Igniting Impact

Founded in 2016, NEIII aims to promote inclusivity and regional collaboration to finance solutions to social and environmental problems. NEIII is a 501(C)3 nonprofit, which means that all donations in support of our work are tax deductible.

Lubna Maria Elia

**Founder & President**

Lubna Elia has spent twenty years in the social enterprise and impact investing sectors. She has experience with various aspects of nonprofit management including operational oversight, board operations, program management, fundraising, finance, legal resources, compliance, risk management, human resources and administration. She has an academic background in international relations and economic development, and is fluent in Spanish

Board of Directors

Advisory Board

Program Team

Our Team

Board of Directors

Terry works for BNY Mellon Investment Management on the institutional client service team. He started his career in high-net-worth educational philanthropy, cultivating a national portfolio of individual and foundation donors. For five years, he led the Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee where he directed two Mass Humanities grants for students at underserved schools. Throughout his professional and academic pursuits, he has contributed to various diversity and inclusion initiatives on the community and institutional level. He has a M.S. from the London School of Economics.

Stefan Pagacik is a serial entrepreneur and corporate executive creating innovative consumer and Business-to-Business software. During the past five years, he has developed two impact investment technology platforms for retail and institutional investors seeking improved portfolio impact performance. He also co-founded and led the investment committee for Bay Angels.

Molly Rahman blends six years of experience in process improvement, event coordination, and client relations with a Master of Design Studies degree in Sustainable Design. For her thesis, she explored the environmental impact of food waste and prepared a business proposal to build social awareness. She is proficient in parsing organizational goals and outlining strategy accordingly, and is passionate about sustainable community development, food systems, and reimagining waste streams. Molly provides support to NEIII in fundraising, events, and development of the Fellowship program.

Bill Tomlinson is a Syndication Analyst with CREA, LLC, a real estate investment syndication firm that specializes in low-income housing tax credit investments. Bill is a 2016 graduate of the Northeastern University D'Amore-McKim School of Business undergraduate program, concentrating in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management, with a passion for the expansion of impact investing and public-private community development partnerships.

Brian Waldner serves as NEIII’s Treasurer. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Financial Planner. He has extensive experience developing and implementing investment strategy as a fund manager and Advisor. Brian brings expertise in synthesizing complex financial situations through a deep understanding of global capital markets, investments, and strategic business planning.

Eric Weigel is a Partner at Little House Capital, an SEC-registered wealth and investment management firm where he leads the firm’s ESG efforts. Eric has over 30 years of investment management and capital market research experience having worked in senior leadership roles at some of the premier asset managers in the industry such as Russell, Invesco, Pioneer, MFS and Hermes. He holds a M.B.A from the University of Chicago, a M.S. from the University of Minnesota, and a B.S. in agricultural economics from Iowa State University.

Advisory Board

Cristina is an MBA candidate in MIT's Sloan School of Management. Prior to pursuing her MBA, Cristina spent 2.5 years with Root Capital, an agricultural impact investor, and 3.5 years in financial services regulation and consulting.

to+crop+2+3.jpg — **Claire Beeuwkes Katt**

Management Sciences for Health

Claire B. Katt moved back to Boston recently after 7 years in Washington, D.C. where she held a series of roles in both public and private sectors—most recently administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance projects in Latin America and the Caribbean for the US government. Currently, she works at Management Systems for Health, a global nonprofit that works with governments, civil society, the private sector, and health care workers to improve health systems. Claire graduated from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service with an M.A., and from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Latin American Studies.

 Ryan Dings is an experienced clean technology executive with a deep commitment to impact investment. He currently serves as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech incubator in North America.  Prior to joining Greentown, Ryan served as Chief Operating Officer of Sunwealth, an impact investment firm focused on the commercial solar market, Ryan   developed Sunwealth’s community of clean energy investors. He also serves as the chair of the board of directors of the Social Innovation Forum, Boston's leading community for social impact engagement and connection. Ryan started his career practicing commercial real estate and construction law at a boutique firm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ryan holds graduate degrees in law from Wake Forest University School of Law and in design from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and a bachelor of arts from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Ashraya covers global equities and environmental investment themes at Promethos Capital. He was a Senior Research Analyst at Athena Capital Advisors prior to that. Ashraya comes from Kathmandu, Nepal, having worked with community groups and social enterprises prior to and in the aftermath of Nepal's 2015 earthquake. He is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University with a Master of International Business. He also graduated from Grinnell College with a BA in Economics in Mathematics.

