Archives: Our Team

Nithya Ramanathan

 

 

Nithya Ramanathan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Nexleaf Analytics, a non-profit technology company that partners with countries to make sure they have the data they need to improve the health of people. Nexleaf’s unique approach brings together sensor design, data analysis, software engineering, and field engagement to identify and address big problems. Nexleaf technology currently protects the vaccine supply for 1 in 10 babies born each year. Nithya and her team have achieved this outsized impact by working shoulder-to-shoulder with Ministries of Health — rather than attempting to bypass governments — to scale cutting-edge technologies refined through close collaboration with personnel at every level of the health system, from top-tier government officials to last-mile health care workers.

A computer scientist specializing in sensor technologies and data analytics, Nithya is a tech-for-good pioneer and a leading thinker on global vaccine distribution. Nithya’s career started in Silicon Valley,  and continued as Research Faculty in sensor technologies at UCLA. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley. Her work has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals. Nithya is a TED Fellow, PopTech Social Innovation Fellow, Switzer Environmental Fellow, and a Rainer Arnhold Fellow. She is the winner of the 2017 Hedy Lamarr Award for Female Tech Pioneer, was named a Gavi Got Life! Champion in 2018 alongside world leaders, and received the Tällberg Foundation/Eliasson Global Leadership Award in 2020. 

Martin Lukac

Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder

Martin Lukac is a Founder and the Chief Technology Officer of Nexleaf Analytics. Martin holds a B.S. from Haverford College, and received his Ph.D. from UCLA for innovations in wireless seismic and acoustic sensing systems. He previously served as a Visiting Scientist at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). At Nexleaf, Martin leads all aspects of the technical design and architecture of Nexleaf’s sensing systems and connected devices. He has personally deployed device prototypes across Southeast Asia, Africa, and beyond. His work has led to one patent and several more in the works.

Martin’s technical designs and innovations for Nexleaf have been recognized by several award competitions and publications, including Financial Times and Devex. ColdTrace was named first place winner as a tech for social good by the Museum of Innovation at the Tech Awards in 2015 and by Vodafone Wireless Innovation Project in 2013. StoveTrace won the 2016 Harnessing Data for Resilience Recognition Award, offered by USAID and FHI360, and was a finalist in the 2017 Global Mobile Awards.

Martin’s research experience includes building, deploying, maintaining, and evaluating embedded systems for seismic, structural, environmental, and public-health applications. As part of his graduate thesis work, he developed one of the first large scale wireless seismic networks and deployed and maintained the system in Peru and Mexico for over two years, spanning over 250 km. Over the course of his work at UCLA, he has worked closely with geophysicists, structural engineers, and ecologists. Martin has presented and published his work at numerous peer-reviewed conferences and journals in computer science and Earth science.

Kevin Arts

Kevin leads business operations and finance for Nexleaf Analytics. He’s focused on driving performance, collaboration, and operational excellence throughout the company.

Prior to joining Nexleaf, Kevin led teams and strategic initiatives at Google, Adobe, Bitly, Deloitte Consulting, and the Alliance for Health Reform. He earned his MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and his BA in Economics, International Relations, and Asian Studies from Tulane University.

Amanda MacArthur

As the Head of Strategic Partnerships and Communications, Amanda leads her team to grow the impact of Nexleaf through innovative partnerships and impactful storytelling. She strives to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships that activate the unique attributes of each partner to solve complex societal challenges.

Amanda has over twenty years of experience catalyzing and shepherding cross-sector and multi-stakeholder partnerships across the public, private, and social sectors in more than 30 countries and across six continents. Before joining Nexleaf, Amanda was the Chief Program Officer at PYXERA Global where she built and led a global team implementing social impact partnerships inclusive of multinational corporations, government agencies, and grassroots organizations. She has designed and facilitated award-winning partnerships for John Deere, IBM, Pfizer, and USAID, among others.

Amanda has spoken and written broadly on cross-sector partnerships, business-aligned social impact, and employee engagement. She has been recognized as a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader and is a Certified Shared Value Consultant. Amanda is a magna cum laude graduate of Colgate University with a degree in Political Science.

Andrew O’Keefe

Andrew O’Keefe is the Senior Manager of Business Operations & Finance at Nexleaf Analytics, responsible for leading and overseeing business, finance, and administrative operations and supporting the organization’s business strategy, budget, and key metrics. Andrew brings over 14 years of financial planning and analysis expertise, managing and optimizing financial functions for public and private organizations. He is a driven leader with experience managing teams in financial forecasting, planning, analysis, administration, accounting, reporting, and compliance.

Before joining Nexleaf, Andrew served as Finance Manager at the Oregon Department of Transportation, encompassing wide-ranging aspects from strategic planning, financial forecasting, and accounting to successfully implementing substantial budget increases and setting up major new programs.

Andrew attained his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Portland in 2009. He is currently earning his MBA at Villanova University with concentrations in Business Analytics and Applied Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Anita Sircar

Anita Sircar is the Head of Operations at Nexleaf and has been with the company since 2015. She supports Nexleaf in contract management, manufacturing & logistics, and training country teams in remote temperature monitoring device deployments. She holds a degree in literature from the University of Calcutta in India and has a decade-long experience in international development.
Outside of work Anita enjoys traveling and is passionate about exploring different cuisines.

Anne Nyachomba

Anne Nyachomba is a Customer Experience professional with over 15years of championing excellence in service delivery. She has led teams in transforming customer experiences through service design, process re-engineering, the voice of the customer programs, customer journey mapping, and Human-centered design.

Before joining Nexleaf, Anne was a Customer Experience Advisor, and Head of Commercial/Customer success at AJUA, supporting businesses across Africa to bridge the gap between them and their customers using technology. She has undertaken various service design projects across different industries. She also worked at Nairobi Bottlers (Coca-cola), Barclays Bank Kenya (Absa), and First Assurance Ltd.

Anne holds a master’s in Customer Experience and Innovation from IE Business School in Spain, an MBA in Strategic Management from Nairobi University, Kenya, and a Level 7 Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK.

Ednah Kiome

Ednah Kiome is Nexleaf’s Director, Emerging Products. She has over 9 years experience in UX research, product design, product management, and program management.

Prior to joining Nexleaf, she led various teams to deliver user-centric products. She has previously worked at KPMG, Sage Group PLC and Equity Group holdings.

Ednah holds a BSC in Computer Science from Jomo Kenyatta University and is passionate about using data, human centric design, and technology to make an impact.

Elizabeth Nave

HR Business Partner

Elizabeth comes to us from the event industry, where she was the primary event coordinator responsible for the planning and execution of events that took place on boats cruising the LA marina. A large part of her job was focused on logistics and operations, which she is looking forward to expanding on in this new position. She is excited about joining a team that is dedicated to finding solutions for global changes and can’t wait to dive in and help!
Elizabeth graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communication from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. In her spare time, Elizabeth is part of the Burbank Chorale and a coed softball team and enjoys traveling and working on home improvement projects with her husband.

Hannah Mills

Hannah is the Senior Program Manager for Vaccines. She manages the planning and operations for Nexleaf’s vaccine cold chain projects to ensure that governments and health workers around the world have access to quality data to guide their vaccine decision-making and improve health outcomes. Hannah is motivated by Nexleaf’s focus on partnering with local stakeholders to generate user-centered data and solutions.
She has an MPH in Global Health from Boston University and served as a Peace Corps Health Volunteer in Senegal. Prior to joining Nexleaf, she managed social and behavior change programs in a wide range of health areas in Francophone West Africa for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. Hannah is passionate about using technology and human-centered design approaches with communities to achieve their goals.