Session I: Embedding SDGs and ESG into Deals and Enterprises (January 30, 2020)
Lauren Boccardi, Senior Attorney, The Nature Conservancy
Lauren Boccardi is a Senior Attorney supporting The Nature Conservancy’s impact investment portfolio. Before joining the Conservancy, Ms. Boccardi spent seven years at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she most recently served as the Deputy Assistant General Counsel for USAID’s Bureau for Food Security and for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance. Her work at USAID covered private sector engagement, legislation and policy, and Middle East issues.
Prior to USAID, Ms. Boccardi worked on a wide range of corporate transactions as a corporate lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton, focusing in particular on energy and environmental work. She has worked with various nonprofts, including a women’s group in Oaxaca, Mexico, and was the manager of Communications and Research for an internet software company in New York. Lauren is a graduate of Harvard Law School and earned her master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University.
Mary Rose Brusewitz, Member, Clark Hill
Mary Rose Brusewitz is Member in Charge of Clark Hill’s New York office. She concentrates her practice on international transactions involving Latin America, Africa, Asia, India, Europe and the U.S.
Mary Rose is active in impact investing, sustainability, accountability, ESG/SDG compliance and corporate governance. She represents a provider of currency hedging to the impact space, as well as several funds active in investing debt and equity in sectors including microfinancing, solar energy, retail, sanitation and housing. Mary Rose has substantial experience in emerging markets development and finance. Areas include infrastructure, water, power, oil and gas, power, renewable energy and mining. Expertise includes structuring, implementing administering and exiting impact debt and equity investments, coordinating groups of investors, including DFIs, privately managed funds, commercial banks, for profits and non profits, blended capital structures, project and structured financing, private equity, cross border investments, joint ventures, restructurings, workouts, insolvencies, dispute resolution and mediation.
Mary Rose contributes substantial time and expertise on a pro bono basis for impact clients. Mary Rose was a compliance panel member and panel chair of the independent accountability mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank. She is a pro bono supervising attorney at the International Transactions Clinic at NYU Law School.
Deborah K. Burand, Associate Professor of Clinical Law and Faculty Co- Director of Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship, NYU Law
Deborah Burand is an associate professor of Clinical Law at NYU Law, where she directs the International Transactions Clinic and is the faculty co-director of the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship.
During 2010-2011, Burand served as general counsel to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the development finance institution of the United States. Earlier in her career, she worked in the environmental sector (Conservation International), microfinance sector (FINCA International and Grameen Foundation), and US government (Federal Reserve Board and Department of the Treasury). She also has worked in private practice at a global law firm, where, among other things, she supported, on a pro bono basis, the development of the world’s first debt-for-nature swap.
Burand is a member of the board and Investment Committee of the MicroBuild Fund, an impact investment fund sponsored by Habitat for Humanity International. She is an advisor to the Linked Foundation and Social Sector Franchise Initiative. She co-founded the Impact Investing Legal Working Group (IILWG) and Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) International.
Burand received her BA from DePauw University cum laude, and a joint degree, JD/MSFS with honors, from Georgetown University.
Natasha Dinham, Senior Project Management Impact Investment, Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Natasha Dinham is the Innovative Finance Senior Project Manager at the Bertha Centre, where she researches, designs, and pilots innovative financial instruments. Her work focuses on SME finance, blended finance, and innovative climate finance models. Before joining the Bertha Centre Natasha worked for the Dutch development bank (FMO), where she funded and monitored projects with a high social and environmental impact. She sat on the technical assistance advisory committee of two international impact investing funds focusing on micro and small business finance. Natasha holds a Masters in Economics from WITS, and a certificate from Harvard Kennedy School’s Rethinking Financial Inclusion Program.
Charles Douglas, Co-Head of M&A, Bowmans
Charles Douglas is the Co-Head of M&A at Bowmans, specialising in M&A and ECM work. His M&A experience includes both public and private transactional work, and, from a capital markets perspective, primary and secondary offerings as well as more general listings work. Specialist interest areas include social impact investment and social entrepreneurship, broad-based black economic empowerment, and the corporate aspects of South Africa’s renewable energy program. In addition to South African work, Charles regularly works on transactions on the rest of the continent and has experience working in various other African jurisdictions, including Botswana, the DRC, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He also has 18 months’ work experience in Sydney, Australia and admitted as a lawyer of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Charles has been recognized as a leading lawyer in his field by Chambers and Partners, IFLR 1000, Who’s Who Legal and Legal 500.
