An award-winning entrepreneur and social impact leader, Meena Palaniappan founded Atma Connect, a tech non-profit to build the infrastructure for impact at scale, developing technology and engagement solutions that empower people and organizations for social good.
With over 25 years as an Environmental Engineer and technologist, Meena is also an Ashoka Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, an awardee of the Million Lives Club, winner of multiple international Resilience Awards, and named in publications such as Ideas that are Changing the World and Stanford Social Innovation Review. Meena has led technology projects in Africa, Asia and North America, including a $1.3 million USAID project to build a WATER SMS mobile to web crowd-sourced mapping system to improve water services in Indonesia. She has worked with the Pacific Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) on sustainable community development, pollution prevention, and environmental justice. Meena received an M.S. in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley and an Engineering degree from Northwestern University.
Since 2014, Meena has led Atma to become a globally recognized non-profit with teams in 3 countries and programs reaching 300 cities across three continents, focused on helping people connect, neighbor-to-neighbor, by sharing actionable information and solutions, taking collective action, and building community resilience.