Shilpa Kedar is the inaugural Executive Director, The Beth E. Mooney Center for Transformative Leadership at Cleveland State University (CSU). On behalf of the university, Ms.Kedar is fostering the establishment and growth of a campus-wide effort to develop CSU’s community of students and lifelong learners into leaders who transform the economic, civic and cultural life of Northeast Ohio. She also serves as Co-Executive Director of the IoT Collaborative, CSU’s collaboration with Case Western Reserve University. She cultivates relationships with partners in industry, federal and state agencies, the public sector, and philanthropic communities to further the University’s goals related to leadership development and the digital economy.

Most recently, she served as Executive Director, Digital and IoT Innovations, charged with leading University efforts in fostering the establishment and growth of a faculty-led center designed to advance cutting-edge multi and transdisciplinary research related to IoT and digital innovations and build strategic initiatives that address community issues. She continues to serve on the advisory board of the center, the CSU Tech Hub.

Ms. Kedar joined Cleveland State in early 2019, after working at the Cleveland Foundation for over a decade, most recently as Program Director, Economic and Workforce Development. She played a key role in many of the Foundations’ collaborations and initiatives in the area of economic transformation and inclusive growth.  Prior to working in philanthropy, she worked for Team NEO leading regional responses to multiple business attraction opportunities in alliance with economic development partners and private sector players. Prior to coming to Ohio, she was with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad working as research associate focusing on the applications of information and communications technology for development. She served as editorial associate for the newsletter Information Technology in Developing Countries and researched gender issues in the telecom sector and co-authored paper read at a conference.

In her civic capacity, she is Partner with Social Venture Partners, Cleveland where she cultivates effective philanthropists and strengthens nonprofits to tackle Cleveland’s social challenges.