Jon Duncan, Head of Responsible Investment, Old Mutual Group; Senior Associate, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
Jon Duncan leads the Responsible Investment Programme at Old Mutual. The Programme is focused on driving the systematic integration of material environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues across the Group’s c£380 billion of funds under management. Jon also heads up the Sustainability Research and Engagement function at the Group’s South Africa-based asset manager, Old Mutual Investment Group, where he is involved in industry ESG research, the analysis of green growth opportunities, and engagement on regulatory issues and local industry initiatives, such as the Code for Responsible Investing South Africa (CRISA). Jon was involved in the drafting of CRISA and currently sits on the CRISA committee that drives the application of the Code in South Africa. In 2015, Jon was appointed as Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, which brings together business, government and academia to find solutions to critical sustainability challenges. www.cisl.cam.ac.uk.
An engineer by training, with a Master’s degree in Environmental Science, he has over 20 years of professional experience in the field of sustainability research and engagement. He has worked extensively in Africa across a range of sectors supporting organisations with strategic social, environmental and sustainability related issues.
Prior to joining Old Mutual Investment Group, Jon worked at Environmental Resource Management as a partner for four years. Before that, he worked at Trialogue as a senior sustainability researcher and consultant. The rest of his working experience comprises similar positions in addition to two directorships.
Ginny Reyes Llamzon, Senior Legal Counsel, GIF
Ginny Reyes Llamzon is Senior Legal Counsel at GIF and provides deal and regulatory advice in connection with GIF’s grant and risk capital portfolio. She is an international finance lawyer who has worked in frontier markets for over 15 years, and has assisted in structuring and executing a wide range of financial products in diverse legal and regulatory environments. Prior to joining GIF, she worked at FMO, a Dutch development bank in The Netherlands, where she managed the legal aspects of their renewable energy and infrastructure transactions. Ginny has also worked at Clifford Chance in Hong Kong, Baker & McKenzie in Singapore and Sycip Salazar in Manila. She holds an LLM from Columbia University School of Law and a JD from the University of the Philippines.
Ariel Meyerstein, Senior Vice President, Sustainability, Citi
Ariel Meyerstein is a Senior Vice President in Citi’s Sustainability team where he engages with diverse global functions to help lead reputational risk management of critical human rights and sustainability issues through policy development, stakeholder engagement and portfolio and transactional due diligence and advisory work, including on ESG-linked products. Prior to joining Citi, Meyerstein led multilateral policy engagement at the intersection of trade, investment, human rights and sustainable development for the U.S. Council for International Business, where he also created the Business for 2030 platform in 2015 to enhance business engagement in the SDGs. A Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he has served on a number of multi-stakeholder advisory committees to the ILO and OECD, as well as various U.S. executive branch agencies. Prior to USCIB, Meyerstein spent several years developing expertise in international law while working for global law firms, in international courts and tribunals and human rights NGOs.
María Peña, Head of Legal, Risk and Compliance, Symbiotics
María Peña is the Head of Legal, Risk and Compliance at Symbiotics, a Swiss based asset management company specialised in microfinance and impact investments in emerging and frontier markets with eight offices across the world. Since 2014 she is responsible for all the group’s legal, risk and compliance, and in particular with regard to the main activity of Symbiotics: cross-border impact investing activities across the value chain of investments. As member of the senior management team, María contributes to the operational strategy, governance and risk management of the Symbiotics group.
Prior to Symbiotics, María worked for over twelve years as an in-house legal counsel in the private and investment banking sector in Geneva (Switzerland) and Luxembourg (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg). María started her professional career with a traineeship in the Legal Service of the European Parliament, in Luxembourg.
María holds a master in law from Universidad San Pablo-CEU, Madrid (Spain), a master in European Studies from Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) and a Diplôme d’Etudes Juridiques et Economiques de l’Union Européenne from the Université de Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne, Paris (France). She speaks fluently Spanish, English and French.
Lynn Roland, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Acumen
Lynn joined Acumen in 2010, and is General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and a member of our Management Committee. In such capacity, Lynn ensures that our programs are carried out in furtherance of our mission and in compliance with law, and advises on organizational strategy and board matters. She leads the global legal function, and works across functions and geography to develop and implement organizational structure, policy and projects. Her role involves protecting Acumen, while also enabling it to function with efficiency and creativity. Prior to joining Acumen, Lynn spent the majority of her career at McDermott Will & Emery, where she was a partner in the corporate/transactional practice and supported the pro bono program of the New York office. Lynn obtained a BA as an English major from the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD from Columbia Law School.
Session II: Blending Capital for Scale (February 20, 2020)
Asha-Sabrina Ayub, Partner, Bowmans
Sabrina has considerable experience in mining, petroleum and other regulated industries, construction and projects, banking and debt finance, insolvency and restructuring, private equity and corporate (including mergers and acquisitions), competition/anti-trust, joint ventures, employment and general commercial. Sabrina Ayub is also a market-leader on Tanzanian local content laws.
Qualified as a lawyer in Tanzania, Zanzibar and England and Wales, Sabrina is also a qualified arbitrator in Tanzania. She is a recognised expert in Tanzanian business laws and her contributions include consulting for the Tanzanian President’s Delivery Bureau (PDB) and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) on streamlining Tanzanian business laws as part of the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 ‘Big Results Now!’ (BRN) initiative, including presenting to the then President of the United Republic of Tanzania. Sabrina is regularly an expert presenter to lawyers and businesses across Africa, including for African national bar associations, the East African Law Society and International Bar Association. Sabrina is currently Secretary of the British Business Group (BBG) and a Board Member of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Tanzania. She is also a member of the Tanganyika Law Society, Zanzibar Law Society, East African Law Society, The Law Society (England & Wales) and the Tanzania Institute of Arbitrators.
Sabrina graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Southampton, where she won an academic award for highest exam performance and was President of the University Law Society. She also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law, London, and has completed various specialist courses including on oil and gas law at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) in Scotland, on project finance and PPPs with the International Project Finance Association (IPFA) and sections 1 to 3 of the Certified Public Secretary qualification in Kenya.
Steven Dean, Faculty Director, NYU Law Graduate Tax Program
Steven Dean serves as the Faculty Director of NYU Law’s Graduate Tax Program, teaching Corporate Tax and Tax Policy. After graduating from Yale Law School, he practiced tax law at Debevoise and Cravath, then joined the faculty at Brooklyn Law School. He writes about tax and social enterprise, most recently publishing Social Enterprise and the Law: Trust, Public Benefit, and Capital Markets (with Dana Brakman Reiser, Oxford University Press 2017) and Federal Taxation of Corporations and Corporate Transactions (with Brad Borden) (Aspen 2018). His current projects include For-Profit Philanthropy (with Dana Brakman Reiser, forthcoming Oxford University Press) and Taxation as Freedom (forthcoming Oxford University Press). He has been a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section since 2011.
Gary Ford, President & CEO, MCE Social Capital
Gary Ford currently serves as President and CEO of MCE Social Capital, a nonprofit impact investment firm that uses philanthropic guarantees to mobilize capital and generate economic opportunities for people throughout the developing world. He is an attorney, executive, and impact investor who focuses on market-driven approaches to help people lift themselves out of poverty. Since 2006, MCE has made over $187 million in loans to microfinance institutions and small and growing businesses to promote financial inclusion, stimulate job creation, and provide people living in poverty, particularly women, access to microcredit, savings, healthcare, insurance, education, and other services. Gary has been an MCE Guarantor since 2007.
Gary has served as ERISA Counsel to the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, General Counsel to the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and Managing Principal of Groom Law Group in Washington, D.C.
Gary also serves as a member of the executive committee of the board of the Synergos Institute. He is a member of the Global Philanthropists Circle and the Investment Advisory Committee for the Sarona Frontier Markets Fund. He lives with his wife, Nancy Ebb, in Bethesda, Maryland, within hailing distance of their sons, Mike and Dan.
Rutherford Hubbard, Legal Counsel, Netherlands Development Finance Company
Rutherford Hubbard is a Senior Legal Counsel and Legal Coordinator for Agriculture Food and Water Department of the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO). Rutherford specializes in renewable energy projects and value chain farmer finance in emerging and frontier markets. With a global portfolio debt and equity transactions, he has managed innovative deals in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Rutherford has nearly a decade of experience living and working in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Caucasus, in both private practice and development policy. In addition, he has served as a senior researcher and technical adviser to Transparency International in Sri Lanka and Cambodia on issues of corruption in the private sector.
Rutherford holds a JD and a master’s degree in corruption in post-conflict markets from the University of Michigan and is a recipient of the Bates Fellowship in International Law. He is also a regular guest lecturer in international finance law at the Royal University of Cambodia.
Aaron Lewis, Deputy General Counsel - International Legal Department, Habitat for Humanity International
Aaron Lewis currently serves as Deputy General Counsel – International for Habitat for Humanity International, Inc. He began working for Habitat in 1997, providing advice on US Federal tax exempt law, state charities laws, real estate, and administered Habitat’s private placement mortgage-backed bond issuance.
In 2008, he turned to Habitat’s international legal needs and continues to provide support in international governance, structuring, and compliance matters. In 2010 he provided key legal support to the development of the MicroBuild Fund, a $100 million international housing microfinance facility using DFC (formerly OPIC) debt financing and private and PRI equity participants. He currently supports social impact investments for Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter.
Mr. Lewis earned his BA from the University of Michigan and JD from the University of Georgia.
Alycia Kellman, Chief Legal Officer, SunFunder
As SunFunder's lawyer, Alycia manages all corporate legal matters and structures the debt funds for SunFunder's solar loans. Prior to SunFunder, Alycia was Vice President of Legal & Compliance at Grassroots Business Fund. Alycia consulted for FINCA International in Amman, Jordan and worked as an attorney at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP. She holds a law degree from Georgetown University, a master's degree in human rights and democratization from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and a bachelor's degree in political science from Yale University.
Rachel Robbins, Senior Independent Director, Atlas Mara Limited
Rachel F. Robbins is currently senior independent director of Atlas Mara Limited, a UK-listed financial services company whose aim is to be the premier financial services company of sub-Saharan Africa. She is also a Trustee of NYU Law School and an Advisory Board member of the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship. She previously served as a non-executive director of FINCA Microfinance Holding Company, a global microfinance company.
From 2008 until 2012, Robbins served as vice president and general counsel of the International Finance Corporation and as a member of its Management Group. She joined the IFC with three decades of experience in legal and financial services, including extensive experience in corporate governance and in managing global teams through periods of change. Between 2006 and 2008, she was executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary of the New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Euronext. She spent 20 years at JPMorgan & Co. and was general counsel and corporate secretary from 1996 to 2001. From 2003 to 2004, she was general counsel of Citigroup International.
She started her legal career at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.
Robbins holds a JD from New York University School of Law and a BA in French literature from Wellesley College.
Flavia Rosembuj, Global Lead for Blended Finance, Climate Business and Trust Funds, IFC
Flavia Rosembuj is Global Lead for Blended Finance, Climate Business and Trust Funds at the Legal Department of the International Finance Corporation. She is a lawyer with 20+ year experience in innovative finance, sustainable development, environmental law and climate change. Prior to joining the World Bank she worked in leading law firms in the UK, France and Spain.
Flavia chairs the Leadership committee at DC Greens, a DC based non-profit organization which works on food education in DC; on urban agriculture in the city and on giving access to vegetables to every ward in the city.
Flavia holds a PhD from the University of Barcelona, an LLM from University of Paris Sorbonne, was a visiting scholar at Columbia University and is a Guest Speaker at Stanford School of Law.
Carl Valenstein, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Carl Valenstein is a partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius and recently relocated to the Boston office from Washington, DC, where he practiced for over 30 years. His practice focuses on domestic and international corporate and securities matters, mergers and acquisitions, project development, and asset finance covering a wide range of industries and regions, including developed and emerging markets (Latin America and Africa).He also counsels clients concerning international risk management issues and has been involved in internal investigations and enforcement cases in this area. Valenstein is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and conversant in French and Italian. He graduated cum laude from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Michigan Law School with a JD.
For more than 20 years, Valenstein has provided legal assistance to microfinance institutions and assisted public charities, foundations, social enterprises and entrepreneurs, impact investment venture capital funds and other impact investors. He founded and co-chairs the Morgan Lewis Impact Investment Initiative, which is a cross-office and interdisciplinary group of Morgan Lewis lawyers engaged in impact investment work.
