Officers

Ashok Kamal, Co-President

Ashok Kamal is a social entrepreneur currently enrolled in Baruch College’s Honors MBA program. During his undergraduate studies at Boston University, Ashok helped start an independent entertainment company, Raptivism Records.  The success of the record label led him to New York City, where he also became involved in youth development.  After transitioning full-time into the nonprofit sector, Ashok joined the executive ranks and earned a master’s in Nonprofit Management from Milano The New School.  While developing an interest in philanthropic capital markets, Ashok entered business school to strengthen his technical skills. During the summer of 2009, he interned at KLD Research & Analytics, the pioneering sell-side research firm for socially responsible investors. Ashok also studied abroad at the Indian Institute of Management, India’s premier business school.

Ryan O’Connor, Co-President
Ryan O’Connor is pursuing an MBA in Finance and Marketing and holds numerous leadership positions both in and out of the Baruch Community. Most notably he sits as the founder and co-author of the Zicklin Honor Code and Honor Code Committee (awaiting official approval) that is responsible for ensuring the highest academic standard at the School of Business. He also sits on several boards and committees including the MBA Association for the Honors MBA program at the College as well as the Youth Leadership Committee of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and is currently an ambassador for Lime Connect representing professionals with disabilities.

Prior to Baruch, Ryan was working in development for nonprofit organizations focusing on branding, messaging and development. He has a long history of raising money for international children’s charities, building board-level partnerships and strengthening youth initiatives. He is regularly called upon to deliver keynote addresses and has spoken at numerous academic institutions including Princeton University, Georgetown University, the College of William and Mary, UNC and many others.

  
Daniella Leifer, Secretary
Daniella Leifer is a flex-time student in the MBA program at Baruch, combining a business education with her background in environmental studies from Cornell University.  Her first venture into green business began with a student project to collect and re-sell discarded clothing and other items from college students leaving for summer vacation.  A founding member of Net Impact/the Sustainable Business Club at Baruch, she currently serves as club secretary, helping to organize club events and speakers in order to build awareness and interest in sustainable business at Baruch.  She has been involved with the CUNY Building Performance Lab as an energy efficiency program intern for the past three semesters, and looks forward to working in the renewable energy field after she graduates in May 2010.
 
Cassie Abrams, Treasurer
Cassie Abrams is interested in helping businesses and organizations run efficiently and responsibly.  She is currently a 2nd year MBA student majoring in Finance at Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College.

In 2002, Cassie graduated from Smith College with a BA in sociology. During her tenure at Smith, she was very active in the anti-sweatshop movement and drafted a Code of Conduct, which was later ratified by the College.  Since then she spent time traveling in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe before returning to New York City to teach 2nd grade in the Bronx.  While teaching, she earned her MS in Elementary Education from Mercy College.

Prior to pursuing her MBA at Baruch, Cassie ran the operations at Peeled Snacks, a mission-driven snack food company that manufactures premium dried fruit and nut snacks.  She is a member of the Advisory Board.


Celine Ruben-Salama, VP of External Affair
Celine Ruben-Salama is a business strategist focused on efficiency, information technology, and environmental sustainability. In 2008, she earned a Masters of Public Administration Environmental Science and Policy(MPA ESP) from Columbia University, and will graduate with an MBA from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, CUNY, in 2010. As her capstone project, she co-wrote a handbook on sustainable city planningwhich was published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).  Celine is a recipient of merit based fellowships from the Tekn. Dr. Markus Wallenberg’s Foundation, the Sweden-America Foundation, and the Scandinavian-American Foundation. Her team won third place in the 2009 Direct Marketing Education Foundation (DMEF) Collegiate ECHO competition with a green-themed direct marketing campaign. Formerly a staff writer for treehugger.com - the world’s largest online green lifestyle magazine and top 20 blog globally - Celine’s writing has also been published in Consilience, the Journal of Sustainable Development, as well as on Yahoo Green, and Inhabitat

Kevin Ng VP of Information & Technology
Kevin is curre
ntly a second year full-time MBA student at Baruch College with a concentration in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. He graduated from Pace University with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and has over 8 years of banking and international trade experience with numerous roles in financial analysis, accounting, and treasury/cash management. Kevin has always been interested in social responsibility and recently wrote a paper on the behavioral impact of CSR in organizations today. This unyielding focus helped land him a summer internship at the International Center for Corporate Accountability, where he continues to conduct behavioral research amongst various industries. Kevin is originally from Houston, Texas and supports the local area chapter of the American Red Cross through volunteer efforts whenever he is in the town.

Sayaka Eto, VP of Marketing

Sayaka Eto, a native of Japan, is currently enrolled in the Honors MBA program at Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business.  Prior to business school, she obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Graphic Communication at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.  After completion of the degree, she worked as a Production Manager at a printing firm where she utilized her knowledge in graphics and built her experience in small business management.  At Zicklin, Sayaka is majoring in Marketing and plans to use her design skills to focus on visual communications.  Her interest resides in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and she intends to apply her skills to influence the emerging field. She currently interns as a Communications & Marketing intern at NYC Department of Small Business Services to expand her expertise.