**Lisa Hayles**

Boston Common Asset Management

Lisa is VP of Institutional Investment Services at Boston Common Asset Management. She is responsible for client relationship management and business development focusing on foundations, endowments and their consultants. She also spearheads Boston Common's shareowner engagement work around inclusion and equity, focusing on corporate dialogues and policy initiatives supporting gender and racial equality in the workplace.  She has worked for more than 16 years in responsible investment and has advised institutional investors in Europe and North America on designing and implementing responsible investment approaches. Lisa serves on the board of the Thirty Percent Coalition, a national non-profit committed to raising the number of women, including women of color, on public company boards across the U.S.  She also serves as a resource person on responsible investment issues with the executive committee of the Intentional Endowment's Network, and Confluence Philanthropy's Asset Owner Working Group.

A native of Toronto, Canada, Lisa worked in the UK for a decade before relocating to New England in 2013. An enthusiastic traveler, dancer and yoga practioner, she supports Womenade, a philanthropic giving circle funding community-based organizations serving women and girls in the greater Boston Area and also serves on the board of the Boston Impact Initiative, a place-based impact fund focused on economic justice.

Darby Hobbs is a visionary, social innovator, educator, and strategic marketer focused on ‘Telling the Story’ of impact and positive change along with the belief that businesses exist for profit and purpose, and that the financial system and the value drivers connected to this today is both a key challenge and opportunity to unlock. Working with company business leaders, investment firms and financial advisory groups to develop a deeper understanding of how to apply ESG/SRI and Impact Investing criteria into business decisions and to understand the value drivers of individuals ready for being part of the new investment experience - fusing brand and sustainability principles for asset growth. She has also developed programs geared towards academia targeting social entrepreneurship and innovation as well as student led impact investing funds. She also produces the Conscious Business Show (radio). 

  Suraj Kripalani is the co-founder of BonBillo, a social impact incubator helping entrepreneurs and university students launch startups contributing towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. He also serves as a mentor at Startupbootcamp Afritech, a leading accelerator program focused on high-growth technology startups in the African continent. From 2015 to 2017, Suraj guided management teams of Indian businesses with total revenues exceeding $400 million to execute transformation plans to deliver a material improvement in performance. His passion for social ventures led him to help launch the Nalanda Education Technology Program, a blended-learning program using an offline version of Khan Academy in low-income Indian schools, in 2013. The non-profit program has since grown across 3 Indian cities, and shown a positive impact on students’ learning outcomes and engagement levels. Suraj began his career at BlackRock in 2004 and held several roles in fixed income risk and portfolio management over 8 years in New York and London. Suraj holds an M.S. in Financial Engineering from Columbia University, a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Purdue University and attended MIT’s Entrepreneurship Development Program in 2017.

Laurie+Lane-Zucker — **Laurie Lane-Zucker**

Impact Entrepreneur

For nearly 30 years, Laurie has been a “pioneer” (Forbes) and recognized leader in sustainability, social enterprise and impact investing. Laurie was the founding Executive Director of the international environmental organization, Orion Society, which publishes the celebrated Orion Magazine. Laurie Lane-Zucker is Founder and CEO of Impact Entrepreneur, LLC, an impact economy business that hosts the Impact Entrepreneur Network, a 23,000 member global network of entrepreneurs, investors and scholars. He graduated from Middlebury College and the University of Edinburgh, and completed graduate work at Columbia University and the Bread Loaf School of English.

Steve Mark, CFA, has been Vice President of Strategic Account Relationship Management and Business Development at Fidelity Charitable, an independent public charity that has helped donors support more than 250,000 nonprofit organizations with over $30B in grants, since 2014. Steve also serves as Board Chair for MicroLoan Foundation USA, an international non-profit organization providing financial literacy training and microlending to women in impoverished areas of Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Andrea E. McGrath is a strategic consultant and entrepreneurial leader helping executives, organizations and networks to catalyze ideas into action. An expert adviser and trusted thought partner, with deep experience working within and between the worlds of strategy, finance, entrepreneurship and academia, Andrea is recognized for her leadership, advisory, and community building skills.

