Who

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Board Members

Stephanie Gripne is the founder and CEO of the Impact Finance Center, the creative force behind the National Impact Investing Marketplace with a goal to catalyze $1 Trillion in investment capital into social ventures. At Realize Impact, Stephanie sits on the Realize Impact investment committee and is Board Chair.

Matt Eldridge is our Executive Director, specializing in finding new directions and optimizing operations of nonprofits, and the co-creator of investorflow.org. Elsewhere in impact investing Matt previously was CEO of Oikocredit US, the US affiliate of Oikocredit International, the third largest private funder of microfinance in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Luni Libes is our Managing Director, a serial entrepreneur, author, podcaster, mentor, advisor, impact investor, and fund manager. Elsewhere Luni is the founder of Fledge, a global network of impact accelerators, and CEO of Africa Eats, a pan-Africa investment holding company.

Brian Howe pushes back against the mundane. A geeky recovering attorney who runs his own startup while advising a handful of others. Brian was the co-founder and first CEO of Impact Hub Seattle. He helped Realize Impact get created and continues to help refine all our services.


Staff

Piper Bonacquist

Piper Bonacquist is our Director of Operations. She has a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector and specializes in operations, program management, and governance. Most recently, she was a co-founder and the Director of Operations and Training at Colorado Doula Project.


Members of the Investment Committee

Antoinette Klatzky is a facilitator, producer, philanthropic strategist and Presencing practitioner. 

Currently, she serves as the VP of Programs and Partnerships for the Eileen Fisher Foundation as well as Women Together‘s Host, Facilitator and Co-Producer. Ms. Klatzky is passionate about activating systemic social change through collaborative and innovative social entrepreneurship. Antoinette currently serves on the boards of Presencing Institute, Women’s Funding Network, TIDES and the Westchester Community Foundation. She has a BA from Bucknell University, is faculty on the MIT edX uLab MOOC’s, is a certified yoga instructor and at Realize Impact is a member of the Investments committee.

Ebony Perkins (headshot)

Ebony Perkins is a dedicated, solution-oriented social entrepreneur whose heartbeat is community. As the Director of Impact Investments at United Healthcare, Ebony advances their social impact and tax credit investment strategy across the country. Before that role, she served as the Vice-President of Investor Relations at Self-Help Credit Union. Ebony managed a national team that helps groups and individuals invest funds in a socially responsible financial institution that supports communities of all kinds, especially those underserved by conventional lenders.

Suneela Jain (headshot)

Suneela Jain is the General Counsel at Tides, a family of organizations committed to advancing a world of shared prosperity and social justice. Prior to joining Tides, Suneela worked as an attorney for Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and Gunderson Dettmer, and as a pro bono attorney at The Nature Conservancy. Her work included advising individuals, non-profits, small business owners, venture funds, government officials, and public and private companies, in formal and pro bono capacities, about issues ranging from corporate governance to securities law to joint venture partnerships.


Partners

All of Realize Impact’s services exist to help grow and impact investing ecosystem. To make those efforts larger we have partnered with Seattle Foundation, Mission Driven Finance, E8 Angels, Sprout Enterprise, RiseKit, SOCAP, World Resources Institute, and others.