SEED Fellow Biographies

 

 

2008 SEED Fellows
2007 SEED Fellows

 

 

2008 SEED Fellows

 

Amy Andre


Amy AndreCurrently a Point Foundation Scholar at Haas, Amy Andre is pursuing an MBA with a focus on nonprofit management. Amy works in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) nonprofit sector, where her roles have included board service, project management, public policy writing, and advocacy. In her most recent position, Training and Professional Development Manager at Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, she worked with Fortune 500 companies on LGBT diversity and inclusion. With a master’s degree in sexuality studies from San Francisco State University, Amy writes extensively on sexuality topics and has essays in numerous books, magazines and newspapers, and on her website, amyandre.com. In addition, Amy lectures about LGBT issues at countless organizations and universities, including UCSF Medical School, UCLA, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. At Haas, she is a VP for two clubs, the Q@Haas and the Black Business Students Association.

 

Charlene Chen


Charlene ChenCharlene is an MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business with a focus on international development through social entrepreneurship and technology. At Haas, she fulfills her passion for social impact by serving as Net Impact's VP of Academics and Education, the Global Social Venture Competition's Chair of Alumni Relations, and a Board Fellow at Lenders for Community Development. Charlene received her summer internship from Good Morning Africa (GMA), which is a non-profit organization whose mission is to combat endemic poverty in Africa by strategically targeting Africa's most promising, socially-responsible and innovative entrepreneurs in order to trigger high-growth development of their companies and communities. Charlene will be working in Accra, Ghana, with GMA’s client BusyInternet, which runs a diverse set of operations including a cybercafé, internet services for homes and businesses, and incubation for local internet startups. Prior to Haas, Charlene spent four years at Deloitte Consulting, where she worked on systems implementations across various industries, including Public Sector, Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Consumer Goods. She received a double major in Computer Science and Psychology from Duke University and loves international travel, snowboarding, and dragon boat racing.

 

Kyle Kearney


Kyle KearneyKyle Kearney is an MBA candidate from the Haas School of Business with a focus on social entrepreneurship and real estate. Prior to Haas, he worked in Tetra Tech Inc.’s R&D office where he consulted on a wide variety of environmental projects and sustainable development. With over eight years in the Environmental Consulting industry, he has combined these experiences with his training at Haas to focus on sustainable business strategies and green technology. Kyle recently spent a semester abroad studying the challenges and opportunities of doing business in China, with a focus on the nascent environmental industry in Asia. Kyle has a strong interest in bringing sustainable business solutions to market, and thrives in the challenging, dynamic and fast paced entrepreneurial environment. Currently, Kyle is working with Allopartis, a clean-tech start-up founded by UC Berkeley BioChemists. He holds a BA in anthropology from Marquette University and enjoys international travel and rock climbing.

 

Jessica Lopatka


Jessica Lopatka Jessica Lopatka is an MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business with a fosus on social enterprise. This summer, Jessica will work with REDF as a Farber Intern. REDF invests in early stage nonprofit social enterprises that help alleviate chronic poverty and homelessness. She will be working with one of REDF’s portfolio companies, Clean City, on a market strategy to understand Clean City’s current customers and the competitive landscape in order to identify potential service improvements and new business lines. Clean City runs a social enterprise that offers urban maintenance services, including sidewalk cleaning and special event recycling, employing very low-income and formerly homeless people while developing environmentally sustainable practices. At Haas, Jessica serves as the mentoring co-chair for the Global Social Venture Competition, the vice president of nonprofits for Net Impact, a Silicon Valley Social Venture fellow, and a consultant for Lenders for Community Development. Prior to Haas, Jessica was a project manager at an affordable housing developer focused on building livable communities and an IT consultant at Accenture. She also spent two years with the Peace Corps in Namibia teaching math, science and English, and managing sustainable community projects. She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University.

 

Nadia Madden


Nadia MaddenNadia Madden is a first-year PhD candidate in Energy & Resources at UC Berkeley where she is working on answering “How do we provide safe water to the 1.2 billion who currently go without?” This summer she will partner with the Aquaya Institute in San Francisco to initiate a global review of small-scale water providers in the developing world. Before coming to Berkeley, she was a project manager for WaterHealth International, implementing its turnkey water solutions for rural villages in India and Sri Lanka. She also advises the YE Water Program, a nonprofit that builds public health for slum communities in Jakarta through environmental education and technology transfer. Currently Nadia is involved in fundraising, strategic planning, and business development for several initiatives at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. Nadia obtained her B. Sc. in Earth Science from MIT. She loves riding her bicycle, enjoying local produce, and exploring the Bay Area with her husband.

 

Roxanne Miller

 

Roxanne Miller As an MBA student at UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business, Roxanne is learning business and technology management skills for her future career focused on developing economies. Roxanne's career interests include providing access to capital for entrepreneurs in emerging markets and the sustainable application of information and communication technologies (ICT) to address socio-economic development. This summer, Roxanne will be interning with Unitus, an innovative social enterprise that works with the world's most promising microfinance institutions around the world to accelerate access to life-changing financial services for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid - the 3 billion people who are living on less than $2 a day. She'll be working specifically on defining new MFI performance measures that innovatively but effectively reflect both financial performance and social impact. Roxanne is the judging co-chair for the 2008 Global Social Venture Competition, co-chair for the Global Initiatives at Haas club and serves as a student interviewer and board member for the Haas for Students Fund. The summer before attending Haas, Roxanne was a Kiva Fellow in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Prior to her time at Kiva, Roxanne spent more than three years working at Yahoo! developing marketing programs and products for small businesses who want to establish and advertise their online presence. She has a B.A. in communications with a concentration in Marketing from the University of Pennsylvania.

