CDI – Center for Digital Inclusion

A global digital inclusion network

Founded in 1995, pioneer of the digital inclusion movement in Latin America, CDI (Center for Digital Inclusion) is one of the leading social enterprises in the world with a unique socio-educational approach. CDI Founder and Ashoka Fellow Rodrigo Baggio and our work at CDI have been recognized with more than 60 international awards. Today, we are a network of 816 self-managed and self-sustaining CDI Community Centers throughout Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay – monitored and coordinated by our 32 regional offices.

In addition to low-income communities, our schools are also present in indigenous communities, psychiatric clinics, hospitals for the mentally and physically disabled, as well as youth & adult detention facilities.  CDI is an international NGO with US 501c3 status, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. CDI has operations in the USA, UK, and and Latin America.  With the support of James Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank and the Wolfensohn Institute, CDI is in the process of expanding to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, to be followed by India and other parts of Africa.

International Board

♦ President of the Board | Marcello Hallake

Marcello Hallake is a partner with the law firm of Thompson & Knight in New York. His practice focuses on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and financings globally and particularly with Brazil and Latin America.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Marcello grew up in Belgium where he graduated in law and in public and international affairs from Louvain University, prior to receiving an LL.M. degree from Georgetown University.

Marcello has been a founding member of the board of CDI International and its president since its formation in 2004. Marcello was also a co-founder of Brazil Foundation and is a member of its board, as well as of various other not-for profit organizations such as the IDB’s Inter-American Culture and Development Foundation, Brazil’s AlfaSol and Geneva Imitative North America. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences on legal and international public affairs matters.

♦ Founder, Executive Director | RODRIGO BAGGIO

Rodrigo Baggio is one of the world´s most recognized and respected social entrepreneurs. Pioneer of digital inclusion in Latin America, in 1995 he founded CDI, (Center for Digital Inclusion) the first non-profit organization to fight the digital divide in the region. Baggio is a fellow of all four global renowned organizations to support social entrepreneurship: Avina, Ashoka, the Schwab Foundation, and the Skoll Foundation. In 2003, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by DePaul University in Chicago.

Baggio is recognized nationally and internationally for his pioneering projects and vision. The World Economic Forum recognized Baggio as one the “100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow” and Time named him as one of the leaders of Latin America that will make a difference in the third millennium, selecting him for their “Local Heroes” campaign. In 2006 he was selected by CNN, Time and Fortune as one of the “Principal Voices” in economic development alongside Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus. Baggio has received a Certificate of Recognition from the Clinton Global Initiative and was recently invited to join the Strategy Council of the UN’s new Global Alliance for ICT and Development. He and CDI have won more than 60 national and international awards from prominent organizations including Unicef, Unesco, the Technology Museum, Time, Fortune, CNN and the World Economic Forum.

His pursuit of social change began at 12 years of age, driven by his two interests: volunteer work with children living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, and computers, which became his choice of profession. Self taught, he started a technology consulting firm in 1990 and taught computer classes in Brazilian schools. He also worked as a specialist in Artificial Intelligence (Accenture), and as a manager of the Reinventing Education program (IBM Brasil).

Feeling unfulfilled and stressed by the distractions of his career, at 26 Baggio followed his interest in technology back to the communities-in-need with whom he had worked as a child. His idea was to achieve greater social inclusion by achieving more digital inclusion. He founded “Informática para Todos,” Brazil’s first campaign for donated computers and shortly thereafter, in 1995, opened the first Information Technology and Citizens Rights School (ITCRS) in Dona Marta, a favela in Rio De Janeiro. He subsequently founded CDI to aid in the administration and funding of the school.

In the 15 years since, Baggio has led CDI´s global expansion with operations now in 13 countries and 803 CDI Community Centers throughout Latin America, UK and Jordan.

♦ Michele Hunt

Michele is internationally known for her work as a change catalyst and “thinking partner” to leaders of organizations and communities on leadership development, organizational transformation, and organizational effectiveness. She works with leaders and their teams to help transform their organizations to higher levels of participation, teamwork and performance. Her work is rooted in the principles of shared vision, values, alignment and continuous learning.

Michele launched her firm in 1995. Her customers have included leadership teams of: IBM, Motorola, Swiss Reinsurance Company, Popular Inc., (Banco Popular Puerto Rico, Banco Popular North America), Bright China Management Institute, Banco Do Brasil, BHP of Australia, NASA, The U.S. Veterans Administration, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, The U.S. National Park Service, The US Department of Education, Junior Achievement of New York, World Vision International, The Episcopal Divinity School at Harvard and the leadership team of the Chicago Public Schools. Her work also includes communities. In 1998 Michele partnered with Aruba’s Quality Foundation in the facilitation of a national shared vision for the country of Aruba: Aruba, 2005. This process involved all segments of their society including school age children. Michele is also a keynote speaker at meetings and conferences around the world for businesses, nonprofit organizations and communities. Her presentations are founded on her belief that people have the capacity to create far better futures than we have dared to dream. She comes to these beliefs through her personal and professional experiences and through her research on others who have dreamed big and turned their dreams into reality. She published these stories in her book, DreamMakers: Putting Vision & Values to Work.

