Obama Appoints Sonal Shah as Head of Social Innovation Office

Written by on April 21, 2009 in North America, World - 3 Comments

sonal-shah

Sonal Shah, who was previously head of Global Development at Google.org, the philanthropic division of Google, has been appointed the Head of the first-ever Office of Social Innovation for the White House. The news was first released by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and confirmed by Shin Inouye, a White House spokesman, on April 16th.

The Office of Social Innovation will address similar issues as the Social Innovation Funds pilot program – which was created by the Serve America Act. The Serve America Act is a national-service bill designed to amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to expand and improve opportunities for service, and for other purposes – and will be signed this week by President Obama.

Previously Shah advised the incoming administration on “innovation and civil society” during the transition phase. Shah is also co-founder of Indicorps, a nonprofit group that offers fellowships to individuals working on development projects in India, and has held positions at Goldman, Sachs & Company, the Treasury Department, the Center for Global Development, and the Center for American Progress.

Serve America Act- Learn More about the bill from opencongress.org

Erik

Erik is a perpetually curious social innovator. As a serial entrepreneur, Erik knows a thing or two about change. As a co-founder of SocialEarth, Erik hopes to channel his passion for social advocacy into an innovative venue of social awareness for others.

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  • http://twitter.com/CapteSEAL Mike Donnelly

    I am a teacher in a charter school in Iowa that has started a small business development center for high school students. We teach the basics of starting a business, the essentials of a business plan and, of course, writing one, and give students the opportunity to implement their idea in an incubator site.
    By the end of the school year we will have established a “career academy” by partnering with Indian Hills Community College that offers a two year entrepreneurial program.
    It's great. I'd like to hear what anyone else is doing.

  • http://twitter.com/CapteSEAL Mike Donnelly

    I am a teacher in a charter school in Iowa that has started a small business development center for high school students. We teach the basics of starting a business, the essentials of a business plan and, of course, writing one, and give students the opportunity to implement their idea in an incubator site.
    By the end of the school year we will have established a “career academy” by partnering with Indian Hills Community College that offers a two year entrepreneurial program.
    It's great. I'd like to hear what anyone else is doing.