Deval Sanghavi

Sanghavi was born and brought up in Houston, Texas, and grew up in Sugar Land. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating from what is now the Canfield Business Honors Program in 1997 with a degree in business administration. He was awarded a place on Morgan Stanley's Richard B. Fisher Scholarship Program, which funded part of his studies and led to a job offer.

He graduated a semester early in order to volunteer in India, working with a programme for children living on the streets of Mumbai, an experience he has described as decisive in his later choice of career.

After university Sanghavi joined Morgan Stanley in New York, where he worked in the leveraged buyout group. He left the bank at the age of 24 and moved to India to start what became Dasra; Nundy, who worked in mergers and acquisitions at the same bank, completed a degree at Harvard Business School before joining him in India in 2003.

Dasra works with funders and non-profit organisations on issues including adolescent and youth development, gender equity, urban sanitation and climate. Dasra US states that over twenty-five years Sanghavi has helped direct more than USD 400 million into the Indian social sector, supporting more than 1,000 non-governmental organisations and engaging more than 300 Indian philanthropic families. He was closely involved in establishing GivingPi, a network for Indian philanthropic families.

He has served on the boards of a number of organisations, among them Magic Bus, SRCC Children's Hospital, Make a Difference, Industree and Flourish, and is a member of the Global Philanthropy Forum steering committee. He has written for publications including The Times of India, Mint and Hindustan Times and contributed to the books Reimagining Philanthropy in the Global South and Measuring and Improving Social Impacts, and has spoken at the Skoll World Forum, SOCAP and the Global Philanthropy Forum.[2][3][4][5]