Synergos Cultivate the Soul: Stories of Purpose-Driven Philanthropy

Ajay Dahiya serves at Synergos in the capacity of Managing Director of Philanthropy. 

Born into a working-class immigrant family from India, Ajay quickly internalized a sentiment that would dictate both his personal and professional lives for decades: the real privilege in life is the privilege of service.

Growing up in a diverse and disparate environment in the outskirts of London, Ajay realized that true fulfillment wasn’t found in material things but through community and a spirit of serving others.  

Ajay’s deep spiritual calling led him to become a monk in his late teens, where he spent almost a decade in service, spiritual practice, and deep reflection on how to realize a healthy, equal, and just society.

He transitioned out of monastic life to apply his commitment to service and belief in the power of catalyzing change agents to lead a number of mission-driven organizations at the forefront of consciousness and social change.

Ajay is committed to challenging the status quo and is deeply driven by the simple, yet impactful concept that uplifting the world is dependent on uplifting human consciousness.

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Peter A. Seligmann is the CEO and co-founder of Nia Tero, working alongside Indigenous peoples and local communities in securing their rights, cultures, and well-being through agreements that secure the vitality of their oceans and lands. Peter is also the Chairman of the Board, and former CEO, of Conservation International.

Listen to hear how from an early age Peter felt a deep connection to nature. This connection inspired his life’s work in conservation and passion today to help people understand the reciprocal nature of all beings and the earth.

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Dr. English Sall is a Board Member of the Sall Family Foundation and is the Co-founder and CEO of Cymantix, a company specializing in discovery and insight generation with unstructured text data.

Listen to hear how English’s life was touched in her childhood by a beautiful act of caring and how that inspires her work to help humans reach their full potential. In her work she applies Industrial Organizational Psychology within informal economies as she examines how people, behaviours and perspectives meet systems.

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Vuslat Doğan Sabancı is a business leader, a philanthropist and a leading voice on human rights, gender equality and freedom of expression both in Turkey and globally. In her 22 years at Hürriyet Publishing, the leading newspaper in Turkey, Ms. Doğan Sabancı served as the CEO between 2004-2008 and as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the following ten years. She left her position in May 2018 when the Doğan family divested from all of their major media assets. Under Ms. Doğan Sabancı’s leadership, Hürriyet not only succeeded to be the largest and most influential newspaper in Turkey, but also became the country’s largest digital content company, reaching one of every two internet user in Turkey.

While leading this digital transformation, she also spearheaded an editorial policy for promoting gender equality and minority rights and played a major role in the improvement of such rights in the public perception as well as in the legal system. The "No! To Domestic Violence" initiative, which she established in 2004 to advance the social empowerment of women, was the first example of her efforts to use media in order to create major positive social change. Through this initiative, which now continues under the umbrella of the Aydın Doğan Foundation, a major taboo was broken in Turkey through widespread educational programs geared at the general public, including everyone from imams to policemen. Launched as part of the initiative, Turkey's first ever 24/7 domestic violence hotline remains in operation today, and is also accessible to Turkish speaking communities around the world.

In 2020, Ms. Doğan Sabancı established Vuslat Foundation (https://www.vuslatfoundation.org/en), Turkey’s first and only global philanthropic initiative. The foundation aims to put the skill of generous listening— hearing beyond words— to oneself, others and nature at the center of all our connections by 2030. In line with this mission, the foundation supports academic research regarding listening, creates awareness through work with artists and storytellers and develops generous listening practices for youth and civil society. The foundation was invited as a special project partner to the 17th Architecture Biennale which took place between May - November 2021, and presented a monumental installation 'The Listener' by globally acclaimed artist Giuseppe Penone. The artwork intended to draw attention to listening as a significant thread within the exhibition's theme, 'How Will We Live Together?'

With the collaboration of Vuslat Foundation, a Generous Listening and Dialogue (GLAD) Center was launched at Tufts University. Housed at the Tisch College of Civic Life, the GLAD Center will collaborate with schools and departments across the entire university, building on the expertise of Tufts’ faculty, research centers and civic engagement programs. Its programming and interdisciplinary initiatives will help students, staff and faculty develop skills and awareness, address hard issues, and generate new knowledge. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a ‘Vuslat Foundation Fellowship for Generous Listening’ was launched at The Transmedia Storytelling Initiative in the School of Architecture and Planning. 

Vuslat Doğan Sabancı holds a BA degree in Economics from Bilkent University and completed her graduate studies in International Relations and Media at Columbia University, in New York. Currently, she is a Member of the Board of Directors of Doğan Group, Hepsi Emlak and Hepsiburada. She is the Vice President of Aydın Doğan Foundation which promotes girls education and women empowerment in Turkey. She serves as a member of the Columbia Global Centers Advisory Board and the Columbia University Global Leadership Council. She is a member of the Board of Leaders at the Leaders for Peace. She is a Founding Board Member of Endeavor Turkey, an NGO cultivating high-impact entrepreneurship, a founding member of Turkish Businesswomen Association (TIKAD) and an active member of the Ashoka Support Network in Turkey. She is also a Board Member of Global Relations Forum (GIF/GRF), and a member of the Global Philanthropy Circle Members of Synergos.

