Speaker Bios

Paulie Anthony, Director of Marketing
e-Cycle

Paulie Anthony is the Director of Marketing for e-Cycle LLC, a global leader in enterprise wireless mobile buyback, recycling, and data security. Founded in 2005, e-Cycle is the only e-Stewards Certified mobile buyback and recycling company in the U.S. e-Cycle was recently ranked the #5 fastest-growing environmental services company in the U.S. by Inc. and the #68 Most Promising Company in America by Forbes. Anthony has a BA specializing in Journalism and Public Relations and a MS specializing in Marketing and Communications from The Ohio State University. He is the co-founder of the Green Team volunteer environmental cleanup group in Columbus, Ohio. He is an environmental-protection advocate and frequently blogs and contributes magazine byline articles on topics including responsible mobile reuse and recycling, e-Stewards, e-waste, and end-of-life mobile data protection.

Shawn Basak, Consultant
Mission Measurement (*Session Moderator)

Shawn Basak approaches his work from the perspective of a consumer: Who in the marketplace values the social impact his clients aim to create? How can his clients better understand social drivers of consumer behavior to more efficiently deliver the benefit of social change? As a Consultant with Mission Measurement, Shawn leverages this consumer perspective for corporations, government agencies and nonprofit clients. To do so, he works with clients to determine the kind of impact they are uniquely positioned to create and then develops socially meaningful business strategies to maximize this impact. His prior client work includes PricewaterhouseCoopers, Starbucks Coffee Company and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Prior to joining Mission Measurement, Shawn worked at The Cambridge Group, a growth strategy consulting firm. He served numerous Fortune 500 companies across the retail, consumer products and financial services industries, providing his clients with a deep understanding of unmet consumer demand. Now, he's able to apply an expertise in consumer behavior, brand positioning and analytical consulting to help his clients create real business value and lasting social impact.

He serves as the Director of Measurement for Fields of Growth International, a sport-based community development organization and has previously served on the executive board of Pivot Nonprofit Consulting, a volunteer organization providing pro-bono strategy consulting to nonprofits. In addition, he has interned with One Economy Corporation, Teach For America and the Office of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. He graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Social Policy and Political Science.

Jason Bauer, Director, Private Sector Development
Millennium Challenge Corporation

Jason Bauer is responsible for developing and overseeing the implementation of programs that create innovative and collaborative mechanisms to leverage MCC investments through private sector partnerships, increase private sector investment and trade opportunities produced by MCC investments, and generate opportunities for firms to leverage their corporate social responsibility funds. Previously at MCC, he was an Associate Country Director for Namibia and The Gambia, and was responsible for assisting with project management and coordination throughout the Compact development and documentation process. Prior to joining MCC, he was an associate with OTF Group, where he worked with private and public sector leaders on a range of strategy issues, including competitiveness building, and economic cluster initiatives. Previously, at the World Bank, he worked in projects relating to microcredit, SMEs and rural finance. He also was a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa consulting on small enterprise development. He has a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business from Cambridge University. He holds an MBA from the Johnson School of Business at Cornell University as a Michael Torphy scholar. He earned a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Drew Bewick, Managing Director
Tree House Ventures (*Business Plan Competition Judge)

UMD Alumnus

Drew Bewick brings more than 20 years of experience involving the most challenging issues where technology and innovation intersect. As Managing Director of Tree House Ventures, LLC, he serves as an advisor to multiple companies and non-profit organizations assisting visionary innovators launch successful ventures by discovering opportunities and using entrepreneurial principles to organize, launch, and manage a successful venture to make an impact. He’s also a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington, D.C., and an Entrepreneur Coach at the Northern Virginia Technology Center.

He served as chairman of a number of technology boards and councils in government, and in 2007 was recognized by the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government as a leader who demonstrated collaborations which cross the boundaries of organizations and sectors in developing linkages to the private sector and evaluating their worth for public purposes. He’s participated in more than 30 equity investments into technology companies across three stages of enterprise development–seed, early stage and growth in emerging computing, wireless, renewable energy, and communications.

He is a graduate of the American University and the University of Maryland, where he co-founded the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs.

Mrim Boutla, Co-Founder
More than Money Careers

Dr. Mrim Boutla is a brain scientist turned career coach turned social entrepreneur. Her career transition process blends her extensive knowledge of the brain (PhD and 10 years of experience in cognitive neuroscience with her 6 years of career coaching experience at an Ivy League University and a Top 15 MBA Program. She is the co-Creator of the More Than Money League (with Dr. Mark Albion), a 6-week self-paced online course designed for working management professionals interested in competing for opportunities in corporate social responsibility, social enterprise, or non-profit management. She also blogs on responsible careers for JustMeans.com. She earned her Bsc in Psychology from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and her MA and PhD In brain and cognitive sciences from the University of Rochester.

Stephanie Bridges, Senior Portfolio Associate
Acumen Fund

As a Portfolio Senior Associate in New York, Stephanie Bridges focuses on the health sector. She works with the country teams to provide management support to existing portfolio investments, as well as to identify and conduct diligence on new areas of investment opportunity. Before joining Acumen Fund in May 2011, she worked as a management consultant with Monitor Group. While most recently based in Monitor’s South Africa office, she managed teams researching and analyzing inclusive markets in East and West Africa for the report “Promise and Progress,” released May 2011. Prior to that, she worked in Monitor’s New York, Dubai and London offices supporting corporate strategy development. She graduated from Harvard University with honors, earning her B.A. in English and American Language and Literature.

