About Us

We’re top tech leaders who are passionate about advancing social change by listening to and supporting the social sector.

broken bridge, with someone drawing in the gap

Solving a Social Problem is always our Goal

Tech Matters has incredible reach into the tech, business, nonprofit, foundation, policy and academic communities, where we speak the languages of these critical communities and are able to translate among these groups and engage them in our tech for good efforts. So many tech people want to do good for the world: we build the bridges they need to have that impact.

Our Values

IMPACT

We’re here to improve the lives of millions of people and increase the effectiveness of thousands of organizations. We equip communities with powerful software to help solve critical social problems. We connect people across the planet to the best technology available.

EMPATHY

We listen. We gather input broadly to identify needs and understand context. We expect to be surprised by what we learn, discarding ideas we might have thought were true.

COLLABORATION

We will only work in partnerships. We build trust through transparency, sharing ownership and credit. The rewards of partnership justify the challenges of doing it well.

Tech Matters Team

José Buitron

José Buitrón

Senior Software Engineer, Terraso

About José

Derek Caelin

Derek Caelin

Senior Product Manager, Terraso

About Derek

Aaron Firestone

Aaron Firestone

CFO

About Aaron

Steve Francis

Steve Francis

Project Director, Terraso

About Steve

Jim Fruchterman

Jim Fruchterman

Founder and CEO

About Jim

Steve Hand

Steve Hand

Software Engineer, Aselo

About Steve

Nick Hurlburt

Nick Hurlburt

Executive Director, Aselo

About Nick

Annalise Irby

Annalise Irby

Senior Product Manager, Aselo

About Annalise

Jana Kleitsch

Jana Kleitsch

User Experience Designer, Aselo

About Jana

Carissa Knipe

Carissa Knipe

Senior Software Engineer, Terraso

About Carissa

Dee Luo

Dee Luo

Director of Product and Business Operations, Aselo

About Dee

Humairaa Mohamed

Humairaa Mahomed

Partnerships Manager, Aselo

About Humairaa

Katy McKinney-Bock

Katy McKinney-Bock

Senior Data Scientist, Aselo

About Katy

Sinekhaya Nongabe

Sinekhaya Nongabe

Solutions Engineer, Aselo

About Sinekhaya

Tricia O'Neill

Tricia O’Neill

Operations Manager

About Tricia

Alejandro Rivera

Alejandro Rivera

Solutions Engineer, Aselo

About Alejandro

Paul Schreiber

Paul Schreiber

Consulting Engineer, Terraso

About Paul

Tech Matters Team Member

M Celine Takatsuno

Tech for Good Research Fellow

About M Celine

Courtney Tiberio

Courtney Tiberio

Senior UX Designer, Terraso

About Courtney

Tech Matters Board of Directors

Jim Fruchterman

Jim Fruchterman

Founder and CEO

About Jim

Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink

Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink

Board Member

About Brigitte

Nithya Ramanathan

Nithya Ramanathan

Board Chair

About Nithya

Tech Matters Funders

Child Helpline International
Safe Online
Twilio
Patrick J McGovern Foundation
Working Capital
Schmidt Futures
Hitz Foundation
Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund
Jenesis
Meta
Peery Foundation
Okta
FJC
CISCO Foundation
IFDC
Omidyar Network
Rainforest Alliance
Skoll Foundation
Splunk
USDA
Frey Charitable Foundation
FFAR

Our Financials and Governing Documents

Audited Financials

Form 990 (Tax return filed by U.S. nonprofits)

2023 Form 990

VIEW Form 990

Charitable Determination Letter as a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit

View Letter

Tech Matters Governing Documents

Conflict of Interest Policy, Bylaws, and Articles of Incorporation

VIEW Documents
Nithya Ramanathan

Nithya Ramanathan

Board Chair
Nithya Ramanathan is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Nexleaf Analytics, a tech non-profit dedicated to preserving human life and protecting our planet. Nexleaf’s unique approach brings together sensor design, data analysis, software engineering, and field engagement to identify and address big problems. Nexleaf technology currently protects the vaccine supply for 1 in 10 babies born on Earth. Nithya and her team have achieved this outsized impact by working shoulder-to-shoulder with Ministries of Health -- rather than attempting to bypass governments -- to scale cutting-edge technologies refined through close collaboration with personnel at every level of the health system, from top-tier government officials to Last Mile health care workers. Nithya is a PopTech Social Innovation Fellow, Switzer Environmental Fellow, a Rainer Arnhold Fellow and a TED Fellow. She is the winner of the 2017 Hedy Lamarr Award for Female Tech Pioneer as well as the 2020 Tällberg Foundation/Eliasson Global Leadership Award.
Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink

Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink

Board Member

Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink is Director of Product Impact at Google.org, where she leads initiatives that leverage emerging technologies and Google’s expertise to address global challenges. She is currently focused on how AI can be used for social impact and also leads Google.org’s work on crisis response and sustainability. She previously created programs focused on how technology can improve global education and innovation for people with disabilities. Prior to Google.org, Brigitte worked across the social and public sector with The Bridgespan Group, U.S. Agency for International Development, and IRD. She has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Jim Fruchterman

Jim Fruchterman

Founder and CEO

Jim is a serial tech and social entrepreneur, who has already proven how technology can change entire fields in the social sector. He was the founder and CEO of Benetech for nearly 30 years, delivering large-scale change in partnership with hundreds of organizations as part of social enterprises addressing education, disability, human rights, and the environment. In addition, he has advised hundreds of diverse social enterprises on the use of technology and data. He previously founded two successful for-profit Silicon Valley tech companies in the machine learning/artificial intelligence field, and is an active angel investor in and board member for several companies. Jim has been widely recognized for his social change work, including being selected as a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Schwab Social Entrepreneur Award, and the Caltech Distinguished Alumni award.

Amaya Webster

Amaya Webster

Program Manager, Terraso
Amaya is a tech-for-good geek with nearly a decade of experience. Prior to joining Tech Matters, Amaya worked at Benetech creating software-for-good as the project manager for their R&D initiative, and the community and marketing manager for their work on digital accessibility of STEM educational materials. Amaya believes that there is little more rewarding than doing work which creates positive, sustainable impact. With degrees in anthropology, biology, and art, a career in tech may not have been the obvious choice, but she has found that her eclectic background lends itself particularly well to the tech-for-good field—especially when it comes to user-centric product design, research, and creative approaches to problem solving and strategy design.
Courtney Tiberio

Courtney Tiberio

Senior UX Designer, Terraso
Courtney is a user experience designer working to help Terraso create engaging and impactful digital tools. She has more than 15 years experience working in various capacities with mission-driven organizations, including 5 years as co-owner of a tech cooperative. Environmental stewardship and social justice are the main drivers of her career. In her free time, Courtney enjoys organic gardening, foraging, and exploring the mountains and waterways of Western North Carolina.
Tech Matters Team Member

M Celine Takatsuno

Tech for Good Research Fellow

Celine centers at the intersection of data, technology, law, and policy, developing cross-sector solutions for positive social impact. She’s founded and led startup teams and strategic initiatives in ecommerce and marketing; caregiving and digital health; and privacy, identity, and open source. She delights in stewarding bold ideas and communities from vision into practice, and learning along the way.
Paul Schreiber

Paul Schreiber

Consulting Engineer, Terraso

Paul Schreiber has been building software and teams for the past two decades. Most recently, he led development for FiveThirtyEight at ABC News and The Undefeated at ESPN. Previously, he spent eight years as a Mac OS X engineer at Apple, served as the founding CTO at TurboVote and codeveloped the 2008 Obama campaign’s voter registration tool. Paul has a Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science (and a minor in French) from the University of Waterloo. Paul runs a house concert series, advocates for bicycling and safe streets and is always up for a hockey game.

