Our Team

SVQF relies on the help of its dedicated team of volunteers and consultants.

Mergim Cahani

Mergim Cahani

Mergim Cahani is an adjunct assistant professor with the Department of Computer Science, Math, and Sciences and a senior analyst with the Department of Information Technology, both at St. John’s University in New York. Previously he worked with the United Nations, the NGO “GOAL Ireland”, as a technology consultant in NYC, and has been part of the SVQF team since its foundation.

Mergim graduated summa cum laude from St. John’s University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, and from Polytechnic Institute of New York University with a Master of Science in Computer Science. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree, with honors, from the Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University.

Bert Kelley

Kelley

Bert Kelley has advised on legal and business matters for more than twenty years, practicing in both corporate and law firm settings.
His degrees include a B.A. in economics from Princeton University and J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School. His research on legal and business issues has appeared in Law and Policy (Blackwell Oxford Publishing, England), CBS News, and other media and publications.

Mr. Kelley has taught in the area of business law to both graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Maryland and Georgetown since 2005, and consults with Georgetown Advisory in Washington DC.

Mahyar Sadri

Sadri

Having had a keen interest in art and storytelling from a very young age, Mahyar’s path into the animation industry was an inevitable one. Born and raised in London, UK, he was blessed to be exposed to a wide range of experiences and cultures from a young age. Mahyar graduated from University College School with Advanced Levels in Maths, Physics, Art, and English Literature and continued this blend of arts and science, obtaining a BA(Hons) in Computer Visualization and Animation at the National Centre of Computer Animation, Bournemouth University. He shortly after moved to Los Angeles, finding employment at Vicon House of Moves, a premier motion capture and animation house.

Spreading messages throughout the world and helping to bring positive change through animation is a passion of his. He hopes to continue this ethos with future SVQF projects, using his films to aid in the education and development of communities across the world.

Jody Zellman

Jody Zellman

Jody Zellman is SVQF’s Director of Online and Social Media. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and has worked and traveled in 34 countries. His relationship with SVQF began in 2009 when he produced a short film about the organization’s work in Kenya for the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting.

kayescholer

Legal services provided pro bono by Kaye Scholer LLP.