Shared Interest Board of Directors

Sheila Sisulu, Honorary Chair, is Deputy Executive Director at the United Nations World Food Programme. She previously served as the South African Ambassador to the United States. Before that, she was the Consul General in New York. Before her postings in the U.S., she served as Special Advisor to the national Minister of Education and Director of the Joint Enrichment Project in South Africa. Previously she held a number of senior positions with the South African Committee for Higher Education and the South African Council of Churches.

Linnie Mclean, Chair, is former Senior Vice President for Trillium Asset Management Corporation and has had an extensive and diverse career in finance and management. Her passion in promoting socially responsible investing and community development is reflected in her commitments including serving on a task force for small business trainers for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, serving on the loan committee of the Boston Community Fund. She has received awards from the YWCA of Boston’s Academy of Women Achievers, the Boston Urban Bankers’ Professional Achievement, and the Black Achiever Award from the YMCA in New York City.

Adrienne Bailey is an Education Consultant and has worked with The Links Inc to establish partnerships and support development of education in South Africa. She served as member and secretary on the board of trustees of the Southern Education Fund. She served for eight years as program officer for Chicago Community Trust.

Eddie Bergman is Executive Director of Africa Travel Association. He formerly served as Co-Founder & Executive Director, Miracle Corners of the World, Inc Co-Founder and Executive Director of Miracle Corners of the World, Inc., a nongovernmental organization dedicated to grassroots youth and entrepreneurial development through the empowerment of self-sustainability, with projects in the U.S., Tanzania, and South Africa.

Lauretta Bruno is President and Founding Partner of Gramercy Partners LLC, an investment advisory firm focusing on Southern Africa for US and European institutional clients. Gramercy also advises South African & European firms, foundations and universities on US issues. She previously served as JPMorgan’s Africa Area Manager and architect of successful strategy positioning of JP Morgan as a recognized and respected financial partner and intermediary for Southern African issuers and investors.

Ann Burroughs, Personnel Committee Chair, is Executive Director, for Los Angeles Taproot Foundation and former Executive Director for LAWORKS. She previously served as a South African communications consultant for the Rockefeller Foundation. Prior to that, she directed Amnesty International’s West Coast public relations work. She also served with the South African Council of Churches in South Africa.

Iva Carruthers is Secretary-General of the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference. Previously she served as the President of Orita Circle. She also founded and served as President of Nexus Unlimited, a twenty-year-old information management, training and consulting firm. She is also former Chairperson and Professor of the Sociology Department at Northeastern Illinois University. She also serves as a board member of the Governing Council of Trinity Hospital Advocate Health Care System, the Saltpond Redevelopment Institute and the Harold Washington Foundation.

Jennifer Davis, Secretary, is former Executive Director of American Committee on Africa. She also served as interim Executive Director for Washington Office on Africa. Throughout her career, she has researched, written and spoken on economic and political issues in Africa and the U.S. with a special focus on the U.S. corporate role in Africa. She was responsible for conceptualizing programs, building broad working alliances, and interacting with U.S. government members and major policy actors to act towards ending apartheid.

Darchelle M. Garner provides consultation to non-profit organizations in a wide range of areas, including strategic planning, organizational development, programming, and crisis management. She formerly served as Vice President of Project Development at The CHEST Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American College of Chest Physicians, where she developed and managed national and international educational programming, with special focus on tobacco prevention and disparities in health care. Ms. Garner came to the Foundation from Chicago Children’s Museum, where she established the Community Services Department, and most recently served as the Vice President of Education and Community Services. During her eleven years at the Museum, Ms. Garner led the creation of a nationally-recognized community collaboration model, and guided the development of a ground-breaking exhibit on prejudice and discrimination. Ms. Garner is a graduate of Brown University and Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Rev. Harold T. Lewis, PhD. is Rector at Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh since 1996. Previously, he served as Interim Rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn and Executive Director of Office Black Ministries of Episcopal Church Center in New York City. He has authored a number of books including the soon to be published “South Africa: Crucible of Twenty-First Anglicanism”. He has also held professorial positions at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Mercer School of Theology and New York Theological Seminary.

Mark Halvorson is an election reform advocate. He is the founder, director emeritus and board member of Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota (CEIMN), a non partisan organization that advocates for accurate, transparent and verifiable elections in Minnesota and across the country. He previously worked as a clinical social worker, as a Program Associate for the Center for Global Education and as the director of the Human Rights Program for Minnesota Clergy and Laity Concerned, which involved work on the South Africa divestment campaign.

