Guichon is a Senior Associate at ideas42, currently managing\n behavioral interventions in the fields of international development and education.\n Prior to joining ideas42, Dana held posts at the International Rice Research Institute,\n the Food and Agriculture Organization, and Oxfam America. She also served as an environmental\n education Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal. Dana holds an MSc in Nutrition and an\n MA in International Relations from Tufts University, as well as a BA in Government\n from Georgetown University.\n

Senior Associate -- Doug Palmer is a Senior Associate at ideas42, where he works\n on projects with the City of Chicago. Prior to joining ideas42, Doug worked in budget\n and policy roles for various municipal governments—most recently for the City of Seattle—focusing\n on criminal justice, municipal finance, and transportation issues. Doug also served\n as an Americorps*VISTA in Boston helping low- and moderate-income people file their\n taxes and build assets. Doug received his BA in Political Science from the College\n of Wooster and an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. Outside\n of work, he’s looking forward to running along Chicago’s lakefront, refueling with\n deep-dish pizzas, and watching the Cubs scrap together a few winning seasons.\n

Senior Associate -- Elizabeth Long is a Senior Associate at ideas42. Prior to joining\n ideas42, she worked with the I4 Index Insurance Innovation Initiative, having previously\n managed a clinical trial for Harvard School of Public Health in Tanzania. With her\n background in health and economic development, she has worked with USAID/Tanzania,\n the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the Public\n Health Institute. She earned a BA from Johns Hopkins University, an MA from University\n of San Francisco, and an MS from University of California, Davis. In her spare time\n she analyzes performances in the Premier League and dreams up ways to meet (or become)\n the manager of Chelsea FC.\n

Senior Associate -- Hannah Spring is a Senior Associate at ideas42, where she manages\n international health projects. Hannah’s interest in behavioral economics was sparked\n while she was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina studying water,\n sanitation and hygiene. This interest led her to pursue an MSPH from The University\n of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. As a graduate student\n she worked with The Water Institute at UNC and led a multi-country study on perceptions\n related to drinking water and health. Prior to joining ideas42, Hannah designed and\n implemented a behavior change campaign nested within a water, sanitation, hygiene\n and nutrition randomized controlled trial with Innovations for Poverty Action in Kenya.\n Hannah prefers impromptu dinner parties to Manhattan restaurants and running with\n podcasts to running with music.\n

Senior Associate -- Hyunsoo Chang is a Senior Associate at ideas42. His work at\n ideas42 has focused on consumer finance and economic mobility, as well applying behavioral\n science within the federal government. Previously he was a Research Assistant at the\n Department of Business Economics and Finance at USC’s Marshall School of Business,\n where he worked on various projects mainly in the fields of Behavioral Finance/Economics,\n Health Economics, and Industrial Organization. He holds a BA in Economics and Political\n Science from Amherst College.\n

Senior Associate -- Jessica Leifer is a Senior Associate at ideas42, where she focuses\n on issues in early childhood development and education. Prior to joining ideas42,\n Jess completed a Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.\n She previously worked as a fellow at the Centre for Impact Investing, where she designed\n a technical assistance program for nonprofit organizations interested in developing\n social impact bond programs. Her experience includes analyzing student and school\n performance at Success Academy Charter Schools as well as partnering with the New\n York City government to provide special education supports for students in need. As\n an undergraduate, Jess conducted research on self-control and willpower with Dr. Angela\n Duckworth. She has a BA in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.\n

Senior Associate -- Jiyoung Han is a Senior Associate at ideas42. She previously\n served in the Korean Presidential Committee team that founded the G20′s Development\n Agenda and its Business Summit. She also worked with the GAVI Alliance, a public-private\n partnership that increases access to vaccines for children in low-income countries.\n Her field experiences in development include supporting conflict resolution and social\n inclusion programs in Nepal, as well as harnessing behavioral insights to improve\n program impacts in Kenya. Jiyoung has studied at the Harvard Kennedy School, the University\n of Chicago, and Sciences Po Paris. She likes hikes and bikes.\n

Senior Associate -- Jonathan Hayes is a Senior Associate at ideas42 currently working\n on poverty alleviation and economic mobility. He previously served as a Teach For\n America corps member and taught tenth grade global history in Brooklyn, NY. Jonathan\n earned a BS in Psychology and a BA in Sociology from the University of Utah. He also\n holds an MPA with a certificate in Urban Policy and Planning from Princeton University’s\n Woodrow Wilson School. His policy interests include urban poverty, social justice,\n and education. Outside of work he likes to read fiction, browse stationery stores,\n and binge-watch television shows.\n

Senior Associate -- Josh Martin is a Senior Associate at ideas42, currently responsible\n for managing behavioral economics intervention projects in the fields of financial\n aid reform and international cash transfer programs. Prior to joining ideas42, Josh\n was a policy advisor in Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Planning and Development, having\n previously held posts at Cordoba Initiative and Princeton University’s Empirical Studies\n of Conflict program in addition to consulting roles at the World Bank, USAID, the\n National Democratic Institute, and others. With an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School\n of Government, Josh’s policy research has included works on microfinance, conflict\n dynamics and governance in developing countries. Josh speaks fluent Arabic and French,\n and barely enough Farsi to order his favorite kebabs.\n

Senior Associate -- Ruirui Kuang is a Senior Associate at ideas42, where she works\n on behavioral research and intervention design for disadvantaged populations in the\n US and the developing world. Previously, Ruirui was awarded the Idea Translation Lab\n Fellowship to pursue an entrepreneurship project focused on developing scent-based\n learning tools for children with dyslexia. She was also a Finalist in the President’s\n Challenge, an entrepreneurship and social impact competition sponsored by the Harvard\n Innovation Lab and President Drew Faust. Her senior thesis focused on the social significance\n of representations of women in Shanghai’s print media in the 1920s-30s. She has also\n done research on topics such as the potential of smartphone applications to combat\n drunk driving and the influence of architecture on the formation of social networks.\n She holds a BA in History from Harvard.\n

Senior Associate -- Sarah Welch is a Senior Associate at ideas42, where she is currently\n working on behavioral innovations in sustainability, consumer finance, and health.\n Prior to joining ideas42, Sarah completed a three-year dual degree program at Yale’s\n School of Management and School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, where she focused\n on urban resource management and planning. Her experience includes analyzing global\n water technology markets in Europe, strategic planning with The Nature Conservancy\n in Colombia, and collaboration with Yale’s Urban Ecological Design Lab in Connecticut.\n Sarah previously led ecological design and restoration work at environmental consulting\n firm Great Ecology. Sarah holds an MBA and an MEM from Yale and received her BA in\n Environmental Science & Public Policy from Harvard. She’d take cheese over cake any\n day.\n

Associate -- Abi Warren is an Associate at ideas42. Prior to joining the team, Abi\n researched social integration challenges faced by migrant farmworkers in upstate New\n York and led an outreach program providing English instruction to farmworkers. At\n Cornell University she worked as a research assistant, investigating paradoxes in\n global finance and the reign of the dollar as the world’s dominant reserve currency.\n Her international work experiences include teaching English in southern India and\n Spain and dairy farming in Ecuador. Abi is a former synchronized swimmer, but now\n sticks to dancing outside of the water. She received a BA in Economics from Cornell\n University with a minor in Spanish.\n

Associate -- Alex Alhadeff is an Associate at ideas42. She holds a Master'"'"'\"'\"'s in Environmental\n Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. While at Yale,\n she conducted experiments with approximately 150 teens that explored the psychological\n effects of environmental degradation and examined environmentally responsible behavior\n through the lens of behavioral economics. Prior to graduate school, Alex was an experienced\n associate in KPMG's Risk Consulting practice where she conducted IT Sarbanes-Oxley\n audits for Fortune 100 companies. She graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Business\n and Economics from Lehigh University. Alex is a TCK (Third Culture Kid), theatre enthusiast,\n salsa dancer, and avid surfer.\n

Associate -- Arielle Koppell is an Associate at ideas42. Her current work involves\n applying behavioral science to hunger and malnutrition issues in Florida and facilitating\n better employment opportunities for community college graduates across the country.\n She graduated from Cornell University, with a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations\n and special honors as a Global Scholar. Arielle spent a full year of study at Oxford\n University, where she researched human trafficking trends in West Africa for the US\n State Department and conducted experiments testing the psychological impacts of scarcity\n on low-income single parents. In her free time, Arielle enjoys competitive debate,\n writing fiction, volunteering, and exploring cafés across New York City.\n

Associate -- Christina Avellan is an Associate at ideas42. She holds a BA in Sociology\n from Yale, and an MA in Psychological Counseling from New York University, where she\n specialized in mental health intervention design. At NYU, Christina contributed to\n the design and facilitation of a city-wide therapy program in juvenile detention centers.\n Christina is a trained therapist, and previously served as a crisis family counselor\n for the Juvenile Justice Initiative. She worked as a Teach for America Corps member\n in Brooklyn, where she taught special education and Math. She is a former opera singer,\n an avid crafter, and a soft pretzel aficionado.\n

Associate -- Dani Grodsky is an Associate at Ideas42. Currently, her focus is on\n improving student outcomes throughout postsecondary education by applying a behavioral\n lens. She recently graduated from Brown University, where she majored in Cognitive\n Neuroscience with a smaller focus on Economics. She also has experience in science\n communication and event planning, writing for the Brown Medical School magazine and\n TED.com, and helping to organize the annual TEDxProvidence conference. Her quirkiest\n job was working at a bridal shop featured on reality television, and if she had an\n alter ego she would be a makeup artist for runway shows.\n

Associate -- David Munguía Gómez is an Associate at ideas42 currently working on\n improving student outcomes at the post-secondary level. He holds a BA in Psychology\n from Princeton University, where he investigated how metaphors influence interpersonal\n perception and assisted with research on ageism and concrete versus abstract thinking.\n Born in Mexico, David enjoys pick-up fútbol and broadening his cooking repertoire.\n

Associate -- DJ Neri is an Associate as ideas42. He holds an MSc in Economics with\n a specialization in Behavioral Economics and Game Theory from the University of Amsterdam.\n While at the UvA, he conducted experiments on the effects of modified payoff structures\n on cooperation in repeated prisoner’s dilemmas and on the effects of asymmetric information\n in hard-close English auctions. Prior to graduate school, DJ was an Analyst at Maple\n Life Financial LexServ in Bethesda, MD and graduated with a BA in Economics from Gettysburg\n College. In his free time he enjoys reading, photography, and being far too emotionally\n invested in the success of his Boston sports teams.\n

