Board Members
We are a team of passionate educationists who believe that excellent teachers impact student lives in classrooms & beyond.
Anju Saigal
Founder Director
Anju Saigal is the Founder-Director of CEQUE.
Active for over 25 years in the arena of public education, she has worked in senior leadership positions at the NGO like Pratham and ICICI Foundation, designing and executing large community-based and public-private partnership programs for improving schooling access and quality. She has also researched and taught at the graduate level at Harvard and at the undergraduate level at Simmons College, Boston.
Anju holds a Masters degree in Social Work from TISS and a Masters and Doctorate in Education from Harvard University.
Mitesh Thakkar
Director
Mitesh Thakkar advises CEQUE on Business Development strategies and operations.
He is the founder of Arthify Inc. & the chief architect of Fieldata.Org, a mobile-based data management system for research organizations and social enterprises in Asia and Africa. He also consults for UNDP’s Business Call to Action endeavour to assist inclusive businesses with their impact management work. Mitesh has worked globally – as Team Lead of SDSN’s Education Solutions Initiative, Director-Social Research at Altai Consulting in Afghanistan, Research Analyst at the World Bank; Education Specialist at Pratham-India, & as a Curriculum Consultant to Ministry of Education, Vietnam.
Mitesh Thakker holds a Masters in Education from Harvard University and an MBA from Insead.
Pushkaraj Gumaste
Board Member
Pushkaraj Gumaste is a banker for nearly 30 years. At present, he is managing director and head of corporate banking for the Asia Pacific and the Middle East for Barclays bank. In his previous role, he co-headed the Investment Banking franchise for Barclays India, besides leading the Corporate Banking business within India.
Pushkaraj holds a B.E (Electrical Engineering) degree from Mumbai University and a postgraduate M.B.A from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam.
US Board Members
Dr. Peggy A. Kong
Dr. Peggy Kong is our US Board Member.
Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Education at Drexel University. Earned her doctorate in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy with a concentration in International Education from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Over 20 years of experience in higher education in both the US and abroad. Research has been focused on educational equity issues for children and families. Taught courses related to non-governmental organizations, educational inequalities, international education, program evaluation and research methods. Author of two books and numerous chapters and articles on family and school relationships, rural education and immigrant families
Currently serves on the editorial board of Cogent Education, Frontiers in Education, and Chinese Education and Society.
Jasrine Liju
Jasrine Liju is our US Board Member.
Jasrine is a Finance professional with 18+ years of experience in the financial services sector. Her prior roles include financial planning and analytics, financial operations and process improvements, in CRISIL and HDFC Bank in India, and Citibank in USA. After a one year sabbatical in 2022, she pivoted her career towards Social Impact and is currently managing finance and grant operations for BlackRock’s philanthropy division.
Jasrine is a Chartered Accountant (India) and Certified Public Accountant (USA).
Abhay Borwankar
Abhay Borwankar is our US Board Member.
Abhay Borwankar is a Director of Professional Services at Amazon in their Amazon Web Services (AWS) division. Abhay has been a consultant for over 30 years having worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte Consulting for 22 years prior to joining Amazon in 2017. Throughout his career, Abhay has focused on helping Fortune 500 clients realize their strategic vision and capitalize on benefits from technology-driven enterprise transformation initiatives. In the past, Abhay has led Deloitte’s fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Abhay holds a B.E degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mumbai University (VJTI) and an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University in the US.
