Highlights from D2D's Ten Year Anniversary

On March 9th, 2012, D2D celebrated our Ten Year Anniversary and honored our Founder and Chairman, Dean Peter Tufano of the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford at the new Harvard Innovation Lab.

D2D has enjoyed a tremendous first ten years, primarily because of the incredible partners, supporters and friends who make our work possible.  We are grateful that so many were able to join us to celebrate this milestone and to support our work.

The day featured a panel discussion about the role of innovation in fostering financial security and opportunity in the 21st century. Panelists included Chris Bishko, Investment Director at the Omidyar Network, Rimmy Malhotra, CIO and General Manager at GoalMine, Jennifer Tescher, Founder and CEO of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, and our own Peter Tufano. The panel was moderated by Suzi Sosa, Executive Director of the Dell Social Innovation Challenge at the University of Texas at Austin.

The session began with D2D Fund Executive Director Timothy Flacke providing an overview of D2D's Innovation Model to bring products and policies to market. With D2D's Prize-Linked Savings work as an example, Tim walked through and described the four stages of the Innovation Model: Ideate, Innovate, Incubate and Stimulate.  Suzi then facilitated the panel through a discussion of lessons learned from recent successes and challenges in scaling innovative financial products for the underserved. Stimulated by questions from the audience as well as from Ms. Sosa, the panel also discussed the potential of the next big ideas in the field.

Below the video of the panel discussion and a slideshow of photos from the day.

Slideshow created with flickrSLiDR.

Panel

Chris Bishko, Investment Director, Omidyar Network
Chris leads investments in technology-enabled US financial services companies, focusing on businesses that empower individuals and merchants in underserved markets through innovative products and services. In addition, Chris is responsible for supporting projects and non-profit organizations that strengthen the overall financial inclusion ecosystem. Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Chris was a client banker in JPMorgan's investment banking division, where he covered enterprise technology and services companies. 

Rimmy Malhotra, CIO & General Manager, GoalMine
Mr. Malhotra oversees all investment decisions and sets strategic direction for GoalMine. He works closely with MPOWER Labs to design asset building products that empower the underserved to achieve lasting economic independence. Prior to founding GoalMine, Mr. Malhotra worked as an investment analyst at a New York based hedge fund and The Citigroup Private Bank. Mr. Malhotra maintains a deep commitment to public service, having served for three years as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Central America and advancing to Eagle Scout rank for his service to Scouting.

Jennifer Tescher, President and CEO, CFSI
Jennifer founded the Center for Financial Services Innovation in 2004, which aims to transform the financial services experience in America in order to better serve underbanked consumers and help them achieve prosperity. CFSI has achieved notable success in raising the profile of underbanked access and asset-building as an objective for the industry. She has become a nationally known expert on this topic, with a monthly column in American Banker, frequent interviews and articles in the financial press, and major speaking engagements at a broad spectrum of industry events.

Peter Tufano, Founder and Chairman, D2D Fund
In addition to being the main honoree of the event, Peter Tufano will also join the day's panel. Dr. Tufano became Dean of Saïd Business School of Oxford on July 1, 2011. Previously, he spent over three decades at Harvard, and had been on the faculty of the Harvard Business School for 22 years. Tufano is a prolific scholar and course developer, a seasoned administrator and manager, a social entrepreneur, and an advisor to business and government leaders. 

Moderator: Suzi Sosa, Executive Director, Dell Social Innovation Challenge
Suzi leads the Dell Social Innovation Challenge and is responsible for stewardship of the vision and strategy of the program. In addition to her role as Executive Director of the DSIC, Suzi is also the Associate Director of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the LBJ School of Public Affairs in The University of Texas at Austin. Suzi has more than ten years of experience in social entrepreneurship in both the for-profit and non-profit worlds.  She has a particular interest in innovation, design thinking, and organizational models of social enterprise.