Board of Directors

Charles Chester, Lecturer, Brandeis & Brown Universities

Charles C. Chester teaches international environmental politics at Brandeis University and Brown University, and has taught on global biodiversity conservation at The Fletcher School of Tufts University. He has worked for the Henry P. Kendall Foundation on a range of domestic and international conservation issues, for the Union of Concerned Scientists on global biodiversity issues, and for the World Foundation for Environment and Development on bioprospecting. He is the author of Conservation Across Borders: Biodiversity in an Interdependent World (Island Press 2006), which focuses on case studies of transborder conservation in North America, and is currently working on a book tentatively titled International Biodiversity Conservation. In addition to Root Capital, he currently serves on the board of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

Deborah Drake, Root Capital Board Chair, Vice President of Policy and Analysis, ACCION International

Ms. Drake currently works at ACCION International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to microfinance through its network of affiliate organizations in Latin America, Africa and the United States. Prior to her current position, Ms. Drake worked for several years in the Capital Markets Department where she managed the Bridge Funds, ACCION's guarantee funds that are used to facilitate access to bank loans by ACCION's associates. Before joining ACCION, she was a banking specialist in the Financial Policy and Systems Division of the World Bank and a loan officer in a commercial bank in Washington D.C. Ms. Drake is Root Capital's Board Chair and serves on the Executive, Finance & Audit, Governance and Risk Management Committees.

Jean Hazell, Researcher, Harvard Business School

Jean Hazell’s work at the Harvard Business School focuses on commercial models to improve the health and economic well-being of low income sectors in the developing world. This interest grew from five years helping to strengthen microfinance institutions in Latin America with ACCION International. Since then, Ms. Hazell has led two social ventures, as executive director of the Interra Project, and co-founder and president of Work in Progress. Ms. Hazell has also served as senior vice president of marketing at XACT, and as a financial analyst at Merrill Lynch. Ms. Hazell holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. from Yale University.

Frank Hicks, Director of Business Development Facility, Forest Trends

Mr. Hicks has over 20 years of international development experience, with more than 16 years based in developing countries. He is currently the director of Forest Trend’s Business Development Facility, and also the president of Sustainable Development International, a Costa Rican organization he founded that provides consulting services on sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation and enterprise development to a range of international organizations. In addition he is a founding member of SourceTrace Systems, a company that develops software applications for remote microfinance and agricultural supply chain transactions in developing countries. Formerly, he was the director of the Rainforest Alliance’s Sustainable Agriculture Program, and, before that, vice president of Organic Commodity Products, an organic chocolate company, based in San José, Costa Rica. Prior to that the worked as: the program manager for TechnoServe's Ghana office; the regional representative for the Biodiversity Conservation Network, a USAID-funded program that supported environmental enterprises in Asia and the Pacific, based in the Philippines; and as a program officer with the Ford Foundation based in Nigeria and New York City. He is currently a board member of the Nature Conservancy’s EcoEnterprises Fund and an advisor to Ecoagriculture Partners, an international NGO. Mr. Hicks has a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, with a focus on international development, and a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in human biology.

Minneh K. Kane, Lead Counsel, Legal Vice Presidential Unit (VPU), World Bank

Ms. Kane, a Kenyan national, has worked at the World Bank since January 1988, and at present serves as a lead counsel in the Legal VPU. Focusing mainly on legal and judicial reform issues, she is currently working on projects and /or sector assessments in Kenya, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Prior to joining the Bank, Ms. Kane worked as a barrister in Kenya for Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews, the oldest and, at the time, the largest, law firm in East Africa. She handled corporate and commercial matters taking cases to the High Court and other courts in Kenya. Ms. Kane has a master's degree in law from Harvard Law School. She is a barrister-at-law of Grays Inn, London, and an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She has a B.A. with honors in English law and French law from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England and a diploma in French law from the Université de Paris-Sud, Faculté de droit de Sceaux, Paris, France.