Laura Bruce, Project Finance – Senior Manager
SunEdison

Laura Bruce is a Senior Manager with SunEdison’s U.S. Project Finance group where she focuses on identifying, negotiating and executing financing for SunEdison’s U.S. utility-scale pipeline. In this role, she has secured construction debt and tax equity for over 65 megawatts of rooftop and ground mount PV projects. Prior to SunEdison, she worked for the World Bank Carbon Funds developing greenhouse gas reduction projects in developing countries. She has also consulted on strategy, finance, and policy in the energy sector for electric utilities, startups, VCs and non-profits. She holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an MBA and MS from the Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.

Alex Budak, Co-Founder
StartSomeGood.com

Alex Budak is a social entrepreneur and travel writer. He’s the co-founder of StartSomeGood.com, a platform for helping social good initiatives raise funds and grow a community of supporters.

He received an MPP from Georgetown University and a B.A. from UCLA where he didn’t miss a single home basketball game.

Richard Caperton, Director of Clean Energy Investment
Center for American Progress

Richard W. Caperton is the Director of Clean Energy Investment at American Progress. In this role, he leads the Energy Opportunity team’s work on renewable energy finance, electricity markets, and clean energy infrastructure. His work focuses on designing tools that will encourage private investment in clean energy, such as tax policies and government credit programs. He also works on electric utility issues, with a particular interest in making sure that government regulation of electricity markets enables growth of the clean energy economy. He has testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives and is regularly quoted in the press on these issues.

Prior to joining American Progress, he was a policy fellow at the Alliance for Climate Protection, where he performed economic impact analyses of proposed climate legislation. He previously worked in government relations at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. While with NRECA, he helped develop new grassroots advocacy programs that increased participation in the organization’s political action committee by 20 percent.

He is a native of rural America, growing up in Virginia and Missouri. He received his M.B.A. from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and a BA in politics from Pomona College.

Norberto P. Chaclin
Director, Corporate R&D Strategy, PepsiCo

Norberto P. Chaclin is a Director in Corporate R&D Strategy and has been with PepsiCo since 2000 in various roles in product development, innovation, Global R&D Strategy and business development. Most recently Norberto lead PepsiCo’s under nutrition business development initiative, which resulted in the pilot launch of Lehar Iron Chusti (iron fortified snacks) in India. Norberto currently facilitates PepsiCo’s Human Sustainability initiatives.

He has an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University. He is a native of Curacao in the Dutch Caribbean and currently lives in White Plains, NY.

Matt Cullinen, Senior Associate, Research & Intelligence
Carbon War Room

Matt Cullinen is a senior associate in research and intelligence at Carbon War Room (CWR). Prior to working with CWR, he worked in electoral politics conducting policy and opposition research for several candidates, including Sen. Gillibrand, and most recently as deputy policy director for Reshma Saujani, candidate for U.S. Congress. In this capacity he directed political and opposition research activities, developed policy positions on local and national issues, composed policy literature for publication in a variety of mediums, provided briefings and advice to the candidate, and drafted legislation on a full range of issues including creation of a federal innovation fund to increase investment in renewable energy.

Previously, he worked for a political and market research firm in New York on projects ranging from public opinion in Afghanistan for clients such as the Department of Defense, to studies on the effects of aquaculture in South Asia for World Wildlife Fund.

He holds an MA in international relations from New York University where he studied Islamic radicalism in Western Europe and the rise of the far-right in European politics. While attending graduate school he was associate editor of the Journal of Political Inquiry. He received his BA in political science and philosophy from Indiana University - Bloomington.

Jennifer Deng-Pickett, Vice President
Collaborative Communications Group

UMD Alumnus

Jennifer Deng-Pickett is a vice president at Collaborative. Her expertise includes facilitation, training, strategic planning, and partnership and resource development. She works with clients to build the capacity of community members to be the leaders, facilitators and conveners of community discussions related to advancing the quality of life and creating innovative community-driven solutions for public education, youth, families and communities.

At Collaborative, she works with United Way Worldwide, the National Academy Foundation (a secondary school reform effort) and has helped to spearhead the development of community-based organizations to support public education issues. She has successfully led teams working to secure government funding, as in her experience in writing the Denver Public School’s Investing in Innovation grant application that won $25 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Education. Deng-Pickett recently created an engagement and communications framework to help communities around the world think about community engagement in strategic alignment with organizational goals.

She joined Collaborative after years of working in the nonprofit sector, most recently as the Director of the D.C. Language Access Coalition, a Washington, D.C., organization that monitors civil rights compliance for non-English speaking immigrants in D.C. At the D.C. Language Access Coalition, she provided executive leadership to an organization engaged in policy advocacy, grassroots organizing, facilitation, foundation fundraising and leadership development. Her leadership was exemplified in promoting and strengthening collaboration, and co-creating and executing strategic vision among diverse stakeholders.

Bill Drayton, CEO and Founder
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Bill Drayton, CEO and founder of Ashoka, has played a major part in defining social entrepreneurship, and has been a social entrepreneur himself since he was a New York City elementary school student. Influenced by the strong public service values that run deep in the history of both his parents’ families, the rich diversity and openness of life in Manhattan, and America's deep cultural concern with equity, which flourished during the Civil Rights years, he was motivated to plant Ashoka's earliest roots.

With depending commitments to civil rights and inequity throughout high school and college, once at Harvard and Oxford Bill asked "What can I do?" Fully appreciating how central to significant change ("development") entrepreneurs are, his answer was the Ashoka idea.

