Why DARO?

DARO takes its name from the ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro, a sprawling metropolis in India’s Indus Valley built almost 4,500 years ago. Mohenjo-Daro was the first city in the world with a sophisticated urban sanitation system. It featured widespread public and private baths, along with an underground sewage and wastewater drainage system that carried away effluent from every home and major building in the city. This advanced sanitation system served the people of Mohenjo-Daro for more than 500 years. 

 At DARO we’re fascinated by the design and development of innovative systems that power change for good. We love big ideas that change the world and we love getting our hands dirty. And like the buried sanitation systems of ancient Mohenjo-Daro, a lot of our work deals with systems that are invisible to the naked eye, requiring digging deep below the surface to find both problems and solutions. That’s why, when choosing our new name, we decided to proudly pay homage to one of the world’s earliest examples of systems thinking serving the public good. 

Our Story

Prior to launching DARO (known until recently as Ajah) our founders, Jesse and Mike, worked on a wide range of social start-ups and community initiatives that leveraged technology and data.  

Joining forces to found DARO, Jesse and Mike initially focused on helping social sector organizations take advantage of the new open data movement to increase their individual and collective impacts. But DARO grew quickly and soon added Digital Transformation, Data Strategy & Governance, Open Data & Data Sharing, Data & Information Architecture, and Evaluation & Measurement services. 

Meet the Team

DARO Executive Team

  • Michael Lenczner is a veteran of the tech-for-good movement, having spent over two decades mobilizing technologists to effect positive change in their communities. Since the early 2000s, he has been at the forefront of local, national, and international efforts to leverage technology in the public interest. He has founded leading initiatives in the community wireless and open data movements, helping shape how digital infrastructure supports more accountable and equitable systems.

    With deep experience in both grassroots organizing and institutional strategy, Michael has led initiatives that bridge policy, data infrastructure, and digital transformation — often working across governments, philanthropic funders, and networks of nonprofits. His work focuses on making data governance and technology implementation practical, ethical, and grounded in the realities of service delivery and community accountability.

    Michael continues to shape conversations on public interest technology through writing, speaking, and research, and currently serves as a School Fellow at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration.

  • Jesse is the Chief Impact Officer at DARO. Jesse has an extensive background in technology, startups, and the social sector and is passionate about information architecture, open data, user experience, software development, business analysis, and change management. He also specializes in coalition building, and in the mechanics of process design and governance that enable successful large-scale collaborations.

    Jesse has led the design and implementation of multi-stakeholder collaborative/collective data use initiatives in Africa, the USA and Canada, and been a key contributor to the International Aid Transparency Initiative and GivingTuesday’s Data Commons. He has a unique track record leading sectoral transformation in philanthropy and international development, and regularly works with major social purpose organizations on systems level questions related to data strategy and the use of data for good.

    Prior to co-founding DARO and Powered by Data, Jesse successfully founded both a non-profit bike coop and a decentralized energy company, and also owned and ran a working farm.

  • Woodrow leads strategy for DARO and comes to the company through the acquisition of With Intent Strategies, the international agency he founded specializing in brand re-imagination. Woodrow has a long history of leading significant growth for top consumer brands by defining strategies, developing innovative business routes, and expanding markets.

    In the nonprofit sector, Woodrow is Chief Data Officer for GivingTuesday, where he has been instrumental in shaping the global generosity movement and has led ground-breaking research and analysis of individual giving behaviors. He leads the GivingTuesday Data Commons, bringing together a coalition of more than 1,000 collaborators coordinated through eight working groups as well as chapters around the world to understand the drivers and impacts of generosity to inspire more giving of all types. Woodrow brings expertise in moving markets and transforming audiences from passive participants to active and vocal ambassadors.

    Woodrow is a member of the Generosity Commission Research Task Force, serves as a Co-Chair for Global Impact Canada's Board of Directors, and was previously a Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.

  • Jacqueline joins DARO as Chief Operating Officer of With Intent Strategies, an international agency specializing in brand re-imagination, and is integral to daily business operations and making vision reality.

