About Us

Board of Directors & Staff

Staff

Andy Posner, Executive Director

Andy Posner, co-founder and director of the Capital Good Fund, recently graduated from Brown University with a Master of Arts in Environmental Studies, where he wrote his thesis on the need for green microfinance in the United Sates, laying out the blueprint for what Capital Good Fund is now working to accomplish (Andy’s thesis is available for download here). Andy holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish Language and Culture from California State University, Northridge, and is a LEED Accredited Professional. During the first three weeks of January, 2010 Andy received intensive training from Grameen bank—the Nobel Peace Prize winning inventor of microfinance—so as to bring back what he learned and apply it to CGF’s products and services. Andy is also on the Board of Directors of The Association for Enterprise Opportunity, a “national membership organization [that is ] the voice of micro enterprise development in the United States.

Andy’s thoughts and ideas can be found on several prominent environmental blogs, including Treehugger.com and the Huffington Post, as well as his personal web site, http://www.andyposner.org. When not working on Capital Good Fund, Andy can most often be found cycling throughout Rhode Island and surrounding states.

Joseph Holberg, Director of Workshops

Joseph Holberg recently earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Economics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He also earned a minor in Eastern European Culture and Literature. As an Americorps VISTA member, he is currently developing the curriculum for the Financial and Business courses, training Capital Good Fund staff to teach the courses, and teaching the courses himself. He received Advanced Business Course training from Intersect Fund in New Brunswick, New Jersey in June of 2010. Joseph is working on Spanish speaking fluency and is studying Russian and French. He believes that access to credit is a powerful tool and can be utilized at a micro-level while providing education for management and budgeting to maximize the borrower’s success and personal growth. In his free time, Joseph can be found reading, exercising, and playing an occasional pick-up game of soccer.

Idil Canal, Loan Officer

Idil was born and raised in Turkey, Istanbul. She is currently a junior concentrating in Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship with a focus on Business Economics. She volunteered in several international projects and initiated one in Sirince/Turkey to help local kids learn English over the summer. After several different work and internship experiences in various fields, she decided to take her part in finding and implementing entrepreneurial solutions to have a better community. Her interests include cooking, traveling, sculpting and volleyball.

Melanie Berkowitz, Loan Officer

Melanie is a sophomore at Brown University concentrating in Development Studies with a particular interest in the intersecting roles of economic sustainability and health. Her other interests include hiking, medical anthropology, languages, and red peppers.

Lena Gaviria, Loan Officer

Lena grew up in Bogotá, Colombia and moved to New York City when she was eleven years old. She will be a junior at Brown University concentrating in Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship. Her language skills (fluent in Spanish, French, English and learning Mandarin) have enabled her to communicate with a diverse group of individuals, including immigrants living in New York City. She has
engaged in research projects on migrant laborers in Jackson Heights, Queens, which have triggered her interest in helping immigrant communities. Her interest in business and entrepreneurship was sparked after taking courses in business administration at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá in 2007. Lena’s awareness of the importance of microcredit began when, as an intern, she helped organize an international conference on Microcredit as a Tool for Peace Building, which took place in Cali, Colombia in January 2009. She hopes to continue gaining experience in this field and, at the same time, provide the local community in Providence with much needed financial services.

Angela Wu, Loan Officer

Angela grew up in Paraguay with Taiwanese parents. She is currently a junior pursuing a concentration in International Relations. Growing up as a bi-cultural person has given her the ability to easily relate to others, therefore pushing her towards various national and international social projects in Paraguay and abroad. Her language abilities (fluent in Spanish, English, Mandarin, and intermediate French) has allowed her to reach out to a diverse group of people. Her vision is to someday go back to her home town, Asunción, Paraguay, and start an organization that will promote gender equality and empower women. Her interests include cooking, playing volleyball, reading inspiring books and traveling.

Haley Jordahl, Marketing Team

Haley is a sophomore at Brown concentrating in Development Studies and Economics. She is primarily interested in the role of community-based organizations in promoting sustainable and comprehensive economic growth, particularly within the developing world. When not working with the Capital Good Fund, she performs with Brown’s modern dance company, Dance Extension, teaches sex and health education at Providence’s Met School, and is training to lead a week-long hiking trip with Brown Outdoor Leadership Training.

Jason Kaye, Finances Director

Jason Kaye ‘12 is studying Economic Development at Brown and would like to analyze the changing role of microfinance in the field of domestic and international development while contributing to the Providence community. He is passionate about poverty alleviation in the developing world, and feels that a large-scale combination of humanitarian efforts and sustainable economic development strategies has the potential to affect monumental change in the state of global poverty in the coming years.

Jason Harris, Director of Evaluation

Jason’s interest in microfinance grew out of a semester he spent with a small community-development NGO in Nicaragua in the fall of 2008. He was intrigued by the idea of importing the concept of microfinance to the United States and how it can be used as a sustainable model of development. He is also interested in how different non-profits are organized and function. Previously he worked with middle schoolers in Austin, TX looking to become the first in their families to get to college.

He is currently a senior concentrating in International Relations and Urban Studies at Brown University. Jason loves basketball and other sports. His other interests include cooking, local food, education, the outdoors and reading.

Faiz Jiwani, Internal Evaluator

Faiz Jiwani ‘12 is a pre-medicine Economics concentrator from Daytona Beach, Fl. Currently a sophomore, Faiz has nurtured a passion for being active in the community, and is also currently a mentor for the John Hope Mentorship Program. After attending the Clinton Global Initiative convention in early 2009, he attained a newfound respect for the powerful impact socially-minded organizations and individuals can have on the communities they dedicate their efforts to. After leaving Brown, he plans to use his economic and medical degrees to further efforts to provide sustainable healthcare to poverty-stricken areas.