Founded in 1980 as a venture capitalist supporting change in the world with a global operating budget of US$50,000, Ashoka’s budget has risen to around US$40 million. Today, Ashoka is active in more than 70 countries and supports the work of over 2,000 Fellows – social entrepreneurs it helps from the start-up phase onward. The Ashoka community includes those who are now thoroughly proven social entrepreneurs, such as the Nobel Prize laureate and founder of Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus.

He has served as Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and served briefly also in the White House. He taught law and management at Stanford Law School and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and is presently involved as board chair of Get America Working! and Youth Venture, both major strategic innovations for the public good. He has received many awards for his achievements and most recently in 2005, was selected as one of America's Best Leaders by U.S.News & World Report and Harvard's Center for Public Leadership.

Seth Dunn, Renewables Policy Leader for the Americas
GE Energy

Seth Dunn is Renewables Policy Leader for the Americas at GE Energy. In this role he is responsible for assessing and advocating renewable energy policies at the federal, state, and provincial levels. Dunn is GE’s point of contact with AWRA regional partners and serves on the Board of Wind on the Wires and the Interwest Energy Alliance. He also leads a Global Renewables Policy Team covering Europe, China, India, and Australia.

He joined GE in 2005 with the Renewable Energy Leadership Program and prior to GE served as a policy researcher with the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C.

Marguerite Farrell, Health Officer and the Private Sector Team Leader
USAID Global Health Bureau

Marguerite Farrell is a Health Officer and the Private Sector Team Leader in the Service Delivery Improvement Division, in USAID's Global Health Bureau, Office of Population and Reproductive Health. In addition to serving as the Chair of the Graduation Working Group, she is the Agreement Officer Technical Representative (AOTR) for the Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) Project. She is also AOTR for the Support for International Family Planning Organizations (SIFPO) projects with Marie Stopes International and Population Services International and for a Collaboration Agreement with Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceutical.

She previously served as a Technical Advisor for the Commercial Market Strategies project and as a Senior Technical Advisor for HIV/AIDS and Family Planning for the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Bureau at USAID. She has worked for Development Associates, the Futures Group International, Project Hope and Margaret Sanger Center International on a UNFPA funded project in the Philippines, as well as Planned Parenthood. In addition to family planning and reproductive health, Ms. Farrell has worked in child survival and HIV/AIDS and has expertise in private sector health, health leadership and management, evaluation, and reproductive health training and quality assurance. She graduated from Brown University with a BA in International Relations and received her MSc from Harvard University School of Public Health in International Health Policy and Management.

Matt Ferguson, J.D., Principal
Reznick Group

Matt Ferguson is a principal based in the firm's Tysons Corner office. A seasoned professional, he has more than 16 years of experience promoting renewable energy through business transactions and policy development, he is involved in the development of this practice which includes advising clients on energy-related transactions such as matching renewable projects with tax equity investors, raising capital, mergers and acquisitions within the renewable energy sector, maximizing public policy to promote and reward low-carbon solutions, and helping current clients with energy tax credit financing.

Prior to joining Reznick Group, he served as Director and General Tax Counsel for UPS and was responsible for initiating UPS's energy strategy which included executing investment transactions in renewable energy, coordinating energy efficiency facility upgrades and green building development, creating energy-related products and mitigating business risk related. He closed over $1 billion of alternative investments including interests in affordable housing limited partnerships. His project finance and transaction experience includes the issuance or redemption of financial instruments such as facility industrial revenue bonds, cross-border aircraft leases, initial public offering advisory, tax planning and business development structuring, merger and acquisition counsel, and real estate investment trust formation.

Heather Fleming, Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Catapult Design

Heather Fleming is a designer, an engineer, and an entrepreneur motivated by social inequality. In 2005, she led a volunteer group of engineers and designers focused on humanitarian design projects via a professional chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Three years later she co-founded Catapult Design in San Francisco to make design and technical capacity accessible to entrepreneurs and organizations working within disadvantaged communities. Heather is a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow, a program aimed at high-potential young leaders with new approaches for transformational impact and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

She previously worked in the Silicon Valley product development consulting world and has nine years of experience working with multi-disciplinary teams to design, develop, and deliver product solutions for a diverse range of companies. She was also previously an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University in the Mechanical Engineering department and a Senior Lecturer at California College of the Arts in the Industrial Design department. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Navajo Chamber of Commerce on the Navajo Nation and chairs a committee within ASME’s Engineering for Global Development initiative. Heather has a BS in Product Design from Stanford University.

Dahna Goldstein, Founder
PhilanTech LLC (*Business Plan Competition Judge)

Dahna Goldstein, Founder of PhilanTech, LLC, develops web-based applications for the nonprofit sector, and has worked for venture philanthropies, including Ashoka and Blue Ridge Foundation New York. She also produced interactive eLearning programs, including the award-winning "What Is a Leader?" program, for Harvard Business School Publishing and Global Education Network. She holds a BA from Williams College, a Master of Education degree, with a concentration in technology, from Harvard University, and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. She is on the board of JustGive.org and was recently named one of BusinessWeek’s 25 Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs.

