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Arun Ramanathan
CEO at Pivot Learning
Professional Background
Dr. Arun Ramanathan is a distinguished leader in the field of education, currently serving as the CEO of Pivot Learning, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing educational outcomes across the United States. Under his guidance, Pivot Learning provides vital support and professional development in English Language Arts and Math, while also focusing on improving special education and implementation of effective prevention and intervention systems in schools, districts, and states nationwide. His extensive experience in educational leadership has positioned him as a vital advocate for closing the achievement gap and ensuring equitable access to quality education for all students.
Before his impactful role at Pivot Learning, Dr. Ramanathan held the prestigious position of Executive Director at the Education Trust-West. Here, he spearheaded efforts in policy advocacy and research to address and close the achievement and opportunity gaps faced by low-income students, students of color, and students with disabilities in California. His commitment to educational equity during this time significantly contributed to raising awareness and establishing strategies for systemic change.
In addition to his tenure at the Education Trust-West, Dr. Ramanathan served as the Chief Student Services Officer at San Diego Unified School District. In this role, he oversaw special education services, mental health, nursing, and counseling interventions, managing budgets exceeding $350 million. Throughout his career, he has been deeply committed to promoting inclusion within schools, elevating student achievement, and addressing disproportionate representation in special education, particularly among African-American students and English Learners. His prior experience includes serving as Research Director for the Modified Consent Decree with the Los Angeles Unified School District, which deepened his expertise in education policy and reform.
Dr. Ramanathan has shared his knowledge and insights through various platforms, including contributing opinion editorial pieces on educational subjects in California and beyond. His voice has been amplified through appearances on NPR and local radio and television stations. Furthermore, he has been a sought-after keynote speaker and expert panelist at numerous educational conferences, facilitating meaningful discussions on pressing educational issues.
Education and Achievements
Dr. Arun Ramanathan's educational journey is marked by a strong commitment to both academic excellence and practical application in the field of education. He began by earning his Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Government from Dartmouth College, which provided him with a solid foundation in the principles of governance and public policy. From there, he went on to pursue a Master's degree in Education at Boston College's Lynch School of Education, specializing in Elementary and Special Education. This advanced degree equipped him with the tools and pedagogical strategies necessary to support diverse learners, particularly those with special needs.
Dr. Ramanathan furthered his academic pursuits by earning a Ph.D. in Administration, Policy, and Social Planning from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. His doctoral research and scholarly contributions focus on education policy and its implications for social equity, reflecting his dedication to driving positive change in the educational landscape.
Personal Life
Beyond his professional endeavors, Dr. Ramanathan is also a proud immigrant to the U.S. and an English Learner himself, experiences that have significantly shaped his perspective and fueled his passion for advocating for students in similar circumstances. He shares his life with his wife, Indelisa Carrillo, a dedicated teacher of English Learners, and together they are raising two daughters, aged 14 and 16. Dr. Ramanathan's family values education and community service, which he aims to instill in his children as they navigate their own academic journeys.
Achievements
- Leading Pivot Learning: As the CEO of Pivot Learning, Dr. Ramanathan has expanded the organization's impact on educational practices and outcomes nationwide.
- Education Advocacy: At the helm of the Education Trust-West, he played a pivotal role in shaping policies that addressed the concerns of marginalized communities and improved educational equity in California.
- Diverse Experience in Education: His background encompasses various roles within the educational sector, from Chief Student Services Officer to Research Director, showcasing his comprehensive understanding of the education system and its challenges.
- Public Speaking and Media Engagement: His contributions to public discourse on educational topics through media appearances and speaking engagements have made him a revered thought leader in the field.
- Board Memberships: Dr. Ramanathan's active participation on several non-profit boards reflects his commitment to fostering social change and improving educational practices and standards.
In conclusion, Dr. Arun Ramanathan stands as a prominent figure in the realm of education, distinguished by his advocacy for students and dedication to inclusive practices. His educational credentials, extensive experience, and personal journey underline a deeply rooted commitment to improving educational opportunities for all learners. As he continues his work at Pivot Learning and beyond, Dr. Ramanathan remains a beacon of hope and a powerful advocate for systemic change in the education landscape.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.