    Outside of her time at With Intent, Jacqueline has supported small businesses in developing and implementing strategies to drive operational excellence. She has over ten years of experience working in international marketing and events. She has also spent six years working in the international education sector, where she was the Director of the Canadian Language Learning College, Toronto campus, and supported over 500 students to advance their education in Canada.

    Jacqueline has spent time in Seoul, South Korea where she taught English as a second language to elementary school children.

  • David Goodman, PhD. is the VP of Learning and Impact at DARO. David is a data, measurement, evaluation, and governance expert that uses his experience in the public, private, academic, and philanthropic sectors to assist organizations and collaborations to better understand, use, integrate, govern, and share data to achieve individual and collective goals and address common pain points. 

    David was previously the VP of Data Trusts at Brighthive, the Director of Impact at Fluxx Labs, the Director of Learning and Impact at the Houston Endowment, Managing Director of Data Governance at Teach For America and Researcher for Edvance and the Texas Education Agency. David holds a PhD in political science from Rice University in Houston, TX and often consults on legislative, policy, and data issues in various states and on local, state, and national initiatives.

  • Brian is the Director of Enterprise Analytics and Impact at DARO, where he leverages data-driven insights to help partners understand and maximize their impact. With over a decade of experience in both the public and private sectors, he specializes in using enterprise analytics to drive smarter decision-making and accelerate meaningful change.

    Before joining DARO, Brian led data and analytics for a $450M/year global portfolio for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In this role, he supported more than 45 worldwide operating units to track impact, enhance decisions, and prioritize investments. Prior to that, he spent more than a decade helping Fortune 500 companies design and measure corporate stewardship initiatives, as well as developing a data collaborative that has enabled over 100 organizations to share insights and drive more effective decision-making around rural water investments.

  • As Director of Data Strategy and Innovation, Nick Hamlin supports organizations at different points on their data journeys. Before DARO, Nick led the data team at GlobalGiving, where he shepherded the data strategy, infrastructure, people, and culture required to help trusted, community-led organizations around the world access the money, tools, training, and support they need to make our world a better place.

    Nick has also served as a Data Ambassador for Datakind’s impact practice in community health, an independent data and software advisor for multiple nonprofits, and a contributor to O'Reilly's 97 Things about Ethics Everyone in Data Science Should Know.  His work has also featured in several Techchange courses on topics including machine learning, data visualization, and monitoring and evaluation. Nick holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a BA in History from the University of Rochester, as well as a Masters of Information and Data Science from UC Berkeley, and in his past life as worked as a reliability consulting engineer for Fortune 500 companies around the world, held NSF research positions in China and Thailand, and played folk music as a street performer.

  • Ben McNamee is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at DARO. A strategic impact and evaluation leader in the non-profit sector, Ben has experience at service delivery organizations, Foundations, and intermediaries. He was previously a Senior Vice-President responsible for evaluation and data management at ACCES Employment, a Director of learning, measurement, and evaluation at Ontario Trillium Foundation, and an impact analyst at Charity Intelligence. 

    As an impact measurement expert, Ben has completed hundreds of impact evaluations. He has also co-developed one of Canada’s first outcomes-focused funding evaluation frameworks and business intelligence strategies. He speaks frequently on the topics of Data and Impact Measurement. He has an MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and a PhD (ABD) designation in Economics from the University of British Columbia.

  • Allie McHugh is the Associate Director of Marketing and Communications at DARO, with experience in strategic planning, project management and communications. She has worked in non-profit, private, and government sectors.

    Allie’s previous experience includes Community Relations at Metrolinx, a provincial transit agency in Ontario, where she created and implemented strategies for engaging communities in the Greater Toronto Area on upcoming transit projects. She also worked as a publicist for Penguin Random House Canada, planning and executing multi-city book tours for authors and promotional campaigns for new books, and as a digital consultant for Navigator Ltd., a public affairs and crisis management firm in Toronto. She worked on digital campaigns for reputation management for a cross-section of clients, using digital tools to evaluate and measure online sentiment for various issues.

