CURRENT LEMANN FELLOWS AT MIT (GRADUATING IN 2018)
Cecilia de Lima Pessanha is a dual-degree student at MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is passionate about finding out how the public, private and nonprofit sectors can collaborate to maximize social impact. Prior to graduate school, Ceci worked for over five years for the IFC, the World Bank arm that fosters the private sector in developing countries, structuring Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure in Brazil, Mexico and Central America. She is particularly passionate about health and education, and had the chance to structure the firsts PPPs of these sectors in Brazil. She is currently working with MIT’s D-Lab in building a business curriculum for entrepreneurs at the Base of the Pyramid, and its first application will be with a cohort of waste pickers in Ghana. During the summer of 2017, she also worked with the Lemann Foundation in redesigning its grant making strategy for the next five years. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2017-2018)
Caroline Rozendo is a first year master student at the Media Lab. She studied Communication and Design at the University of São Paulo. She worked as a designer and developer for companies from the editorial and educational markets in Brazil, including O Estado de S. Paulo, Editora Abril and Grupo ETAPA. She is also the author a book about the origins of Typography, published in 2010. Her interest in Media and Technology led her to learn programming and the principles of electronics as an autodidact. She used a mix of multidisciplinary skills to explore computation and data as tools for better experiences in journalism. In 2015, as a prize for winning a marathon of ideation organized by Natura and the MIT Media Lab, she spent one term as a visiting student at the Object-Based Media group, same group she will be joining for the graduate program in Media Arts and Sciences in 2017. As a master's student, Caroline aims to study sensory perception in the context of design and entertainment, while imagining new ways of amplifying immersion to facilitate the process of cognition, interaction and learning. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2017-2018)
Joana Pinto Leite is passionate about reinventing the structure and implementation of inclusive response in education. She is a dual-degree at MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Kennedy School, particularly interested in the intersection of strategy, investment, innovation and education in vulnerable contexts. She is committed to the Brazilian education system and the complexity of the challenges Brazil is facing in the education sector excite her. She led the MIT Education Technology Conference and Competition last year sponsored by Lemann Foundation; and she is working on an independent study at MIT Media Lab focused on creative learning in public schools in Brazil, and collaborating with innovative start-ups in the Boston area. Joana is an economist and she worked for three years in investment management and for three years in consulting in a telecommunications company in Portugal. Apart from work, she led a national Portuguese NGO focused on promoting social cohesion amongst children from different socio-economic backgrounds; and she have traveled solo to work on projects on the ground with local communities in developing countries, such as Colombia, Haiti, East-Timor, Vietnam, Thailand, and India. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2017-2018)
Guillermo Toral is a PhD student in Political Science at MIT, where he studies political economy and methods with a focus on issues of political and economic development. In particular, he is interested in the political economy of education systems and human capital development. He is currently working on a project analyzing the conditions under which Brazilian voters hold local governments accountable for the performance of municipal schools, and how school performance impacts local governments’ appointments of school principals. Another of his research projects explores how the provision of information about school performance in Brazil impacts teachers, school principals, and student-level outcomes such as learning. Guillermo holds an MPhil in Comparative Politics from the University of Oxford, where he was a La Caixa Fellow, and a B.A. in Political Science and Public Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid. Before coming to MIT, Guillermo spent several years working on education policy and programs at the World Bank, in Washington DC and across Latin America, including Brazil. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2016-2018)
Pedro Bessone Tepedino is a second year economics PhD student at MIT. The focus of his research is in education policy in Brazil and the intersection between labor, education and behavior economics. In particular, he is interested in affirmative action policies, gender and race discrimination in the labor market, how beliefs about return to education are formed in school students and how workers deal with self-control problems. He is also a co-author in a study of how sleep deprivation among poor workers in Chennai, India, affect productivity and cognitive function. Before joining MIT, Pedro completed his undergraduate and master’s in economics at PUC-Rio. There he conducted research in political economy topics, like protests and how Congressmen interacted with their electorate through social media. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2016-2018)