Associate -- Jaclyn Lefkowitz is an Associate at ideas42 currently working on projects\n applying behavioral theory to labor economics and consumer finance. Prior to joining\n ideas42, Jaclyn served as a Research Assistant in both the Department of Psychology\n and the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. Her research focused\n on topics such as Hispanic bilingual advertising and consumer behavior in the food\n service industry. Jaclyn holds a BA in Psychology and Spanish from Cornell University.\n

Associate -- Jill Berardini is an Associate at ideas42. Prior to joining the team,\n she worked as a consultant in Deloitte's federal government practice, where she focused\n on health and consumer finance projects. Jill holds a BA from Princeton University\n in health policy. As a part of her research, she examined the behavioral implications\n of state Health Insurance Exchange design. In her free time, Jill enjoys trying new\n recipes, playing trivia, and trying to get off at all the New York subway stops.\n

Associate -- Kanyinsola Aibana is an Associate at ideas42. Prior to joining ideas42,\n Kanyinsola studied Mandarin Chinese at Fudan University and worked in the early childhood\n education program and legal department of a social services agency. She holds a BA\n in Psychology from Harvard College, where she worked as a Research Assistant at the\n Harvard Business School Decision Making and Negotiation Lab. In her free time, Kanyinsola\n enjoys reading novels and manga.\n

Associate -- Michael Stern is an Associate at ideas42, where he focuses on issues\n in education and agriculture. Prior to ideas42, Michael worked in EdTech for the start-up\n BrightBytes, where he researched data platforms, and for the social gaming company\n Zynga, where he piloted innovation projects. He also researched topics relating to\n inter-temporal choice in the Stanford Decision Neuroscience Lab. When he isn’t using\n behavioral science to overanalyze his life, Michael tries to get as far into the wilderness\n as possible to backpack, climb and ski. One day, he hopes to own, design and manage\n his own coffee shop. Michael holds a B.S. from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems\n with a concentration in Decision Making and Rationality.\n

Associate -- Nicki Cohen is an Associate at ideas42 currently working on designing\n scalable financial products for the underbanked and improving student outcomes through\n several financial aid interventions. Prior to joining the ideas42 team, Nicki worked\n at The Boston Consulting Group in Chicago where she advised clients on a wide range\n of strategic problems. Nicki holds a BA in Cognitive Science from Yale University,\n where she researched the evolutionary origins of economic behaviors through experiments\n with capuchin monkeys. In her free time, Nicki enjoys reading science fiction in hammocks\n and exploring the city by foot, bike, rollerblade, and long-board.\n

Associate -- Rahin Khandker is an Associate at ideas42. Previously, she worked at\n Innovations for Poverty Action managing randomized evaluations for several health\n interventions in Bangladesh. She also worked in Nepal under a joint study conducted\n by Stanford University and Vanderbilt University, where she collaborated closely with\n radio studios, graphic novelists and local NGOs to develop large-scale public awareness\n campaigns targeting human trafficking in the country. Born and raised in Gainesville,\n Florida, Rahin is a Florida Gator fan and enjoys swamplands. She holds an MPA in International\n Development from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.\n

Associate -- Rich Daker is an Associate at ideas42 currently working on projects\n aimed at increasing financial inclusion in low-income communities and facilitating\n achievement and continued enrollment in postsecondary education. Before joining the\n team at ideas42, Rich worked in multiple psychology research labs at Princeton that\n studied topics ranging from intergroup relations to working memory. His own research\n focused on understanding the mechanisms by which stereotypes can affect academic performance.\n Rich graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with a BA in Psychology and\n a certificate in Neuroscience.\n

Associate -- Teis Jorgensen is an Associate at ideas42. His work focuses on consumer\n finance and applying behavioral economics to family planning and reproductive health.\n Teis has worked as a research assistant to Professor Todd Rogers, Harvard Kennedy\n School, and Professor Mahzarin Banaji, Harvard Department of Psychology. He has done\n research on a diverse range of topics including environmental consumerism, institutional\n corruption, and the value of a reminder. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from\n Harvard College. In his free time, Teis writes children’s poetry and performs improvisational\n comedy.\n

Associate -- Vivien Caetano is an Associate at ideas42. Prior to joining ideas42,\n she worked as a Research Assistant at the Harvard Kennedy School. In her research,\n she gained experience applying behavioral economics to water consumption decisions\n in California, overconfidence in professionals, and altruism. Vivien holds a BA in\n Economics from Brown University, where she also applied behavioral science to her\n role as a writing coach. In addition to coaching students in traditional writing and\n revision strategies, Vivien would teach students how to use behavioral concepts like\n limited attention and framing to improve their writing. In her free time, Vivien enjoys\n social dancing and listening to podcasts. She also loves plain yogurt a little too\n much.\n