**Jill Newbold**

Investors’ Circle - Social Venture Network

Jill Newbold is Director of Business Development and New Markets for Investors’ Circle, the largest and most active early-stage impact investing network in the world.  Since 1992, IC has propelled almost $210 million into over 350 for-profit enterprises dedicated to improving the environment, education, health, and community. 

Investors' Circle merged as of 1/1/2018 with Social Venture Network, a community of social entrepreneurs.  The merger brings together the best of both mission-aligned organizations:  IC-SVN builds and serves communities of inspired and informed impact investors and business leaders to make social and environmental change.  Jill’s responsibilities include local network management as well as the exploration of new markets and cultivation of revenue-driving partnerships and funder relationships.  

Jill has a liberal arts degree in Marketing, Psychology and Communications from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an MBA from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business.  She lives in Chapel Hill with her family.

Carl Valenstein is a partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 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. Carl is fluent in Spanish
and Portuguese, and conversant in French and Italian.
For more than 20 years, Carl 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.
He is a founding member of the Impact Investment Lawyers Legal Working Group, which holds annual
conferences.   Carl is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Michigan Law School and New York Law
School International Transactions Clinics (ITCs) focusing on impact investment. In conjunction with the
Michigan Law School ITC, he represented Habitat for Humanity International in establishing MicroBuild, a
$100 million dollar fund that expands housing microfinance lending and helps thousands of low- income
families globally.  The fund received the Overseas Private Investment Corporation’s (OPIC’s) 2016 Access
to Finance Award and recognition by the Financial Times for Social Innovation. He serves on the
  Advisory Board of the Michigan Social Venture Fund. Most recently, he represented Jewish Vocational Services in the third Massachusetts pay-for-success contract.

Program Team

Borawski 300x300.jpg — **Jessica Borawski**

Jessica Borawski is a Fixed Income Analyst at Loomis Sayles, a global asset manager based in downtown Boston. Prior to Loomis, Jess worked in trading for Stockbridge Investors, a marketable securities investing group within Berkshire Partners. In 2015, she earned a B.S. in International Business, Finance, and Spanish from Northeastern University. Jess aims to connect her passion for social impact to her professional network and is thrilled to help NEIII succeed in expanding its reach in Boston and beyond.

Katherine O’Brien is a Portfolio Manager at Reynders, McVeigh (“RMCM”) Capital Management, a wealth and investment firm. At RMCM she is involved in the due diligence and research for impact investments. Prior to joining RMCM, Katherine worked in equity capital markets at Janney Montgomery Scott. Katherine is passionate about investing in companies that generate social impact and financial returns. Katherine graduated from the University of Delaware with degrees in Economics and Energy and Environmental Policy w/ a minor in legal studies.

Greg Piccirillo is an Analyst at SCS Financial, a wealth and investment firm headquartered in Boston, MA. Greg graduated from Bowdoin College in 2017, with a major in Economics and a minor in Government & Legal Studies. During his time at Bowdoin, Greg worked at the Investments Office and interned at Jefferies as an investment banking summer analyst. He is passionate about investing and ways in which individuals can leverage their expertise in the capital markets to engage in socially responsible initiatives.

Ani is currently a Project Engineer at Renew Energy Partners, LLC. He has received his Master’s Degree in Energy Systems from Northeastern University, where he worked as an Investment Associate Co-op at Greentown Labs, served as President of the Energy System Society at NEU, and received the Outstanding Student Leadership Award two years in a row. Ani is passionate about fighting climate change through sound engineering, inclusive policy-making, and wise financial decision-making. He looks to exhaust his past and current professional and personal experience in driving NEIII's efforts forward.

mit-mba-faina-rozental-1980 (2).jpg — **Faina Rozenthal**

Faina Rozental is a Public Equity Research Analyst at Eventide Asset Management, a values-based socially responsible asset manager. She is responsible for monitoring and evaluating new and existing investment opportunities in Eventide's portfolios. Faina has an MBA with certificates in finance and sustainability from the MIT Sloan School of Management. While at MIT, she worked at Goldman Sachs and the MIT Office of Sustainability. Prior to MIT, she managed social due diligence at Root Capital, an agricultural impact investor, and earlier was responsible for OECD research sales in North America. She holds a B.A./M.A. in Economics from Boston University.