OUR TEAM

Baal Dan is proud of the fact that we have kept administrative costs as low as possible due to support from volunteers. We would like to thank all our volunteers for their hard work and dedication to Baal Dan.

Most of our Board Members and Advisory Board members have been part of Baal Dan since 2006 and we have a strong base of experienced professionals in all sectors of business, nonprofit, technology and beyond.

Our grateful thanks and appreciation to all our Board members, Advisory Board, Corporate partners and Volunteers. Without you this work would not be possible.

Governing Board of Directors   

TANYA PINTO, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER
Born in India and raised in Dubai, Australia and the United States, Tanya divides her time between the advertising industry and Baal Dan, the charity she formed in 2006. After graduating from Australia's Curtin University, Tanya joined The Richards Group, a Dallas-based advertising agency. Her fast-track career has seen her working on such diverse accounts as Travelocity, Nokia and Children's Medical Center.

While on sabbatical in India in 2006 volunteering at Mother Teresa's orphanage in Calcutta, Tanya discovered the cause that would change the direction of her life. Before the trip, a friend gave Tanya $50 to buy the kids in the orphanage candy. When she got to India, she realized she could leverage the conversion rate to buy much more than candy. After bargaining at the local markets, Tanya was able to purchase 300 pairs of children's underwear, 100 notebooks and other items. When Tanya emailed the friend and told him what she bought with his $50, and how in a small way they helped 300 children, he said, "If I had known how $50 could help so many children, I would have given you a lot more money." That's why she started Baal Dan Charities.

Tanya's reputation as an innovative and dedicated social entrepreneur has received both local and national attention. Among her awards and press are: Harvard University's Women's Empowerment Conference and Convention "Women of the Year" 2010 and the Sri-Sri Ravi Shankar Award for "Uplifting Human Values 2007."

An accomplished and inspiring speaker, Tanya never fails to move audiences with her passion and stories of her work. She has given speeches on topics ranging from starting Baal Dan to empowerment.

TAMMY COOPER TREASURER AND ACCOUNTING
Tammy Cooper has served as Baal Dan's Treasurer since 2007. She is currently the Controller for Merit Energy in Dallas. Tammy is married with two beautiful children.

NEIL PINTO, SECRETARY, WEBMASTER, UNIVERSITY LIAISON
Neil was born in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates and grew up in Perth, Western Australia and later Dallas, Texas. He graduated with a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas and is now in the the Engineering Leadership Development Program at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. His role on Baal Dan is of Secretary and to maintain the website and manage all online activity.


WALTER MIDDLETON INTERNATIONAL AID AND STRATEGY
Walter Middleton, a citizen of India, has been active in the global Food Aid arena for over 37 years. He currently serves as Vice-President of World Vision's Food Programming Management Group, providing overall leadership to World Vision's food program's worldwide valued at over US$330 million. Walter has been with World vision since January 1988 and prior to this, Walter worked with CARE from 1969 - 1987, in India, Somalia and Mozambique.

Walter has extensive experience in the areas of Training Management, Group Facilitation, Project Management, Leadership development, Public Relations and Negotiations. One of his principal strengths lies in the area of 'Development Relief'. In 2002, he broke new ground when, together with two other industry leaders, created and subsequently headed up one of the biggest multi-country, multi-NGO initiatives, C-SAFE (Consortium for Southern Africa Food Security Emergency). C-SAFE represented the first time that the three largest American food aid NGOs worked together on a regional basis, on such a sizeable scale; a multi-million dollar project designed to respond to the food security emergency that faced approximately 14 million people in Southern Africa.

Walter is the recipient of two international awards. In April 2002 in Kansas USA, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) acknowledged Walter's "Exemplary performance in enhancing the integrity of foreign food aid programs on behalf of the people of the United States of America". In October 2005 in Rome, Walter once more was the recipient of a World Food Programme "Special Award for Outstanding Contribution" recognizing his "extraordinary commitment to fighting hunger in partnership with World Food Programme." Another award of note was his 'Highest Award for Achievement' from Dale Carnegie.

LESLIE SHOWALTER, LEGAL AND RESEARCH
Leslie Showalter has served Baal Dan since 2006. She is currently the Director of Library Services at The Richards Group in Dallas. Leslie is very committed to Baal Dan and performs a number of strategic, research and legal functions on behalf of the charity. In addition she is the proud sponsor of little Philomena, a Baal Dan sponsored child at Loreto Sealdah.

CHARLES RIBAUDO STRATEGY AND DEVELOPMENT
Charles Ribaudo is currently in Corporate Development at Seagate Technology in San Francisco. Before Seagate Technology, Charles was a co-founder of EDS Ventures, EDS' $150 million global venture capital fund. He managed the venture activity for the Texas region and worked with CTO and senior officers to identify investment needs. He was selected as one of EDS's top innovators for 2001 and 2002. Charles has also worked at Accenture's Change Management Division. Charles was a Park Leadership Fellow at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, where he received his MBA. He also graduated from the Jepson School of Leadership at University of Richmond, with a B.A. in Leadership. Charles has presented at the DEMO Conference, TED Conference, VentureWire's Wireless Ventures, Southwest Venture Forum, IBD Networks' Under the Radar, StarTech's Emerging Growth Series, and has lectured at Cornell University, Stanford University, Washington University in St. Louis and University of Texas at Dallas. Charles has been quoted in the New York Times, Forbes, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Indianapolis Star, Network World, eWeek, Red Herring, Dallas CEO, among others and was recently named as one of the "Most Important People in Mass Customization 2005-06".