Senior Communications Associate -- Mitra Salasel is the Senior Communications Associate\n at ideas42, where she focuses on leading the overarching communications and public\n relations work of the organization. She came to ideas42 from the political arena in\n Texas, where she spent several years crafting and executing communications infrastructures\n for campaigns and political action committees. Her work was largely focused on narrowing\n the gender representation gap through increasing female participation at all levels\n of the political process. Mitra holds a BS in Political Science from St. Edward’s\n University in Austin, Texas. When she is not obsessively combing through her Twitter\n feeds, Mitra is counting the days until pomegranate season.\n

Project Manager -- Hannah Furstenberg-Beckman is a Project Manager at ideas42. Prior\n to joining ideas42, she worked with court-involved youth at The Center for Alternative\n Sentencing and Employment Services. Passionate about youth issues and education, Hannah\n has also worked as a Drop-Out Prevention Counselor at a high school in Brooklyn and\n as a teacher at a bilingual school in Spain. During her year of service with AmeriCorps,\n she worked as a Legal Advocate at the New York Legal Assistance Group. Hannah graduated\n from Wesleyan University with a BA in psychology. Originally from Philadelphia, she\n is still searching New York City for a suitable cheesesteak.\n

Project Manager -- Mukta Joshi is a Project Manager at ideas42. A development economist\n by training, Mukta has extensive experience in applied research across multiple disciplines\n (development finance and private sector development) and geographies (North America,\n South Asia, Middle East and North Africa). Prior to joining ideas42, Mukta worked\n with the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Washington DC.\n At the World Bank, Mukta was responsible for conducting research on financial access\n for small and medium enterprises (SME) and households in South Asia. At the IFC, Mukta\n was one of the lead contributors to G-20 SME Finance Stocktaking Report published\n at the G-20 Seoul Summit 2010. Mukta holds a Ph.D. in Development Economics from Ohio\n State University and a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Economics from Mumbai University\n in India.\n

Finance Manager -- Maria Pisano is the Finance Manager at ideas42, where she assists\n with the day to day operations of the organization, adding to the financial and administrative\n capacity. Prior to joining ideas42, Maria was an Assistant Vice President at the Royal\n Bank of Scotland. In that position, she supported the day to day work of the equities\n trading desk. Her responsibilities included preparing daily profit and loss reports,\n daily balance sheets, and managing the monthly and yearly close of books. Maria has\n an MBA from Baruch College at The City University of New York and a BA from New York\n University’s Stern School of Business.\n

Office Manager

Antoinette Schoar is a Scientific Director at ideas42. She is also an Academic Research\n Council Member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Additionally, she is the\n Michael M. Koerner (49’) Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at the MIT Sloan School\n of Management. She has been teaching at Sloan in the areas of corporate finance and\n entrepreneurship. Antoinette holds a Ph.D. is in Economics from the University of\n Chicago and an undergraduate degree from the University of Cologne, Germany. She is\n an associate editor of the Journal of Finance and the American Economic Journal in\n Applied Economics. Antoinette’s current research examines returns and capital flows\n in the venture capital industry, financing of SMEs and start up firms in emerging\n markets and the impact of corporate governance practices on firm performance. Her\n paper “The Effects of Corporate Diversification on Productivity” won the 2003 Journal\n of Finance Brattle Prize. She also received the prestigious Kauffman Prize Medal for\n Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship in 2009. She has published numerous papers\n in the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Quarterly Journal\n of Economics. Her work has been featured in the Economist, the Financial Times, the\n New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.\n

Diana Taylor joined Wolfensohn Fund Management L.P., a strategic consulting and investment\n firm, in 2007, prior to which she served as New York State superintendent of banks\n and chairwoman of the New York State Banking Board. Before her government service,\n she worked in the private sector as vice president for KeySpan Energy and as an investment\n banker with Smith Barney, Lehman Brothers and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. Diana serves\n on the boards of Citigroup, Brookfield Properties and Sotheby’s. She also serves on\n several charitable boards. She chairs the boards of ACCION International, Hudson River\n Park Trust, New York Women’s Foundation and the YMCA of Greater New York. Other memberships\n include Dartmouth College, the Mailman School of Public Health and the International\n Women’s Health Coalition. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations\n and the Economic Club of New York. She earned her AB from Dartmouth College, her MBA\n from the Columbia School of Business, and her MPH from the Mailman School of Public\n Health at Columbia.\n

Eldar Shafir is a Scientific Director at ideas42. He is the William Stewart Tod Professor\n of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, and has served as a member\n of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability. He studies decision-making\n and judgment, and his recent work has focused on behavioral economic analyses of decision-making\n in the context of poverty and, more generally, on the application of behavioral research\n to policy. He recently edited a volume on “The Behavioral Foundations of Policy,”\n and has just co-authored a book with Sendhil Mullainathan called “Scarcity: Why Having\n Too Little Means So Much“, which looks at how scarcity, and our flawed responses to\n it, can shape our lives, our society, and our culture.\n

