Alumni Spotlight: Nipuna Ambanpola
After graduating from Parker College, Nipuna Ambanpola (ECON, 2019) “dipped his toes into the nonprofit and tech-for-good space.” He attended The University of Georgia (UGA) where he earned masters in public administration and policy and business analytics. While at UGA, Nipuna also worked in youth leadership, international NGOs, and public-sector consulting. He identified a big and growing space in the use of technology and data science for good, which led to a desire to pursue a career making a big impact for people and the planet. Currently, Nipuna is executive director of IVolunteer International, a tech-nonprofit he founded in 2017. His firm uses technology, advocacy, and action to mobilize volunteers in their local communities around the world. In addition, Nipuna works full-time as the Research & Public Service Manager at the JW. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at UGA. In this role, he supports the university’s land-grant mission of public-service and outreach through data collection, analytics, and reporting.
Nipuna says that he absolutely loves his profession and wakes up every day happy to go to work. His favorite part of his job at UGA is working with clients from public, nonprofit, and private industries to advance their leadership, community, and organizational needs. Nipuna works alongside faculty who lead leadership and development programs across the state to provide data science support. In essence, Nipuna works with organizations that work with people across the state and visualizes their data to support growth and effectiveness. At IVolunteer International, he works with a globally distributed team of volunteers to support local, regional, and national volunteer mobilization for social impact. Nipuna notes that he never has a single idle day, and he enjoys every bit of it!
The biggest challenge he has faced in his career development is figuring out what he wanted to do and how to go about doing it. Even though Nipuna knew he wanted to go into public-service, he also wanted to use data and technology. He spent a lot of time talking to people, volunteering, and testing his skills in various areas before diving into the tech-for-good space. Starting with B-Corps, sustainability, and tech-for-good, Nipuna found a growing market of public and private collaborators in this space. So, although it was a slow process of figuring out what he wanted to do and because it was slow and uncertain, it was nerve-wracking. Nipuna is thrilled he invested time figuring out what he wanted to do, rather than getting stuck in something that did not connect to his avocation.
Nipuna attributes most of his success to volunteering. He volunteered all over the place and got engaged in his community. These experiences, the people he met while volunteering, and the different types of exposure he received really helped make Nipuna self-aware and allowed him to determine what he wanted to do and to understand the opportunities available to him. Nipuna considers his own growth as one of his greatest accomplishments. Over the years, he learned about the causes people fight for, cultivated empathy, and learned to see the world in different perspectives. Nipuna invites everyone to open themselves up to perspectives and causes that allow humanity to grow and unite. That said, Karen, the love of his life, has been the extraordinary changemaker behind his perseverance, and his proudest accomplishment is to have won the heart of such a kind, thoughtful, and intelligent woman.
While at Georgia Southern, Nipuna was heavily involved on campus. He enrolled at the Armstrong campus and worked as a resident advisor with Housing for three years—a monumental experience. Nupina also joined several student organizations—the Rotaract Club, Student Alumni Association, Residential Student Association, Student Government, Student Integrity Board, and the Economic Society among others. He served as president of the Student Government Association at Armstrong during the consolidation and represented the amazing student body in the endeavor to create a unified Georgia Southern University.
Nipuna credits the Parker College of Business’s combination of classroom learning and real-life experience as laying the groundwork for his career. As an undergraduate, he was able to work at the World Trade Center Savannah as an economic research intern. This internship allowed Nipuna to explore the opportunities that lay outside the classroom, to meet people in the industry, to learn and grow in a real-life business setting, and to identify his strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. The Parker College dedication to combining intellectual learning and research with real-life experiences helped Nipuna to remain current with the rapidly evolving job market and skills demanded. It also allowed him to find his passion and provided the foundation that allowed him to establish a career in an industry in which could he be successful while making a lasting impact.
In the Parker College, Nipuna’s first class in economics was international trade with Yassi Saadatmand, Ph.D., chair, Department of Economics. He absolutely loved that class. Michael Toma, Ph.D., Callaway professor of economics; Rick McGrath, Ph.D., professor of economics; and Omid Ardakani, Ph.D., professor of economics, are some names that come to mind whenever Nipuna thinks about the tremendous education he received from the Economics Department that has shaped his entire career and graduate learning after Georgia Southern. He fondly recalls taking environmental economics from Dennis Barber, Ph.D., former assistant professor of economics. Environmental economics really impacted on Nipuna’s decision to pursue tech-for-good and sustainability careers. He remembers it was obvious that the Parker College faculty and administration were ready to invest in innovative and market-relevant coursework to provide the most apt educational experience to students.
These days, Nipuna spends his spare time doing “bucket-list” things with his partner, Karen. He also enjoys travelling, playing tennis, reading, volunteering, and hanging out with friends. As his personal mission is “to empower people and movements to cultivate a society of equity, unity, and sustainable growth,” in the future, Nipuna hopes to continue to expand his contribution to this world at the intersection of data, social impact, and policy for people and the planet.
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