Cecilia de Lima Pessanha is a dual-degree student at MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is passionate about finding out how the public, private and nonprofit sectors can collaborate to maximize social impact. Prior to graduate school, Ceci worked for over five years for the IFC, the World Bank arm that fosters the private sector in developing countries, structuring Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure in Brazil, Mexico and Central America. She is particularly passionate about health and education, and had the chance to structure the firsts PPPs of these sectors in Brazil. She is currently working with MIT’s D-Lab in building a business curriculum for entrepreneurs at the Base of the Pyramid, and its first application will be with a cohort of waste pickers in Ghana. During the summer of 2017, she also worked with the Lemann Foundation in redesigning its grant making strategy for the next five years. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2017-2018)
Caroline Rozendo is a first year master student at the Media Lab. She studied Communication and Design at the University of São Paulo. She worked as a designer and developer for companies from the editorial and educational markets in Brazil, including O Estado de S. Paulo, Editora Abril and Grupo ETAPA. She is also the author a book about the origins of Typography, published in 2010. Her interest in Media and Technology led her to learn programming and the principles of electronics as an autodidact. She used a mix of multidisciplinary skills to explore computation and data as tools for better experiences in journalism. In 2015, as a prize for winning a marathon of ideation organized by Natura and the MIT Media Lab, she spent one term as a visiting student at the Object-Based Media group, same group she will be joining for the graduate program in Media Arts and Sciences in 2017. As a master's student, Caroline aims to study sensory perception in the context of design and entertainment, while imagining new ways of amplifying immersion to facilitate the process of cognition, interaction and learning. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2017-2018)
Joana Pinto Leite is passionate about reinventing the structure and implementation of inclusive response in education. She is a dual-degree at MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Kennedy School, particularly interested in the intersection of strategy, investment, innovation and education in vulnerable contexts. She is committed to the Brazilian education system and the complexity of the challenges Brazil is facing in the education sector excite her. She led the MIT Education Technology Conference and Competition last year sponsored by Lemann Foundation; and she is working on an independent study at MIT Media Lab focused on creative learning in public schools in Brazil, and collaborating with innovative start-ups in the Boston area. Joana is an economist and she worked for three years in investment management and for three years in consulting in a telecommunications company in Portugal. Apart from work, she led a national Portuguese NGO focused on promoting social cohesion amongst children from different socio-economic backgrounds; and she have traveled solo to work on projects on the ground with local communities in developing countries, such as Colombia, Haiti, East-Timor, Vietnam, Thailand, and India. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2017-2018)
Guillermo Toral is a PhD student in Political Science at MIT, where he studies political economy and methods with a focus on issues of political and economic development. In particular, he is interested in the political economy of education systems and human capital development. He is currently working on a project analyzing the conditions under which Brazilian voters hold local governments accountable for the performance of municipal schools, and how school performance impacts local governments’ appointments of school principals. Another of his research projects explores how the provision of information about school performance in Brazil impacts teachers, school principals, and student-level outcomes such as learning. Guillermo holds an MPhil in Comparative Politics from the University of Oxford, where he was a La Caixa Fellow, and a B.A. in Political Science and Public Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid. Before coming to MIT, Guillermo spent several years working on education policy and programs at the World Bank, in Washington DC and across Latin America, including Brazil. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2016-2018)
Pedro Bessone Tepedino is a second year economics PhD student at MIT. The focus of his research is in education policy in Brazil and the intersection between labor, education and behavior economics. In particular, he is interested in affirmative action policies, gender and race discrimination in the labor market, how beliefs about return to education are formed in school students and how workers deal with self-control problems. He is also a co-author in a study of how sleep deprivation among poor workers in Chennai, India, affect productivity and cognitive function. Before joining MIT, Pedro completed his undergraduate and master’s in economics at PUC-Rio. There he conducted research in political economy topics, like protests and how Congressmen interacted with their electorate through social media. Lemann Fellow (MIT 2016-2018)
PAST LEMANN FELLOWS AT MIT
Juliana Gregory Cavalcante is a product manager of a lesson plans product at Nova Escola, an organization owned by Lemann Foundation that provide products and services for K-12 teachers in brazil. She graduated from MIT Sloan in 2017 with focus on education, entrepreneurship and social finance. At Sloan, she was co-president of the Education club and a fellow of the impact investing initiative. Prior to Sloan she worked at the Lemann Foundation where she coordinated the Education Management and the New Ventures department focusing in the themes of teacher and principal professional development and entrepreneurship in Brazil. She also worked four years in strategic consulting at Roland Berger, and Oliver Wyman where she participated in projects in more than 10 industries, but primarily focused on the areas of Education and Consumer Goods. Juliana has a degree in Computer Engineering from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA).