Darius Graham, Co-founder
DC Social Innovation Project (*Business Plan Competition Judge)

Darius Graham is co-founder of DC Social Innovation Project, a non-profit providing funding and resources for creative, new initiatives that address pressing social issues in Washington, D.C. He was previously an associate in the corporate restructuring practice group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. He has served on the board of directors of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship in Washington, D.C., and the Donald P. McCullum Youth Court in Oakland, CA. He was selected to serve as a judge for Tom’s of Maine’s inaugural 50 States for Good initiative where he helped select innovative local non-profits to share a $100,000 prize. In 2010, he was appointed by the mayor to serve on the District of Columbia Commission on National & Community Service. He is author of the award-winning book, Being the Difference: True Stories of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things to Change the World. He received a BA summa cum laude from Florida A&M University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley - School of Law.

Morgan Greenhouse, Founder and CEO
VerdeHouse

Morgan Greenhouse founded The verdeHOUSE, LLC to both enhance the urban fabric of Washington, D.C., and to foster a more symbiotic relationship between creative and corporate communities. In her previous professional experience, she held diverse roles within architecture, interiors, space planning and sustainability consulting at Gensler, a global architecture and design firm. She is a LEED accredited professional and is responsible for the overall growth and strategic direction of verdeHOUSE, maximizing effective impact on urban real estate and culture. She is a native Washingtonian and is continually engaged with and committed to growing the local arts community. Her professional and social networks specific to the Washington, D.C., metro area, have been invaluable to the growth of verdeHOUSE. She studied the history of art and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Grovic, General Partner
New Markets Venture Partners

Mark Grovic co-founded New Markets Venture Partners in 2003 and is a General Partner. He serves or has served on the Board of Directors for Innovative Biosensors, Lightningcast (sold to NYSE: TWX), Moodlerooms and Workspace.com. Mark also serves as a board observer for Aldagen, Andera, BioSET, Overture Technologies, Paratek Microwave, Questar Assessment, and Vision Chain.

He has been investing in high growth companies since 1992. Prior to New Markets, he was a Portfolio Manager for the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF), a $200 million managed emerging market venture capital company, a Director of Estonia-based Baltic Small Equity Fund, a Co-Founder and Principal of the Templeton Emerging Europe Fund, as Principal of Templeton Direct Advisors, and a Portfolio Manager of Private Equities at the Calvert Group.

He is a VC in Residence and Professor of Venture Capital and Ethics at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland (UMD). He has 10 years’ experience in higher education as an instructor and advisor to entrepreneurship and technology commercialization, serves on numerous technology transfer, incubator, and entrepreneurship committees in the mid-Atlantic, and has twice earned awards for his instruction at UMD and at Howard University. He is also a Board Director of the Baltimore Chapter of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and Emerson Preparatory High School in Washington, D.C.

He graduated with Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in Political Economies and received a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University, where his focus was in international, tax, and corporate law. Mark has also completed graduate work in accounting and finance at the George Washington University and Pace University.

Julie Keough, CEO and Co-Founder
E-Structors, Inc.

UMD Alumnus

Julie Keough is the CEO and co-founder of E-Structors, Inc., an electronics recycling Facility located in Elkridge, Maryland. E-Structors provides information destruction and electronics recycling services to government, healthcare, financial, and private businesses across the nation. They were the first electronics recycling facility in the Mid-Atlantic to become certified to the Responsible Recycling “R2” and ISO 14001:2004 standards.

She earned her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland and her master’s in business administration from Loyola University. She is passionate about growing the business, promoting corporate philanthropy and social responsibility, and empowering others. In addition to making E-Structors, Inc. one of the fastest growing companies in Baltimore, she has pioneered workforce programs that provide career pathways to populations with barriers to employment. She serves on the Howard County Board to Promote Self-Sufficiency and has established partnerships with organizations such as Our Daily Bread Employment Center, Grassroots, and Humanim.

E-Structors has won many awards from private organizations and state offices for their business growth, environmentalism, and social responsibility. In 2011 they were recognized as one of Baltimore’s fastest growing businesses by the Inc. 5000, the Baltimore Business Journal and the Maryland State Comptroller’s Office, for environmentalism by the Maryland Department of the Environment, and for social responsibility by the MD Chamber of Commerce, Our Daily Bread Employment Center, and The Chesapeake Human Resources Association.

Amy Kincaid, Founder and Principal
ChangeMatters, Benefit LLC

Amy Kincaid is Founder and Principal of ChangeMatters, Benefit LLC, a social enterprise consultancy that works with both tax-exempt social enterprises and socially-responsible businesses. The first Benefit Company formed in the State of Maryland and in the United States, ChangeMatters provides strategy, planning, funding, social media, and philanthropy services at critical points of growth, turnaround, and renewal, and is recognized as an organizer and educator in the movement to encourage “common good enterprise.”

She has directed development efforts for the International Research and Exchanges Board, First Nations Development Institute, Center for Women’s Business Research, and Bethesda Green and developed the grantmaking program for the first foundation in the former Soviet Union. Amy has raised well over $65 million for organizations through grantwriting, earned revenue, individual giving and capital campaigns. Her firm has developed strategy and business plans for local and international organizations such as Arts on the Block, Bailey’s Crossroads Health Access Project, The Eurasia Foundation, Gandhi Brigade, Institute for Musical Traditions, Seasons of Life Birth Center.

