Advisors
Dave Chen
Dave Chen’s focus on sustainability is a result of his work in venture capital, regional economic development and energy policy. In 2007, he was a visiting executive at the Meyer Memorial Trust, developing an investing thesis and tool on mission-related investing (MRI) that has been adopted by several institutions. In late 2007, he formed Equilibrium Capital Group, an investment firm focused on growth equity investment opportunities in the area of sustainability. Dave was a general partner at OVP Venture Partners, joining the firm in 2001. Prior to OVP, Dave founded GeoTrust (acquired by Verisign 2006) and The Ascent Group; he has also been Vice President Marketing Mentor Graphics, an associate at McKinsey & Co, and an early team member in 1978 at Solectron. Dave serves as a Board Member of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Portland Branch, the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance, and The Freshwater Trust. He is Governor-appointed Chairman of the Oregon Innovation Council, Past Chairman of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute and a founding member of the Clean Economy Network. Dave is on the Faculty for the Prince of Wales’s Business & the Environment Programme and a guest lecturer in sustainability finance at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Dave has a B.A. in biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a M.M. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Mark Finser
Mark Finser is a pioneer in the field of social finance and has more than 25 years’ experience, including founding or senior positions with TBL Capital LP, RSF Social Finance, New Resource Bank, Investors’ Circle, and B Lab. Mr. Finser has developed an expansive network within the field of social finance. He leads TBL Capital, a $50 million sustainable venture fund he founded in 2007. As President and CEO of RSF, Mr. Finser grew the organization from a start-up to a respected leader in the social finance sector with assets of over $120 million by 2007, when he transitioned to Chairman of the Board. He also holds key leadership positions on several boards in the social venture field. He is a founding member and Chairman of the Board of New Resource Bank, a green community bank based in San Francisco, and a board member of Investors’ Circle, the nation’s largest socially responsible angel investor network, and was a founding board member of B Corp, an organization dedicated to advocating on behalf of socially responsible companies.
John B. Fullerton
John B. Fullerton has more than 20 years’ experience in investing, investment banking, and entrepreneurial ventures, including founding or senior positions with Level 3 Capital Advisors, Alerian Capital Management, and JPMorgan. Mr. Fullerton is passionate about sustainable economics and founded Level 3 Capital Advisors in 2007 to focus on high-impact, sustainability-focused private investments. Under his leadership, Alerian grew to $250 million in assets under management with strong investment returns. Prior to Alerian, Mr. Fullerton was Chief Investment officer of LabMorgan, where he managed JPMorgan’s financial technology venture capital activity. He also helped build and manage various parts of JPMorgan’s capital markets and derivatives businesses as its Head of Global Commodities, Head of Equity Derivatives and Equity Trading, Head of Debt Capital Markets and Derivatives in the Americas, and Head of Swaps for Asia. Mr. Fullerton has been a director of numerous companies (private and public) and nongovernment organizations and was a member of the Long Term Capital Oversight Committee that managed the $3.6 billion rescue of the distressed hedge fund in 1998. He is currently a director of New Day Farms, Inc., a Special Advisor to KLD Risk Analytics, an advisory board member of a commercial real estate firm and a hedge fund seeding business, as well as a director of Investors’ Circle.
Michael Ogden
Michael Ogden is the Founding Director of Natural Systems International. He holds a bachelor’s from the University of California (Berkeley) in civil engineering and an MBA from the University of Chicago in mathematical methods and finance. Mr. Ogden is a registered professional engineer in 10 states. His engineering practice focuses on the use of natural systems — the ecologies of the pond, marsh, river, prairie, and woodland — for the treatment and reuse of wastewater and stormwater. Mr. Ogden has been involved in more than 500 projects involving sustainable natural systems. He has worked in 40 states, and internationally in Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, India, China, Afghanistan, and Australia. Mr. Ogden participated in some of the first commercial LEED projects. He co‐wrote the textbook Constructed Wetlands in the Sustainable Landscape, published by John Wiley and Sons. The text was also translated into Chinese to assist in moving water sustainability concepts around the world.