The Team
A passion for positive social change
The experience and expertise to support your vision
Rob Joyce | Principal
Rob believes that we have a historic opportunity to design new ways for people and organizations to make the world a better place, and he founded Social Impact Designs to greet this opportunity with creativity, collaboration, and action. His career includes experience in business development, communication design, and project management that spans the private, nonprofit, and civic sectors. In 2015, he led the development of the Founders Pledge program for Full Circle Fund, where he created programing and resources for a community of startup founders that have pledged company equity to nonprofits. Recent experience also includes marketing and communications for HealthRIGHT 360 during multiple mergers and the launch of a $15MM capital campaign. His civic engagement includes continued volunteer service as the director of Please Touch Garden, an interim use project in San Francisco that has transformed a blighted Civic Center lot into a thriving arts garden. Rob is also an Instructor with the Stanford Continuing Studies Program, where he has created professional development courses on Social Impact Marketing and Cultivating Healthy Company Culture.
Lauren Merker | Associate
As a seasoned nonprofit administrator, Lauren has spent her career designing and implementing effective fundraising and business development strategies for organizations nationwide. Fully committed to promoting social good and equitable opportunity, Lauren has helped raise millions of dollars for many highly impactful organizations such as the Taproot Foundation, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center, the Northwest Eco Building Guild, and many others. Lauren recently wrapped up a two-year contract with the Charles Schwab Foundation, helping to evolve their corporate social responsibility programs and promote the company’s commitment to community engagement, philanthropy, and volunteerism. Hailing originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Lauren earned a BFA from Miami University of Ohio and an MA in Nonprofit Management from Carnegie Mellon University. She spends her free time these days exploring the natural beauty of northern California, dabbling in her own artistic pursuits, and deepening her relationships with her chosen west coast family (including her two eccentric cats - Griffin and Harvey).
Shalini Sardana | Associate
Shalini is a human centered designer and researcher, a leadership ambassador, and an angel investor focused on amplifying women’s impact and building their potential as leaders and entrepreneurs. As a seasoned design professional with broad experience, she uses design to solve complex social problems - particularly gender equality, which is her personal passion. She believes innovative and robust solutions can be achieved with a design mindset and by framing the “right” question. Shalini is a Certified Leadership Ambassador for Take The Lead, an organization focused on preparing, developing, inspiring, and propelling women into leadership roles through workshops and trainings. She also teaches Design Thinking at the Innovation lab at Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. Shalini is a member of Pipeline Angels, a women-led angel investing group focused on creating capital for women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs. Shalini is a proud mother of two teenagers, an amateur photographer and curious culture explorer.
Atulya L. Chaganty | Associate
As a critical thinker passionate about ethical social change, Atulya loves investigating complex cultural systems of behavior and interaction through the lens of design. She believes design thinking and innovation are not just buzzwords but the practice and outcome of deep research, empathetic listening, insightful decision making, and strategic emotionally intelligent practices with room for compassion. With an interdisciplinary background, Atulya has worked on a several grant-based design projects in post-colonial countries, published various articles, as well as worked at large corporations where she asked the "annoying" questions. Atulya has a BA from Clark University in English Literature and Communication & Culture with a minor in Law & Society and a Master of Industrial Design degree from the Rhode Island School of Design where her master’s thesis work with combat veterans suffering from PTSD was awarded a Graduate Studies Grant. Her professional experience is in law, publishing, product design, and systems design. She currently works in the field of technology as a multidisciplinary systems designer and researcher in Seattle, WA.
GK Callahan | Associate
GK creates cultural change through social engagement, with a focus on humanitarian issues related to public health. He is a trans-media artist who earned his MFA in social practice at California College of the Arts and his BFA in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. He has also built expertise in cultural development though his work with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the City and County of San Francisco. In 2010, he founded Please Touch Garden, an outdoor community space in San Francisco that was created in collaboration with the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. GK currently works as a community arts specialist for the University of Missouri, focusing on economic and community development in rural communities, and he is also the co-founder and main producer for Contracting an Issue, a national social awareness project that explores the continuing impact of HIV/AIDS.
Vedrana Pantic | Associate
Vedrana holds an M.A. in International Relations and has over five years of experience with mission-driven organizations. She is very passionate about her work as a Board Member of the United Nations Association, with the International Rescue Committee in the anti-human trafficking department, conducting research in Bosnia at the Post-Conflict Research Center, and providing direct aid to Syrian refugees in Istanbul. During her studies, Vedrana had the privilege to work, study, and travel to over 20 countries, which has greatly contributed to her ability to deal with multicultural and multiethnic environments. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vedrana moved to California with her family in 2002; she is a native speaker of Bosnian and Serbo-Croatian languages. As a former refugee, Vedrana knows how small acts of kindness can make a big difference and strongly believes that we all, as a person or an organization, have to do our part to make our world a better place.