Matt Ryan is the global CEO of The United Network, the creatively driven micro-network\n owned by WPP. The agency, whose hub is Berlin Cameron United in NY, is known for leveraging\n popular culture on behalf of clients and their brands. Prior to his current positions\n with the agency, Matt was Co-Chairman of Havas Worldwide New York and President of\n Global Brands at Havas Worldwide. He joined Havas from sister agency Arnold Worldwide,\n where he served as EVP and Executive Director and led the agency’s winning team in\n the global Volvo review. Early in his career, Matt worked in account management at\n several agencies including Doyle Dane Bernbach (Popeye’s), Ally & Gargano (MCI), and\n Lord, Geller, Federico, Einstein/Lord, Einstein, O’Neill (Chase, Northrop, Prince\n Tennis, Dow Jones). In 1990, Matt founded the integrated agency Ryan, Drossman & Partners,\n Inc., a pioneer in digital and new technologies that launched lasting digital brands\n including MovieFone (777-FILM), SportsLine.com, TheStreet.com, Verio, Cantor Fitzgerald’s\n eSpeed, European Business News (WSJ), and S WBIS (Dow Jones and Cablevision). Matt\n ran the business for 10 years. Drawn to the “first” digital revolution, Matt founded\n and was CEO of the publicly traded Change Technology Partners and led the team through\n 12 acquisitions in a 14 month period. Later, he became Executive Vice President and\n Partner, at the communications management consultancy Roth Associates, where he managed\n advertising and media agency searches for leading national and global advertisers\n such as Ford (Jaguar), Toyota, and Shell. Matt is a member of the Board of Directors\n of the Advertising Education Foundation. Matt graduated from Syracuse University with\n a BA in Political Science and a BS in Newspaper Journalism.\n

Melissa L. Bradley has more than 20 years of entrepreneurship, investment and leadership\n experience. She is a Professor of Practice at the McDonough School of Business at\n Georgetown University where she teaches impact investing, social entrepreneurship,\n P2P economies and innovation. Melissa also serves as a faculty advisor for the Social\n Venture Lab and runs experiential learning opportunities for students across the entire\n University. Previously Melissa served as the Chief Strategy Officer at the Corporation\n for National and Community Service (CNCS). As a presidential appointee, Melissa successfully\n revised the CNCS four-year strategic plan, completed a feasibility study for a congressionally\n chartered foundation, and served as the policy lead on the Performance Partnerships\n Pilot for Disconnected Youth (P3). She was responsible for securing over $15M of public\n and private sector partnerships to support the President’s Task Force on Expanding\n National Service in one year; this included securing the largest corporate sponsored\n AmeriCorps program with the Citi Foundation with an investment of $10M. Melissa also\n served as a member of a cross-agency team to develop and draft the NOFO for an $11M\n Pay for Success pilot, the second largest offered by the federal government. During\n her tenure at CNCS, Melissa was detailed to the Department of Education to continue\n her work in support of the President’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, designed to\n bring attention to, and support for decreasing, the disparities facing boys and young\n men of color. As part of the launch of the President’s initiative, Melissa has authored\n the chapter on mentoring, launched the national engagement call to action for mentors,\n served as agency lead on the interagency task force, and identified public-private\n partnerships to support this important work which included a $13M commitment from\n AT&T. Before joining CNCS, Melissa served as Chief Executive Officer of Tides, a\n network of entities committed to helping donors and doers create a better world. As\n the first professional CEO she managed over 120 staff in four locations with an annual\n budget over $20 million. Under Melissa’s leadership, the organization doubled the\n number of donors in one year and generated the highest contributions since 2000. \n Melissa’s corporate experience includes her role as Director of Investment Services\n at CIT GAP Funds, which provides seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology\n and life science companies. She also served as Vice President at UBS in the Private\n Client Group, where she was responsible for developing and releasing online properties\n to increase wallet share from high net-worth clients. Melissa currently serves as\n an Advisor to Renewal 2 Investment Fund. She also holds board positions with Aeris,\n and the Office Depot Foundation. She serves as an Advisor to Wallet AI, the Center\n for the Advancement of Social Enterprise (CASE) at Duke University, LGBTQ Center at\n Georgetown University and Founding Advisor to the Dell Center for Entrepreneurs. She\n is also Founder and Former Chair of the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Alliance and served\n as a board member on the Georgetown University Board of Governors for more than 10\n years. Melissa’s educational background includes graduation from Georgetown University\n in 1989 with a bachelor’s of science degree in Finance from the School of Business,\n and a master’s degree in Business Administration in Marketing from American University\n in 1993.\n

Nigel Morris is the managing partner of QED Investors, a direct investment fund focused\n on high growth companies that leverage the power of data strategies. In addition,\n he works in an advisory capacity with General Atlantic Partners and Oliver Wyman Consulting.\n He serves on the board of numerous for profit companies, including TransUnion, Red\n Ventures, Network Solutions, Prosper, Clearspring Technologies, Media Math, and Mobile\n Posse. He is also on the board of the Brookings Institution, National Geographic Ventures,\n and the London Business School. Previously, Nigel co-founded Capital One Financial\n Services in 1994. Under Nigel’s leadership, Capital One pioneered an information-based\n strategy that fundamentally transformed the consumer lending industry. Combining advanced\n statistical marketing techniques with nascent information technologies, the company\n reduced costs to conventional borrowers, extended capital to overlooked consumers,\n expanded internationally, and produced extraordinary returns for investors. During\n Nigel’s ten-year tenure, Capital One’s sales grew at a compound annual rate of more\n than 40%. Over this same decade, earnings per share growth and return on equity both\n exceeded 20% per year, a financial performance attained by only a handful of American\n companies. Upon his retirement in 2004, Capital One’s 15,000 employees across the\n United States, Canada and the United Kingdom managed over $80 billion of loans for\n 50 million customers. Generating over $1.5 billion in earnings, Capital One had successfully\n transitioned from an emerging start up into an established public company valued at\n over $20 billion. Nigel has a BSC in Psychology from the East London University and\n a MBA with distinction from London Business School, where he is also a Fellow. Nigel\n lives with his wife and four children in Virginia.\n