Tom Kaneb, Partner, Miralta Capital

After managing a family business for 21 years, Mr. Kaneb has worked as a partner in Miralta Capital since 1999, focused on venture capital investments in emerging technology in Canada. His education includes a chemical engineering degree from Queens University and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. His focus is on building strong management teams and strong sales growth. Mr. Kaneb and his wife, Ms. Gail Kaneb, are actively engaged with emerging NGOs that are applying innovative models to unsolved problems in the developing world.

Laurel J. Neylon, Regional Director, Mid-Atlantic Region, Office of Capital Giving, Harvard University

With a background in international (tourism planning, feasibility) development, Ms. Neylon has over 15 years of experience in sales, marketing, management and consulting in the international travel/leisure industry. Most recently, Ms. Neylon was vice president for business development and strategy for a web technology consulting company. Prior to that, Ms. Neylon was a co-founder and vice president of business development for GlobalPlateau, a social enterprise focusing on sustainable tourism in Latin America. At GlobalPlateau, Ms. Neylon secured partnerships with Conservation International, National Geographic, The Discovery Channel and Visa International - Latin America. She has also held positions at USAID and Arthur D. Little where she advised Latin American foreign governments on international trade, tourism planning and small -medium enterprise development. Ms. Neylon is a board member of Root Capital and member of Counterpart International's International Advisory Board.

Matthew Patsky, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Winslow Management Co.

Mr. Patsky is managing director and portfolio manager for Winslow Management Company, and brings 19 years of investment research experience to the company. Prior to joining Winslow in 2002, Mr. Patsky served as director of equity research for Boston-based Adams Harkness, Inc., where he supervised 21 research analysts focused on emerging growth technology, healthcare and consumer companies. Mr. Patsky is widely considered to be an expert on the natural products industry and he is recognized as the individual responsible for the development of the "Healthy Living" sector. Prior to joining Adams Harkness, Inc. in 1995, Mr. Patsky served as vice president at Robertson Stephens & Co. Mr. Patsky holds a B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a chartered financial analyst. He is a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) and the Social Venture Network.

Jonathan Rosenthal, Top Banana, Oké USA

Mr. Rosenthal is currently the top banana at Oké USA, a fair trade fruit company jointly owned by NGOs, farmers and fair trade organizations. With his deep roots in the fair trade movement, Mr. Rosenthal has worked for two decades to create a sustainable food system and more just relationships between farmers and eaters and all those in between. Through his vision and continuing work with Oké Mr. Rosenthal brings to light the interconnectedness of all people and eco-systems, infusing such ethics into our daily trade. He is an advisor to numerous fair trade organizations and companies and is co-founder and former executive director of Equal Exchange, the pioneering fair trade coffee company. Mr. Rosenthal is blessed to have a fabulous wife and two wonderful daughters.

Nancy Rosenzweig, CEO, The Natural Dentist

Ms. Rosenzweig currently serves as CEO for The Natural Dentist, and a director of the Forsyth Institute, the world's leading independent dental research institution. Ms. Rosenzweig was vice president of marketing at ZipCar and a teaching fellow at Harvard University, where she received the Distinguished Teacher Award. She has also served as vice president of marketing and communications at Bright Horizons Family Solutions, and vice president of marketing and corporate communications at Toms of Maine. She specializes in building and leading multi-faceted organizations through start-up, turnaround and high-growth cycles. Ms. Rosenzweig received her B.A. from Hamilton College in New York, and her M.B.A. in international marketing from Northeastern University.

Jack Taylor, Board Chair, Alliance to End Hunger

Mr. Taylor has over 25 years of experience in the management, finance, and development of entrepreneurial businesses and non-profit organizations. He is an investor in or adviser to a number of ventures, specializing in ones that offer market-based solutions to environmental and social problems. Mr. Taylor is also an entrepreneur who owned and operated a wood products mill in Vermont and has held marketing and managerial positions in successful manufacturing and software development companies in Connecticut, New York, and Florida. He was a founder and vice president of the Twin Pines Housing Trust, a provider of affordable housing, and served as treasurer of the Vermont Land Trust. He has also served on the boards of the Vermont Community Foundation and Chelsea Green Publishing Co. Mr. Taylor is currently the chair of the board of the Alliance to End Hunger and a board member of Bread for the World, both leading organizations in the movement to end hunger throughout the world. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University.