Alejandro Rivera

Alejandro Rivera

Solutions Engineer, Aselo
Alejandro is a software engineer with 7+ years of experience working in different positions related to software development. It wasn’t until he lived in rural Kenya that he realized the positive impact that technology can have on society. Alejandro has spent more than four years working for an NGO whose mission was to eradicate the hunger season across East Africa. He joined Tech Matters as a Solutions Engineer on the Aselo project to prove to himself once more that technology matters. In his spare time, he spends hours playing with his daughter, taking walks with his family, and growing a food forest.
Tricia O'Neill

Tricia O’Neill

Operations Manager
Tricia has over 15 years of experience in nonprofit operations and has always been fascinated by the intersection of social good and technology. She is passionate about providing her team members with the resources they need to succeed and enjoys the challenge of wearing multiple hats to get the job done. A Midwesterner based in the Pacific Northwest, when she’s not managing projects or implementing new policies, you can find her exploring hard to find hiking trails or lounging in her pollinator garden admiring the bees and hummingbirds.
Sinekhaya Nongabe

Sinekhaya Nongabe

Solutions Engineer, Aselo

Sinekhaya is a Solutions Engineer on the Aselo project, having joined the team in February 2023. With an appreciation for the transformative power of technology, he is passionate about optimising business processes and operations to deliver exceptional user experiences. His professional journey encompasses diverse roles in financial technology, banking, and higher education, leveraging his expertise gained since graduating with a B.Com in Information Systems from the University of Cape Town. Currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, Sinekhaya finds joy in the simple pleasures of life, often enjoying leisurely walks on the beach and indulging in African Fiction books.

Katy McKinney-Bock

Katy McKinney-Bock

Senior Data Scientist, Aselo
Katy is a data scientist, linguist, and researcher with over a decade of experience in research development, data analysis, and machine learning / natural language processing. She is passionate about empowering people with data, and values knowledge creation via a multitude of methods, from recording narrative stories, to small team interviews, to mapping systems from administrative datasets, and in models trained over corpora of natural language or quantified via survey questions and in health assessments. She has worked with a range of collaborators, from non-profits providing human services, to a data incubator focused on ethics and societal impact, within an interdisciplinary research center at a medical university, and in higher education teaching and research, and takes a systems approach to engaging in research and technology development.
Humairaa Mohamed

Humairaa Mahomed

Partnerships Manager, Aselo

Humairaa is a proud Africanist, intrapreneur, critical thinker, and problem solver with a high aptitude for logical reasoning, strategic thinking, and mathematical analysis. Fueled by a strong passion for humanity, nature, technology, and learning, she continuously seeks multidimensional challenge, growth, and improvement opportunities. Humairaa is inspired by the possibility of a world that delights in diversity and embraces complexity, and has chosen to dedicate her life and skills to committed teams and progressive technologies to deliver intelligent and sustainable impact.
Dee Luo

Dee Luo

Director of Product and Business Operations, Aselo

Dee is a Product Manager interested in leveraging innovative technology to build empathy-driven solutions that empower individuals and their communities. She has experience building SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) business software after working at Yext, a New York-based technology company, and has worked on pro bono projects for international social enterprises as a past fellow of the MovingWorlds Institute. She joined Tech Matters in December 2020 to lead the product management for Aselo and is based in New York City.

Carissa Knipe

Carissa Knipe

Senior Software Engineer, Terraso
Carissa (they/she) comes to Tech Matters as a software developer after studying computer science and studio art at Carleton College, developing data visualization software for 8 years at Tableau, and learning more about climate change and solutions in a Terra.do cohort. They live in Seattle, WA and are interested in how we can cultivate more nourishing relationships to the earth and each other. Carissa’s many joys include being with friends, singing karaoke, themed gatherings, art, playing off-brand DDR, eating leftovers, and telling plants that they’re doing a great job.
Jana Kleitsch

Jana Kleitsch

User Experience Designer, Aselo

Jana is a seasoned user experience designer and an occasional serial entrepreneur. After co-founding the first online wedding planning site, Wedding Channel, Jana spent almost a decade working on Amazon’s Recommendations and Bestsellers teams. Jana joined the Tech Matters team in March of 2020 as the UX Designer for the Aselo helpline platform. Jana also serves as a Startup Advisor at the University of Washington mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs.