She has presented and facilitated hundreds of training events on organizational planning, strategy, program design, resource development, financial turnarounds, benefit corporations, and social ventures. She is a reader for the William James Foundation business plan competition. Also an exhibiting visual artist, Amy curates a local exhibit and performance space and chairs Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

Anahi Ayala Lacucci
Crowdsourcing and Information Specialist, The World Bank
Media Innovation Advisor, Internews

Anahi Ayala Lacucci holds a Master degree from Colombia University – School of International and Public Affairs, a BA in International Affairs from the University of Bologna and a Master in Human Rights from the University of Padova. She has consulted for NGOs and international organizations on the use of the ICT4D, new technologies and crisis mapping: she advised the UN OCHA Iraq Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit, the NGO Alliance Guinea, Freedom House in Egypt, the World Bank in Zambia and Ushahidi Inc. in China. She is currently Crowdsourcing and Information Specialists for the World Bank and Media Innovation Advisor for Internews in the Africa Region, covering Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, and Republic of South Sudan.

Mike Mallinoff, City Manager
City of Anapolis

UMD Alumnus

No bio available.

 

Shirley Marcus Allen
Partner, Venture Philanthropy Partners

Shirley Marcus Allen has been a Partner with Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP) for the past eight years. Venture Philanthropy Partners is a high engagement philanthropic investment firm which provides significant multi-year growth capital and strategic management support to nonprofits serving children and youth of low-income families in the National Capital Region. VPP has adapted the relevant principles of private investment firms and applied them for investing in the nonprofit sector. In her role as Partner, she has managed a multi-million dollar portfolio of nonprofit organizations, conducted due diligence and analysis of investment criteria to select high performing philanthropic investments, assisted in the creation of growth-oriented business plans, structured investment parameters, and provided strategic advice designed to assist nonprofit organizations in achieving their proposed social outcomes. Most recently, she has worked directly with the President/CEO to advance VPP’s mission through development of strategic partnerships, and is responsible for on-going relationship management and the generation of match funding to support VPP’s Social Innovation Fund initiative, youthCONNECT.

Prior to joining VPP, for 11 years she was the Vice President of Membership Services at the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) with responsibility for six regional offices throughout the country and ensuring the connectedness of over 1,100 public and private member agencies through the development of numerous conferences, trainings, and convenings annually. After having spent a number of years in senior level positions in Maryland local and state government working on behalf of low-income children and youth, in 1988 she was appointed by the former Mayor of Baltimore City and the former Governor of the State of Maryland as the Director of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. In that position, she was responsible for city-wide social services, income maintenance, and child support, managing a workforce of 2,500 employees and an operating budget of $400 million, serving over 200,000 low income and/or at-risk Baltimore City individuals. She has an undergraduate degree in sociology from Morgan State University and a graduate degree in public administration from the University of Baltimore. She is a member of the board of the National Human Services Assembly, National Advisory Committee for the Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program, and a member of the Morgan State University Board of Regents.

Tim McCollum, Co-Founder
Madecasse Chocolate

Tim McCollum is the co-founder of Madécasse Chocolate. Madécasse Chocolate is one of the only fine chocolates made entirely in Africa. In 2011, Madécasse was named one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the world by Fast Company Magazine. Both their chocolate and their unique approach to business has been critically acclaimed by the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Food & Wine Magazine. Prior to Madécasse, Tim worked at The American Express Company and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar.

Manmeet Mehta, Program Officer
Global Giving

Manmeet Mehta builds new social sector partnerships and runs the Crowdsourcing Social Innovation program for GlobalGiving. This program invites social entrepreneurs to experiment with, deepen and integrate online fundraising strategies in their organizations' activities. This program includes new partnerships with youth social entrepreneurs. With a background in Economics and graduate degrees in Development as well as Business Administration, she has nearly 7 years of experience in the private and philanthropic sectors in India and the U.S. Between 2002 and 2005 she worked with HSBC, The Taj Group & the Khemka Foundation in India. She has previously worked with Ashoka in Washington, D.C.

Carmen Niethammer, Operations Officer, Strategy and Knowledge,
Women in Business (WIN) Program
IFC

Carmen Niethammer is responsible for Strategy and Knowledge in IFC's Women in Business Program, which is charged with creating opportunities for women as leaders, entrepreneurs and employees in developing countries. She also served as IFC's focal point for the World Bank Group's Gender Action Plan where she led the private sector development market portfolio.

In partnership with the Global Reporting Institute (GRI), she co-authored a Practitioner's Guide on 'Gender and Sustainability Reporting' which was published in Chinese, English, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish. She served as member on the Global Reporting Initiative's Gender Working Group that made recommendations for updates to GRI's G3 Sustainability Reporting Framework. Launched in March 2011, the new guidance is the most comprehensive sustainability reporting guidance available today. Carmen has initiated and successfully helped institutionalize IFC's work on development impact tracking by gender.

Previously, she was the Gender Program Manager with IFC Advisory Services in the Middle East and North Africa, based in Cairo, where she led the team that provides technical solutions to growth-oriented small and medium female-owned enterprises. Among others, she managed the publication of "Women's Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa Region: Characteristics, Contributions & Challenges," a report that has been translated into Arabic.

She joined IFC from the World Bank, where she was an Operations Officer in the Office of the MENA Chief Economist. Prior to joining the World Bank Group in 1999, Carmen was an Aid Coordinator as part of the UN Resident Coordinator System in Sana'a, Yemen. Carmen is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Eduard Niesten, Director, Conservation Stewards Program
Conservation International

Dr. Eduard Niesten directs Conservation International’s Conservation Stewards Program. During his 10 years of work at Conservation International he has focused on designing and implementing incentive-based interventions that advance conservation and human wellbeing. He has worked on conservation agreements and related tools in more than 20 countries in South and Central America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Island region. In addition, his research efforts have produced a broad range of publications comparing the relative strengths and weaknesses of various conservation approaches. He earned his PhD in Applied Economics from Stanford University in 1998.

