Congratulations to Akhtar Badshah for being Elected as the Chairman of Telecentre.org Foundation

We congratulate Mr. Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director of Global Community Affairs for Microsoft Corporation USA,for being unanimously elected the new Chairman of the Board of telecentre.org Foundation.His election was finalized following a Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting held during the 3rd Global Forum on Telecentres in Santiago, Chile last April 5, 2011.

Mr. Badshah expressed his reaction following the appointment saying, “I welcome the opportunity to take on this role as a reflection of our continuing support of telecentre.org. I am excited about the future of the Foundation as a global leader in expanding access to technology for individuals and strengthening communities through the power of information and communication technologies.”

Badshah is an architect by training, a doctoral graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the former president of the Lambda Alpha International, New Jersey Chapter. He is very active in the Seattle area community.

Akhtar Badshah is the senior director of Global Community Affairs at Microsoft Corporation, where he administers the company’s global community investment and employee programs.
Among his responsibilities, Badshah manages the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program (CTSP), a global initiative designed to help narrow the technology skills gap; aid global work-force development; and create social and economic opportunity by providing technology training through community technology centers. CTSP offers a comprehensive approach to broadening digital inclusion by bringing together critical components, including training grants, software donations, community learning curricula and a global support network.

Badshah also oversees programs aimed at helping nonprofit organizations improve their effectiveness through increased technology capacity. This includes Microsoft’s signature partnerships with organizations such as NPower, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, telecentre.org, TechSoup and NetHope.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Badshah was the CEO and president of Digital Partners Foundation, a Seattle-area nonprofit organization whose mission is to utilize the digital economy to benefit the poor. At Digital Partners, he established the organization’s core programs in India, Africa and Latin America. His work included development of the Digital Partners Social Venture Fund, designed to support the expansion of IT-based anti-poverty efforts around the world, and the Digital Partners Social Enterprise Laboratory (SEL), an initiative that provides mentorship and seed money to entrepreneurs whose vision and business models use ICT to empower the poor and their underserved communities.

Badshah is a Board Member of the Council of Foundation, Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC), United Way King County, the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) and Youth Employment Summit Inc. Badshah is also the chair of the IT Task Force of the Council of Foundations. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the following organizations: World Affairs Council (Seattle), Santa Clara University Center for Science Technology and Society, University of Washington South Asia Center, and University of Washington Business School. He has co-edited “Connected for Development – Information Kiosks for Sustainability,” and authored “Our Urban Future: New Paradigms for Equity and Sustainability,” as well as several articles in international journals on Information Communication Technology for Development, megacities and sustainability, housing, and urban development.

We hope that the telecentre movement will be further elevated for the betterment of the peoples around the world.