 

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2007 SEED Fellows

 

Matt Evans


Matt EvansMatt is a 2nd year student at the Haas School of Business focusing on nonprofit management, marketing, and economic development. Matt worked most recently in product management with the renewable energy company SunPower. Prior to Haas, Matt worked with Ashoka assessing nonprofit growth strategies and working with nonprofit entrepreneurs to grow their organizations. He has also worked in Santiago, Chile with the Nonprofit Enterprise and Self Sustainability Team (NESsT) assisting businesses run by nonprofit organizations to increase social impact and financial returns. After graduating from Stanford, Matt worked on food security issues as a Research Fellow at the Stanford Center for Environmental Science and Policy. Additionally, Matt founded a service-learning program in Peru for Where There Be Dragons. He enjoys backcountry skiing, photography, and golden retrievers.

 

Merrian Fuller

 

Merrian FullerMerrian spent last summer working on renewable energy solutions. She interned at SunPower, a solar PV manufacturer and installer, looking at ways to expand the use of the solar technology. She also conducted field research in India with a UC Berkeley team to examine the potential for high efficiency light in remote villages. Before enrolling at Haas, Merrian was the managing director of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), a non-profit that connects and supports business networks across North America that are committed to improving the social, environmental, and economic life of their communities. She was also the director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia. Merrian has written for publications such as The Nation, Orion Magazine, Yes! Magazine, and In Business. She now serves on the boards of BALLE and the EF Schumacher Society.

 

Jason Kibbey

 

Jason KibbeyJason came to Haas after running Defense of Place, a non-profit land conservation organization that works to assure parks, open space, and wildlife refuges stay protected in perpetuity. He spent the summer working for Patagonia designing a large environmental conservation initiative. Additionally, in the environmental world Jason worked for Union of Concerned Scientists on successful passage of new vehicle emissions standards and at the Resource Renewal Institute promoting comprehensive environmental planning in the United States. Jason returned to environmental work after being an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company, where he worked on turnaround and product strategies for high-tech companies. Additionally, he has started his own computer consulting company, worked abroad for a Spanish technology firm, and managed cooperative housing in Berkeley. Jason graduated with Highest Honors from UC Berkeley with degrees in Environmental Economics and Policy (B.S.) and Religious Studies.

 

Michael Pearce


Mike PearcePrior to attending Haas, Michael spent six years at UBS Investment Bank, working in the Alternative Capital Group. While at UBS, Michael raised over $1.5 billion in 30 transactions in the telecom, technology, biotech, medical device and business services sectors. Last summer, Michael was a Summer Associate at Pacific Community Ventures, a hybrid non-profit and venture fund focused on opportunities in underserved communities in California. Michael’s responsibilities at PCV included analyzing, structuring and closing new portfolio investments, financial modeling, valuation analysis, industry research, and company diligence. Michael is pursuing his interests of investing and social enterprise through the Global Social Venture Competition (VP, Development) the Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund (Principal). Michael received a BS in Finance with a minor in Mathematics from Georgetown University.

 

Nick Pearson

 

Nick PearsonLast summer, Nick worked in India as a field consultant with an NGO called PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), investigating entrepreneurial distribution channels and commercialization opportunities for safe water products. While there, he interviewed leaders at Indian social enterprises, microfinance institutions, social venture funds, and NGOs about their business models for providing beneficial services to low-income consumers. Before attending Haas, Nick worked as an environmental consultant, managing grant programs for foundation clients and writing financing plans for a variety of public environmental initiatives in the Pacific Northwest. At Haas, Nick has served as the judging co-chair for the Global Social Venture Competition, an evaluator for the World Bank's Development Marketplace competition, and a consultant for Dow Chemical, McDonalds, and the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development. Nick received his degree in Environmental Science from Carleton College.

 

Joel Ramirez

 

Joel RamirezBefore coming to Haas, Joel has worked as a senior financial analyst at the PDA and smartphone makers Palm, Inc and the biotech firm Chiron (Novartis). In these roles, he has managed the financial analysis and reporting of various product lines and business units. At Haas, he is now concentrating his studies in social entrepreneurship and social venture financing. Over the summer, he worked in business development at Benetech, a high tech non-profit social venture. He is actively involved with the Global Social Venture Competition as well as the Latino and Hispanic Business Association on campus. He holds a dual B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Stanford University.

 

Jeff Rauenhorst

 

Jeff RauenhorstJeff is currently a second MBA student at the Haas School of Business where he is focused on for-profit social entrepreneurship. Last summer, Jeff worked at Benetech, a high-tech non-profit building technology to serve humanity. He developed a marketing plan and launch strategy for Miradi, a new conservation management software tool. He also researched why a social enterprise should choose a for-profit versus non-profit structure for an article the CEO was writing. At Haas, Jeff is involved with the Global Social Venture Competition, the Entrepreneurs Association, and the Beer Industry Club. Prior to Haas, Jeff was a senior consultant, project manager, and sales consultant for Honeywell in the pharmaceutical industry. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.


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