Clayton Ogg, Director, Conservation Economics and Finance
Defenders of Wildlife

Clay Ogg worked for many years at U.S. Department of Agriculture and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doing research and managing research, organizing symposia, working on strategic initiatives, and participating on teams that created actual programs. His analysis focused on creation the Conservation Reserve (CRP), Conservation Compliance, and Swampbuster Programs, as well as on creation of CRP’s Continuous Sign-Up Program, on fertilizer management initiatives, and on severing the link between program payments and input use. Current work at Defenders of Wildlife focuses on incentives and markets for ecosystem services.

Robert Peck
World Cocoa Foundation

Robert Peck joined WCF in 2003 and has played an important role in the growth of the Foundation from an organization with an annual budget of less than a million dollars to its current annual budget of over $12 million dollars. He is responsible for the day to day operations, budget management, fundraising efforts and executing contractual arrangements with Partners and Consultants. He has traveled to most cocoa producing countries in Latin America and assists on program development efforts and new partnership opportunities the Western Hemisphere.

Prior to joining the World Cocoa Foundation, he worked at the Leveraged Finance Department at CIBC World Markets where he helped project teams finding alternative funding options on several deals. For four years he directed environmental programs for a government agency in Colombia, South America.

He holds an MBA and a Masters in Public Policy degree from Georgetown University and a BS in Agricultural Studies from Iowa State University.

Jennifer Pope, Deputy Director, SIFPO
Population Services International

UMD Alumnus

Tom Reynolds, Director of Education Services (*Moderator)
Maryland Municipal League

Tom Reynolds is Director of Education Services at the Maryland Municipal League. The Maryland Municipal League is a non-profit organization representing all the incorporated cities and towns in Maryland. His primary responsibilities relate to the development and coordination of local government training programs. He also provides research assistance to municipal elected officials and in support of the League’s legislative program. In addition, Mr. Reynolds teaches classes for the Academy for Excellence in Local Governance and serves as coordinator for the MML’s conflict resolution program.

He was previously a government consultant at the Institute for Governmental Service at the University of Maryland and a former councilmember with the Town of Berwyn Heights, MD. He has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Miami, an MA in political science from Rutgers University.

Kirill Reznik
Maryland House of Representatives Delegate, District 39, Montgomery County

Kirill Reznik has been a member of House of Delegates since October 2, 2007.  His professional experience includes working in international development and foreign aid programs since 1994. Focusing specifically in the areas of democracy, civil society, and economic development. He has had experience with implementing international development programs throughout the world for well respected implementing organizations and companies such as ACDI/VOCA, American Councils for International Education, Center for International Private Enterprise, AECOM PADCO for donors organizations such as USAID, World Bank, and United Nations. He currently is employed by The QED Group, LLC where he serves as the Program Director on a variety of programs that focus on Democracy & Governance, Anti-Corruption, Rule of Law, Legislative Development, and Conflict Resolution.

In addition, he has practiced law in Montgomery County for the firm of Weinberg & Jacobs focusing on exempt organizations, estate planning, and small business.

Robin Renee Sanders, International Affairs Advisor, Africare
Former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria (2007-2010) & Republic of Congo (2002-2005)

Dr. Robin Renee Sanders served as U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 2007-2010. Prior to that she served as the International Advisor and Deputy Commandant of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces—one of the U.S. military’s premier colleges at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. – where she also taught National Security Studies, International Affairs, and African Studies. Ambassador Sanders also has served twice as the Director for Africa at the National Security Council at the White House. She has a range of policy and development experience working on elections, education, food security, energy, democracy, human rights, and reconstruction. Ambassador Sanders holds a Doctor of Science degree from Robert Morris University, Masters of Arts degree in International Relations and Africa Studies, and Masters of Science degree in Communications and Journalism from Ohio University; and, she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Hampton University. Dr. Sanders is currently the Board Chair of Songhai Integrative Systems Regional Centers – leading centers of excellence on key global human issues - where she focuses on food security, agriculture, sustainable environment, energy, youth education, and entrepreneurship, and a leader of the FEEEDS® advocacy efforts on these same issues at Robert Morris University (RMU) as well as being a member of RMU’s Board of Trustees.

Ambassador Sanders is the recipient of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Civilian Honor Award (one of the highest civilian honor awards by the U.S. military); three State Department Superior Honor Awards; four State Department Meritorious Honor Awards, the “Presidential Medal of Honor “ awarded to her by the President of the Republic of Congo, several citations in Who’s Who of America, and was recently inducted into the U.S. National Honor and Scholar Society for her leadership, public service and academic work.

Her overseas postings have included Dominican Republic, Portugal, Sudan, Namibia, Senegal, Republic of Congo and Nigeria, with missions to Angola, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Botswana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia, and Benin. She is a trustee of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, and a global advisor to Operation Hope - a non-profit organization focused on working in U.S. at risk communities. Sanders speaks French, and some Spanish, and Portuguese. Activities and articles written by Dr. Sanders can be found on her blog www.blogitrrs.blogspot.com, www.huffingtonpost.com or follow her on www.twitter.com/#rrsafrica.

