Shooting Stars Foundation Creates Inaugural Governing Board of Directors to Increase Program Growth and Student Impact

Latha Narayannan, Co-Founder, CEO, and Vice Chairperson, Brian McCann, Chairperson, and Kevin Lee, Uma Meyyappan and Dawna Taylor as Directors.

BAY AREA, Calif., April 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shooting Stars Foundation (SSF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that empowers youth to break the cycle of generational poverty through STEM education.  Founded in 2015, SSF has since grown to serve over 1,000 US students with STEM educational programs and sponsored over 600 eligible university students pursuing STEM majors in India and Kenya.  SSF is funded by generous personal donors, corporate sponsors, and educational grants. 

The first SSF Governing Board has been established to help the organization scale for greater impact across many more programs and scholars – with a particular focus on underserved youth in the United States and eligible university students in India.  The inaugural Governing Board brings a wealth of experience:

• Latha Narayannan, Co-Founder, CEO, and Vice Chairperson: Currently AVP of IT Applications at Netscout, where she has been working in various IT and leadership roles for over 15 years.
• Brian McCann, Chairperson: Currently CEO of Thrive with Growth and various advisory roles, and formerly CEO of Neustar Security Services.
• Kevin Lee, Independent Director: Currently Sr. Content Developer, Deep Learning at NVIDIA, and formerly Boot Camp Instructor at University of California, Berkeley and Risk Analytics Officer at Morgan Stanley.
• Uma Meyyappan, Independent Director: Currently SVP, Head of Digital Innovation at LPL Financial and Limited Partner at Neythri Futures Fund, and formerly over 15 years in technology and leadership roles at WellsFargo.
• Dawna Taylor, Independent Director: Currently Assistant Superintendent of San Jose Support Charter School and Regional Director at Cognia, and formerly State Director at AdvancED

The Board members are responsible to provide process and accountability to all stakeholders, add professional ideas to help run and scale the foundation effectively, and leverage relationships to grow impact.  The Board is seeking to expand up to 10 members to further broaden the experience, build special committees, and support new growth opportunities.

"Shooting Stars Foundation has grown from a small high-school project to create hundreds of engineers, computer programmers, and doctors around the world, as well as instill the curiosity for technology in thousands of underserved students" said Latha Narayannan, Co-Founder, CEO, and Vice-Chairperson.  "The generosity and impact of our volunteers, donors and sponsors has overwhelmed my heart and motivated me, our volunteers, and staff to help even more people.  I am grateful for the amazing people joining me in our inaugural Board of Directors and look forward to working with them to scale our impact."

Brian McCann, Chairperson of the Board, added, "The Shooting Stars mission to break the cycle of generational poverty through STEM education is powerful and focused. SSF deserves more attention on process, programs, systems, and people to have a an even greater impact, so I welcome the opportunity to lead the Board of Directors and enable Latha to grow her operational plan."

About Shooting Stars Foundation
Shooting Stars Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that empowers youth to break the cycle of generational poverty through STEM education.  Since our founding in 2015, we have served over 1,000 US undergraduate students with hackathons, camps, and tech immersion programs.  We have sponsored over 600 eligible university students in India and Kenya.  Shooting Stars strongly believes in the enablement of STEM education, the strong need in underserved communities, and the power of personal, corporate and local partnerships.

Click to visit, donate, sponsor or volunteer: https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/ 

For press inquiries, contact Mariel Geron at 919.316.8847 or [email protected]

SOURCE Shooting Stars