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Shine Board Member Profile: Gail Collins Khosla

As part of an ongoing series, we want to introduce you to the Shine Global family and especially our outstanding and hard working board members who help move Shine forward.

Gail KhoslaName: Gail Collins Khosla Joined Shine Board of Directors: 2016 Title: Founder, Khosla Partners, LLC Current Role at Shine: Member of the Board of Directors, Member of the Development Committee, Member of the New Revenues Committee I am the Founder of Khosla Partners, LLC, and I focus on investing and philanthropy.  Prior to launching Khosla Partners, I had a twenty year career in consumer marketing, including serving as Senior Vice President of Cross Marketing for GE Capital’s  Retailer Financial Services Group. I began my career in brand management at Richardson-Vicks (now Proctor and Gamble) and moved into marketing financial services at American Express, Citicorp and GE Capital as well as working as a marketing consultant.  After the birth of my third son, I “retired” from corporate life, and started focusing on supporting not for profits particularly in the educational field, and making private investments in the media and technology fields.  I have a particular interest in supporting literacy in the developing world, and currently serve on the NY board of Pratham, supporting the effort to raise the literacy rate in India. I have always been interested in global issues.  I had a very global nomad upbringing, moving approximately every two years between very diverse cities in four continents including Berkeley (CA) (three times) , Naples, Italy; Santiago, Chile (twice), Greenwich, CT and New Delhi, India as my father was a professor at CAL (Berkeley), and a rural economist at the Ford Foundation.  My husband, Victor, is originally from India, and together with our sons we have lived in Tokyo and London.  We now split our time between CT and London.

Why did you join Shine’s board?

I got to know Shine, and Susan and Albie, when my son was a summer intern at Shine.  I have long been interested in film as a way to tell stories to effect change.  I joined Shine’s board because I completely agree with Albie and Susan’s vision, and want to help Shine grow.

What’s a favorite Shine moment for you?

There are many great moments. I loved going to The Wrong Light’s premiere in LA and hearing all the thought provoking conversation generated by the film at the Q&A.  It makes you realize how impactful these films can be.

How do you use your specific skill set in your work as a Shine board member? I hope that my combination of marketing experience, my work in development for not for profits, and strong desire to help children, particularly in the developing world, are useful to Shine.

What is a Shine challenge that you feel supporters should know about? Producing documentaries is a large undertaking, from finding, funding, and distributing the films.  It’s great to have support from others for all these aspects.  There are no shortage of stories to be told!

See the full list of Shine’s Board of Directors Members and Board of Governors Members here and read the profiles of board members Dario Spina here, Keith Brown here, Kay Sarlin Wright here, Marilyn DeLuca here, Al Cattabiani here, Bill MacArthur here, Don Melnick here, Robert Baker here, Anne Prost here, and Adrienne Lopez here.