Annalise Irby

Annalise Irby

Senior Product Manager, Aselo
Annalise is a Product Manager interested in co-creating mission-driven technology alongside communities and governments. Previously at Schmidt Futures, a tech philanthropy, she rotated as a product manager between tech nonprofits and startups including Recidiviz, a criminal justice reform nonprofit, and JustFix, a housing justice nonprofit. Before this, Annalise worked in software engineering at Lyft and Uber, and in conversational UX (user experience) design at IBM Research. She graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Computer Science, and is currently based in Brooklyn, NY. In her free time, you can find her making pottery, adventuring outdoors, or learning something new.
Nick Hurlburt

Nick Hurlburt

Executive Director, Aselo

Nick has 17 years of experience joining two parallel paths: software engineering and international development. Nick began his career developing early, large-scale artificial intelligence software at Amazon.com. He later managed software teams at Sift, a Silicon Valley machine learning company that protects companies like Airbnb and Twitter from online fraud. Nick spent six years in conflict relief in Burma and South Sudan, capturing human rights, migration, and multi-sector program data using methods from hand-delivered paper to smartphones to satellite modems. He leads the technology development for the Aselo helpline project, joining Tech Matters in mid-2019.

Steve Hand

Steve Hand

Software Engineer, Aselo

Steve is a Software Engineer with 20-years’ experience leading projects in industries including e-commerce, healthcare, video games, road haulage, finance, and consumer electronics, in organizations ranging from a three-person start-up to large multinationals and the Welsh National Health Service. He came to software the long way around, after studying History & Economics at Manchester University. He joined Tech Matters to work on the Aselo project in December 2021 and is based in Galway, Ireland. In his free time, he helps out at local Autism charities but also consumes large amounts of bad TV.

Jim Fruchterman

Jim Fruchterman

Founder and CEO

Jim is a serial tech and social entrepreneur, who has already proven how technology can change entire fields in the social sector. He was the founder and CEO of Benetech for nearly 30 years, delivering large-scale change in partnership with hundreds of organizations as part of social enterprises addressing education, disability, human rights, and the environment. In addition, he has advised hundreds of diverse social enterprises on the use of technology and data. He previously founded two successful for-profit Silicon Valley tech companies in the machine learning/artificial intelligence field, and is an active angel investor in and board member for several companies. Jim has been widely recognized for his social change work, including being selected as a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Schwab Social Entrepreneur Award, and the Caltech Distinguished Alumni award.

Steve Francis

Steve Francis

Project Director, Terraso

Steve is a senior executive and gifted product strategist with a 30-year career ranging from hands-on software engineer to public company CEO. He has substantial experience in organizing teams and attacking new opportunities and markets while ensuring a balance between specific tasks and the “bigger picture” of a successful outcome. After consulting for three years on various high-impact social good projects, he joined Tech Matters in late 2019.

Aaron Finestone

Aaron Firestone

CFO
Aaron has a long career in the tech for good, nonprofit, and social enterprise fields. Before Tech Matters, he spent 15 years at Benetech, leading both fundraising and data insights. Aaron has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Cognitive Science from Swarthmore College. When not working for social impact, he enjoys gardening, woodworking, and spending time with his family.
Derek Caelin

Derek Caelin

Senior Product Manager, Terraso

Derek Caelin is a technologist who has spent years training activists and civil society organizations in developing countries and conflict zones on how to use digital tools to communicate, mobilize, and organize. Derek is particularly focused on creating, researching, and sharing open source technology so that all people can benefit from free, collectively produced software. His writings on community-maintained software, games for social impact, privacy, and the effect of tech platforms on society, have been published in Foreign Policy and OneZero.

José Buitron

José Buitrón

Senior Software Engineer, Terraso

José has worked as a software engineer in different industries for more than 12 years. He is passionate about developing innovative human-centered solutions. José identifies solutions using technology that can improve the experiences of people. He has a Computer Science degree from the Universidad Catolica del Ecuador and a Master of Information Technology from The University of Melbourne. In his free time you can find José trying to learn and understand what being human means.