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IC Venture Fellows
To learn more about the venture fellows program, or connect with any of our recent fellows, please email molly@investorscircle.net
Spring 2010 Venture Fellows
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Christina Browne is a first-year MBA student at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business focusing on Entrepreneurial Studies and Finance. Prior to Ross, Christina worked at Deutsche Bank in Commodities Sales, focusing on metals, and in Integrated U.S. Oil Equity Research, focusing on refiners. Most recently, Christina did online marketing for Pro Mujer International, a nonprofit microfinance organization for entrepreneurial women in Latin America. Christina's long term goal is to lead a social enterprise, and in the short term she plans to build transferable skills through social impact investing. Christina holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University. |
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Charlotte Coultrap-Bragg is an MBA/MS candidate at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise with concentrations in Finance and Energy Systems. Before school, Charlotte worked for 4 years in environmental consulting for clients such as EPA, World Bank, and the European Commission on issues related to ozone depletion and climate change. Last summer, Charlotte interned with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in the Corporate Partnerships Program looking at potential companies for EDF to partner with. She received her A.B. from Dartmouth College in Environmental Studies.
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Rui (Frank) Fan is a current second year MBA student at Marshall Business School at University of Southern California. He will graduate at May 2010. He had experience in solar farm project development, LCD panel and solar module manufacturing process optimization, and semiconductor process R&D. His interests are investment and project development in renewable energy sector. He received his B.S. degree in Applied Physics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. |
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Kelvin Ho is a second-year MBA student at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where he specializes in market-based approaches to social and environmental sustainability. His career in social enterprise has seen him shape enterprise policy in Asia with the Singapore Economic Development Board, pioneer a nationwide training center for nonprofit management, and help develop scalable social businesses with Rubicon National Social Innovations. In his free time, Kelvin cooks and seeks out good beer.
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Dominic Hofstetter is finishing his MBA at the University of Chicago. A passion for clean tech led him to an internship with London-based Zouk Ventures where he was focused on the water treatment and waste management sectors. He is currently doing economic research for The Carbon War Room, a new climate change NGO. Dominic’s professional background spans nine years at Credit Suisse and includes multiple entrepreneurial ventures, among them Sequoia-backed Bump Technologies LLC. A Kauffman Fellows Finalist, Dominic is seeking an investment position at a clean tech venture capital firm. He is a citizen of Switzerland and fluent in English, German, and French. |
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Ashley Jablow is a second year MBA student at Boston University, concentrating in marketing and corporate social responsibility. Prior to business school, Ashley worked in nonprofit fundraising, marketing, and event planning for organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, Ashley interned in corporate philanthropy for Ocean Spray Cranberries where she created and implemented a 10-week internal communications and employee engagement program. Much of her MBA coursework has involved hands-on consulting projects for companies looking to develop/grow their CSR programs and engage stakeholders in sustainability conversations. In her spare time, Ashley writes a blog on CSR, social entrepreneurship and philanthropy called The Changebase (www.thechangebase.com). |
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Tracy Liu is an MBA candidate at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. She is currently working to implement a SEER (Social Ethical Environmental Responsibility) Certificate program into the Graziadio curriculum and is a founding program member of Graziadio Without Borders. She was also selected by the faculty to be a part of the Emerging Leaders Program for her class. She is an active member of her school’s Net Impact Chapter and is a National Association of Women MBAs 2009 Scholarship recipient. Prior to pursuing her MBA, she worked in acquisitions and earned her B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. |
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Jonathan Mariano is pursuing his MBA in Sustainable Management with the Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, CA. His background ranges the spectrum, from co-founding a start-up, Utorials.com, to leading technological change for an established nationwide home builder. His interests include the convergence between "lean & green" and pursuing free-market based sustainable solutions. |
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Anne Katharine Wales is a second year MBA student at Wake Forest University. Earlier, she graduated from Duke University in 2006 with a degree in public policy and working at Calvert Foundation promoting community investing, During her time at Wake Forest, she has served as Co-Chair of Net Impact and Project Nicaragua- a small business seminar, consulting and lending student group. Following graduation, she hopes to get involved in the non-profit consulting industry. |
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Napoleon Wallace is a UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA 2010 with an extensive background in finance, working as an investment banker and research analyst for Wachovia Capital Markets prior to returning to school. In returning to b-school, Napoleon sought to marry his passions for sustainability and finance, which he found in the emerging impact investing space. Over the past year he has taken a deep dive into the space, holding impact-focused engagements with HIP Investor, CSE Consulting and Gain of Geneva. In Spring 2009, Napoleon was named a Carolina Entrepreneurial Fellow, which afforded him the opportunity to work summer internships with SJF Advisory Services, the Natural Capital Investment Fund and GoGreenPlus.org. Napoleon is also active with the UNC Kenan-Flagler Net Impact Club, as the lead organizer of the 2009 Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition. |
