ITG Management

Geoffrey Kirkman is Managing Director of the International Technologies Group. His research focuses on better understanding the linkages between information and communication technologies (ICTs), economic competitiveness and improved learning, particularly in the developing world. His current projects at Berkman include the development and deployment of a global survey of educators to generate data and better understand the challenges of incorporating ICTs into school curriculum and a series of initiatives to enhance the economic competitiveness of Caribbean nations. Most recently, his work has also led him to explore such issues as the impact of ICTs on culture, the role of social entrepreneurship in international development and how sports and professional athletes can become more engaged in solving major development challenges.  Kirkman was the Managing Editor of the Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002: Readiness for the Networked World, jointly published by Harvard University and the World Economic Forum. From 1998 to 2002, he was the Founder and Managing Director of the Information Technologies Group at the Center for International Development at Harvard University (CID), where his research centered on how ICTs can enhance greater social and economic development in the developing world.  He is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard University. More ..

Colin Maclay is Director of ITG. His broad research goal is to support people and organizations in developing nations in understanding, enabling and appropriately using information and communications technology to improve quality of life. Current research initiatives examine the social and economic sustainability of information and communications services in rural markets, and their observed impact upon those communities, with the goal of creating a both a business and development case that supports access to ICTs by the rural poor. Maclay is also creating multi-sectoral stakeholder groups that interact around ICT to influence public policy and generate concrete initiatives. He has worked extensively in India and Latin America, and has appeared publicly on behalf of diverse groups including HP Labs, the World Bank, Intel, Corporación Andina de Fomento (Andean Development Bank), Instituto Peruano de Administración de Empresas (Peruvian Institute of Business Administration) and the United Nations. Maclay has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. More ..

Affiliates

Mridul Chowdhury is an organizer of TechBangla, an organization dedicated to transfer of technology to the third world, primarily Bangladesh, through cross-border business ventures involving resident and non-resident Bangladeshis. He helped organize the TechTransfer2000:North American convention in April, 2000. He was involved with the creation of the TechBangla IT Research Cell and has done research on e-commerce viability in Bangladesh. He presented papers on computational economics at University of Cambridge, UK, Boston University and University of Arizona at Tucson, USA. He has a publication in NetNomics, a US-based journal on Internet and Economics. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin with majors in Economics (Honors), Mathematics and Government and minor in Computer Science.

Karen Coppock has a diverse international background, including extensive experience in the international telecommunications industry (INTELSAT, Telcordia, Pacific Bell, AT&T and Williams Communications), and grass-roots economic development (Peace Corps – Guatemala / Uruguay). Karen received her Master’s Degree from the Fletcher School in 1996 and entered the PhD program in 2001. Her research focuses on exploring the feasibility of simultaneously building human potential and IT markets in the developing world. Prior to returning to Fletcher, Karen spent four years with Telcordia, most recently as Assistant Vice President of Strategic Accounts. Before joining Telcordia, Karen launched and headed the Latin American regional sales office for Williams Communications. Karen received a BS cum laude in Business Administration and a BA cum laude in Modern Languages (Spanish) in 1989 from the California State University at Chico.

Mark Lopes served in the U.S. Peace Corps as a health volunteer in rural Paraguay. He then launched and led the U.S. Peace Corps Paraguay’s IT Initiative where he worked with the WorLD program helping to support computer labs in schools throughout the country. Prior to his work in South America, Mark was a software developer for two years. He authored or co-authored country profiles for Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Paraguay in the Global IT Report published by the CID and the World Economic Forum. His recent work with the ITG has been conducting research on IT and Education and E-Business in the Dominican Republic for the Harvard Dominican Initiative. Mark graduated Magna Cum Laude with his bachelors from Berklee College in Boston and will receive his Masters in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 2003.

Carlos Osorio focuses on technology business strategies for e-government and growth of small high-tech firms, strategies for optimal diffusion of technologies, and national technology policy. He was deputy Executive Director of the Chilean Inter-Ministry Committee for Public Management Modernization, leading the design and development of Chile's e-government projects. He was also lecturer at the University of Chile's School of Engineering at the Dept. of Industrial Engineering. Osorio graduated as B.Sc. in Engineering and Industrial Engineering with the highest distinction, from the University of Chile and, as Fulbright Scholar, as Master in Public Policy from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is currently in the TPP doctoral program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. More..