Microsoft Alumni Foundation Announces 2012 Integral Fellows Awards Finalists

(3BL Media) Bellevue, WA - August 22, 2012 – The Microsoft Alumni Foundation is recognizing a select group of alumni giving of themselves to help others at home and around the world. Today the Foundation announced the five finalists for the 2012 Integral Fellows Awards. A cornerstone program of the Foundation, the Integral Fellows Awards Program recognizes Microsoft alumni who have dedicated their lives to creating something extraordinary to help address challenges around the world. This year’s five finalists were selected from fifteen nominees submitted by their alumni peers and from nonprofit organizations where Microsoft alumni are founders, officers, and active volunteers.

Award winners will be recognized at the Microsoft Alumni Foundation Celebration on October 1, 2012 in Redmond at the Microsoft campus. The award winners each will receive a $25,000 unrestricted grant for their nonprofit organization, as well as support from their fellow alumni to help continue in their efforts to build resources and scale solutions for their initiatives.

The five finalists:

1) Jabe Blumenthal – Climate Solutions, Co-Chair and Board of Directors. Climate Solutions builds a powerful constituency for local, regional and national action on climate and clean energy.  Jabe’s strategic leadership, laser focus, and practical approach to advocacy have transformed a regional organization into a national thought leader with vibrant partnerships and alliances in the business, farm, government, and civic sectors. (http://climatesolutions.org/)

2) David Habib – Social Venture Partners, Partner. Social Venture Partners is a global network of local partners aligning passion and purpose.  David has revolutionized mission-critical database apps for the nonprofit sector allowing them to connect with donors, advocate for their causes, and expand their impact. (http://svpseattle.org/)

3) Mahnaz Javid – Mona Foundation, Founder and President. Mona Foundation provides social and economic development through local projects and managed support in countries around the world. Mahnaz has created long-lasting partnerships to develop support programs in education from schools in Haiti, to business institutes for rural women in India and Mongolia, to the Sunflower Mission in Vietnam. (http://monafoundation.org)

4) Gisli Olafsson – NetHope, Global Program Director for Emergency Response.  NetHope brings together the knowledge and power of leading international humanitarian organizations so that the best information communication technology and practices can be used to serve people in the developing world. Gisli is recognized as one of the premier disaster response coordinators in the world and the key contact for the U.S. Department of State in their emergency response operations, leading NetHope’s in such efforts in the Southeast Asia tsunami, Haiti and Japan earthquakes.(http://nethope.org/)

5) Allen Wilcox – VillageReach, President. VillageReach improves access to healthcare for remote, underserved communities around the world.  Allen has concentrated on forging partnerships and relationships with organizations like PATH and the World Bank, to strengthen the “last mile” of the health system, working to reach some of the most isolated communities. (http://villagereach.org/ )

The Microsoft Alumni Foundation brings together Microsoft alumni to positively affect the world’s challenges. “In my third year as co-chair of the Integral Fellows committee, I am privileged to see the amazing work that alumni continue to do,” said Steve Wells.  “Each year I am more and more inspired by innovation, effort, and energy that all of these former Microsoft employees bring to the philanthropic community.  Our Integral Fellows truly epitomize the best of how individuals can make a difference in the lives of others, whether locally, nationally, or globally.”

This year’s panel of distinguished judges will review achievements that reflect the values of the Microsoft Alumni Foundation, which are: innovation; entrepreneurship; effectiveness; collaboration and integrity. Additional criteria in selecting the winners include: the ability to create something extraordinary out of limited resources; selflessness; passion; smarts; need; and, scalability. The panel of judges will select up to 3 winners from this year’s group of finalists.

The panel of judges includes:

• Phyllis Campbell, Chairman, Pacific Northwest, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
• Bill Drayton, Chair & Chief Executive Office, Ashoka:  Innovators for the Public
• Eric Liu, Author, Educator and Civic Entrepreneur, Guiding Lights Network
• Patty Stonesifer, Vice Chair and Chair Emeritus, Smithsonian Board of Regents
• Tom Tierney, Co-founder and Chairman, The Bridgespan Group

About the Foundation: Since its inception in 2007, the Microsoft Alumni Foundation works to serve, strengthen, and support their fellow alumni and their nonprofit organizations globally. The Foundation is a 501(c) (3) public nonprofit organization with its headquarters based in Bellevue, Washington, USA. Board members are: Jeffrey Raikes (Chair); Charles Hirsch (Vice President); Akhtar Badshah (Vice President); Craig Bruya (Treasurer); Sharon Maghie (Secretary) and; Tony Audino, Carla Lewis, Paul Shoemaker, Brad Smith and Dawn Trudeau (Trustees). The Executive Director is Marylou Brannan.

Note to editors: For additional information regarding the nominees and the Integral Fellows Awards, please visit http://www.microsoftalumni.org/Home.aspx

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Melissa Johnson
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