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Jorge Luis Mas Saavedra served as Undersecretary of the Department of Commerce and Deputy Director of the Puerto Rico Trade Company for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. One of the leading national projects Jorge directed was a microlending program recognized by the United Nations entitled “The Key to your Business”. Prior to this, Jorge led a study for the microfinance firm ACCION New York to comprehend the informal lending markets of Hispanic communities. Currently, Jorge serves as the Fundraising and Outreach Chair for the Babson-Ashoka Changemaker Campus Initiative. Jorge is also a Representative for Net Impact and a Graduate Admissions Global Ambassador. |
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Herman Ng is a 2011 MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Concurrently, he is a Finance Manager at Google focusing on M&A and strategic investments in the internet, enterprise, and clean technology sectors. Prior to joining Google, Herman worked in the Transaction Services and Audit practices at KPMG LLP. He received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from California State University, Hayward and holds a CPA designation from the California Board of Accountancy. |
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David Famolari is a 2nd year MBA at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. David is a founder of GoodCompany Ventures, a nonprofit venture incubator meeting the needs of the emerging social enterprise sector. The GCV Incubator serves entrepreneurs developing scalable, profitable companies that address significant unmet social needs and connects them to a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, coaching from industry and academic experts and capital from early stage and angel investors. David is also a Senior Scientist in the Applied Research department of Telcordia Technologies where has spent the last 10 years creating and developing advanced, leading edge networking technologies with applications in the telecom, networking, energy and healthcare fields. He holds 16 U.S. patents with an additional 40 pending in the areas of mobile networking, Internet services, high-performance computing, and information processing. |
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Nicole Ballin is a South African native and second year MBA student at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. During her time at Haas, Nicole has focused her efforts on social enterprise and sustainability with an emphasis on water-related issues. Nicole is a West Coast Village Capital Fellow as the proud co-founder of Refill Revolution – a social enterprise that incentivizes green behavior through social media and gaming tools. Prior to Haas, Nicole worked at UBS and Deutsche Bank in derivative sales and trading before completing an internship with the Shared Interest Group focused on microfinance in South Africa. Most recently Nicole co-authored a white paper on a carbon credit financed, water purification enterprise in Rwanda and participated as a Wal-Mart Fellow on their employee engagement strategy. Nicole holds a B.A. in International Economics from UCLA. |
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Sarah Chapin is a second year MBA student at USC’s Marshall School of Business. After earning her BA in Economics from Occidental College, Sarah worked in international independent film sales and later in marketing and admissions in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation industry. While at Marshall, Sarah is focusing her studies on social entrepreneurship while giving back to the community through volunteer work with local non-profits, including Goodwill Southern California, The Pasadena Humane Society and Animal Advocacy Alliance. Sarah is currently working on a business plan to help privatize city and county animal shelters. She hopes to make a lasting contribution to society by leveraging business skills to create positive social change. |
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Anita Bhat is a first-year MBA at the Michigan Ross School of Business pursing concentrations in Social Entrepreneurship and Finance. Before returning to school, she helped manage the opening of Wells Fargo’s first international operations in Hyderabad (India) and moved on to apply lessons of corporate efficiencies to the social sector. Most recently she worked for the Chief Minister of Rajasthan (India) and led financial inclusion and livelihoods reforms for the state of 60 million citizens. Currently, Anita is an active member of the nation’s first student-run Social Venture Fund. She plans to continue her career finding commercially viable means to assist the poor in emerging markets. Anita completed her undergraduate studies from UC Berkeley with dual degrees in Business Administration and Political Economics. |
Fall 2009 Venture Fellows
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Julie Sammons is a San Francisco-based marketing strategist and founding partner of a creative communications firm that positions startup ventures for success in the new economy. Julie holds a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of California San Diego and is completing her M.B.A. in Sustainable Management at the Presidio Graduate School with a focus on information technology and social entrepreneurship. |
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Napoleon Wallace is a UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA 2010 with an extensive background in finance, working as an investment banker and research analyst for Wachovia Capital Markets prior to returning to school. In returning to b-school, Napoleon sought to marry his passions for sustainability and finance, which he found in the emerging impact investing space. Over the past year he has taken a deep dive into the space, holding impact-focused engagements with HIP Investor, CSE Consulting and Gain of Geneva. In Spring 2009, Napoleon was named a Carolina Entrepreneurial Fellow, which afforded him the opportunity to work summer internships with SJF Advisory Services, the Natural Capital Investment Fund and GoGreenPlus.org. Napoleon is also active with the UNC Kenan-Flagler Net Impact Club, as the lead organizer of the 2009 Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition. |
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Dominic Hofstetter is a rising 2nd-year student and the Ronald H. Coase Distinguished Fellow at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Over the summer, he worked at Zouk Ventures, a London-based venture capital and project finance firm focused on renewable energy. Prior to business school, Dominic spent a total of nine years at Credit Suisse, most recently as a fundraiser for the asset management division. While at Credit Suisse, he successfully started and grew two businesses. Dominic enjoys soccer and a good BBQ. |