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Tomas Björkman is an author, social entrepreneur and the founder of Ekskäret Foundation

Listen to hear Tomas’ worldview that we are at a time of great transformation with an urgent need to increase our collective consciousness. His aim is to connect inner development to create societal change and he does this by providing safe spaces for individuals and groups to cultivate their inner capacities.

Tomas Björkman is an author and social entrepreneur and the founder of Ekskäret Foundation in Stockholm. He is also the co-founder of the research institute Perspectiva in London, of the Co-creation Loft and the media platform Emerge in Berlin and the 29k.org personal development platform. He is a member of the Club of Rome and a fellow of the Royals Swedish Academy of Engineering Science. He is also the author of three books: The Market Myth (2016) , The Nordic Secret (together with Lene Rachel Andersen, 2017) and The World We Create (2019). He divides his time between London, Stockholm and Berlin.

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Suzanne Koepplinger is the Director of the Catalyst Initiative at The Minneapolis Foundation.

Listen to hear how Suzanne she came to realize her purpose to help others by supporting their healing and growth. Through the work she is leading at the Catalyst Foundation, new pathways have been created to support culturally meaningful trauma healing practices.

Bio  

Suzanne Koepplinger has led the Catalyst Initiative since its inception at the George Family Foundation in 2014. Catalyst’s purpose is to honor and foster culturally authentic self-care practices to advance health and well-being. Three years after launching this community informed philanthropic approach to addressing trauma and toxic stress, Catalyst was spun off to the Minneapolis Foundation in 2018 to bring promising practices to scale. Key accomplishments during this time include successfully advocating for public investment in non-narcotic pain management and integrative healing therapies as an addiction prevention strategy; raising and re-distributing over $5 million into community initiatives to build resilience and foster healing; and influencing shifts in philanthropy, healthcare, education and government.

Suzanne previously served for ten years as the executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, leading the first research and community response in the country to address sex trafficking of American Indian women and girls. In that role she twice testified before U.S. Senate Congressional Committees on sexual exploitation. She is a certified trainer with the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center (NHTTAC) and the Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVCTTAC) and has extensive international experience as a trainer and public speaker. Topic examples include Reflective Leadership, Collective Action for Advancing Health Equity, Fostering Healing Centered Organizational Cultures, and Mind Body Medicine in Indian Country: Interrupting Historic Trauma.

Suzanne holds a M.A. in the Art of Leadership from Augsburg University.  She lives in Minneapolis and serves on the Board for Artspace Projects, where she leads the Board Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Task Force. She is happiest when on a remote river or hiking trail.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-koepplinger-0748534/

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Steve Killelea is the Executive Chairman and Founder of the Institute for Economics and Peace, using data driven research to show that peace is a positive, tangible and achievable measure of human well-being and development.

Listen to hear how Steve has been guided by his sense of adventure, starting from his early childhood exploring the wild near Sydney to visiting some of world’s most conflict ridden places. His work focuses on measuring and creating peace by shifting systems, as he uses both a top down and bottom up approach to create change.

Steve Killelea is the founder of the internationally renowned global think tank the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). He is regularly quoted in the media on subjects ranging from terrorism to conflict and is also a sought-after international speaker. His funding of the IEP was recognized as one of the 50 most impactful philanthropic gifts in Australia’s history by a coalition of Australian Foundations in 2013. He has been recognized as one of the world’s 100 most influential people on reducing armed violence. In acknowledgment of Steve’s deep commitment to peace, he has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Raza Jafar is a co-founder of the Global Sustainability Network (GSN), a platform which brings together leaders from faith, government, business, media, academia, and non-profits to achieve Goal 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Listen to hear how Raza is living his life’s purpose fighting modern day slavery by bringing leaders together and creating opportunities for sustainable economic development. He shares some of the defining moments of his life and examples of how the individuals and institutions involved in GSN each play their part, including a story of how innovative technology was used to recover missing children. In his talk, Raza challenges us all to uncover our own purpose and consider what we are leaving for generations to come.

Raza Jafar is an entrepreneur and philanthropist and has led the development of numerous successful ventures and projects.

A member of the Synergos Global Philanthropists Circle, he has been a philanthropist since a very young age, and is currently focused on Sustainable Economic Development as identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Goal 8, which includes Ending Modern Day Slavery; Decoupling Economic Development from Environmental Degradation (Triple Bottom Line); Protect Labor Rights, Secure working and Living Environment for All Workers Men, Woman and Migrant Workers; Substantially Reduce Youth Unemployment by Job Creation and Education for Employment.

