As a musician and former arts-educator, David brings a passion for creativity and subjectivity to his work leading Spark.

For over 15 years, David has worked across sectors to develop social impact strategies, implement effective and meaningful programs, and create impact measurement systems for clients and partners in the U.S. and Latin America.  He is most passionate about economic inclusion and advancement, race and gender justice and equality, education and the arts, and creating community around meaning and purpose.

David developed and taught Social Impact Strategy, Measurement and Evaluation at Columbia University’s School of international and Public Affairs (SIPA). He holds a Master of International Affairs degree in Economic and Political Development from SIPA, received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and completed extensive coursework in songwriting, composition and music education at Berklee College of Music.

Also a musician David has designed music education curriculum for youth, created teacher training and evaluation systems for arts organizations, taught thousands of private lessons and students, founded a recording studio and of course, fronted a rock band.

Andrea is Spark’s Associate Director of Strategy and Learning. She oversees project design, management, and analysis on projects ranging from arts and education evaluations to social impact strategy for nonprofit service organizations.

Prior to Spark, Andrea worked at Cifras y Conceptos, a Colombian development consulting firm where she conducted impact evaluations and needs assessments for clients across the U.S., Latin America and West Africa. She has extensive experience working with vulnerable populations including victims of armed conflict, former guerilla members, refugees, indigenous communities and communities living in extreme poverty.

Andrea holds a Master of Public Administration in Social and Urban Policy from Columbia University’s School of international and Public Affairs (SIPA) and a bachelor’s degree in Economics and governance from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia. She has lived in Bogota, Cali, New York City and Rome, and speaks English, Spanish and Italian.

Sarah is a seasoned M&E professional with over 13 years of experience in international development, education, and gender mainstreaming.

She has worked with a range of mission-driven clients, including large research institutions like The Brookings Institution, small, Bay Area non-profits like CoachArt, and corporate philanthropy initiatives like Pearson’s Project Literacy, helping them maximize and measure their impact with made-to-fit M&E solutions.

Sarah previously served as Director of M&E and Chief Program Officer for Worldreader, and has held positions with the Inter-American Development Bank, UNDP, the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Room to Read. She holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Turan supports Spark’s project teams by handling various elements of outreach, scheduling, research, data organization and project implementation.

She has seven years of experience providing administrative, office management, scheduling, planning and operations support to multinational events and organizations.

Turan has a bachelor’s degree in Translation/Interpretation from Qafqaz University in Azerbaijan and is now pursuing her MBA at the University of Lodz in Poland. She enjoys learning new languages. Beyond her native Azerbaijani, Turan is fluent in Turkish and English and speaks intermediate German.