Marc Herson is Managing partner of African Rain Ventures based in Cape Town, and is former Executive in Residence and Board Member of Softbank Capital a Boston based venture capital firm focused on digital content and media. He previously held a number of senior positions including Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at SONY BMG. He holds an LLB Degree from University of Witswatersraand in South Africa and an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Evans Maphenduka is CEO of the Thembani International Guarantee Fund, where he previously served as General Manager of Operations. He has launched and managed microfinance programs in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa, including South Africa and Zimbabwe. In addition, he has consulted widely in the field of Development Finance for institutions including the African Development Bank, Feed The Children International, Southern New Hampshire University, Opportunity International, the World Bank and World Vision International. He has also chaired and taught in the Department of Accountancy at the University of Zimbabwe.

Ricardo A. Millett, Development Committee Chair, is consultant and most recently served as the president of the Woods Fund of Chicago and now provides consultation to foundation and non-profit organizations in strategic philanthropy, planning, program evaluation, and organizational development. Previously he was the Director of Evaluation for W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a Senior Vice President at the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. He has an active role in several organizations dedicated to increasing the effectiveness of philanthropy in meeting social justice objectives including the Association of Black Foundation Executives, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. He is co-chair of the Governor of Illinois New Americans Policy, and serves on the advisory boards of Hispanics in Philanthropy and New Directions for Program Evaluation. His awards include the 2002 Alva & Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award by American Evaluation Association and Outstanding Immigrant of African Descent by the Ethiopia Society of Boston. Mr. Millett has a Ph.D. in Social Policy Planning and Research from Brandeis University.

Mangedwa C. Nyathi, Former Chair, Honorary Consul for South Africa in Michigan and former Assistant to the Pastor and Liturgist at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, where he has served since 1976. He is also the first Executive Director of Hartford Agape House, a social service agency of Hartford Church. Rev. Nyathi also serves as consultant to churches on the formation of Social Service Programs. He has given lectures and conducted workshops on urban ministry on the local and national level. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, planning committee of the Michigan White House Conference on Families, Advisory Board of United Way Community Services-Children and Youth Division, University of Michigan Faculty Committee on Southern Africa. He is also affiliated with organizations including Religion Action Network (RAN) for justice and peace in Southern Africa, Interfaith Council, National Association of Black Social Workers, Hunger Action Coalition, Board Member and Treasurer of the Interfaith Collaborative for Community Economic Development and the Chairman of Michigan Neighborhood Partnership.

Jehiel Oliver, International Development Consultant, is a global development finance professional focused on the micro, small and medium enterprise sectors. He currently works with Aya Consulting, a company he founded, on a variety of projects including program reviews, financial due diligence and transaction execution for socially responsible investors. He has work experience in over ten countries, including areas in conflict. Prior to working in international development, Jehiel served as an Associate with both Key Bank and Key Banc Capital Markets. Within these organizations he worked within the Institutional Capital, Private Equity, Debt Syndications and Upper Middle Market business divisions.

Matthew W. Patsky, CFA is Chief Executive Officer of Trillium Asset Management. Matt is widely considered as an expert in socially and environmentally responsible investing. As Director of Equity Research for Adams, Harkness & Hill, he built that firm’s powerful research capabilities in socially and environmentally responsible areas such as renewable energy, resource optimization, and organic and natural products. Matt was most recently at Winslow Management Company in Boston, where he served as director of research, chairman of the investment committee and portfolio manager for the Green Solutions Strategy and the Winslow Green Solutions Fund. He has appeared on “Wall Street Week”, CNBC, ABC Evening News and Fox News, and been featured in Barron’s, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, and other major media. Matt is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Joshua Posner is Founder and CEO of Rising Tide Development, a private development firm focused on the creation of new small-scale, mixed-income residential communities in Massachusetts. Prior to Rising Tide Development, Mr. Posner played a number of senior roles over 12 years at The Community Builders, a leading regional and national nonprofit developer of affordable housing. He has specialized in the construction and rehabilitation of community-based housing, the preservation of affordable housing nearing the end of its regulatory period, and the redevelopment of large-scale dilapidated public housing projects in various locations around the country.

Ron Shiffman is Professor at Professor, Pratt Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, School of Architecture and member of the NYC Planning Commission. Mr. Shiffman has served as a Project Director and Field Study Organizer for the Ford Foundation and a consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Timothy Smith, Board Development Chair, is Senior Vice President at Walden Asset Management, a division of Boston Trust and Investment Management, and President of the Social Investment Forum. He is the former Executive Director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. He also chairs the Advisory Committee of the Calvert Social Investment Fund and is a member of the Advisory Committees for Working Assets Common Holdings, Fidelity Bank Social Principles Fund, and Working Assets Long Distance.

David Wildman is Executive Secretary for Human Rights and Racial Justice at the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries. He previously worked as a seminar designer for the United Methodist Seminars on National and international Affairs at the Church Center for the United Nations. He has written numerous articles on economic rights and social change.