Tamires Rodrigues Vilela received her MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management in 2017. She has recently joined Lemann Foundation, where she coordinates the tech team working on solving complex education issues through technology. Prior to business school she was a lawyer at a renowned Brazilian Law Firm, and later she led her family’s holding company with Logistics and Gourmet portfolio. She holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Universidade de São Paulo, in which she developed her thesis in Administrative Law Area on Public Administration Partnerships. She also holds a business degree from Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
Bruno Santos holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, class of 2017, and a bachelor degree in Economics from UFMG. He pursued a management consultant career at McKinsey & Company, where he worked in many public and social projects. Bruno also worked in the São Paulo City Government and in the state of Goiás Government, leading its economic development initiatives. Before starting his masters, Bruno founded ProjetoBrasil.org, a non-profit that aims to at improve democracy in Brazil, increasing the transparency and accountability of the political system while educating and engaging citizens.
Susana Cordeiro Guerra currently works as an economist at the World Bank on issues related to public sector administration, decentralization, and building state capability. She has provided policy advice and research to governments and public sector entities in Latin America, East Asia and East Africa both at the World Bank and at the MIT Industrial Performance Center, Fundação Getúlio Vargas and JPAL. She started her career as a Junior Professional Associate at the World Bank in East Asia and later helped start the Latin America business for a consulting company focused on education. Susana holds a magna cum laude BA in Social Studies from Harvard College, an MPA-International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School and a PhD in Political Science from MIT. Her dissertation explained differences in organizational capability in front-line units in three different sectors in Brazil (education, policing, and industrial innovation), concentrating on the role of behavior on the fringes of formality in improving administrative outputs.
Juliana Gregory Cavalcante is a product manager of a lesson plans product at Nova Escola, an organization owned by Lemann Foundation that provide products and services for K-12 teachers in brazil. She graduated from MIT Sloan in 2017 with focus on education, entrepreneurship and social finance. At Sloan, she was co-president of the Education club and a fellow of the impact investing initiative. Prior to Sloan she worked at the Lemann Foundation where she coordinated the Education Management and the New Ventures department focusing in the themes of teacher and principal professional development and entrepreneurship in Brazil. She also worked four years in strategic consulting at Roland Berger, and Oliver Wyman where she participated in projects in more than 10 industries, but primarily focused on the areas of Education and Consumer Goods. Juliana has a degree in Computer Engineering from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA).
Tamires Rodrigues Vilela received her MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management in 2017. She has recently joined Lemann Foundation, where she coordinates the tech team working on solving complex education issues through technology. Prior to business school she was a lawyer at a renowned Brazilian Law Firm, and later she led her family’s holding company with Logistics and Gourmet portfolio. She holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Universidade de São Paulo, in which she developed her thesis in Administrative Law Area on Public Administration Partnerships. She also holds a business degree from Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
Bruno Santos holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, class of 2017, and a bachelor degree in Economics from UFMG. He pursued a management consultant career at McKinsey & Company, where he worked in many public and social projects. Bruno also worked in the São Paulo City Government and in the state of Goiás Government, leading its economic development initiatives. Before starting his masters, Bruno founded ProjetoBrasil.org, a non-profit that aims to at improve democracy in Brazil, increasing the transparency and accountability of the political system while educating and engaging citizens.
Susana Cordeiro Guerra currently works as an economist at the World Bank on issues related to public sector administration, decentralization, and building state capability. She has provided policy advice and research to governments and public sector entities in Latin America, East Asia and East Africa both at the World Bank and at the MIT Industrial Performance Center, Fundação Getúlio Vargas and JPAL. She started her career as a Junior Professional Associate at the World Bank in East Asia and later helped start the Latin America business for a consulting company focused on education. Susana holds a magna cum laude BA in Social Studies from Harvard College, an MPA-International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School and a PhD in Political Science from MIT. Her dissertation explained differences in organizational capability in front-line units in three different sectors in Brazil (education, policing, and industrial innovation), concentrating on the role of behavior on the fringes of formality in improving administrative outputs.