Meet the Board

Ada
Ada Chirapaisarnkul | Chair and Secretary of the Thai board

Ada is a pioneer in the fields of social entrepreneurship and social investment in Thailand. Ada is currently holding a full-time position as CEO of TaejaiDotcom, the first and largest crowd giving platform in Thailand. She is also a Founder and Managing Director of the Thai Young Philanthropist Network (TYPN) and Board member and advisor to several impact organizations in Thailand and Asia. She plans to utilize her expertise and social capital to expand Wedu’s work in the country, especially on FISA.

 

Previously, Ada was ChangeVentures Head of Social Impact Advisory, a university lecturer and co-founding executive director of GLab (Social Innovation Lab) at Thammasat University and a Deputy Secretariat of the National Sub-Committee on Social Finance at the Office of the Prime Minister. She graduated with MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London and MA in International Finance and Economic Policy from Columbia University. She is a Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellow on Social Innovation and Asia 21 Young Leader of the Asia Society.

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Ana-Luiza Georgescu | Treasurer of the UK board

Ana-Luiza is a senior business executive with over 20 years of experience in Europe and North America. She is a Partner with Andersen, focusing on international taxation and executive compensation and advises private and public boards in matters relating to governance, financial health and compensation programs.

 

Ana-Luiza passionately supports women’s leadership and mentorship initiatives and has developed financial literacy programs for women entrepreneurs. She currently supports the global connection and mentorship of women through her service on the Stanford Graduate School of Business Women Circles’ Global Board, Growth and Operations Committee, and Regional Leadership Board.

 

In addition to various law and accounting degrees, Ana-Luiza holds the Corporate Board certification from the Silicon Valley Institute and is currently enrolled in the director programme at IMD Lausanne. As Treasurer, Ana-Luiza builds and strengthens Wedu’s financial frameworks.

Kate Wilson
Kate Wilson | Trustee of the UK board

Kate has spent her career in the corporate and higher education sectors. Most recently, she was the CEO of the public and private impact tech start-up Regulatory Genome, a spin-out of research at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. Prior, she served as Chief Operating Officer of the University’s fundraising and alumni operation. She has served on boards in both executive and non-executive capacities.

 

Kate is Canadian and has three grown children. She has lived and worked in the UK since earning her MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1996. She is passionate about investing in the next generation of women leaders for positive impact in local and global communities. Kate will draw on her fundraising, partnership development, strategic planning and general management experience as a trustee of the UK Board

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Kelly Perry | Member of the Thai board

Kelly brings demonstrated leadership and diverse experience in healthcare research, academia, business development, and public health nonprofit work to the board. As a Senior Technical Officer at FHI 360, she leverages her public health research and storytelling background to spearhead Asia Pacific’s thought leadership strategy.

 

Kelly has studied and worked in the United States, Thailand, Morocco, and South Africa and collaborates with colleagues and organisations across Asia. She has an MPH from UNC-Chapel Hill and a BA from Vanderbilt University.

 

Serving as a Wedu Thailand Foundation board member combines Kelly’s vision for health equity with cultivating women’s leadership potential and establishing equitable structures for gender equality to be realized and sustained.

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Ly Chhay Loem | Member of the Cambodian board

Ly Chhay has more than 6 years of volunteering experience with local and international organizations in creating social change, focused on education and promoting income generation for local people. Her leadership journey is featured in the book, “Diving Deep Going Far”, a collection of stories from five young women leaders in Cambodia. She is a Rising Star at Wedu. Ly Chhay is pursuing a Master’s in Public Affairs through the prestigious Australia Awards programme and previously earned a Bachelor’s in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) and Development Studies from the Asian University for Women (AUW).

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Mario Ferro | Trustee of the UK board

Mario is one of Wedu’s Co-Founders and brings innovation and experience in social entrepreneurship. He is the CEO of Waiser, and is a former Senior Advisor for Energy Investments for Greenpeace, a former Senior Consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Advisory as well as an Acumen Fellow. He holds a Master in Economics and Management from the University La Sapienza and a MSc in Development Management, from the LSE. Mario has studied and worked in Italy, Finland, Ireland, United Kingdom, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Haiti, India, United States, Cambodia and Thailand.

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Nareth Chhoun | Chief of the Cambodia Executive Board

With more than 10 years of professional experience in the development sector, Nareth brings diverse expertise and a passion to nurture the leadership journeys of women changemakers in Cambodia by helping manage its programmes and partnerships.

