Amit Sinha Amit has had a passion for working with the poor and the under privileged since he volunteered as a science teacher at the Calcutta Emmanuel School, a school for underprivileged children. Amit has been working in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry for over 15 years and has a BS in Biology and an MBA.

A native of Kolkata, India, Amit founded Prana International after a visit to his hometown. “I had just come out of an expensive store and gotten into an air conditioned vehicle when I was confronted by a woman who was begging while desperately trying to shade the hot sun from her one year old baby’s face. Instinctively I reached for my wallet but realized I had to do more than just give the woman a few rupees. I had to create lasting change. I had been fascinated by Professors Yunus’s Grameen Bank for many years. I began to think about the Grameen model. The idea to conceive Prana was born on the flight back home.” 

James A. Macon Jim has been working with Applied Materials for over 20 years as a Global Operations Director and is currently Director of Product Marketing for the Energy and Environmental Solutions segment. Jim has been involved in The Nature Conservancy and Habitat for Humanity.  His passion is to contribute in a meaningful way to the development of solutions for global poverty and environmental destruction.  Jim's involvement in the Nature Conservancy and on developing renewable energy has been a source of great satisfaction for him. He is driven to help develop solutions to emancipate poor people from poverty and exploitation and is committed to Prana’s success. Jim has a BS in History and an MBA.

Dr. Suchetha Adiga Suchie is a practicing pathologist at a national independent laboratory. She received her medical degree at Bangalore Medical College, India, and did specialty and subspecialty studies in Philadelphia. With her training in India and the US, Suchie understands cultural and clinical conditions in the developed and developing worlds, and is acutely aware of the relationship between socio-economic conditions and disease.  She has been disturbed by the apathy of societies toward economic injustice. She believes it is her God-given role to do her bit in bringing about change and in helping give a chance to forgotten and rejected individuals. 

Dr. Jill Witmer Sinha Jill is an Assistant Professor with the School of Social Work at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She studies the relationship between public sector funding and non-government organizations in social service provision with a special interest in faith-based and religious organizations. Jill believes that organizations such as Prana can help people do work which they enjoy, are capable of, and earn a sustainable income, and thus help correct the kind of injustices which exist in every society. Jill has a Masters of Divinity and a Ph.D. in Social Welfare.

Dr. Rebecca L. Thomas Rebecca is an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut, School of Social Work in the areas of community organization, policy, and international development.

Having grown up in Kolkata, Rebecca has an infectious gift for loving people of all backgrounds and builds connections across cultures. Her work with Prana is a natural outlet for her commitment to reduce poverty, especially as it affects women and children. Rebecca holds an MSW and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology.