Synergos Cultivate the Soul: Stories of Purpose-Driven Philanthropy

Scott Kriens, chairman and former CEO of Juniper Networks, has been in the
technology industry for more than 35 years. In 1996, he co-founded Juniper
Networks, growing the company to $4 billion in global sales and more than 10,000
employees in 100+ countries.

In 2010, Scott and his wife Joanie launched 1440 Foundation, a grant making
organization committed to the cultivation of truly real and connected
relationships...

Sudnya is an Indian American artist who has made San Francisco Bay Area her home since 1996. She has pursued her passion for storytelling through visual art, public installations, a novel publication, and now FREMONT, her first feature film.

As a champion of the world’s displaced sisterhood, Sudnya has made it her life’s mission to tell stories - arrestingly beautiful and awe inspiring stories - that have the power to move and cha...

Listen to hear how David Less and the Abrahamic Reunion are shifting consciousness by bringing people together in the Holy Land so they can change the narrative and move from separation to unity.

David is a founding member of the Abrahamic Reunion, a bottom-up grassroots organization designed to overcome the problem of segregation and separation in Israel and Palestine by bringing together groups of people from the four major reli...

Listen to hear Ajay’s reflections on love and service, about the importance of being instead of doing, about our inter-connectedness and the power of living the example.

Ajay was born into a working-class immigrant family from India. A deep spiritual calling led him to become a monk in his late teens, where he spent almost a decade in service, spiritual practice, and deep reflection on how to realize a healthy, conscious, and bala...

Listen to hear how Sister Jayanti and the Brahma Kumaris are spreading love and peace in creative ways and with great global reach. She shares how inner transformation can be a tool of positive change, including on issues like climate change.

Sister Jayanti is the Additional Administrative Head of The Brahma Kumaris, the world’s largest spiritual organisation to be led by women. She is a spiritual teacher, much sought after intern...

Listen to hear how Farahnaz, based on her field experience from Bosnia to Afghanistan, is transforming her passion to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Insaan Group’s catalytic capital approach, now scaling through Impact Footprint.

Dr. Farahnaz Karim is founder and CEO of Insaan Group. Insaan works with philanthropists and impact investors to invest in solutions to poverty, with a focus on sub-Saha...

Listen to hear how Richard is forging a new way of family philanthropy. After 25 years in The Russell Family Foundation and co-Founding the Clementine Fund, Richard shares key learnings. He also shares examples of how they empower their partner communities, activate their values in every area of the business and practice trust-based philanthropy.

Richard Russell is a co-founder of the Clementine Fund – a foundation that exists ...

Listen to hear Bob share his personal story growing up and how this has influenced his view and work in the world. How, through the Fetzer Insitute, they are building a global movement grounded in love, human flourishing and our shared sacred story.

Bob Boisture has served as President and CEO of the Fetzer Institute since 2013, and during this time, helped the Institute adopt its current mission statement “helping build the spiri...

Listen to hear how Kat and Mowlgi Mentoring are supporting entrepreneurs and leaders to build purposeful connections within themselves and others to better solve local and global challenges.

Kat is a global nomad who is driven to eradicate loneliness within and outside of ourselves. She is focused on nurturing connectedness, meaningful relationships and communities that enable people to overcome that which holds them back, discove...

Listen to hear how Nitya is transforming her passion for public health to create systems change by working with communities academia and philanthropy.

Dr Nitya Mohan Khemka is Director of the Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation, a family foundation that focuses on strategic philanthropy.  She is also Director, Global Alliances at PATH- a global Health think-tank focusing on health equity. Prior to PATH, she was the Head of the UK Liai...

Listen to hear how Tracy has transformed personal trauma to help others. How she is using art for healing, for connection and to raise awareness about social justice issues to affect change.

Tracy Ferron is the Founder and Executive Director of Life on Earth Art, a California-based non-profit organization working to heal trauma and division in our society by fusing community art-making, art therapy, and activism with touring la...

What I loved about this conversation with Satish is learning how he has taken action his whole life to transform the world into a spiritual place; and how he sees the intersection between spirituality and ecology. He shares his view of philanthropy as moving from me to we, from and ego to eco.

Peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for over 50 years. He undertook a pilgrim...

What I loved about this conversation with Kim is hearing her personal stories and experiences that brought her to dedicate her life to belonging and social connectedness.

Kim Samuel is an activist, educator and movement builder. She is the Founder and Chief Belonging Officer of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, named in honour of her late father. She is president of the Samuel Family Foundation; visiting scholar at the O...

What I love about this conversation with Howard is his passion for using impact investing to address large-scale social problems. He shared his story of personal transformation after facing a crisis, which led him to co-create Gratitude Railroad, working to create deep social and environmental impact through investments.

Howard is co-founder and Chief Evangelist of Gratitude Railroad. Gratitude Railroad is an educational, communit...

What I love about this conversation with Gary is learning how The Saville Foundation is creating genuine partnerships through deep listening and working from the inside out, with people in the center.

GARY SHEARER BIO

THE SAVILLE FOUNDATION

Born and schooled in Johannesburg South Africa, having a rich full-spectrum business experience in the IT wave of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, including being a founding management team member of the...

What I love about this conversation with Hali is how she is working to democratize and diversify the field and practice of philanthropy. Listen to hear highlights from her ground-breaking report Philanthropy Always Sounds Like Someone Else: A Portrait of High Net Worth Donors of Color, drawn from over 150 individual interviews of BIPOC donors across the US.

Hali Lee is delighted to have been co-builder of a few pieces of philanthr...

What I loved about this conversation with Katherine is how she and her family are learning together to take action together on sustainability; and how her time working with farmers in Oaxaca laid the groundwork for life’s passion to fight climate change.

Katherine Lorenz is President of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation (www.cgmf.org), a grantmaking foundation focusing on environmental sustainability in Texas. She is the ...

Pascale Terra Deau is French Caribbean from Martinique, Black American, and Tsistitas (Cheyenne).  She works at the intersection of human development and sustainability. She is the creator of Haumea Ventures, a consulting firm that helps bring to life transformative and sustainable ideas and initiatives. Pascale is also the co-founder of Archery Foundation, an organization that supports young talents from French disadvant...

Ajay Dahiya serves at Synergos in the capacity of Managing Director of Philanthropy. 

Born into a working-class immigrant family from India, Ajay quickly internalized a sentiment that would dictate both his personal and professional lives for decades: the real privilege in life is the privilege of service.

Growing up in a diverse and disparate environment in the outskirts of London, Ajay realized that true fulfillment wasn&r...