 

She is experienced in working closely with Cambodian government officials and other stakeholders, conducting research on local governance and decentralization, system strengthening, and delivering leadership training to government officials, women and youth at the national and sub-national levels.

 

Nareth holds a Master of Arts in Asia-Pacific Studies from Thammasat University, Thailand, and has engaged in activities across the region–from peacebuilding activities in Malaysia to supporting research in Vietnam.

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Nudhi Paricharttanakul | Treasurer of the Thai board

Nudhi Paricharttanakul has over 20 years of experience, starting his career in the private sector in the telecommunications and banking sectors before moving to the development sector for the past decade working for GIZ, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, WWF, and FHI360.

He brings with him demonstrated leadership in setting up project financial reporting systems, as well as assisting in the formulation of policies and procedures, and governance structures at a start-up INGO.  He holds a Bachelor of Management in Finance and MSc in Finance both from Texas A&M University, College Station, and has worked in the United States, Malaysia, and Thailand.

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Oranutt Narapruet (Fai) | Vice Chair of the Thai board

Fai is an international humanitarian consultant and serves as Governing Member of the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP). Previously, Fai worked at the International Rescue Committee in Thailand, where she steered the advancement of refugee and migrant assistance programmes, leading the organisation to win awards in innovation in access to legal aid and higher education. Fai has also worked in philanthropy development in the UK and across Asia and the BRICS. She has written for several publications and has lectured at Thammasat University in Bangkok.

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Phearong Sdeung | Member of the Cambodian board

Phearong, one of Wedu’s first Rising Stars from Cambodia, is the Executive Director of Banteay Srei, a leading women’s rights organization in Cambodia. Previously, she serves in Program Manager roles, focusing on Women and Youth Empowerment in Leadership at Transparency International and Education and Politics at the British Embassy in Cambodia. Her passion to change social norms and gender stereotypes that limit gender equality drove her to co-found the Joint of Youth (JOY) Cambodia. Through JOY, she works to empower women and girls to pursue higher education and achieve their dream careers through mentorship.

 

Phearong holds a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law from Paññāsāstra University and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Royal University of Law and Economics in Cambodia.

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Sophiya Maharjan | Trustee of the UK board

Sophiya brings demonstrated leadership in women’s entrepreneurship, leadership and grassroots empowerment in Asia to the board. Over her career, she has explored how social entrepreneurship optimises impact at the community level; led gender-inclusive empowerment projects for agencies like UK Aid and the World Bank; and held governance positions at NGOs championing women’s leadership in Nepal. After obtaining an MBA from Singapore Management University, Sophiya now works in Singapore’s tech sector, developing policies that represent grassroots voices and enhance safer product experiences.

 

Sophiya became a Rising Star at Wedu in 2016 and is excited to leverage her strategic thinking, stakeholder engagement and communication skills to advance Wedu’s mission through this role.

Sreymao
Sreymao Mean | Treasurer of the Cambodian board

Sreymao is the head of online payments at Wing Bank in Cambodia. She brings more than 10 years of experience in Sales and Marketing with telecommunication and banking companies to this role. Sreymao firmly believes that education is vital to changing one’s life. This is why she is active in social work, spending her weekends working with women and underserved communities. She has also built a community preschool with four friends in the Takeo province.

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Sreytouch Sem | Chair of the Cambodian board

Sreytouch, an award-winning entrepreneur, brings over 17 years of experience in multisector engagement and business development as Chair of the Cambodia board. Currently serving as the Business Engagement Manager under the USAID-funded WE Act (Women Entrepreneur Act) at Pact Cambodia, Sreytouch plays a pivotal role in driving programming, fostering entrepreneurship ecosystems, and facilitating access to finance and markets for aspiring women entrepreneurs.

 

Alongside her professional pursuits, she is a Rising Star and Mentor at Wedu, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in International Business at the National Management University in Cambodia.

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Vittoria Zipoli Caiani | Chair of the UK board

With 30 years of experience working globally, Vittoria brings a passion for women empowerment and exploration to the board. Serving as Interim Chair combines her professional focus on leadership development, mentoring, transition coaching, and cross-cultural awareness with her personal mission to empower people to be catalysts for the change they want to see for themselves and their world. As a Professional Certified Coach, Vittoria has partnered with professionals from various industries (banking, nutrition, travel, finance, fashion, education) as well as change-makers in startups and Fortune 500 MNCs. Vittoria welcomes complexity while honouring and caring for the beauty and fragility of our human experience.