D2D Staff

Sarika Abbi, Director of Ideation
Winfred Fields, Innovation Strategist
Timothy Flacke, Executive Director
Melissa Goldberg, Innovation Program Assistant
Amanda Hahnel, Innovation Strategist
Carolyn Hall McMahon, Innovation Strategist
Shaheen Hasan, Innovation Strategist
Nick Maynard, Director of Innovation
Preeti Mehta, Director of Project Incubation
Jonas Parker, Manager of Operations and Special Projects
Joanna Smith-Ramani, Director of Scale Strategies
Elizabeth Tutella Straghalis, Innovation Strategist

D2D Fellows
Joel Rosen
Bernie Wilson

Sarika Abbi, Director of Ideation
Sarika Abbi is the Director of Ideation at D2D Fund. She works on initiatives to design and pilot new saving products as well as new ways to market and distribute these products to underserved consumers. Prior to joining D2D her work focused on improving financial access for low income households in developing countries. While at Ideas42, she worked with researchers and practitioners in development finance to design financial products and managed a research center and team internationally to pilot test and evaluate the designs. Before entering the financial inclusion field, Sarika worked in the private sector consulting on issues of executive compensation. She holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University and a Bachelors of Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Winfred Fields, Innovation Strategist

Winfred Fields is an Innovation Strategist at D2D where his efforts focus on Financial Entertainment and behavioral economic interventions. Prior to joining D2D, Winfred worked towards effecting positive social impact through government and policy advocacy at the Massachusetts Democratic Party, the Massachusetts Statehouse and Be the Change, Inc. Winfred also spent a year working with a team of engineers and other business students to design and implement product ventures to advance economic development in Greensboro, AL. Winfred holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with concentrations in Technology, Entrepreneurship & Design, and Social Responsibility from Babson College.

Timothy Flacke, Executive Director
Timothy Flacke is the Executive Director of D2D Fund, serves on the organization's Board of Directors and helped launch D2D in 2001. Tim has seventeen years experience helping lower-income people focus on saving, in both the private and non-profit sectors. He has worked as an independent consultant, author and grant writer in the field of asset development. In this capacity he co-authored The Individual Development Account (IDA) Program Design Handbook, successful grant applications under the federal Assets for Independence Act (AFIA) program, and Dollar $ense, a financial education curriculum for IDA programs. Tim was a VISTA volunteer at Central Vermont Community Action Council during the start-up phase of that organization's American Dream Demonstration IDA Program, Tangible Assets. Before entering the asset development field, Tim managed employee benefits, risk management and stock option plans for Filene's Basement, Inc., a chain of off-price apparel retail stores with 5,000 employees in 13 states. He holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a B.A. in Philosophy from Boston College.

Melissa Goldberg, Innovation Program Assistant
  Melissa Goldberg is the Innovation Program Assistant for the D2D Fund. Melissa supports D2D’s Financial Entertainment and Tax Time Savings projects through marketing, communications and helping to build out new projects.  Melissa is enrolled in the cooperative education program at Northeastern University, where she is a third-year student pursuing a BS in Business Administration with concentrations in Social Entrepreneurship and Marketing. She completed her first cooperative experience in the Spring of 2012 in the Community Engagement Department at Oxfam America, where she provided support for the Oxfam Action Corps and Music Outreach efforts. She is very excited to be working alongside the hardworking team at D2D through June 2013. 

Amanda Hahnel, Innovation Strategist

Amanda Hahnel is an Innovation Strategist at D2D Fund. She works primarily with the Save to Win initiatives, but is also involved with the Financial Entertainment and Financial Testing projects. Prior to joining D2D, she worked on microfinance policy in Chennai, India focusing on cost of capital reductions for MFIs. In addition, her graduate work included a focus on Information Technology and Business Strategy. She holds a Masters in Business Administration with concentrations in Strategy, Finance, and Entrepreneurship from Penn State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Spanish, and International Relations from Tufts University.

 Carolyn Hall McMahon, Innovation Strategist

Carolyn Hall McMahon is an Innovation Strategist for D2D Fund, where she concentrates her efforts on the Tax-Time Savings Bond Advocacy Campaign and Mobile Technology. Before joining D2D, Carolyn managed the Microtest Impact Client Outcomes study for ACCION USA, a national evaluation effort which assessed the impact of microloans on American small businesses owners and how the taking of a loan impacted their perceptions of household well-being. Carolyn holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, where she studied links between development and behavioral economics and interpersonal negotiation and conflict resolution. Her Master’s thesis research investigated how the presence of and participation in savings groups may influence opportunities for peace and justice between individuals and in communities. In addition to her MALD, Carolyn holds a Bachelors of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Shaheen Hasan, Innovation Strategist
Shaheen Hasan is an Innovation Strategist at D2D Fund. In this role, she works on mobile technology and on the research, design and testing of pilot products to help low income households manage financial emergencies. Prior to joining D2D, she helped launch a Financial Inclusion Working Group for the Clinton Global Initiative at CGI America, a domestic initiative focused on economic recovery. She also brings international development experience to the table, including having worked with local economic development agencies to conduct research on inclusive economic growth engines in Kingston, Jamaica, as well as for an Acumen Fund supported social enterprise that provides affordable housing for low-income communities in Pakistan. Prior to her work in financial inclusion and economic development, she worked in marketing and business development in the non-profit and private sector. She holds a Masters in International Affairs focusing on Economic and Political Development from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Maryland at College Park

Nick Maynard, Director of Innovation

Nick Maynard is the Director of Innovation for D2D Fund. Since joining D2D, Nick has led initiatives improving marketing to LMI families, piloting prize-based savings in the credit union industry, and offering US Savings Bonds at tax time. In addition, he directs the financial literacy video game initiative. Prior to joining D2D, Nick spent almost a decade providing customer, market, and operational strategy consulting to Fortune 1000 executives while at Deloitte Consulting and Braxton Associates. Nick holds both a Masters in Business Administration and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University. He also holds a Bachelors of Engineering and Operations Research from Princeton University.

Preeti Mehta, Director of Project Incubation
Preeti Mehta is Director of Project Incubation for D2D Fund. She currently leads the tax time savings work at D2D and created the original design for the Prize Linked Savings project "Save to Win" in Michigan. At D2D, Preeti has a particular interest in exploring social and psychological factors that affect savings behavior of low income consumers. Prior to joining D2D, Preeti was a management consultant in the private and nonprofit sectors, first with PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services and then as a self-employed consultant, specializing in business process design, operations improvement and strategic planning. Her private sector clients included a range of Fortune 500 companies in several industries. In her capacity as consultant to the nonprofit sector, Preeti served as the Director of Economic Development for a local community-based organization. She also served on the Board of a Low Income, Community Development Credit Union. Prior to her consulting career, Preeti worked at GTE Laboratories in Waltham, MA. She holds a Master of Science in Mathematics from Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, VA, and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai, India.

Jonas Parker, Manager of Operations and Special Projects
Jonas Parker is the Manager for Operations and Special Projects for D2D Fund, where he manages day-to-day operations and develops systems to increase organizational capacity. He also provides expertise and technical support to several projects, including the Mobile App Challenge, Financial Entertainment, and Tax Time Savings. Previously, Jonas spent six years focused on financial education research, curriculum design, and policy projects at the Institute on Assets and Social Policy. In addition, he spent two years as a private consultant in the financial literacy field. As a math teacher at the innovative MetWest public high school in Oakland, California, Jonas got his start in financial education by connecting algebra to his students' real world experiences with money. Jonas holds a PhD in Social Policy from the Heller School, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University, where he graduated with honors.

Joanna Smith-Ramani, Director of Scale Strategies
Joanna Smith-Ramani is the Director of Scale Strategies for D2D Fund, working on the expansion of successful innovation pilots. Prior to joining the D2D, Joanna was the Director of the Baltimore CASH (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope) Campaign, an asset building, tax preparation, and EITC coalition in Baltimore, MD. Joanna has over 12 years working in community development, community development finance, and personal finance/asset development. She has worked for Self Help Credit Union, ShoreBank, several Habitat for Humanity affiliates and the Policy Development and Research Division of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Joanna holds a master's in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Elizabeth Tutella Straghalis, Innovation Strategist
Elizabeth Tutella Straghalis is an Innovation Strategist at D2D Fund.  She primarily works on the research, design and pilot stages of new financial risk management products for lower income households.  Before D2D, she spent seven years working in the financial services sector in risk management roles.   In addition to her private sector experience, she also spent time in the community economic development field, working as a Program Manager for a Boston-based Community Development Corporation.  Her graduate work focused on increasing financial access for East Boston's Latina immigrant mothers. She holds a Masters in Community Economic Development with a specialization in Microfinance from Southern New Hampshire University's School of CED, and a Bachelors of Political Science and Economics from the College of the Holy Cross.

D2D Fellows

Joel Rosen

Joel Rosen has a long career helping launch, fund and build organizations. He has held senior management positions in a range of public and private firms, including Chief Executive Officer of a $100MM company and a start-up. Earlier in his career Joel worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company, and as a venture capitalist evaluating and helping fund new ventures at Charles River Ventures. Joel holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and an AB in economics from Harvard College. Joel has been involved in D2D’s prize-linked savings (PLS) work since 2008, with a focus on developing PLS products suitable for distribution through state lotteries.

Bernie Wilson

Bernie Wilson has over 20 years in the financial services industry in a wide range of senior strategy, product development, marketing and community outreach roles. His work has been principally focused on developing affordable financial products and services tailored for low income working families. In order to develop workable industry solutions he pioneered a series of public/private partnerships throughout the country that focused on LMI financial services while at H&R Block. That work led to common ground on best practices among a broad coalition of industry leaders, regulators and legislators, consumer activists, policy influencers and leading scholars. His work focused on ways to develop innovative solutions that reduce or eliminate transaction costs associated with check cashing, and developed deposit-taking and affordable credit alternatives. In addition, in partnership with the nation’s leading behavioral economists, Bernie worked to develop policy change through first-quality scientific evidence of scalable market-based solutions. In 2008 Bernie and small team of industry colleagues developed ADVENT Financial Services, a company focused on the introduction of affordable banking solutions at tax-time. In May of 2010 Bernie left ADVENT and is currently focused on a variety of small business development initiatives and remains focused on the development of affordable and accessible financial services solutions that lead to savings and expense reduction for working families. Bernie works with D2D’s tax time savings team to extend the reach and impact of the new national tax time savings bond purchase option, especially in the commercial tax preparation industry.