For the past nine years, he has been an adjunct professor at the Michigan Law School International Transactions Clinic (ITC), focusing on impact investment, and has been teaching at New York University Law School’s ITC since its founding two years ago. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Michigan Ross School of Business, Social Venture Fund, the oldest student-led impact investment fund. In conjunction with the Michigan Law School ITC, he represented Habitat for Humanity International in establishing MicroBuild, a $50 million fund that expands housing microfinance lending and helps thousands of low-income families globally. The fund has now been expanded to $100 million and has received the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation’s (OPIC) 2016 Access to Finance Award. This project was recently recognized by the Financial Times for innovative social finance.
Session III: Fiduciary Duty and ESG Investing (March 12, 2020)
Yves Denize, Senior Managing Director & Division General Counsel, Nuveen Legal
Yves Denizé is a Senior Managing Director & Division General Counsel for Nuveen’s Legal group. He supports provision of investment and asset management product related legal services for the asset management business, providing guidance and direction to clients and staff. He is a member of the Nuveen Legal management team reporting to Nuveen’s Chief Legal Officer. Nuveen is the asset management business of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA). Prior to his current role, Yves served as Managing Director & General Counsel, Broker-Dealer & Investments, leading legal support for Broker-Dealer issues and of the Fixed Income and Alternative Investment program. Earlier in his career with TIAA, he provided advice and support to TIAA’s Asset Management Area in connection with domestic and international private placements of debt and equity securities, including private equity funds, alternative investments, and derivatives. He has supported product development initiatives, including fund formation. He has also supported strategic sale and acquisition initiatives. Prior to joining TIAA, Yves served as Counsel to the NYS Comptroller’s Deputy Comptroller for New York City. He also was an Associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Yves graduated from Dartmouth College and received his J.D. degree, cum laude, from New York University School of Law. He has served as a member of the American College of Investment Counsel and on the New York City Bar Committee on Private Investment Funds.
Robert Esposito, Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Rob Esposito is a private funds associate in the New York office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. He counsels private equity fund clients and their portfolio companies in connection with responsible investing (RI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues relating to fund formation and fundraising, side letter negotiation, RI policies and procedures, ESG due diligence, ESG reporting to limited partners, and ESG regulatory matters.
Prior to joining Paul, Weiss, Esposito was a corporate and private funds attorney in the New York offices of two international law firms. Previously, Esposito served as a Jacobson Fellow in Law & Social Enterprise at New York University School of Law, where he co-created the Social Enterprise Law Tracker and published scholarship focused on social enterprise law and impact investing. Esposito’s work has been published in the NYU Journal of Law and Business, the William & Mary Business Law Review, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and he is a frequent speaker on ESG, impact investing, and social enterprise topics.
Esposito received his LL.M., with highest honors, in International & Comparative Law from The George Washington University Law School, his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law, and his B.A. in English from Dartmouth College.
David Geral, Partner and Head of Banking and Financial Services Regulatory, Bowmans
David Geral is a partner in Bowmans’ Banking and Finance Department, and is the head of Bowmans’ Banking and Financial Services Regulatory Practice. He specializes in pensions, health care, group insurances, and equity-linked incentive schemes. He advises local corporations, private and industry retirement funds, and medical schemes and their service providers on governance, contracting, compliance, and dispute resolution, as well as on matters before the Pension Funds Adjudicator, the Council for Medical Schemes, the Competition Commission, the Financial Services Board Appeal Board, the Equality Court, and the High Court. He supervises due diligences on these matters and advises on various transactions involving pension and medical benefits transfers.
Geral has BA and LLB degrees from the University of Cape Town. He holds a certificate in Impact Investing in Africa from the University of Cape Town and is a leading attorney in relation to impact investing, social impact bonds, and environmental, social, and governance related (ESG) investing in South Africa. He is a CEDR Accredited Commercial Mediator and a notary.
Some of Geral’s recent, notable matters include advising one of South Africa’s largest pension fund administrators in relation to an industry-wide Financial Services Board inspection into alleged irregular pension fund deregistrations; representing Transnet (the South African State Rail Utility) in defense of the country’s first pensioner class action; performing a benefits due diligence and providing advisory services, compliance, and regulatory advice on the Alexander Forbes Group private equity exit and listing; and performing a benefits due diligence and providing advisory services regarding Marriott Hotels’ acquisition of Protea Hotels’ administration business in 2013.
