About Us
Founded in 2007, Tiktala is a privately held software company. We believe that: Your customers and friends are your best marketers. We want to help you build strong and lasting relationships with the people who support you, and leverage those relationships to promote your business.
Team
Every member of Tiktala team contains a potent mix of drive, creativity, and integrity. We don't just work here; we're dedicated to making Tiktala the best platform of its kind.
Nivi Padhy / CEO and Co-Founder
Nivi drives the vision at Tiktala and enjoys being involved in everything that impacts our users. She brings to us fifteen years of software development and customer facing experience at companies such as Computer Associates, Ingres, Informix, and Infosys. She also brings a lifetime of experience running marketing and fundraising campaigns for her community involvement activities. At Computer Associates, she owned responsibility for worldwide support of the Ingres data replication product and was instrumental in driving down product defects and improving customer experience. Nivi later worked with Social-Impact India and Global Social Benefit Incubator to assess the social impact of their investments in social enterprises. As part of her commitment to her local community, she has played a key role in organizing and marketing the Lunar New Year Unity Parade in Cupertino, an annual event that celebrates that city's cultural diversity. She also serves on the Board of Directors and co-chairs the fundraising committee for the Youth Science Institute, a California nonprofit providing hands-on science education to children. Nivi holds a B.E. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from BITS Pilani, India and has attended MBA coursework at Santa Clara University. With many vices to choose from — Bourne movies, the Colbert Report, math puzzles, and sushi — Nivi is often seen slacking off in the twenty-fifth hour of the day.
Mano Puthukudy / CTO and Co-Founder
Mano is responsible for Tiktala's overall product architecture as well as implementation, constantly pushing the envelope to innovate for an even better user experience. He has over fifteen years of experience in developing and architecting leading-edge computer technologies. While working for companies such as Kineto Wireless, WindRiver, Mentor Graphics, he helped architect a revolutionary media enhancement system that combines multiple audio and video streams into a single stream controlled by a simple programmatic interface, devised a fault-tolerant solution that allows cell phone users to switch between a cell tower and an in-home wi-fi device without dropping a call, developed embedded security devices for wireless routers, and even helped build the operating system that was used in the Mars Rover. Mano holds a Masters in Engineering Technology from BITS Pilani, India. Mano has a deep interest in people and cultures from around the world, spending his free time reading the novels of Haruki Murakami and nonfiction works about the intersection of cultural histories, social systems, and economic development. He is also a fan of the films of Akira Kurasawa and Stanley Kubrick.
Advisors
Bruce Lunsford
Bruce provides technical insight for the features and functionality of the Tiktala platform, with particular attention to the platform tools that enable organizers and supporters to engage deeper with each other. He is enthusiastic about Tiktala's mission to help organizations be more accountable to their supporters. Bruce brings to the table thirty years of a broad range of management and development experience in the computer software industry. He began his career at Electronic Data Systems in 1974, where he worked for seventeen years developing applications for a wide range of corporate clients in the healthcare, financial, and retail sectors. Since 1991 he was worked for Computer Associates (CA) and Ingres in a wide variety of roles and responsibilities such as Ingres Client Base Owner, Divisional Vice-President, and Architect. He most enjoys being involved in hands-on technical development to advance the Ingres database products, the industry standard for enterprise open source data management and integration. Bruce earned both his Bachelor's in Mathematics and his Master's in Computer Science from New Mexico State University. In the past, Bruce has been both a deacon and an elder in his church. He enjoys visiting his hometown of Las Cruces, New Mexico and family trips to San Felipe in Baja California, Mexico. When he is not spoiling his grandchildren, Bruce can be found at the nearest tennis court.
Susanne Mulcahy
Susanne brings to Tiktala multi-faceted expertise from her 20+ years as an entrepreneur, business owner, executive coach, and nonprofit executive. She is the Executive Director of Youth Science Institute and a co-founder of Raissle-Mulcahy Partners Coaching and Consulting, specializing in Leadership and Executive Coaching, Organizational Development, Experiential Learning, and Environmental and Health Education. She is affiliated with The Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, and is a 2008 graduate of their Leader’s Institute. She has served as a Coach to CEN's Leaders Institute participants, and is a graduate of several community and professional leadership development programs. Previously she served as an Organizational Development Consultant and Executive Coach for Right Management Consultants, a world leader in organizational development and career transition consulting, where she provided workshops and executive coaching to Fortune 500 leaders and managers. Susanne also served as Executive Director of Environmental Volunteers in Palo Alto, Assistant Executive Director at the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, and Business Banking Officer with Wells Fargo Bank. She holds a B.S. in Finance and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Santa Clara University. Susanne, a native of Sunnyvale and third generation Californian, is a singer/songwriter in the folk tradition; she loves time outdoors, hiking and biking, travel, photography, and play time with nieces and nephews. Susanne and her partner adopt senior cats, one at a time, and provide kitty hostel, then kitty hospice.
Jaclyn Phuong Fabre
Jaclyn advises Tiktala on the technology needs of nonprofit organizations to be more effective in their outreach and fundraising activities. Jaclyn is a nonprofit management consultant with fifteen years of executive management experience at small to medium sized nonprofit organizations. Jaclyn began her career in nonprofit work with Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers (LAVAS) in 1993 working in Hong Kong with US attorneys to provide pro bono legal representation to Vietnamese boat people who fled communist Vietnam and went on to became its Executive Director. She then served as the Associate Director for Canal Community Alliance, a community-based agency that provides family, youth, and child services to the ethnically diverse, working poor residents of the Canal in Marin County, California. She later was the Executive Director of Cupertino Community Services, a community-based nonprofit providing basic human needs and housing services to low-income families in the West Valley community. She even built the first donor database system at CCS, using FileMaker Pro. Jaclyn holds an M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of California Irvine, and a B.A. in Fine Arts from California State Polytechnic Pomona. These days, Jaclyn's number one interest and source of inspiration is her toddler. She is also passionate about food and loves to cook Vietnamese food and pasta of any kind. She has taken three years of classes at the Wafu School of Ikebana, but still considers herself a beginning flower arranger.