Board of Directors

COURTNEY ASHER THOMPSON

Co-CHAIR

Courtney Thompson is an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainable Finance group, supporting development of sustainable investing products and solutions across the firm’s business units and the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing. Courtney began her career in economic consulting at Analysis Group, followed by a strategic advisory role at Next Street. She graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Williams College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, where she served as Co-President of Microlumbia.

REID SPEARIN

CO-CHAIR

Reid is a Director at Monroe Capital, a private investment company in Chicago, focusing on special situations and private equity. Prior to Monroe, he worked in investment banking at PJT Partners, specializing in distressed debt, restructuring and recapitalizations. Reid served as Co-President of Microlumbia while earning his MBA at Columbia Business School. He also earned a BBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

KATIE LEONBERGER

Katie Leonberger is President of Coleman Family Ventures, a philanthropic investment organization that aims to create a sustainable, more equitable world where all people can thrive. Katie previously served as President and CEO of Community Resource Exchange, a nonprofit consulting firm working to build sustainable, high-performing organizations that improve people’s lives and drive social change. In this role, she led CRE’s work with 500 organizations each year, as well as lectured and wrote on impact strategy and planning, nonprofit business models, and organizational development. Before that, Katie was a senior leader on the Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies, where she led initiatives to promote public sector innovation and spread ideas among cities. Her private sector experience includes serving as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and at Cornerstone Research. She also taught at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service as an Assistant Professor. In addition to Microlumbia, Katie serves on the boards of Morgan Stanley GIFT (Global Impact Funding Trust) and Riley’s Way Foundation. She holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and an M.A. in international policy studies as well as a dual B.A. in economics and international relations with honors from Stanford University. Katie lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. 

DAVID DEL SER BARTOLOME

David is Chairman and Chief Innovation Officer at BFA Global. He brings world-class high tech skills in growing areas of BFA Global to expand the company vision. He supports and promotes tech-enablement in the financial sector, and reaches beyond into other tech-related businesses and social investors. In particular, he has led BFA Global's contribution to the Digital Finance for Climate Resilience nascent ecosystem. David is also the founder and chairman at Frogtek, a social venture providing app-based technology to enable small retailers in developing countries with better business tools. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an Echoing Green Fellow, and holds a dual Masters of Telecommunications from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Télécom ParisTech and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

JON SAGAL

Jon Sagal is a Managing Director at Starboard Value, a New York-based investment adviser that invests in deeply undervalued small cap companies and actively engages with management teams and boards of directors to identify and execute on opportunities to unlock value for the benefit of all shareholders.  Jon graduated from Columbia Business School in 2012, and served as the Co-President of Microlumbia for the 2011-2012 academic year.  Jon’s microfinance experience includes working with PlaNet Finance in Kathmandu, Nepal, prior to business school.  Jon also worked as an investment analyst at Mill Road Capital, where he focused on long-term public and private equity investments in microcap companies, and Prentice Capital Management, where he focused on investments in consumer and retail companies. Prior to Prentice, he was an investment banking analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Rothschild Inc. Jon graduated from Princeton University in 2004, with a degree in Philosophy.

VIKAS RAJ

Vikas Raj is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School.  He is a noted expert on emerging markets, venture capital, and impact investing, with a particular focus on financial technology (fintech) and resilience.

Previously, Vikas was the Managing Director of Accion Venture Lab, the world’s first seed-stage venture fund focused on fintech for the underserved. At Venture Lab, Vikas led investments in over 50 innovative fintech startups across 30+ developing markets.  As an investor, Board member, and advisor, he has helped social enterprise technology startups around the world raise capital and scale, raising over $1 billion of capital and supporting over 20 million low-income consumers and 1 million underserved small businesses.  

Prior to Venture Lab, Vikas was an M&A investment banker at Evercore Partners.  He also helped build two pioneering entities in the microfinance space, as an early employee at Ujjivan and ASA International, both of which are now publicly traded companies.

Vikas has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and has an MBA from Columbia Business School (2010).  He is also an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). 

KATE WHITELAW

Kate is currently Director of M&A and Corporate Strategy at Bell. Previously, she worked in Investment Banking and Strategy at RBC, and as a Management Consultant at Accenture. Kate received her MBA from Columbia Business School in 2018, and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Queen’s University.

JOHN PLAISTED

John is a Manager at Bain & Company and is based out of its New York office. He previously held positions at Accion Venture Lab and worked with multiple consumer and tech companies. He received his MBA from Columbia Business School in 2019, where he served as a co-president of Microlumbia. John received his Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in Economics, International Business, and French from the University of Pennsylvania.

MAYA ZAMIR

Maya is currently an Impact Investment Research Analyst at Veris Wealth Partners, an impact wealth management firm, and previously was a corporate lawyer specializing in renewable energy and infrastructure, and finance and banking.

She received her MBA from Columbia Business School in 2020, and her LLB in Law and BA in Psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2014. While at CBS, Maya was Co-President of Microlumbia, and held internships with Bridges Fund Management Israel, The Rockefeller Foundation, Veris Wealth Partners and TomorrowNow.org.

JASON NAVARINO

Jason Navarino is a partner at Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP in Morristown, NJ and NYC. He advises a wide array of businesses and nonprofits with respect to domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, entity formation and governance, debt and equity financing, commercial contracts, and other tax and corporate matters. Jason received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 2004, and his J.D. in 2007 from Yale Law School, where he was Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal and Director of the Community and Economic Development Clinic and its Small Business Legal Services program. He also holds an LL.M. in Tax Law from NYU. Jason previously clerked for Justice Barry Albin of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and was an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York. He was named to NJBIZ’s Forty Under 40 list in 2016, and a “New Leader of the Bar” by the New Jersey Law Journal in 2015. Jason is a former Chair of the Taxation Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and current Chair of that Section’s International Tax Committee. He is also a former trustee of Future Problem Solving Program International, Inc., and continues to serve on the boards of its NY and NJ chapters.