MEET OUR TEAM
STRATEGIC ADVISORY
Richard Wardell: Vice President, Advisory Services
Richard leads Advisory Services at Unitus, serving as the relationship manager and lead strategic advisor for partners across the world. Before joining Unitus, Richard spent 11 years with Lloyds Bank (a major U.K. retail and commercial bank) in multiple roles and locations. His specific experiences included advising the bank’s chairman, running a network of retail bank branches, and supervising consumer and small business credit for one of the bank’s regions. He was then with the Boston Consulting Group for 3 years, providing strategic advice and consulting to a wide range of financial services institutions. Most recently, he was a Senior Vice President with WaMu, a U.S. retail, commercial, and home loan bank. In multiple roles over 5 years, Richard ran the commercial banking operation with 180 employees, and managed many process improvement projects for the retail bank network. His team was responsible for delivering US$160 million incremental net income to the bank in 2006. Richard holds an M.B.A. with high honors from the University of Chicago, and a B.S. with honors from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
Katherine Switz: Vice President, Expansion, Strategy, and Network
Katherine has more than 10 years of experience in international private sector development and strategy gained through extensive work in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, Katherine worked for GE Capital, developing a comprehensive business strategy for a startup business providing financial services to energy companies. Prior to that, at McKinsey & Company, Katherine advised clients in a range of industries on strategy, organization, and operations. Katherine also served as a project manager at the International Finance Corporation, where she managed teams of experts assisting the Russian government on electricity sector restructuring and land privatization. Katherine holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.
Niketa Kulkarni: Manager, Advisory Services
Niketa currently manages relationships with our microfinance partners in India. In this role, she provides strategic advisory services as well as coordinates other Unitus products and services on their behalf. She came to Unitus through a post-graduate fellowship for international public service, and initially focused on internal strategy and operations. Niketa also holds a J.D. and a master’s in South Asian studies from the University of Michigan.
Devin Erhardt: Senior Associate, Expansion, Strategy, and Network
Devin focuses on global expansion and partner consulting for Unitus. She brings experience in microfinance, consulting, social enterprise, and the nonprofit sector to her role. Prior to joining Unitus, Devin served as a regional management consultant to a Peruvian microfinance institution as part of PEER Servants. In this capacity, she assisted the MFI on financial reporting, board development, marketing, information technology, and other key issues. Prior to that, Devin held positions in strategy at Pura Vida, a Seattle-based social enterprise, and in management consulting at McKinsey & Company, where she spent time serving both business and nonprofit clients. Devin graduated summa cum laude from Claremont McKenna College with a B.A. in economics.
Victoria Fiore: Associate, Advisory Services
Victoria joined Unitus as an associate focused on advisory services within the ‘Rest of World’ portfolio and coordinates Unitus services on their behalf. Prior to joining Unitus, Victoria worked as a consultant within the strategy and operations group at Deloitte Consulting where she focused on strategic advisory to major financial institutions. Victoria graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame where she earned a B.A. in political science and peace studies.
Sarayu Natarajan: Associate, Advisory Services
Sarayu focuses on managing a portfolio of Indian partners by working closely with them to provide assistance on their strategic challenges with the Advisory Services team. Prior to joining Unitus, Sarayu worked as a management consultant in McKinsey and Company working across sectors for multiple clients (healthcare, emergency management, retail) across functions (strategy, operations, organization). Prior to that, she was a law clerk with the Supreme Court of India and has interned with a leading Indian law firm. Sarayu brings experience in strategic and operations consulting. Sarayu graduated with a gold medal from the National Law School of India University in 2006.
OPERATIONS
Catherine Shaw: Director, Consulting
Catherine brings more than 10 years of industry and consulting experience to Unitus. Most recently, she practiced at Deloitte Consulting within their strategy and operations practice. Her experience includes implementing financial and operational process improvements, managing complex projects, preparing internal and external financial reporting, establishing and executing program management offices, and performing complex data analysis and financial modeling. Additionally, Catherine is a Certified Public Accountant.
Himani Gupta: Manager, Operations Consulting
Himani leads the operations consulting work for the Advisory Services team. She is also managing the Efficiency Project, a 3-year project funding by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focusing on finding break throughs to increase operating efficiencies for four of Unitus’s partners. Himani started her career as Production Manager for a factory with Hindustan Unilever Limited in Bangalore where she led the production department with 400 staff and implemented lean manufacturing techniques. She then worked with the operations advisory team for Mergers and Acquisitions at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in London. Following an MBA with Said Business School at Oxford, she worked as a supply chain consultant for Capgemini in London. Himani graduated with distinction as a Chemical Engineer from Birla Institute of Technical Sciences, Pilani, and was a Dean’s Scholar at the Said Business School at Oxford.