He is the founder of the Global Sustainability Network (GSN). GSN is a platform which brings leaders from each respective sector such as faith, government, business, media, academia, and non-profits to achieve Goal 8. Since its incorporation in 2016, GSN’s events held every year at Lambeth palace, the Vatican, the United Nations, and Dubai have led to over 300 global changemakers giving their input on working on this agenda and forming alliances and partnerships to achieve goal 8 together by the year 2030.

Raza’s business ventures include banking, aviation, real estate development, and hospitality management. His ability to convert vision to reality is what saw the creation of Palazzo Versace in Dubai. Under his leadership the hotel has received many accolades.

His other projects include development of Emirates Financial Towers, which is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the world’s largest robotic parking facility; the D1 Tower, a high-rise premium residential tower ranked in the top 10 most impressive architectural building in the world by Emporis Skyscraper Award; and the Capital Club, a private members-only business club, listed by CNN as one of the top 10 private membership clubs globally. There are currently Capital Clubs in Dubai, Bahrain, and Nairobi.

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Maureen Pelton, Co-Founder, ShiftIt Institute

Charlie Hartwell, Managing Director, Bridge Builders Collaborative

Listen to hear Maureen and Charlie’s personal stories of transformation that brought them to the work they do in the world. They each use their unique skills and gifts to support a common mission - to be of service to something bigger than themselves and shift systems.

They also share how they set intentions to live in harmony and connection with each other.

Maureen’s mystical presence emerged in her younger years as a Catholic, with a fierce devotion to “God,” but she quickly outgrew the external forms of religion. When Maureen was about to enter her senior year of College, she had to have a risky surgery that could potentially take her life.

The night before as she contemplated her options, Maureen entered such a deep state of surrender, it opened her up to the truth of oneness and then beyond. Maureen describes this presence as the cosmic mother, or unconditional love. She vowed in that moment to make her life an offering, and a service to that energy… then had a miraculous recovery from the surgery.

This experience sent her on a quest to understand what happened. She pivoted from her intended course of study in Law, to pursue an advanced degree in the Social Sciences. She started meditating, doing yoga, and studied dozens of modalities from spiritual, psychological and neurological traditions. Being a change agent, integrating systems theory and intuition, she pioneered courses, programs and retreats for Universities, healthcare systems, and corporations.

Her desire to transmit her mystical abilities to others led her down the path of mastering many healing modalities. Using these modalities she facilitates self exploration, and asks the right questions to help her clients trust their own wisdom. Equipped with many tools,

Maureen shifts paradigms wherever she goes. She has been described as a force of nature, who is powerfully wise and loving, blessed with the transformational capacity to see far beyond this physical world.

When she is not helping others cast out the repetitive loop of doubts and old stories, to become more fully embodied and live in love... you can find her spending time with horses, out in nature, hiking, getting people together for game night, doing yoga, traveling and enjoying time with Charlie.

Charlie started his first business, H&H Headquarters, in 2nd grade. He sold lemonade, made crafts and did odd jobs, and he’s been an avid entrepreneur ever since. He took a traditional path through Wall Street and Harvard Business School, but his post graduate work for major corporations left him unfulfilled. He left to help small businesses, and start new ones. One of these startups was the first for profit business expedition company in US history. The company promoted the Bancroft Arnesen expedition, the first ever all female crossing of the Antarctic Continent. The team used the expedition to empower girls and women to follow their dreams. This campaign generated 2.2 billion media impressions, and was endorsed by

Apple, CNN, Volvo, Motorola and the Girl Scouts. Charlie’s spiritual awakening began when he lost his grandfather and father in a 2 year period when his business was failing and his marriage died. This opened him up to the deeper calling of the universe. His spiritual awakening was amplified by meeting Maureen.

Their sacred union echoed Maureen’s dedication to be of service to love; ShiftIt is an extension of that love. Charlie is the “collaborative glue” of Bridge Builders, a group of investors focused on mental wellness, consciousness and spirituality based startups. He is a bottom up leader that empowers entrepreneurs, spiritual leaders, scientists, teams, and organizations. He connects businesses to ideas, people and resources, and major growth follows.

When he is not investing, consulting, writing, speaking or growing companies, you can find Charlie playing hockey, guitar, singing, recording albums, taking photos, or spending time with Maureen traveling and in nature.

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Marina is co-founder of Generation Pledge, a global community of inheritors who are committed to doing good with the resources they have available, and unlock billions of dollars that can be deployed to fund the most effective solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.

Listen to hear how Marina’s childhood experiences influenced her view of the world – others matter. Through her personal journey and in partnership, Marina is creating a new approach to philanthropy and social impact. Along with Generation Pledge members, she is using an innovative approach that is anchored in looking inside yourself with courage, envisioning with rigor and building with excellence.

Marina is co-founder of Generation Pledge, a global community of inheritors who are committed to doing good with the resources they have available, and unlock billions of dollars that can be deployed to fund the most effective solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. 

Marina is 4th generation of the Feffer Family, an active member in the family's governance structures, and board member at Arymax Foundation. 

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