Her public speaking topics include:

- The Power of DreamMakers: Personal Stories Of DreamMakers

- Living Your Passion: Discovering the DreamMaker in You

- Visionary Leadership: Putting Vision & Values to Work

- The Secret To Cultural Transformation: Engagement, Participation & Teamwork

- The Inclusive Organization: A Rich Reservoir for Creativity, Performance & Learning

In 1992 Ms. Hunt served on President Bill Clinton’s Transition Team. In 1993 she was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the Executive Director of the Federal Quality Institute. The institute’s mission was to help seed the reinvention of the United States government through the President’s initiative; The National Performance Review: Creating a Government that Works Better and Cost Less, lead by Vice President Al Gore. Michele brought the latest thinking and progressive leadership and management practices to this effort, to work alongside the Cabinet Deputy Secretaries and their leadership teams. She created public-private partnerships with world-recognized thought leaders including: Peter Drucker, John Gardner, Max De Pree, Frances Hesselbein, Peter Senge, Meg Wheatly and high performing corporations like GE. Prior to this appointment, Michele pent 13 years with Herman Miller, Inc., a Fortune 500 global office furniture company. She served on the executive leadership team as Senior Vice President for People, reporting to Max De Pree, CEO and Chairman. In this capacity she led the company’s organizational transformation. She was responsible for global Leadership Development, “Human Resources”, Quality Management, Learning and Development, Corporate Communications, and Change Management. The company’s organizational transformation resulted in Herman Miller becoming: Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Company and America’s Top 10 “Best Companies in America to Work For. The company also was recognized as the Best Company for Women, and The Best Company for Working Mothers. Herman Miller also received the prestigious Bertelsmann Award as The Best Managed Companies in the World, and numerous environmental awards. During her 13 years with the company, Michele also served as Director of Corporate Relations including: government, media, shareholder and community relations.

Michele began her career with the Michigan Department of Corrections as one of the first two female probation officers to supervise adult male felons on probation in Detroit, Michigan. She served as Executive Director of Michigan’s only halfway House for female felons, and later became Michigan’s first female Deputy Warden, leading programs for rehabilitation in a male prison.

Ms. Hunt is the author of the book DreamMakers: Putting Vision and Values to Work, Foreword by Max De Pree, former CEO and Chairman of Herman Miller, Inc. She is the conceptual director of the documentary DreamMakers, a film that features compelling stories of people and communities that made their hopes and dreams come true against tremendous obstacles. She also contributed chapters in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, by Peter Senge, Leading People by Robert Rosen and The Diversity Action Book by Janet Crenshaw Smith.

Michele is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She teaches “Leadership” in the Executive Education Program at the McDonough School of Business. She also serves on the board of directors of Hewitt Associates, Inc., Union Institute & University and the Detroit Windsor Dance Academy. She formally served on the ServiceMaster Board of Directors and on the Board of the Society for Organizational Learning (SOL) founded by Peter Senge. Michele also served as a facilitator of Tomorrow’s Corporation at the Aspen Institute.

Michele earned her Bachelor and Master’s degrees in sociology from Eastern Michigan University and University of Detroit, respectively.

♦ Noah Goodhart

Noah is a New York based entrepreneur who has spent the last 10 years starting, running, and investing in internet companies. Along with his brother and partner Jonah, Noah started his first internet company at Cornell, an early online advertising company called Colonize.com. Noah went on to become Co-CEO of Smarter Ad Group, a leading online customer acquisition firm. Noah was also afounding investor and Board member of Right Media, the leading online advertising exchange which was acquired by Yahoo! in 2007. Most recently, Noah co-founded WGI Group, a seed stage fund which has invested in over 10 early stage technology companies, and serves on the Board of several portfolio companies.

Noah’s first internet job was in 1996 as an intern at the White House, where we helped build whitehouse.gov. Noah was the recipient of the National Science Foundation grant and has published his academic research on the role of advertising and technology in the political process. He holds a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Cornell University, an M.A. Degree from Yale University, and is on leave from the PhD program in political science at Yale, which he paused to pursue his entrepreneurial activities.

♦ Jonah Goodhart

Jonah is a New York based entrepreneur who has spent the last 10 years starting, running, and investing in internet companies. Along with his brother and partner Noah, Jonah started his first internet company at Cornell, an early online advertising company called Colonize.com. Jonah went on to become Co-CEO of Smarter Ad Group, a leading online customer acquisition firm. Jonah was also a founding investor and Board of Right Media, the leading online advertising exchange which was acquired by Yahoo! in 2007. Most recently, Jonah co-founded WGI Group, a seed stage fund which has invested in over 10 early stage technology companies, and serves on the Board of several portfolio companies.

Jonah holds a B.A. degree from Cornell University.