Empact Showcase List

Rishi U. Shah, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Contextmedia, is a successful media and technology entrepreneur. Rishi started ContextMedia in 2006 to help patients with chronic diseases live healthier through contextually relevant media services. The company’s DOOH networks and mobile media offerings are now used by over a million patients monthly and the firm’s clients include more than half of the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies. Rishi advises several early stage companies and serves on the Board of Directors of many civic organizations including the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for Student Business Education at Northwestern University and serves as a mentor for Chicago’s technology start-up incubator, Excelerate Labs. He was recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business as a member of their 40-Under-40 class in 2009 and is an active member of the Executives Club of Chicago, the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and the Illinois Technology Association. He is past founder of the Northwestern Business Review, a Northwestern University-based collaborative publication distributed to more than 60 leading campuses nationwide. Prior to that, he founded a home computer consulting firm whose clients were acquired by Best Buy. Rishi has also founded several non-profit initiatives at the intersection of youth, education and media including the Urban-Suburban Domestic Exchange Initiative, a program sponsored by the Gates foundation to facilitate cross-school interaction.

• Age: 38
• Ethnicity: South Asian

ContextMedia co-founder Shradha Agarwal has always had a passion for communication. While building this media company from the ground up, Shradha looks at their patient care media platforms as existing for a social benefit. She helped brand the company as for-benefit, marrying the concept of a successful for-profit enterprise that exists for social benefit. While merging her expertise in marketing and media, Shradha makes sure ContextMedia keeps up with the latest in product development strategies throughout various technologies. A broadcast journalism alum from the Medill School at Northwestern University with a concentration in economics and international relations, she was also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Northwestern Business Review, a national business publication still in circulation. She was featured by the NU Alumni Association as 1 of 30 most promising graduates in her class of 2,000 students. Shradha's first experience with entrepreneurship was also a go at sharing information seamlessly - she started her own library when in 4th grade. Her initiative to form a Science Club in 8th Grade fulfilled her quest for experiential learning, a strategy she helped develop for business education at Northwestern. Her passion is personnel development, from education policy to organizational culture - she believes in creating the right environment for a talented group of people to execute on a common purpose. Having attended a United Nations high school in Singapore, Shradha believes in the power of media and communication to solve real problems globally, but also credits the strength of a vision to its smart execution. Shradha speaks often on the topics of entrepreneurship and organizational development and enjoys mentoring and investing in dreamers and achievers.

• Age: 38
• Ethnicity: South Asian