Jeff Senne, Corporate Responsibility
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Jeff Senne is the Director of Environment and Marketplace for PwC. In this role Jeff leads the firm's efforts in terms of environmental conservation and promoting responsible business practices in the marketplace. Prior to joining PwC he was the Director of Sustainability Performance for Sodexo Inc, a Senior Advisor for the African Development Bank and the Head of Communications on Progress and Participation for the United Nations Global Compact. In these roles, he has worked with company, university, civil society and governmental representatives in creating value by continually improving their organization’s social and environmental impact.

He takes a continual improvement, "manage what you measure," approach to organizational change by applying quality management methodologies to uncover value in systems and process improvements. While with the United Nations he delivered trainings to over 1000 company staff and stakeholders from over 50 countries and developed tools and methods for measuring, evaluating and communicating on the progress companies are making to be sure their corporate citizenship commitments deliver strategic value.

Prior to joining the United Nations, he spent nearly 15 years in management, where he was a "disaster recovery specialist." His work was to take over business operations that were underperforming and to redefine their business model and create sustainable and competitive company cultures. Creating, managing and motivating teams by defining shared goals, common values, and performance indicators were his forte.

Jigar Shah, CEO
Carbon War Room

UMD Alumnus

As CEO of The Carbon War Room, Jigar Shah is leading the organization to drive global emissions reductions by unlocking private sector solutions. Under his guidance, The Carbon War Room has become a catalyst to bring project finance and growth capital together with infrastructure entrepreneurs, corporations, governments and non-governmental organization (NGO) to identify and eliminate market barriers.

With barriers eliminated, the playing field is leveled so technologies can compete head to head. Plus a level playing field can engage entrepreneurs to deploy market-driven solutions to gigaton-scale climate solutions, and grow trillion dollar industries. This is why Shah believes that the biggest challenges of our time are the largest wealth creation opportunities of this generation.

His experience shows that the right business solutions can unlock existing technologies. He launched SunEdison in 2003 based upon a business plan he developed in 1999 for a university class. That plan became the basis of the SunEdison business model: Simplify solar as a service. This model changed the status quo, allowing organizations to purchase solar energy services under long-term predictably priced contracts and avoid the significant capital costs of ownership and operation of solar energy systems. Under his guidance, SunEdison pioneered the solar power services agreement (SPSA) model, which has turned solar services into a multi-billion dollar industry. SunEdison now has more solar energy systems and megawatts under management than any other company.

He holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and an MBA from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. He sits on the boards of the Earth Day Network, SBNOW, and Greenpeace.

Catherine P. Sheehy
UL Environment

UMD Alumnus

At UL Environment, Catherine Sheehy supports the development of its Sustainability Quotient (SQ) Program, through which UL provides organizational-level sustainability services based on auditable organization-level sustainability standards. Before joining UL Environment, a subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories, she was a manager with Accenture’s talent and organizational performance service line, where she also led the D.C. metro area Eco Team, a local extension of Accenture’s internal environmental program. Prior to working at Accenture, she was with the Human Rights Campaign where she helped further develop the Corporate Equality Index, a tool that rates businesses and organizations on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees and consumers. Before that, she worked for several years at the then-Investor Responsibility Research Center as director of the Corporate Benchmarking Services, where she provided social and environmental screening data, tools, and support to institutional investors, companies, and academic institutions. She serves on the board of the Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SBNOW), whose mission is to transform the ways businesses appraise, engage, and enhance human, ecological, and financial resources in order to make the national capital region a better place to live, work, visit, and do business. She has a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Rita Shenkel, Director of Community Engagement
Ernst & Young, LLP

Rita Shenkel is the Americas Director of Community Engagement for Ernst & Young, LLP. In this role, she is responsible for ensuring that the firm's "3Es" corporate responsibility strategy (Education, Entrepreneurship and Environmental Sustainability) is carried out through its community engagement activities in the U.S., Canada and Central and South America. She accomplishes this by working closely with leadership teams in the firm's 11 Sub-Areas to align Americas charitable donations, volunteer programs, stakeholder relationships and communications with those activities, programs and organizations that make education more accessible for under-served youth, promote entrepreneurship and sustain the environment.

A 1990 graduate of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication. She has also a Master of Liberal Arts degree with a concentration in Communication from the same university. An avid community volunteer, she is a member of the Board of Directors of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas, a volunteer for College for Every Student, and is a "Big Sister" in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. She is a former board member of, or volunteer for: Altrusa International, Inc., American Heart Association, Dallas Children's Advocacy Center, Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement, March of Dimes, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and The Family Place.

Ben Simon, Entrepreneur & Co-Founder
Food Recovery Network

Ben Simon is a senior Government and Politics major at the University of Maryland, College Park. He got a quick start in the world of change making five years ago as a student at Montgomery Blair High School, where he united students from ten Montgomery County high schools to successfully divest the Montgomery County MCERS pension fund and the M-NCPPC pension fund from companies with operations supporting the Genocide in Darfur. After serving as Genocide Intervention Network's College Divestment Coordinator his freshman year, he worked for Search for Common Ground, where he was first introduced to the framework of social entrepreneurship.

At UMD, he co-founded The Love Movement, and is a former opinion columnist for The Diamondback. Most recently, he is the founder of MyMaryland.net, a new, nonprofit, non-partisan website to connect Maryland residents with their elected officials, and co-founder of the Food Recovery Network, a national campus network of student groups that recover the food from their colleges that would otherwise be going to waste and donate it to local homeless shelters. He is looking forward to connecting with other change agents at the symposium.