Chambers and Partners 2019 ranked Geral as a Recognised Practitioner for Insurance. He was also ranked in Band 3 by Chambers and Partners for his work in Fintech.
Martin Jonasson, General Counsel, Andra AP-fonden / AP2
Martin Jonasson is General Counsel and a member of the Executive Management team at Andra AP-fonden (AP2). AP2 is one of five buffer funds within the Swedish pension system and one of northern Europe’s largest pension funds, investing in a wide range of asset classes on a global basis. AP2 has taken an active approach to making sustainability an integral part of its portfolio management strategy. In his role at AP2 Martin is responsible for legal, tax and compliance and is also part of AP2s corporate governance team overlooking governance issues globally. Martin regularly serves as a member, including in the role as chairman, of Nomination Committees in publicly listed Swedish companies. Prior to joining AP2 in 2001, Martin held similar positions in the Volvo Group, including that of General Counsel for Volvo East Asia based in Singapore and Volvo Financial Services. Whilst at Volvo, Martin served as a director on the boards of several group companies. Martin holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Lund.
Mabatho Seeiso, Independent Trustee, Post Office Retirement Fund
Mabatho joined the Financial Services Industry in January 2001. Prior to that she was working in the oil industry as a new business development manager for Total SA. Her first financial services job was in private equity as an Assistant Portfolio Manager for
Infrastructure Investments at Old Mutual Asset Management. In 2003 she joined CadizAsset Management and was subsequently made a Director and Head of Institutional Business Development and Marketing until March 2007. She has been involved in financial services as an independent professional since 2008. Her first board appointment was as an independent investment committee member for Rand Mutual Assurance. She currently serves as a professional trustee or independent investment committee member or independent Chairperson on various funds including some of South Africa’s larger pension funds. She is an investment committee member of the South African National Treasury Jobs Fund and also chairs the investment committees of two Impact Investments Funds. She is a member of the advisory committee of the Southern African Pension Fund Investment Forum. Among her experience includes working as a management consultant for 5 years and more than 10 years experience working in professional mentoring.
Shainal Sukha, Managing Director, Sukha and Associates (Pty) Ltd
Shainal Sukha is founder of Sukha and Associates (“S&A”) – an independent asset consulting firm in South Africa. S&A is a signatory to the UN Principles of Responsible Investing and has been awarded the “2018 Responsible Investment Consultant of the Year” by an industry body, Batseta. Shainal has developed a strong track record in delivering top quartile risk-adjusted returns for his clients. He is a promoter of “dual consulting”, a good governance initiative and serves on the Investment Committee of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.
Dave Uduanu, CEO Sigma Pensions Limited
Dave is the CEO of Sigma Pensions Limited, Nigeria and a member of the board of trustees of CFA Institute Research Foundation. He was a past Chairman of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria. His previous stints include roles at Ernst & Young and as an Executive Director of an Insurance Company all in Nigeria.
He has held Non-executive Board positions in Companies in Nigeria and has served on the Investors’Board of two Private Equity Funds investing in Africa. Dave holds an honors degree in Civil Engineering and a Certificate in Institutional Private Equity Investing from the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. He is a Chartered Accountant and a CFA Charterholder.
Session IV: Launching the MicroBuild Fund (April 16, 2020)
Deborah K. Burand, Associate Professor of Clinical Law and Faculty Co- Director of Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship, NYU Law
Deborah Burand is an associate professor of Clinical Law at NYU Law, where she directs the International Transactions Clinic and is the faculty co-director of the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship.
During 2010-2011, Burand served as general counsel to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the development finance institution of the United States. Earlier in her career, she worked in the environmental sector (Conservation International), microfinance sector (FINCA International and Grameen Foundation), and US government (Federal Reserve Board and Department of the Treasury). She also has worked in private practice at a global law firm, where, among other things, she supported, on a pro bono basis, the development of the world’s first debt-for-nature swap.
Burand is a member of the board and Investment Committee of the MicroBuild Fund, an impact investment fund sponsored by Habitat for Humanity International. She is an advisor to the Linked Foundation and Social Sector Franchise Initiative. She co-founded the Impact Investing Legal Working Group (IILWG) and Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) International.
Burand received her BA from DePauw University cum laude, and a joint degree, JD/MSFS with honors, from Georgetown University.