Upon hearing of the Capital Good Fund, Faiz was struck by the potential impact such an organization could have on the lives it affects, and how with seemingly small measures of support to those motivated individuals, we can erode the hold of poverty for an entire community.

Jonah Fisher, Development Team Director

Jonah Fisher is a Sophomore from New York City concentrating in
Religious Studies and Education. Jonah became interested in economic development
after spending a year between high school and college living and
working within a housing project in Southern Jerusalem. Working as a
part of the Foundation Relations Department of the UJA Federation of
New York inspired Jonah’s passion for fundraising. In his free time,
Jonah directs a teenage youth group in Providence and enjoys nothing
more than the twinkle in the eye of student or friend in response to a
transformative learning experience.

Sophie Fuchs, Development Team Member

Sophie is a Development Studies and possible Economics concentrator at Brown. She is interested in issues of food security, hunger, and agriculture, especially in Latin America and Southeast Asia. These interests have stemmed from a family garden, work on local farms, and eating and cooking foods from different cultures. Sophie became interested in the ideas of microfinance through classes at Brown and was intrigued to learn more about microfinance on a local level in Providence. She believes that microfinance offers great potential for both local and global empowerment and development.

Kate Lyons, Special Projects Coordinatorr

Kate is a current MBA student at Providence College concentrating in Non-Profits. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from PC in 2008. Kate will be doing the bookkeeping for CGF as well as working on loan development. As an avid traveller, Kate has seen the power of MicroFinance and believes it is an amazing resource for Rhode Island residents. In her spare time, Kate enjoys reading, playing tennis, skiing, running and travel.

Board of Directors

Mollie West, Co-Founder, Board Member

Mollie West, co-founder of the Capital Good Fund, is a Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship concentrator at Brown University from Seattle, WA. She started the organization with Andy Posner in June of 2008.

Andy Posner, Executive Director, Board Member

Michael R. Clark, Chairman of the Board

Currently, Michael, a LEED AP, works in Providence as a senior environmental scientist for an international environmental consulting firm, where he focuses on drinking water conservation and management, energy efficiency/conservation in buildings, and carbon management. He holds an MA in Environmental Studies from Brown University and a BS in Environmental Design from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. When not working, Michael enjoys running, reading, writing, and traveling.

Andy Cutler, Board Member

Andy Cutler has over 20 years of experience in the area of communications design. In 2003, he founded Cutler & Company based in Providence, RI.
Since 2003, he has provided communications counsel to such institutions as Advanced Image Enhancement (AIE), Andera, Afferent Corporation, Bioprocess Technologies, Business Innovation Factory, City of Providence, Concordia Fibers, Design Awareness, Ecolect, EpiVax, Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS (GAIA), JTJ Investments, NABsys, Orthopaedic Link, Providence After School Alliance (PASA), Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Rhode Island’s Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), Slater Technology Fund, Stack Design Build, Truthbox Architects, and Tizra.

Since 2003, Cutler & Company has also distinguished themselves in the community by contributing 100’s of thousands of dollars in pro-bono services to various non-profit, artistic and educational endeavors with such clients as New Urban Arts, Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts, A Better World by Design, Providence Children’s Film Festival, Providence Granola Project, Revolution x Design, and Woolly Fair Productions.
Andy specializes in counseling public and private institutions and entrepreneurial ventures on issues related to corporate message development, image enhancement, media relations, crisis communications, and community relations programming aimed at improving key stakeholder relationships.
Previously, Andy had served in a number of senior positions with Edelman, a global public relations firm, Feinstein Kean Healthcare (a division of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide), Boston’s Faulkner Hospital and Harvard Community Health Plan.
Andy currently serves on the boards/advisory boards of the Capital Good Fund, Providence Career & Technical Academy, Rhode Island Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and Young Voices.

He is a member of the Business Innovation Factory’s Next Generation Network (N-GEN), AS220, West Broadway Neighborhood Association, Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and E3 (Entrepreneurs Enabling Entrepreneurs). Andy has also served as Communications Chair, Industrial Designers Society of America-RI Chapter, Board of Trustees for the Providence Preservation Society, and previously chaired Rhode Island’s Communications Leadership Council (CLC). In 2005, Andy was a recipient of the Providence Business News’ “40 Under Forty” award, and named by Providence Monthly in 2009 as one of the “10 People to Watch in 2010” and is on the continuing education faculty at RISD (Course: The Brand of You).

He received his B.A. from George Washington University.

John Atkins, Secretary of the Boardr

John is a digital media veteran known for his strategic and operational expertise. He currently runs a boutique consulting company, Deep Dive Consulting, specializing business, marketing and product planning, competitive analysis, as well as quantitative and qualitative research. He has extensive management experience in interactive services, media, B2B software services and in planning and deploying associated enabling technologies and initiatives including social media strategies, SEO, SEM, landing page optimization, user interface design, effective ecommerce platforms, supply chain management, sales and CRM processes, ERP, HRIS and other SAAS-based back office suites. In addition to his role on the Board of the Capital Good Fund, John works as a consultant on ecommerce technologies for TPP Global Services in Boston and recently became partner with SVPRI (svpri.org) where he helps social entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground. John lived in Seattle for almost 20 years where he worked at Microsoft as well as a number of Internet and software service start-ups. He has a passion for art, good food, hiking and travel. John can be reached via email at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or on his cell: (206) 291-6051.