NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Rod Dubitsky is Senior Advisor and Chief Knowledge Officer for BRAC USA. Rod’s involvement with BRAC USA goes back to 2007 as a volunteer. He joined the Advisory Council in 2009 and the Board in 2011. In 2011 he coauthored with BRAC a chapter covering agriculture and microfinance in the book “New Pathways out of Poverty.” He also spent two months in Peru as a volunteer for TechnoServe working on research related to the development of the cocoa value chain. Rod’s current role includes coverage of Sierra Leone and Liberia as well as providing support for BRAC’s agriculture and microfinance programs. In addition, Rod has produced knowledge products including a summary review of BRAC’s impact research and a primer on BRAC’s social enterprise programs. Rod has worked on projects and proposals including: a case study documenting a project converting Municipal Solid Waste to energy and fertilizer, mobile health, handwashing, water filters, microfinance securitization and Development Impact Bonds. Rod has also assisted with proposals addressing the agriculture/nutrition nexus, including the promotion of biofortified crops and related value chain and activities. In addition, Rod has played a key role in BRAC’s Ebola response in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Prior to joining BRAC, Rod was an executive vice president and lead asset expert in PIMCO’s Advisory Group. PIMCO Advisory played a leading role in several of the financial crises most important bailout programs.

Prior to joining PIMCO in 2009, he was managing director and head of asset-backed securities research at Credit Suisse, where he helped create residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and Asset-Backed (ABS) surveillance and analytics systems. He was ranked as a leading analyst in asset-backed securities by Institutional Investor magazine in 2002-2008. Rod holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and an economics degree from the State University of New York, Binghamton.

Sadna Samaranayake is the Founder and Managing Partner of B Inclusive, an organization providing consulting services to help market-based, BoP initiatives and inclusive businesses grow and thrive. She has consulted on strategy, barriers to scale, effective messaging and knowledge products for organizations such as the World Bank Group, World Bank Institute, BRAC USA, Vision Spring, and Ashoka’s Full Economic Citizenship Initiative.

Most recently, as the Program Manager of the Ultra- Poor Graduation Program at BRAC USA, Sadna manages consulting services and provides technical assistance to external governments and iNGOs related to BRAC’s pioneering Ultra-Poor Graduation approach. In addition to consulting services, Sadna also manages the creation and dissemination of knowledge products and global advocacy efforts related to the Graduation approach including outreach and engagement with implementing and funding agencies, immersion training and speaking engagements related to Graduation.

Previously, Sadna was the founder and Managing Partner of InSiteLogic, a technology and software development company providing solutions to a range of social enterprises, for-profit and non-profit organizations. Originally from Sri Lanka, Sadna grew up between the Marshall Islands, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. She earned a Masters degree in Social Entrepreneurship and International Development from New York University, where her graduate thesis examined Base of Pyramid businesses and their barriers to growth and scale. She is a recipient of the Reynolds Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs.