Staff & Contact
Core Staff
Ais
hwarya Lakshmi Ratan, Initiative Director
hwarya Lakshmi Ratan, Initiative DirectorAishwarya is the Director of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative at Yale University and Innovations for Poverty Action. Aishwarya joined Yale and the team at IPA in New Haven in June 2011. In her years at the Microsoft Research Lab in Bangalore Aishwarya gained extensive experience leading projects on the role of technology in enabling social and economic development and poverty alleviation. She has an undergraduate degree in Economics from Wellesley College and a Master's degree in Public Administration and International Development (MPA/ID) from the Kennedy School at Harvard University.
Benia
mino Savonitto, Project Director, Financial Capability Research Fund
mino Savonitto, Project Director, Financial Capability Research FundBeniamino is the Director of the Citi IPA Financial Capability Research Fund, supported by Citi Foundation. He joined IPA in 2008 managing a replication of Village Savings and Loans Associations evaluations in sub-Saharan Africa as well as a series of ICT-related projects in Latin America. Before taking his current position in June 2012, Beniamino oversaw the development of new savings projects and the outreach to local researchers under the Yale Savings and Payments Research Fund. He holds a Master's degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor in political science from LUISS University in Rome.
Zahra Niazi, Project Manager, Savings & Payments Research FundZahra joined the Yale Savings and Payments Research Fund of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative as Project Manager in December 2012 and will work on overall project development and management of the fund. She joined IPA in January 2010 as project coordinator working on project development and researcher outreach at IPA Headquarters in New Haven. She holds a Master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor in Economics from Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Emily Cupito, Senior Project Coordinator, Savings & Payments Research FundEmily is the Africa Project Coordinator for the Yale Savings and Payments Research Fund of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative. She helps develop and support new savings and payments projects as well as lead outreach to African researchers. After joining IPA in 2010, she managed data collection and analysis for an evaluation of Village Savings and Loan Associations in Uganda, Malawi and Ghana. She currently resides in Kampala, Uganda. She received a Master’s in Public Policy from Duke University and a Bachelor in Economics and Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Pooja Wagh, Project Coordinator, Financial Capability Research FundPooja joined IPA in August 2012 as the Project Coordinator for the Citi IPA Financial Capability Research Fund, supported by Citi Foundation. Prior to joining IPA, she earned a Master's in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she focused on innovations in financial services for the base of the pyramid. Pooja also holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Henriette Hanicotte, Project Coordinator, Savings & Payments Research FundHenriette works on projects development and management under the Yale Savings and Payments Research Fund of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative. She holds a Master degree in International and Development Economics from University of Auvergne in France, and a Master in Administration from IESEG School of Management in Lille. She joined IPA Peru in 2009 as a Project Associate to coordinate two impact evaluations of microcredit related to gender issues and social network for a Peruvian microfinance institution. In 2010, she participated briefly to the implementation of the evaluation of an agricultural lending project in Mali.
Angela 
García Vargas, Senior Project Associate, Savings & Payments Research Fund
García Vargas, Senior Project Associate, Savings & Payments Research FundAngela works on data analysis of several projects under the Yale Savings and Payments Research Fund of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative. She joined Innovations for Poverty Action in 2009 as a Project Associate in Colombia to coordinate the evaluation of an internet-based sexual education program. She graduated from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, with a bachelor degree in Economics in 2008, and Business Administration in 2009.
Rohit Naimpally, Senior Project Associate, Financial Capability Research FundRohit works on the Citi IPA Financial Capability Research Fund, supported by the Citi Foundation. He joined IPA in 2010 to work as a Project Associate on data analysis of a set of Village Savings and Loans replications in East Africa. In addition, he worked on a project on trade costs and price markups in various developing countries. Rohit received a BA in Economics and an MA in Social Sciences, both from the University of Chicago; neither gave him as much joy as his dog Naina does.
Project Staff
Hira Sarfraz, Project Coordinator, Savings & Payments Research Fund Hira works as the Project Coordinator for a Mobile Money study in Pakistan under the Savings and Payments Research Fund of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative. Prior to joining IPA in September 2012, she earned an MPHIL in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Hugo Gerard, Senior Project Associate, Savings & Payments Research FundHugo works on Mobile Money research under the Savings and Payments Research Fund of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative. Prior to joining IPA in November 2012, Hugo was an Economist in the Research Department at the Reserve Bank of Australia. Hugo holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) and Applied Finance from Macquarie University in Sydney, and a Masters in Economics from Pompeu Fabra University and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
Associated Staff
Years 2011 to 2013
Aaron Dibn
er-Dunlap, Project Coordinator, Savings Impact/GLASE
er-Dunlap, Project Coordinator, Savings Impact/GLASEAaron joined IPA in 2010 as a project coordinator for the four-site study on the impact of access to savings accounts. He received his Masters degree in international affairs from Columbia University and his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University. He is based in Washington, DC.
For more information about our research on the Yale Savings and Payments Research Fund, please contact: microsavings@poverty-action.org
For more information about our research on the Citi IPA Financial Capability Research Fund supported by the Citi Foundation, please contact: fcresearch@poverty-action.org
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