Claudio Sissa: Manager, Operations Consulting
Claudio brings more than 8 years of operations management, new business development, and performance measurement expertise to Unitus. His primary experience involves servicing financial institutions and nonprofits in Peru, the U.S., and the U.K. He provided advice to intellectual property generators in the Oxford technology cluster and to endowed institutions of the University of Oxford as well as to CGAP and the CMEF. He is fluent in Spanish and English.
Shashwat Mody: Associate, Operations Consulting
Shashwat joined Unitus in 2007. He was previously a consultant with BearingPoint’s (formerly KPMG Consulting) Financial Services practice in Boston. He worked with clients that include Citizens Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, MasterCard, Fannie Mae, Charles Schwab, and PHH Mortgage in roles such as strategic planning, competitive intelligence, functional and technical planning, risk and financial analysis, and project execution. Prior to that, he worked with Progressive Insurance as a business process analyst in areas such as Operational CRM, eServicing, Call Center Optimization, Online Servicing, and Customer Retention. Shashwat graduated magna cum laude from Hiram College with honors in economics and finance, and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa society.
Joseph Silver: Associate, Operations Consulting
Joe joined Unitus in January 2007. He previously worked at GE Capital as a member of their Financial Management Program, completing rotations in various commercial finance businesses including Commercial Real Estate, Global Risk Management, and Healthcare Financial Services. Prior to that, he was a risk analyst in the Franchise Finance Group of GE Capital Solutions. Joe graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in business administration with a focus on finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship.
TECHNOLOGY
Vikas Jhunjhunwala: Manager, Technology
Vikas joined Unitus in early 2006 with more than 8 years of experience in technology development and consulting. Before joining Unitus, Vikas was with The Monitor Group, a global management consultancy in Boston where he gained experience across a wide range of work including IT consulting, custom software development, and enterprise product development. Since joining Unitus, Vikas has been assisting a number of Unitus MFI partners with their IT needs. Outside of his work with Unitus, he runs an NGO focused on rehabilitating street youth in Bangalore. Vikas graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College with a B.A. in computer science and economics and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa society.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Sita Vasudevan: Manager, Human Resources
Sita joined Unitus in April 2006 and heads a dedicated global human resources team catering to the needs of microfinance organizations. Sita has nearly 10 years of line and consulting experience with a focus on human resources and employee development practices. In her last role, she handled Gallup’s selection, development, and performance management practices throughout Asia Pacific and was involved in the design and delivery of solutions to clients across various industries. Other key areas of focus at Gallup were employee engagement, leadership and manager development, and strengths-based talent management. Prior to Gallup, she worked in the U.K. for SHL, a market leader on specialized assessments for senior and top management positions and psychometric profiling. From her days in SHL, she continues to be part of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) assessor panel. Sita is an electronics engineer with an M.B.A. in human resource management from Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development.
UNITUS NETWORK TEAM
Windy Wilkins: Network Lead, Global Network Program
Windy leads the global network of Unitus MFI partners. In this role, she develops and implements an integrated program of events, tools, and services to drive peer-to-peer learning and best practice sharing across our partners. Windy joined Unitus in July 2007 after receiving her master’s degree from Stanford University. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a project coordinator and research associate for school-based mental health projects with the RAND Corporation and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Windy is also a Fulbright scholar and spent a year in Peru working and studying with grassroots community development organizations. Windy has an M.A. in international policy studies from Stanford University, and graduated cum laude from Pomona College with a B.A. in international relations and economics.
PARTNER SELECTION TEAM
Mark Wensley: Global Selection Manager, Partner Selection
Mark manages the expansion of Unitus’s portfolio of MFI partners and its entry into new countries. Since joining in spring 2004, he has helped add high-growth partners in India, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. His experience includes market analysis, pipeline development, modeling and analysis, negotiation, due diligence, and project management. Mark graduated from McGill University with a commerce degree and with a master’s degree in economics of development from the Australian National University.
Jeffrey Engler: Selection Associate, Partner Selection
Jeff is an associate focused on identifying MFIs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America for partnership with Unitus. Prior to joining Unitus, Jeff worked in the Global Industrial Group of Lehman Brothers, where he focused on transactions in the aerospace, automotive, and industrial sectors. Jeff graduated from Columbia College, where he received a B.A. in history.
Suhasini Singh: India Selection Head, Partner Selection
Suhasini joined Unitus in late 2007 and manages the selection of new partners in India and South East Asia. Prior to Unitus, Suhasini had a 5-year career in investment banking and wealth management. Most recently, she spent more than 3 years at a mid-market investment bank in India, focusing on M&A and private equity syndication. She has experience in transaction sourcing and evaluation, financial modeling, deal structuring, and execution. Suhasini has an M.B.A. from T.A Pai Management Institute, Manipal, and a graduate degree from Bangalore University.
