BLUE LOTUS ADVISORS

Deepa brings 15+ years of experience that includes management consulting to corporate, nonprofit and public health organizations; strategy development, program design, operational execution and management for private and corporate philanthropies; and human capital development through executive team coaching, leadership development, organizational strategy and design, and culture change.

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Deepa is skilled in brokering and designing partnerships that yield both social and business impact, co-designing strategies through stakeholder involvement with clearly defined indicators and outcomes, and leading large and small scale change and transformation among organizations and teams by supporting people to recognize and shift the way they interact, work and behave to drive positive working experiences and collective impact. 

In 2017, she established and led a team at The Boeing Company focused on strategic organizational transformations, performance management and culture change.  Prior to that she was in strategic and programmatic roles at the MacArthur Foundation serving the Chicago arts and culture sector, international nonprofit partnerships, and nonprofit capacity building for paradigm-shifting nonprofits in fields such as juvenile justice, journalism, community development, reproductive health and the environment, and at McKinsey & Company as a consultant focused on hospitals, health systems, domestic and global public health.

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She currently serves on the boards of Ingenuity, Inc., which works to ensure all Chicago Public School students receive arts education; the National Endowment for the Arts at the invitation of President Obama; Project Y Theatre Company, an itinerant, NYC-based theatre company focused on inclusive storytelling in a digital age.  She has previously served on the boards of the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois, New Teacher Center, and New Leaders Chicago.

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Deepa earned degrees in biology and public policy at the University of Chicago with a focus on health access and quality of care; business administration at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management with a focus on decision sciences and marketing; and public policy and administration at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government with a focus on public health, human rights and economic development. 

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She is active in her local community, supporting leadership initiatives at Oak Park/River Forest High School and grant review in service to the Oak Park Arts Council and as a parent volunteer in her two children's elementary school.