About Ecselance International
In June of 2003 an active program of community development in Belgaon Dhaga village, Maharashtra, India was in place under the direction of Vinod and Kamala Parekh. At a community planning meeting, members of the community identified economic development as the area that would have the most dramatic effect on improving the living conditions in the village. It was decided to start an economic development project in Belgaon Dhaga under the leadership of Vinod Parekh and Jim Epstein of the International Institute of Sustainable Development at Colorado State University.
A group of five people were assembled who donated the startup funds for the project. These five people are the founding members of Ecselance International: Walter Eberspacher, Tom Heger, VV Ramanan, Jim Epstein, and Steve Hodapp. The funds were turned over to the newly established Entrepreneur Self Help Group in Belgaon Dhaga in February of 2004 to start the first five businesses. By October 2004, all businesses were up and running and the results beat all expectations. The micro enterprise team was approached by several other communities to start similar projects.
In November of 2004, it was decided to form a new non profit organization, Ecselance International, to concentrate on helping communities achieve economic self reliance based on the model used in Belgaon Dhaga village, India. Ecselance International was incorporated on December 15, 2004.
Directors
Jim Epstein
Jim Epstein worked at Hewlett Packard in engineering and management for 27 years including an international assignment in Europe. After leaving Hewlett Packard, he taught Technology Managment at the University of Denver and was managing director of the International Institute of Sustainable Development at Colorado State University. He is also a founding director of Opportunities Without Borders.
Walter Eberspacher
Walter Eberspacher is an entrepreneur who started a plastics manufacturing business in Longmont, Colorado and grew it into a large, profitable company. After selling his business, he has been involved in philanthropic activities through various foundations. He has a strong interest in micro finance and has actively supported this activity.
Tom Heger
Tom Heger worked for Hewlett Packard for 33 years as an engineering and manufacturing manager. He is experienced at managing large product development projects as well as manufacturing projects such as product transfers to the Far East. He has recently retired and has become active in charitable activities such as Habitat for Humanity.
Stacy Plemmons
Stacy Plemmons capped a thirty-two year Information Technology and international business management career with three years of not-for-profit managment, studying the similarities, and differences in management leadership. During his 24 years with Hewlett-Packard he held senior leadership positions in international sales, marketing, and quality. His HP career included 6 years overseas. In India, as HP's only representative, and the only non-Indian in HP's joint venture, Stacy rebuilt a very tenuous partnership relationship and led a successful organizational restructuring, resulting in his being appointed Vice President and General Manager of HP's Computer Systems businesses India. His two years in Singapore, as Southeast Asia Complementary Products Region General Manager, resulted in his teams achieving the highest growth and profitability in Asia, and being among the top three teams worldwide. Returning the the US, Stacy spent one year as CEO of Village Earth, a Colorado-based not-for-profit that applies quality concepts and methodolgy to assist NGOs in attaining sustainable development worldwide. Fulfilling a long-term dream, in June 2002 he was appointed Country Director of the US Peace Corps in Samoa, wher he brought clarity of mission, vision and individual responsibility back to the forefront of Volunteer's service. Stacy currently teaches graduate seminars in Leadership Intelligence/Execution Competence and Operations Management, and continues to consult with small businesses and not-for-profit organizations in the areas of leadership, business strategy, organizational performance and mangement best practices. He is a member of Rotary International, and past International Services Director of the Rotary Club of Apia (Samoa).
VV Ramanan
V.V. Ramanan grew up in India and received a BSEE in 1971. He worked for various small engineering enterprises in India before moving to the Asia Pacific region to work for Hewlett-Packard Company. In 1984, he moved to the Loveland site of HP where he held various management positions. In 1993, he left to start a business consulting practice with focus on market research and business strategy development. In 1999, he co-founded a software consulting company with operations in Colorado and Bangalore, India and continues to manage this enterprise.
Krishna Murthy
Krishna C. Murthy, M.D. has been very active in conducting International and world community Asthma day camps in South India since 1987, as well as in Kenya, Africa. He has given new hope to more than 3,000 asthma patients in coping with their disease. He has given many seminars and lectures regarding asthma and allergies to public groups, physicians and at Mysore Medical College. Dr. Murthy is a pioneer in implementing various World Service projects through Rotary Matching Grants. So far, he has completed 46 matching grants and more than $450,000 has been funded. The projects have helped various health, school and social needs of various Rotary clubs in South India. Murthy has said, "Rotary International, the Fort Collins Breakfast Club, and RI District 5440 have been very supportive of these projects. Without the encouragement and financial support of the Rotarians of RI District 5440, such a task would only be a dream."