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Tristan Handy is in his second year at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, focusing his efforts on early- to mid-stage cleantech ventures and venture capital. His background is in IT project management with Deloitte Consulting. Tristan spent this summer with GE’s Renewable Energy Leadership Program. He is the founder of SustainableCapitalism.org where he covers cleantech and the intersection of sustainability and information technology. |
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Sonsoles Navarro is a second year Haas MBA student. She received a MoS in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Pontificia Comillas - ICAI. After graduation, Sonsoles worked as a strategy consultant in a broad band of industries and countries. With a deep passion for social entrepreneurship Sonsoles decided to go to business school to gain expertise in the area. She is now finishing her internship at Ashoka Mexico. |
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Ashley Murphy held a variety of roles with Johnson&Johnson, before starting her MBA at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. While in school, she acts as Co-President of Pepperdine's chapter of the MBA Challenge for Charity and heads the partnership between her school's Net Impact chapter and MBAs Without Borders. Upon graduation, Ashley will pursue a career helping companies and organizations increase their positive social and environmental impact. |
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Katharine Wolf is dual degree candidate at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. After four years of investment banking with Deutsche Bank in New York and Paris, Katharine moved to Vietnam to set up a microfinance bank for the French NGO, Entrepreneurs du Monde. The bank now serves more than 1,000 clients. Katharine has spent this summer advising several start-up businesses in the social venture space and building her current start-up venture. |
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Purabi Thakre is a second year MDA student at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. After graduating from Nagpur University, India with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Purabi worked in environment consulting and policy advocacy where she implemented several projects in water and waste management for the local governments and development agencies such as World Bank and United Nations. Thereafter she moved to South Korea where she worked on developing Samsung Engineering's technology strategy for applications in emerging markets and steering their social and environmental sustainability efforts. At Haas, Purabi is actively involved in international development and sustainability through leadership positions with Global Initiatives and Net Impact clubs. |
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Katie Appel is an MBA/MS candidate at the University of Michigan's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. Her career focus is sustainability strategy in the food industry, with a particular interest in entrepreneurship, process analysis and enhancement, and aligning organizations to reach targets. Her internships have been with Chefs Collaborative, General Mills and C&S Wholesale Grocers, and she has advised several businesses on business plan development, marketing strategy, and competitive analysis. At school, Katie has served on the leadership board of Net Impact and the Wolverine Wine Club. Prior to Michigan, Katie worked in communications at an environmental nonprofit organization in Oakland, CA. |
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Luis Calderon is a second-year dual degree MBA/MS Erb at the Michigan Ross School of Business with emphases in Finance, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability. Prior to Michigan, Luis worked for over 9 years with consulting and startup companies. He is currently a team leader for the Wolverine Venture Fund, co-president of the Entrepreneur & Venture Club and a Zell Lurie Entrepreneurial Scholar. Luis spearheaded the creation of the Social Venture Fund at the Ross School of Business, the nation’s first socially focused student-run venture fund. He is also a founding member of Audiallo, a semiconductor technology startup. Luis spent the past summer working as a venture analyst for Early Stage Partners, a premier venture capital firm in the Mid-West. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia with a focus in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering. |
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Jessica Mennella is an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She has several years experience working in the finance industry across several areas including public finance, equity derivatives, and prime brokerage sales. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania where she earned a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of Business and a BA in History from the School of Arts and Sciences. |
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Gilad Meiri is one of the four founders of the newly formed Social Venture Fund at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Prior to Michigan, Gilad worked as a consultant in TASC, Israel’s largest strategic consultant firm and spent almost five years in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as an infantry commander and officer. Amongst the many odd things in his past Gilad is the author and publisher of an outdoors cookbook (in Hebrew) and spent two years backpacking throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He is currently a second year MBA candidate and holds a dual B.A degree in Economics and Education from the University of Tel-Aviv. |
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Debra-Ellen Glickstein has spent her career working to expand economic opportunities for New York City public housing residents. She co-founded and served as the founding Executive Director of the East River Development Alliance (ERDA) - a New York City non-profit organization that helps residents help themselves by providing college counseling, financial planning, and career training and job placement assistance. She is also a Co-Founder of the proposed ERDA Federal Credit Union and serves on its Board of Directors. Debra-Ellen is a proud City Year alumnus and 2004 recipient of the Hewlett Packard Leadership Award - City Year's highest alumni honor. Debra-Ellen earned her B.A. with honors from Wesleyan University and is working towards her MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business. |