The Pillars of Our Purpose

A former Vice President, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Ali is a career finance professional having worked with some of the largest financial intermediaries in India. After spending more than 23 years in the financial sector, Ali switched over to the development sector in early 2015 by joining the Teach For India Fellowship in Mumbai. After completing 3 years of fellowship where he served as a full time class leader in a government school in Mumbai, he joined Sunbird Trust in July 2018.

He served as a School Leader at Paangkriang Friendship Academy, a Sunbird Partner School, in the remote of Ijeirong in Manipur. Overcoming challenges in a remote, conflict-affected rural community, he helped build up structures and processes in the then-fledgling organization. Transitioning out for a brief period from Sunbird Trust in July 2019 for personal reasons, he returned to the organisation in July 2021 to assume the leadership role as Chief Operating Officer. During this period between Aug 2021 and Dec 2023, Ali oversaw all the critical aspects of the organisation right from the flagship programmes of Access to Education, Community & Stakeholder Outreach, Fund raising, Finance & Accounts and M&E.

Taking over as the Chief Executive Officer from January 2024, Ali now leads a team of dynamic education and social development specialists to build on the success of the first decade.
Apart from being a Hindi movie buff, Ali likes to read history in his free time.