Paul Brest is Former Dean and Professor Emeritus (active), at Stanford Law School,\n a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a faculty co-director of the\n Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, and co-director of the Stanford\n Law and Policy Lab. He was president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation from\n 2000-2012. He is co-author of Money Well Spent: A Strategic Guide to Smart Philanthropy\n (2008),Problem Solving, Decision Making, and Professional Judgment (2010),and articles\n on constitutional law, philanthropy, and impact investing. His current courses include\n Problem Solving for Public Policy and Social Change, Measuring and Improving Social\n Impact, and Advanced Topics in Philanthropy and Impact Investing. He also is the instructor\n in an online course, Essentials of Nonprofit Strategy, offered by Philanthropy University.\n Professor Brest is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and holds\n honorary degrees from Northwestern University School of Law and Swarthmore College.\n Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1969, he clerked for Judge Bailey\n Aldrich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Justice John M. Harlan\n of the U.S. Supreme Court, and did civil rights litigation with the NAACP Legal Defense\n and Education Fund in Mississippi.\n

Peter R. Orszag is Vice Chairman of Global Banking at Citigroup, Inc. and a member\n of the Senior Strategic Advisory Group there. He is also a Contributing Columnist\n at Bloomberg View and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.\n Prior to joining Citigroup in January 2011, he served as a Distinguished Visiting\n Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Contributing Columnist at the New\n York Times. Dr. Orszag previously served as the Director of the Office of Management\n and Budget in the Obama Administration from January 2009 until July 2010, having been\n confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2009. In that Cabinet-level role, he oversaw\n the Administration’s budget policy, coordinated the implementation of major policy\n initiatives throughout the federal government, and reviewed federal regulatory action,\n among other responsibilities. From January 2007 to December 2008, Dr. Orszag was the\n Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), supervising the agency’s work in\n providing objective, nonpartisan, and timely analyses of economic and budgetary issues.\n Under his leadership, the agency significantly expanded its focus on areas such as\n health care and climate change. Before joining CBO, Dr. Orszag was the Joseph A.\n Pechman Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution.\n While at Brookings, he also served as Director of The Hamilton Project; Director of\n the Retirement Security Project; and Codirector of the Tax Policy Center, a joint\n venture with the Urban Institute. In previous government service, Dr. Orszag served\n as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and as Senior Economic Adviser\n at the National Economic Council during 1997 and 1998. He had earlier served as a\n staff economist and then Senior Adviser and Senior Economist at the President’s Council\n of Economic Advisers. Dr. Orszag graduated summa cum laude in economics from Princeton\n University and obtained an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of\n Economics, which he attended as a Marshall Scholar. He has coauthored or coedited\n a number of books, including Protecting the Homeland 2006/7 (2006), Aging Gracefully:\n Ideas to Improve Retirement Security in America (2006), Saving Social Security: A\n Balanced Approach (2004), and American Economic Policy in the 1990s (2002). Dr. Orszag\n is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Sciences.\n

Anuj Shah is a member of ideas42′s Scientific Advisory Board. He is an Assistant Professor\n of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studies\n how changes in basic cognitive processes can give rise to more complex behaviors.\n Recently, he has focused on how people behave when they experience different forms\n of resource scarcity (whether money, time, or otherwise). He received his Ph.D. from\n Princeton University.\n

Daniel Kahneman is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International\n Affairs. He is also Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at the Woodrow\n Wilson School, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University,\n and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.\n Dr. Kahneman has held the position of professor of psychology at the Hebrew University\n in Jerusalem (1970‐1978), the University of British Columbia (1978‐1986), and the\n University of California, Berkeley (1986‐1994). Dr. Kahneman is a member of the National\n Academy of Science, the Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences\n and a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological\n Society, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the Econometric Society. He\n has been the recipient of many awards, among them the Distinguished Scientific Contribution\n Award of the American Psychological Association (1982) and the Grawemeyer Prize (2002),\n both jointly with Amos Tversky, the Warren Medal of the Society of Experimental Psychologists\n (1995), the Hilgard Award for Career Contributions to General Psychology (1995), the\n Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2002), and the Lifetime Contribution Award of the\n American Psychological Association (2007). Dr. Kahneman holds honorary degrees from\n numerous Universities.\n

Elizabeth Levy Paluck (Betsy) is a member of ideas42′s Scientific Advisory Board.\n She is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University.\n She conducts field experiments in the United States and Africa to test initiatives\n for prejudice and conflict reduction and political education and civic engagement.\n Her work has focused on the effects of the mass media, education, and interpersonal\n communication. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University.\n

