Chandani Punia

Chandani Punia is an innovation practitioner with 14+ years of global experience in product, process, and service innovation. She has worked extensively on leveraging human-centered design (HCD) and innovation methodologies to co-design programs for social impact. 

Most recently, Chandani served as the Deputy Director of Innovation at the International Rescue Committee where she ran innovation programming in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela to help Venezuelan migrants and internally displaced persons (IDPs) recover and gain control of their future. 

Previously, Chandani worked with Plan International to manage girl-centered innovation projects and built the capacity of country offices to retool existing programs through HCD. 

At the local level, she worked with City Harvest to develop their program strategy and led efforts to align Monitoring and Evaluation with piloting and testing of new approaches to food security in New York City.  Chandani has also worked with Merrill Lynch, the U.N. World Food Programme, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Asia Society, and Geller & Company. 

Chandani is passionate about inclusive design, uplifting voices, and spurring action. She also serves on the advisory board for Impact Hub New York.