The Pratham NY–Tri-State Chapter hosted an intimate Roundtable on Global Education on March 4, 2026 at the Lazard office in Midtown, New York, with the help of Sachin Patel of Capital Markets. This event brought together select leaders from across the hedge fund community for an evening of thoughtful discussion and connection.
The evening opened with remarks from Sunanda Sharma, Associate Director of the East Region in Pratham USA who welcomed guests and shared the vision of Pratham’s NY–Tri-State Chapter in bringing together a community of leaders committed to advancing educational opportunity.
As education systems worldwide confront learning loss and widening opportunity gaps, the conversation explored how philanthropy, corporate sustainability leaders, and nonprofits can collaborate to drive measurable, scalable impact. The evening created space to reflect on how funders are adapting, how partnerships are forming, and how private capital can think differently about its role in advancing education and skills development globally.
As Emma Poole, Director of Lever for Change noted during the conversation, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Funders can act, and they can act now. This can be loudly, quietly, in collaboration, or on your own. There are so many ways to plug into this system, and every one of them is needed. The whole of our efforts is much greater than the sum of its parts.”
We are deeply grateful to our outstanding panelists: Emma Poole from Lever for Change, Nitika Tolani from RPPL, and Haakim Nainar from Ares Management, for sharing insights on aligning capital with purpose and advancing evidence-backed models that deliver meaningful social outcomes. A special thank you to Sheru Chowdhury for expertly moderating the discussion and offering perspective shaped by his experience as a hedge fund CIO and Pratham board member.
The evening concluded with reflections from Manushi Yadav , Director of Strategy and Partnerships at Pratham USA who shared more about Pratham’s work across India and the children and young people the organization reaches each year. She highlighted how Pratham partners with funders to advance solutions that prioritize both scale and innovation, testing new ideas while also expanding proven models that deliver measurable learning outcomes.
It was especially meaningful to have a diverse group of hedge fund leaders represented in the room, all highly engaged in Pratham’s mission and leaving the evening with fresh perspectives and renewed inspiration for impact.