George Akerlof is Senior Resident Scholar at the IMF since 2010 and Koshland Professor\n of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Akerlof studied at Yale\n University (B.A., 1962) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1966).\n In 1966 he began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, becoming Goldman\n Professor of Economics in 1980. His research often drew from other disciplines, including\n psychology, anthropology, and sociology, and he played an important role in the development\n of behavioral economics. In 2001 he was co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic\n Sciences along with A. Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz . The Nobel Committee cited\n Akerlof’s 1970 paper, “The Market for ‘Lemons,’” which for the first time described\n the role of asymmetric information in causing market perversity. A vicious circle\n in used car markets illustrates the phenomenon. Potential sellers of used cars, with\n their superior information, withhold good cars from the market; buyers react by reducing\n the price they are willing to pay; and in turn sellers further reduce the quality\n of cars put up for sale. Dr. Akerlof has also pioneered in the application of sociology\n and psychology to the workings of the macro-economy, and recently published, with\n Robert Shiller, Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It\n Matters for Global Capitalism, and with Rachel Kranton, Identity Economics: How Our\n Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being. Dr. Akerlof has been senior economist\n at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and past president, vice president\n and member of the executive committee of the American Economics Association, and member\n of the Council of the Econometric Society. He is a trustee of the Economists for Peace\n and Security, and co-director of the Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being\n program at Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.\n

Hunt Allcott is a Scientific Director at ideas42. He is an Assistant Professor of\n Economics at New York University. His research centers on consumer behavior, business\n strategy, and regulatory policy in energy markets. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University\n and has worked as an economist at the World Bank and ICICI Bank and as a consultant\n with Cambridge Energy Research Associates\n

Jens Ludwig is the McCormick Foundation Professor of Social Service Administration,\n Law, and Public Policy and Director of the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago,\n Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, Research\n Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and co-director of the\n NBER’s Working Group on the Economics of Crime. Ludwig has been involved for the past\n dozen years with the evaluation of a large HUD-funded housing-mobility experiment\n known as Moving to Opportunity (MTO), which includes a major demonstration site on\n the south side of Chicago. He is also one of the nation’s leading gun policy researchers,\n whose publications on the topic include Gun Violence: The Real Costs with Philip Cook\n (Oxford, 2000) and Evaluating Gun Policy, co-edited with Cook (Brookings, 2003). In\n 2006 he was awarded the David Kershaw Prize by the Association for Public Policy Analysis\n and Management for distinguished contributions to public policy by the age of 40.\n

Katherine Baicker is a Scientific Director at ideas42. She is Professor of Health\n Economics in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School\n of Public Health. She is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic\n Research. From 2005-2007, Katherine served as a Senate-confirmed Member of the President’s\n Council of Economic Advisers, where she played a leading role in the development of\n health policy. She currently serves on the Editorial Board of Health Affairs, as\n a Commissioner on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Commission to Build a Healthier\n America, and on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Health Insurance Status and\n its Consequences. Her research focuses primarily on the factors that drive the distribution,\n generosity, and effectiveness of public and private health insurance, with a particular\n focus on health insurance finance and the effect of reforms on the distribution and\n quality of care. Her research has been published in journals such as Health Affairs,\n the Journal of Public Economics, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and has been\n featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and on National\n Public Radio.\n

Manuel Adelino is an expert in consumer finance. His research focuses on household,\n corporate and real estate finance. He is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Duke\n University’s Fuqua School of Business and an advisor to ideas42. He received a Ph.D.\n in Financial Economics from MIT Sloan School of Management.\n

Michael S. Barr is a member of ideas42′s Scientific Advisory Board. He is a professor\n of law at the University of Michigan Law School, where he teaches Financial Institutions\n and International Finance, among other courses. Barr is also a senior fellow at the\n Center for American Progress and the Brookings Institution. Barr was on leave from\n 2009-2010, serving as the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for\n Financial Institutions. He was a key architect of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform\n and Consumer Protection Act. As an academic, Barr conducts large-scale empirical\n research regarding financial services and low- and moderate-income households and\n researches and writes about a wide range of issues in financial regulation. He is\n author of No Slack: The Financial Lives of Low-Income Americans (Brookings Press,\n 2012), and the co-editor of Insufficient Funds (Russell Sage, 2009, with Blank), and\n Building Inclusive Financial Systems (Brookings Press, 2007, with Kumar and Litan).\n Other recent publications include An Opt-Out Home Mortgage System, Behaviorally Informed\n Financial Services Regulation, Third-Party Tax Administration, An Inclusive Progressive\n National Savings and Financial Services Policy, Credit Where it Counts, Banking the\n Poor, Microfinance and Financial Development, and Global Administrative Law: The View\n from Basel. He previously served as Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin’s Special\n Assistant, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, as Special Advisor to President\n William J. Clinton, as a special advisor and counselor on the policy planning staff\n at the State Department, and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H.\n Souter and Judge Pierre N. Leval, then of the Southern District of New York. Barr\n received his J.D. from Yale Law School, his M.Phil. in international relations from\n Magdalen College, Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar, and his B.A., summa cum\n laude, with honors in history, from Yale University.\n

