Jacob brings over two decades of experience at the intersection of policy, philanthropy, and on-ground implementation across livelihoods, natural resource governance, criminal justice reform, climate resilience, and agricultural value chains. He holds a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, an LLM in International Development Law and Human Rights from the University of Warwick, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Law from the National Law School of India. This unusual combination of economic rigour and legal grounding shapes how he approaches complex social problems- analytically precise, institutionally fluent, and always attentive to the structural conditions that determine whether change actually holds.
Before co-founding Aline, Jacob served as Portfolio Manager at Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, where he led the design of new portfolios on criminal justice and water governance, and headed the Effects and Learning function across the foundation's programmes. Earlier, he helped build Just Change India, one of India's earliest farmer producer companies, and has since worked with organisations including GIZ India, MacArthur Foundation, SELCO Foundation, Growald Climate Fund, Centre for Catalysing Change, and Partners for Law in Development. He has also taught economics and finance as a Visiting Professor at Sai University, and delivered a TEDx talk at IIM Ranchi on farmer-led enterprises and systems change.
Jacob is the steady presence that keeps a team honest and grounded. Thoughtful and measured in everything he does, he draws on experience across people, places, and sectors that few can match. Equally at ease in a boardroom with senior leaders or a field setting with communities, he bridges different worlds without losing the thread. His network is wide and genuinely alive, built on real, sustained relationships rather than passing acquaintances. And every so often, he will quietly drop an idea that reframes the entire conversation.
