who are we?

Conor is an international social impact leader focused on the intersections between inclusive entrepreneurship, resilient market ecosystems, and strategic transformation through workplace gamification. In addition to his role at Groundbreaker Experiential, he currently serves as the Vice President of Strategy & Experience at the award-winning global nonprofit/social enterprise incubator iDE (International Development Enterprises), which has powered over 40 million people to escape poverty through a markets-based approach that delivers an average minimum social return on investment of 10:1.

With nearly twenty years of experience in market systems development and human-centered design, his career has spanned sectors including agriculture, women-led SME development, food and nutrition security, water and sanitation, and clean energy. He has worked across more than 20 Asia, Africa, and Central America countries, with six years based in Bangladesh and two in Thailand. His work has supported by a wide range of funders including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, international aid agencies from the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Conor holds a BBA in Business Economics and Public Policy from The George Washington University and an MA in International Economics and International Affairs from The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.

Passionate about applying strategic design practice for scalable positive change, Hema brings a hybrid design-led career with deep expertise in leading design strategy, systems thinking and business model innovation for maximum value to end-users in the public, private and global nonprofit sectors. Outside of Groundbreaker Experiential, Hema is Senior Director of Health Equity Design at UnitedHealth Group.

Hema has over 15+ years of interdisciplinary design, research and sustainability leadership experience with a focus on the human aspect in technology and innovation (for products, services and experiences), stakeholder co-creation and strategy execution in international development, and previously in urbanism and architecture spanning high-impact creative and humanitarian projects. Sectoral experiences include healthcare, affordable housing, clean energy, water and sanitation, agriculture, city planning and infrastructure in over 12 countries for institutional and commercial organizations.

Hema holds a Masters of Science in Urbanism from Delft University of Technology, a Post-Master in Urban Management for Climate Change from Erasmus University and a Bachelor of Architecture from Anna University.