Edward Mungai, CEO, Kenya Climate Innovation Center
Mr. Edward Mungai is the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC). He leads the team across focus areas and crafts unconventional strategies to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in climate change.
Mr. Mungai has a multifaceted background in business advisory, entrepreneurship, and investment management, having worked with the Danish International Investment Funds (IFU) as an Investment Manager in Copenhagen as well as in Africa where he was the head of the regional office for IFU. Edward holds an Executive MBA as well as a Business Management degree from Moi University, Kenya. He has huge interest in corporate sustainability and has been involved in high level discussions of the topic across Africa and the USA. He teaches executive education at Strathmore University Business School in Kenya. Edward is a 2016 Eisenhower Fellow and a published author of the book "Impact Investing in Africa".
Sylvester Mwangangi, Head of Financial Inclusion, Letshego Kenya Limited
Sylvester is the country head of financial inclusion-Letshego Kenya Limited. He spearheads development of the company financial solutions and channels for consumers, provides strategic management of the business and is responsible for promoting and driving innovation for the franchise. He heads the MSE channel responsible for affordable housing, Education and Agriculture financial solutions as well as Deduction at Source Channel for government and Non-government employees.
Sylvester has over 14 years’ experience in retail and MSE/SME banking and the financial services industry. Prior to his current role, Sylvester served as a Senior Regional Branch Manager for Bank of Africa Kenya, a Central Bank of Kenya regulated commercial bank and a subsidiary of Bank of Africa Group-one of Africa’s largest pan-African groups with operations in 18 countries. He has experience in consumer business, microfinance and SME/MSE banking operations, deposit mobilization, marketing as well as product and solutions development.
Jyoti Patel, Director of Capital Markets, Habitat for Humanit International
Ms. Jyoti Patel leads the Impact Investment practice at the Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter at the Habitat for Humanity International. Jyoti oversees the operations of MicroBuild, a $100 million Housing Microfinance Fund, and the Shelter Venture Fund that invests in entrepreneurs engaged in innovative products and services along the affordable housing value chain.
Jyoti has over 15 years’ experience in private sector equity and fixed-income investments, creating quantitative equity trading strategies and portfolio stock selection models as well as implementing risk-management systems at leading U.S. asset management firms. Jyoti has worked in impact investment sector since 2008.
Christy Stickney, National Director, Habitat for Humanity International - Nepal
Christy Stickney is an international development professional with over 25 years of experience in designing, evaluating and documenting innovative, market-based development initiatives. She has published over a dozen studies, manuals, and practical guides in affordable housing and microfinance. Christy began working in microfinance with Opportunity International in 1993 where she developed loan and savings products directed toward women micro-entrepreneurs. In 2002 she shifted her focus to affordable housing and housing microfinance, working with Habitat for Humanity International as a Regional Director, and subsequently the Director of Housing Finance for Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2018, Christy has worked as the National Director of Habitat for Humanity in Nepal.
Scott Taitel, Clinical Professor of Public Service; Director of Social Impact, Innovation, and Investment Specialization, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
Scott Taitel is Clinical Professor of Public Service and Director of Social Impact, Innovation & Investment at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He received the Professor of the Year Award at Wagner’s 2017 convocation. He teaches numerous courses including Managing Financial and Social Returns of Social Enterprises, Social Impact Investment, Corporate Finance & Public Policy, and Financial Management for Global Nonprofit Organizations and leads an interdisciplinary course of NYU Wagner and NYU Stern Business students in the development of a student-operated Impact Investment Fund.
Professor Taitel has also created the Social Innovation & Investment Initiative at Wagner which serves as a central hub and incubator in the field of social finance bringing together policymakers, philanthropists, finance professionals, nonprofits and foundations to collaboratively strengthen the growing field. The Initiative has received funding from the Ford Foundation, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
As former Chief Operating Officer for the Clinton Foundation’s Enterprise Partnership, Professor Taitel was responsible for establishing impact investment funds and the oversight of a portfolio of social enterprises as well as economic development, health and nutrition projects throughout the developing world.
Prior to joining the Clinton Foundation, Professor Taitel was a managing partner of an international venture capital firm and held numerous senior executive roles in both private and public multinational technology companies. His earlier career was as an economic development planner with both urban government and community action agencies.
Professor Taitel has a Bachelor’s degree in Policy Studies from Syracuse University and an MBA from Northeastern University where he taught as an adjunct faculty member.