Jacaranda Health shares the bittersweet news that its Co-Executive Director, Sathy Rajasekharan, is stepping down from his role to assume an advisory position with the organization. Over the past eight years at Jacaranda, Sathy played a critical role catalysing the scope and scale of its technology-enabled programs, forging the partnerships to embed them within public health systems, and growing our research and data capabilities to measure their impact at scale. Sathy’s fellow Co-Executive Directors, Cynthia Kahumbura and Nick Pearson will continue to lead the organization going forward.
Sathy joined Jacaranda as Chief Innovation Officer in 2017 as Jacaranda was just beginning to expand its work from direct service delivery to supporting mothers in Kenya’s public health sector. Under Sathy’s leadership, Jacaranda began to evolve a pipeline of innovations adapted to – first, with early prototypes of our core solutions, PROMPTS and MENTORS, and later, as our capacity for technology, product, and AI grew, evolving into sophisticated programs that measurably improve care in Kenya’s public health system. These innovations have now reached over 3 million mothers and 10,000 frontline nurses across Kenya, and we are replicating this work across Sub Saharan Africa.
“Sathy’s uncompromising approach to innovation and impact has shaped Jacaranda’s DNA, and his vision is reflected in the amazing team leads he has hired and mentored.” – Nick Pearson, Co-Executive Director.
For example, Sathy’s relentless work with tech director Jay Patel to build out Jacaranda’s AI starting in 2019 has evolved into the globally-recognized GenAI system that now powers thousands of daily interactions with mothers to connect them to better pregnancy care, and led to partnerships with frontier tech companies like Google, Meta, AWS, and OpenAI.
“It has been a pleasure working with Sathy, his vision and leadership has not only led to Jacaranda’s growth but also people’s growth, me included. The values and impact he has had will be embedded in Jacaranda’s culture.”- Cynthia Kahumbura, Co-Executive Director.
Sathy will continue supporting Jacaranda’s mission as a senior advisor, supporting strategy around product, technology and data as we expand our programs and impact for mothers and health systems across Africa. Meanwhile, Co-Executive Directors Nick Pearson and Cynthia Kahumbura will continue to lead the organization, alongside an experienced team of six Kenya-based Directors, and over 120 colleagues in Kenya and beyond.
We are so grateful for Sathy’s visionary leadership and his contribution to shaping the organization Jacaranda is today and impacting the lives of millions of mothers. We wish him the very best of luck in his next endeavors!
