Leadership Team

Executive Board

Akhil Peddikuppa

Co-Founder, Executive Director, Head of Operations

Akhil Peddikuppa is a senior at the School for the Talented and Gifted. He captains the Quiz Bowl Team and led his school to the Small School National Championship Tournament, where he placed top 15 nationally. He is the Project Lead of FoodNex, an app rerouting surplus food from businesses to hunger assistance organizations. Akhil is also a member of the North Texas Food Bank’s Young Advocates Council, a council of youth advocates helping to raise awareness about food insecurity and food waste in the North Texas area.

Vedant Tapiavala

Co-Founder, Executive Director, Head of Logistics & Outreach

Vedant Tapiavala is a freshman at Dartmouth College pursuing a Neuroscience major and a double minor in Biology and Human-Centered Design. He has previously served in various pertinent roles, most prominently with AlzBuddy, an app for Alzheimer’s patients he developed with 5,000+ downloads in 23 countries. He also has nonprofit and organizational experience as Platform Team Lead of COVIDRxExchange, a 501(c)(3) fighting COVID-19 misinformation, and Project Lead of DFW Covid Drive, a project delivering PPE and thank you cards to frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic directly under a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Dat Tran

Co-Founder, Executive Director, Head of Development

Dat Tran is a senior at the School for the Talented and Gifted. His wide range of experience includes winning the UIL State Computer Science competition hosted by UT Austin and captaining his school’s top-ranked computer science team. He has excelled in machine learning coursework and has experience with AI-based projects. He has also volunteered extensively with food pantries throughout the DFW metroplex, dedicating himself to fighting food insecurity in his community.

Ben Peckham

Co-Founder, Executive Vice President

Ben Peckham is a senior at the School for the Talented and Gifted. He is club president of the Townview Magnet Center Investment Club, teaching lower-income students about investing and encouraging them to participate in the stock market. He has been offered an internship at a hedge fund and plans to pursue finance in the future. He also devotes time to an extensive music career, playing 4 instruments for various ensembles and participating in state-level piano competitions.

Operations

Mohamad Faizal

Operations Team Generalist

Mohamad Faizal is a freshman and Terry Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin with experience in healthcare and social work. His biggest project has been a research study with the University of Texas at Arlington regarding the impact of COVID-19 on Rohingya refugee communities, on which he published papers in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals.

Development

Kenneth Ge

Technical Lead & Engineering Strategist

Kenneth is a Computer Science student at Dartmouth College, as well as a graduate of Pace University (studied CSIS) and Edgemont HS (valedictorian). He is passionate about delivering the right product to end users and thinking critically about tech, and he is always eager to experiment and explore better solutions that might defy conventional development norms. He is proud to have delivered a desktop-first, high-performance (90%+ Lighthouse) web portal for FoodNex. He is a proud Atlas Fellow, veteran mentor to his high school FTC robotics team 11205 (former Co-Captain and Director of Programming), and a fierce tech advocate, communicator, community member, and friend for Top Asia Mart.

Marketing

Cameron Peckham

Head of Marketing

Cameron Peckham is a senior at the School for the Talented and Gifted. He is proficient in UI/UX design software and is the lead designer of TAG Student Council’s Rideshare App. Outside of designing modern UI for applications, Cameron is active in Varsity Orchestra and competes in state-level piano competitions.

Geeya Kalavant

Head of Social Media

Geeya Kalavant is a junior at John Bowne High School in New York.

Zachary Vinnola

Staff Writer

Zachary Vinnola is a senior at the School for the Talented and Gifted. He is a writer for TAG Inklings and a member of the Bass Section of the Townview Choir, which was recently given Grammy Signature School Recognition.

Steven Guo