Kristen Sullivan, Partner
Deloitte & Touche LLP

Kristen B. Sullivan is a member of Deloitte’s Global Sustainability & Climate Change (S&CC) services group. She focuses on sustainability reporting and assurance matters, and is also a member of Deloitte’s Conflict Minerals Advisory Services team She also leads Deloitte’s efforts in support of Social Impact Investing and advancing the Impact Investing industry infrastructure development, specifically focused on Deloitte’s services in support of the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS). Previously, she worked closely with the deputy CEO of Deloitte LLP, focusing on regulatory and public policy matters for the firm. In this capacity, she engaged with representatives from the other large public company auditing firms in advancing progress in areas of common interest and importance for the public company auditing profession. She recently co-authored an article published in the International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, How and why an independent audit matters. She began her career with Deloitte in the Audit and Advisory services practice, serving clients in the Manufacturing and Aerospace & Defense industries. She has also served in the firm’s National Office in several different capacities.

Jessica Sutter, Senior Advisor
Deputy Mayor for Education De'Shawn Wright (*Session Moderator)

UMD Alumnus

Jessica Sutter is a Senior Advisor to Deputy Mayor for Education, De'Shawn Wright. She works on issues related to school quality, including engaging parents and community members in making use of school data. She previously worked at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education in the Office of Public Charter School Financing and Support where she designed an $8 million teacher compensation grant for the city's public charter schools to aid in their recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers. She is also a doctoral student at the University of Maryland pursuing her PhD in Education Policy Studies. Her research focuses on high-performing urban public charter schools. She began her career as a seventh grade teacher in a Chicago Catholic school as part of the Inner-City Teaching Corps, was a founding teacher at KIPP: LA Prep and most recently taught eighth-grade social studies and literature at KIPP DC: KEY Academy. She has an MA in Education Policy Studies from the University of Maryland and a BA in Political Science from Loyola College in Maryland.

David Schwartz
Senior Associate, Carbon War Room

David Schwartz is the Network Engagement Senior Associate at the Carbon War Room. Since October 2009 David has helped CWR grow from its start-up phase into a global NGO respected as a "do-tank" focusing on mitigating climate change. Among the multiple roles David fills at the Carbon War Room, David is currently involved in launching and leading Carbon War Room’s Network Engagement Strategy: mapping and engaging stakeholders to provide a constant feedback loop to effectively help Carbon War Room clearly define the market barriers. David actively engages with the hundreds of entrepreneurs in the Carbon War Room network to identify the barriers that are preventing their clean technology solution from scaling. David volunteers as a reading judge for the William James Foundation Business Plan competition and Unreasonable Institute and is passionate about all things related to start-ups, sustainability and marketing. He graduated from Cornell University. 

Geoffrey S. Underwood
Director, Solar Asset Origination, Constellation Energy

UMD Alumnus

Geoffrey Underwood is responsible for solar asset origination in support of Constellation Energy's (NYSE: CEG) national portfolio of more than 100MW of solar facilities. Geoff manages a national direct sales team, national/corporate accounts, federal accounts, and is and member of Solar Leadership Team, providing overall management of solar platform. Prior to Constellation Geoff was Vice President of Business Development and an equity stakeholder at a start-up regional solar developer and contractor, Dynamic Solar, leading growth to more than $50MM annual revenues, managing business development, project economic analysis, and channel partnerships.

Previously, he was senior associate at FBR Capital Markets responsible for market and equity analysis of renewable energy firms and authored a seminal supply-demand analysis of the solar space. His 15 year career in Washington, D.C., includes significant work in energy policy and economics, business and venture development, and work with federal agencies, Congress and the White House.

He received his BA from the University of Florida and his MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He is a registered broker and holds a number of SEC/FINRA licenses.

Nathalie Walker, Manager
Tropical Agriculture, Forests and Climate Project, National Wildlife Federation

Dr. Nathalie Walker is the Manager of National Wildlife Federation’s Tropical Agriculture, Forests and Climate Project and works with companies, NGOs, research institutions and commodity roundtables to promote solutions to deforestation driven by industrial agriculture. She has 10 years of experience in the commercial drivers of tropical deforestation, working for Greenpeace International, Oxford University’s Department of International Development and Borealis Center for Environmental and Trade Research. She received her PhD in ecology from the University of Durham, U.K., and her MA in ecology from the University of Cambridge, U.K.

Amanda White, Brand Manager
Divine Chocolate

Amanda White currently serves as the Brand Manager at Divine Chocolate, a fair trade, farmer owned chocolate company based in Washington, D.C. Before joining Divine, Amanda worked with Shop for Change Fair Trade, a domestic certification and promotion organization in Mumbai, India. She worked closely with cotton farmers and fashion designers in India to help launch a consumer movement for fair trade throughout the region. Amanda has been involved in fair trade for over six years, having worked as a student activist, organizer, and partner to a variety of fair trade businesses. She has conducted fieldwork on fair trade and sustainable agriculture in both Central America and India, and holds a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from New York University.

Andrew Yu, Business Development Manager
Fairfax County Economic Development Authority

Andrew Yu is a Business Development Manager for Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) responsible for managing all the marketing efforts in Asia. Prior to joining the FCEDA, he was a product marketing manager at Freescale Semiconductor where his team developed the 2G and 3G mobile handsets. He also spent seven years at a start-up software development company where he managed corporate mar­keting activities as well as serving as the acting country and regional business development manager for Asia. Mr. Yu received his BS in International Business at Illinois State University, and MBA in Marketing and Finance from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.