Senior Team

  • Sidney Cunningham is a Project Lead at DARO. His work has helped many social service and research organizations strengthen internal knowledge management practices, evaluate programs effectively, build sector-wide collaborations, and address other challenges attached to data. Sidney previously taught at several Canadian universities, and has written about how and why records from historically marginalized communities get circulated, archived, and (sometimes) recirculated.

  • Richard Bartle-Tubbs is a Project Lead at DARO. He has supported numerous foundations, nonprofits, and public sector organizations to design data and learning systems that advance equity and improve outcomes. His work focuses on translating complex data environments into practical tools for decision-making, learning, and collaboration. Richard brings expertise in education, health, and social policy, and has led multi-country projects on learning outcomes, referral systems, and data infrastructure. He has a background in pedagogy, with over a decade of experience teaching English, History, and Political Science at the secondary schools and university level.

  • Elle Gemma Gruver is a Senior Manager of Consulting at DARO, bringing extensive experience helping state agencies, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations leverage their data for greater impact. She has expertise in education and workforce ecosystems, data governance and management, research projects, product development, and state-level multi-agency data sharing. 

    Elle Gemma previously served as a Data Trust Lead for the Colorado Opportunity Data Trust where she managed data-sharing initiatives across Colorado’s education and workforce agencies. She also served as Vice President of Strategy and Development for the data science and technology nonprofit Educational Results Partnership, where she oversaw the organization’s funder relations and a portfolio of projects related to fostering youth and equitable education pathways. In addition, she led outreach and engagement for Cal-PASS Plus, one of the nation’s largest student longitudinal data systems. Elle Gemma also previously held roles with the Arizona State Board of Education, Arizona Department of Education, and Arizona State University.

  • Jonah Kotzer is a Senior Manager of Consulting at DARO. Jonah brings with him years of experience in impact measurement, systems design, analytics and governance in the public and philanthropic sectors. Jonah has helped organizations grow their fundraising and impact measurement capabilities by better leveraging and organizing their data and resolving data governance challenges. Prior to his role at DARO, Jonah was the Impact and Business intelligence Manager for the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, one of the country’s largest granting organizations, helping drive meaningful impact in food security, housing and education in the Greater Toronto Area.

  • Matt Price is a Senior Manager of Consulting at DARO. Matt brings decades of experience as a teacher, researcher, and activist to his work at Daro. He enjoys solving problems that require deep understanding of empirical and philosophical complexity, technical acumen, and attention to processes. His principal focus at DARO is on knowledge management and product development. His work generally involves close consultation with staff at client organization, in an effort to produce appropriate technical solutions to pressing organizational problems.

    Before joining DARO, Matt taught history, philosophy, and a range of other disciplines at the university level for almost three decades, introducing pioneering methods in fields as diverse as digital humanities and outdoor education. He leads an initiative to establish a Digital History program at the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto, Scarborough.

  • Ruby is a Project Lead at DARO. With a Master's in Public Health and over eight years of experience in public health research, Ruby excels in navigating academia and institutions to advance public health initiatives.  At DARO, Ruby leads projects involving stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, and digital transformation. She is passionate about using data and research to collaborate with communities and enhance equity, and design better interventions in partnership with communities.

  • Lexa is a Senior Manager of Consulting at DARO. Lexa has spent the past two years at embedded within one of DARO’s core partner organizations, GivingTuesday, a pillar of data infrastructure in the social sector. She works closely with data scientists, developers, and fellow research and analytics enthusiasts to help bring non-profit sector data and tech initiatives to life. With a background in international relations and economics complemented by experience developing and managing non-profit projects and programs, she is passionate about building lightweight systems and workflows for managing complex work. She is an advocate for better data collection and management practices and is committed to promoting right-fit tech solutions that put people first. She has also worked extensively as a translator (French, German and Spanish) and interpreter in a global context.