Richard H. Thaler is a member of ideas42′s Scientific Advisory Board. He is the Ralph\n and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics\n and the director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago’s\n Graduate School of Business. Originally from New Jersey, Thaler attended Case Western\n Reserve University where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1967. Soon after, he attended\n the University of Rochester where he received a master’s degree in 1970 and a Ph.D.\n in 1974. Before joining the University of Chicago faculty in 1995, Thaler taught at\n the University of Rochester and Cornell as well as visiting stints at The University\n of British Columbia, the Sloan School of Management at MIT, the Russell Sage Foundation\n and the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. Thaler studies\n behavioral economics and finance as well as the psychology of decision-making which\n lies in the gap between economics and psychology. His column, Anomalies, in the Journal\n of Economic Perspectives, brought the first sustained attention to many phenomena\n unexplained by conventional economic theory. His articles documented how phenomena\n such as risk aversion, cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, rejection in the Ultimatum\n game, and international trade could not plausibly be explained without relaxing the\n standard assumptions of rationality and selfishness. Thaler is the co-author (with\n Cass R. Sunstein) of the global best seller Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health,\n Wealth, and Happiness, in which the concepts of behavioral economics are used to tackle\n many of society’s major problems. He is a regular contributor to the Economic View\n column of The New York Times and has published a number of articles in prominent journals\n such as the American Economics Review, the Journal of Finance and the Journal of Political\n Economy. He has authored or edited four other books: Quasi-Rational Economics, The\n Winner’s Curse: Paradoxes and Anomalies of Economic Life, and Advances in Behavioral\n Finance (editor) Volumes I and II. Thaler is an adviser to British Prime Minister\n David Cameron’s Behavioural Insight Team, a member of the American Academy of Arts\n and the co-director (with Robert Shiller) of the NBER project on behavioral economics.\n He has served as Vice President of the American Economics Association and was elected\n a Fellow of the American Finance Association.\n

Sendhil Mullainathan is a Scientific Adviser at ideas42. He is also a Professor of\n Economics at Harvard, is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” and\n conducts research on development economics, behavioral economics, and corporate finance.\n His research helps bring an understanding of the psychology of scarcity, with the\n end goal of improving poverty alleviation programs in the U.S. and in developing countries.\n

Todd Rogers is a Scientific Director at ideas42. He is an Assistant Professor of Public\n Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Todd is a behavioral scientist who tries to\n understand and influence socially consequential problems. His research attempts to\n bridge the gap between intention and action. Some topics he has studied include the\n cognitive and social factors that influence election participation (e.g., get-out-the-vote\n activities informed by psychological insights), and how time-inconsistent preferences\n can be leveraged to increase support for future-minded policies and choices (e.g.,\n support for environmental legislation, ordering healthier foods, and watching high-brow\n movies). His recent work develops and tests behavioral science informed interventions\n in classrooms. Prior to joining the faculty at HKS he was founding Executive Director\n of the Analyst Institute, LLC, which uses randomized field experiments and behavioral\n science insights to understand and improve voter communication programs. Todd was\n named a Rising Star by Politics Magazine for his work in the 2008 election cycle,\n and a 40 under 40 award winner by New Leaders Council for leadership in politics.\n He received his Ph.D. jointly from Harvard’s department of Psychology and Harvard\n Business School, and received his B.A. from Williams College.\n

To use the power of behavioral science to design scalable solutions to some of society's\n most difficult problems.\n

Design scalable ways to improve programs, policies and products

Break Barriers to Postsecondary Education

Design and evaluate a series of behavioral science \"nudge\" interventions to improve\n the impact of cash transfer programs.\n

Improving household nutrition and educational outcomes in the context of an unconditional\n transfer\n

Encouraging formal savings uptake in the context of a conditional transfer

Spurring rural and urban productivity and take-up of ancillary social services in\n the context of an unconditional transfer\n

Create Playable Cities

ideas42 will be working with KaBOOM! over the next several months to identify and\n implement behaviorally-informed solutions to increase play and well-being for kids\n everywhere.\n

Apply insights from behavioral science to improve uptake and accessibility of crucial\n healthcare services worldwide\n

in rural and low-income areas

Lead Innovation in Behaviorally-Informed Technology for Financial Management Training

in developing countries

Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation

Explore ways to nudge consumers into purchasing more environmentally-friendly cars

Improve safety in high-crime areas of New York City by developing and testing novel\n interventions that draw on behavioral science\n

Improve Microsavings

Increase Retirement Savings

Mexico's commission for the national retirement savings system

11 retirement savings administrators

Afore national association

Make the world safer for women, girls, and their families

International Planned Parenthood Federation - Western Hemisphere Region

Centro de Investigación, Educación y Servicios

Learn how tools from behavioral science can be used to improve the well-being of low-income\n children, adults, and families by making changes to existing programs\n

Apply behavioral science to increasing the efficacy and fairness of the criminal justice\n system\n

Break the cycle of inter-generational poverty by aligning anti-poverty systems and\n services with human behavior\n

Improve safety in South Africa's low-income communities

Reshape the consumer finance industry and empower individuals to make better financial\n decisions\n

Reframe HIV risks

Improve financial stability for millions of Americans while also providing sustainable\n profits for banks\n

low- and middle-income (LMI) Americans

Automate budgeting and saving

Offer affordable credit

Integrate spending, savings, and credit for the consumer

Use nudges to improve the health of cardiac patients

Oklahoma Health Care Authority's Medicaid program

Increase financial capability and security for those who need it most

Design and pilot-test a comprehensive, in-person \"financial health check\" program

Promote a culture of health and wellness in the Western Cape