ALLISON HORTON
Allison Horton spent 12 years working in the fields of advertising, public relations and marketing. Through the agency/client relationship she had with The Richards Group is how she met Baal Dan founder, Tanya Pinto. Allison's life decision to be home with her children full-time has underscored the importance of the needs and happiness of children, and has made contributing to Baal Dan of great interest to her. Allison lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband and 3 children.



KANAN PINTO ADMINISTRATION AND SUPPORT
Kanan was born in Bombay, India and has lived in Dubai, Australia and the United States. While in Australia, Kanan ran her own Family Day Care business and has also worked with children in Montessori pre-schools. Kanan is fluent in Hindi contributes to Baal Dan's research in India as well as local fundraising in Dallas. Kanan's father (Tanya's grandfather) was an orphan, and this was the reason that both Kanan and Tanya wanted to do something to make a difference to children in need.

Advisory Board   

John Antos, President, Value Creation Group
Lana Antos, Cushman & Wakefield
Jim Baron, CEO, Blue Mesa Grill
Liz Baron, Owner, Blue Mesa Grill
David Charney, Owner, AllOfYourMemories.com
Roy Chirayil, CPA
Dr. Geetha Devdas, Pediatrician, Children's Medical Center
Ram Dhan Yadav Kotamaraja, Partner, Novedea Systems
Peter Stettner, The Richards Group
John Holzgraefe, Partner, Hunton & Williams LLP
Suzanne Schwartz, Financial Advisor
Lena Sunny
Royce Sunny
Mike Malone, Principal, The Richards Group
Sharon Lyle
Jim Young Jr., Engine79
Brandon Wulz, Senior Manager, Deloitte Global Security Office
Mary O'Brien, Owner, The Dream Cafe

2010 Volunteers  

Baal Dan has numerous volunteers at our Chapters and for events. We would like to especially thank the following volunteers for their contribution and hard work.

Videos, Editing and Photography  

Danielle Maddox, Video Editing
Nisha Pinto, Video Editing
Quan Tran, Video Editing
Allison Viola Loftus, Photography
Brandon Wulz, Photography

IT/Technology  

Karthi Thyagarajan
Monal Valia
Derek Bumpas
Derek Louden

Website and Social Media  

Neil Pinto
Amanda Plewes

Creative, Copywriting, Art Direction, Advertising  

Dustin Ballard
Jill Efrussy
Jack Westerholt
Warren Lewis
Maria Adams
Melissa Hyde
Todd Tucker

Fundraising, Development & Events  

Lena Sunny, President, Dallas Chapter of Baal Dan
Royce Sunny, Fundraising & Development, Dallas Chapter
Angelina Pinto, Fundraising & Development, NY Chapter
Anitha Krishnakumar, Fundraising & Development, NY Chapter
Randall Holl, Fundraising & Development, NY Chapter
Amol Tripathi, Fundraising & Development, Chicago Chapter
Brandon Wulz, Fundraising & Development, Chicago Chapter
Natalie Stalmach
Salena Brody, Professor, UT Dallas
Rita Shroff
Alma Fuentes, Intern Program, The Richards Group
Amanda Vendal, Intern Program, The Richards Group
Geeta Menon & Family
Bill Wallace, Success North Dallas
Karyl Frick

India Volunteers  

Kim Collins
Sarah Moss, Family in Action
Kate Saunders, HSBC
Hillary Solomon, Deloitte
Shruti Modi
Deepali Gupta
Omar Mesbahuddin
Rohan Shamapant, UCLA
Mr. & Mrs. Sunny
Brandon Wulz
Krishna Kotamaraja
Dr. Usha Mohan Kanne

Our Partners, Sponsors & Supporters   

Baal Dan is grateful for grants or in kind donations from the following businesses.

Best Print, Dallas
The Richards Group (www.richards.com)
Hunton & Williams LLP (http://www.hunton.com)
Ant's Eye Consulting, Austin (http://www.antseyeview.com)
Pranaa Spa (http://www.pranaa.com)
Esurance (http://www.esurance.com)
Novedea Systems (http://www.novedea.com)
Trevor Hall (http://www.trevorhallmusic.com/)

Restaurants/Catering  

Blue Mesa Grill (http://www.bluemesagrill.com)
Our Place Restaurant (http://www.ourplaceusa.net)
Flavors Restaurant (http://www.indianflavors.net)
Freshberry Yogurt (http://www.freshberry.net)
Patti's Place (http://www.pattisplacetearoom.com)
Cafe Spice, New York (http://www.cafespice.com)
The Dream Cafe (http://www.thedreamcafe.com)

Foundations & Non Profits  

Foundations & Non Profits
The Greater Good Foundation (http://www.greatergood.org)
The Hunger Site (http://www.thehungersite.com)
Jewish Causes of Choice Foundation (http://www.jchoice.org)
The Network for Good Foundation (http://www.networkforgood.org)
Network of Indian Professionals, Dallas (http://www.netipdallas.org)
TEDxSMU (http://www.tedxsmu.org)
Bharat Youth Group (http://www.bharatyouthgroup.com/BYG/ENTER.html)

Schools & Universities  

University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Dallas