Akhtar Badshah

Akhtar Badshah is senior director of global community affairs at Microsoft Corporation, where he administers the company’s global community investment and employee programs. Through monetary grants, software and curriculum donations, technology solutions, and employee volunteer hours, Microsoft supports programs and organizations that address the needs of communities worldwide.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Akhtar was the CEO and president of Digital PartnersFoundation, a Seattle-area nonprofit organization whose mission is to utilize the digital economy to benefit the poor. Akhtar is a Board Member of United Way of King County, the Global Knowledge Partnership, Council on Foundations, Youth Employment Summit Inc., and is the chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center. He also serves on the Washington state governor’s New Americans Policy Council and blue ribbon commission on school accountability, and on the advisory boards of the following organizations: World Affairs Council (Seattle), Santa Clara University Center for Science Technology and Society, University of Washington South Asia Center, and University of Washington Business School.

Akhtar is an architect by training, a doctoral graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the former president of the Lambda Alpha International, New Jersey Chapter. You can find him on Twitter at @akhtarbad

Andrea L. Taylor

Andrea L. Taylor, director of North America community affairs at Microsoft Corporation, is responsible for strategy and implementation of the community investment programs in the United States and Canada. This includes the Microsoft Unlimited Potential program, a community-based learning program to provide basic information technology skills training to underserved communities, Puget Sound grants, the annual giving campaign, and NGO Connection Days, to help build nonprofit technology capacity. Prior to Microsoft, Andrea worked in education, media and philanthropy, including a decade as director of the global media program at the Ford Foundation. Andrea is currently a trustee of her alma mater, Boston University, and also the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Philanthropy Northwest and WNYC Public Radio. You can follow her on Twitter at @USworkers

Dan Bross

Dan Bross is senior director of corporate citizenship at Microsoft Corporation. With more than 25 years experience in public policy, government and public affairs and corporate reputation management, Dan has led teams at both the federal and state levels for two Fortune 100 companies.

Dan joined Microsoft in 1998 and played a key role in managing a cross-company strategic planning process to develop Microsoft’s Corporate Citizenship Initiative. Today Dan and his team are responsible for citizenship strategic planning and program development, field readiness and training, marketing and communications, business integration, and stakeholder engagement. Dan also manages Microsoft’s strategic relationship with the World Economic Forum.

In addition to his corporate experience, Dan has significant management and program development experience in the nonprofit sector. During his tenure as executive director of the AIDS Council, the nation’s leading AIDS advocacy organization, he chaired a broad national coalition of health and human service organizations and nongovernmental organizations and advised President Clinton’s domestic policy advisor on the structuring and staffing of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.

Dan holds a bachelor’s degree. in political science from Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., and a master’s degree in public administration from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. He currently serves on the board of trustees of Catawba College, the steering committee of the World Economic Forum’s Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative, and the board of advisors of the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College.

George Durham

George Durham is a program manager with Microsoft’s global community affairs team. He is responsible for Microsoft’s work supporting nongovernmental humanitarian aid organizations through technology and is part of Microsoft’s global disaster response team, which manages Microsoft’s support efforts in times of disaster.

Prior to joining Community Affairs, George was a senior product manager for Windows Server. He has been with Microsoft since 2004 and has worked closely with organizations throughout his career to help them take advantage of Internet and enterprise infrastructure technologies.

George has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a degree in government from Harvard University. He lives in Seattle and loves cycling, skiing, camping, reading, and tinkering with whatever technology he can get his hands on. You can follow him on Twitter at: @ghdurham and on Microsoft’s Citizenship Twitter feed: @msftcitizenship

Tara Grumm

Tara Grumm is the online marketing manager for corporate citizenship at Microsoft – producing and driving its Web presence and online strategy. She is responsible for launching the Microsoft Local Impact Map, a rich Internet application, built in Silverlight, containing over 700 stories showcasing our community impact around the world. (She also produced a version for Microsoft Surface allowing users to explore stories through a new interactive medium!)

Prior to joining Microsoft, Tara oversaw interactive Web site production for companies such as FOX.com (20th Century Fox), The Roseanne Show, Noble House Hotels, Brown-Forman, and RealNetworks. While managing FOX.com, Tara launched the first FOX online store and developed Web experiences for numerous legendary entertainment properties such as Alien, X-Files, and The Simpsons. Later, she managed an editorial and production team at Net Nanny Software, creating a safe family Web portal as executive producer. Tara met dozens of celebrities and famous producers while living in Hollywood, but she admits that her most awestruck moment was during her time at Television City working for KingWorld. She was walking down the hallway and bumped into Bob Barker on his way to film an episode of The Price is Right. He noticed she was star struck and stopped to introduce himself to her. She said she hasn’t been the same ever since. In her spare time, Tara enjoys spending time with her husband and son. You can find her on Twitter @tgrumm and on Microsoft’s Citizenship Twitter feed: @msftcitizenship

Timothy Dubel

Timothy Dubel, director of global community affairs at Microsoft Corporation, is responsible for development of strategy and implementation of global philanthropic programs. The programs include the Community Technology Skills program, a community-based learning program to provide basic information technology skills training to underserved communities around the world. Prior to Microsoft, Tim was with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where he managed private sector development programs in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union. He has a master’s degree in International Relations from American University in Washington, DC.

Tom Murphy

Tom Murphy is director of corporate communications for Microsoft’s corporate citizenship and community affairs programs. Prior to moving to Seattle in 2009, Tom was responsible for Microsoft’s local public relations and citizenship programs in Ireland. He has been working in international public relations since 1992 and has worked with companies of all sizes across North America, Asia and Europe. Tom has a strong personal and professional interest in the ways social media is changing how people and organizations connect and communicate. He has been blogging since 2002, primarily focusing on public relations and social media and is a regular speaker on the subject. He is working hard on understanding the intricacies of baseball and American football while still getting up far too early to indulge his passion for European rugby. You can follow him on Twitter at: @tpemurphy and on Microsoft’s citizenship Twitter feed: @msftcitizenship

Yvonne Thomas

Yvonne Thomas, senior program manager in the Community Affairs Department at Microsoft, leads Microsoft Elevate America, a national program that provides individuals across the country with the technology skills and other resources they need to successfully prepare for job opportunities in today’s changing economy.

In this role, she sets the strategy for and manages the implementation of Microsoft Elevate America and the Microsoft Elevate America Veterans Initiative. She works closely with nonprofit organizations, governments and businesses in the U.S. on these programs and broadly on the issues of employability and workforce development.

Throughout her tenure at Microsoft, Thomas has held a variety of roles, all focused on developing and implementing impactful community investment programs for the company. She has more than 14 years of experience in corporate social responsibility and the nonprofit sector, with her work prior to joining Microsoft centered on nonprofit based youth programs.

A Washington State native, Thomas is a graduate of Washington State University.

 

Clair Deevy

Clair Deevy manages Microsoft’s community affairs and citizenship programs in Asia. Among her responsibilities are the Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) - Community Technology Skills, NGO IT capacity building and employee engagement programs. All are part of the global UP initiative designed to help narrow the technology skills gap, aid global work-force development, and create social and economic opportunity by providing community-based technology training. Clair also manages Microsoft’s policy communication to governments across Asia. This encompasses several quarterly publications and Web properties focusing on Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential program and other policy initiatives.

In her most recent role prior to Microsoft, Clair managed the citizenship activities for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, one of Australia’s largest banks. This involved managing a national employee volunteering and donations program as well as a diverse range of partnerships. These partnerships ranged from work with Conservation Volunteers Australia, promoting environmental stewardship among young Australians, to work with art organizations, such as Opera Australia and the Australian Orchestra, to bring their reach into schools.

In addition to her 12 years experience in the fields of environmental stewardship, corporate social responsibility and cause-related marketing, Clair has volunteered for many organizations including Humor Foundation, Foundation for Young Australians and Osteoporosis Australia, and has mentored budding social entrepreneurs through the Youth Leadership, Social Entrepreneur Program.

Clair holds a bachelor’s of applied science in environmental management and a master of management from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Australia.

A passionate traveler, Clair has trekked more than 100km along the Great Wall of China, climbed to Nepal Base Camp One at Everest and summated Kilimanjaro.