Truss Fund
Truss Fund
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    • Home
    • About Us
      • About the Fund
      • Meet Our Team
      • Meet Our Credit Committee
    • For Impact Investors
    • For Social Enterprises
    • Our Borrowers
    • Truss Fund 1.0
  • Home
  • About Us
  • For Impact Investors
  • For Social Enterprises
  • Our Borrowers
  • Truss Fund 1.0

Meet Our Credit Committee

Scroll to learn about our Credit Committee

Loans are assessed for impact, need, and credit by the Truss Fund’s eleven-member credit committee composed of volunteers with extensive experience in banking, philanthropy, structured finance, law, and international development 

Brenda Santoro - Head of Global Trade, Silicon Valley Bank

Brenda is the Head of Global Trade at Silicon Valley Bank. She leads a team that provides expertise to innovation economy clients doing business globally in addition to developing strategies to support client growth and success in global markets. Brenda serves on ITAC Committee 10 providing private sector input to White House policies, is a Board Member of the Bay Area Council, and has a Master’s Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts.  Most importantly, she is passionate about transforming organizations, driving change, and advocating for global causes.

Laurel Williams - Executive Director, SK2 Fund

Laurel is the Executive Director of the SK2 Fund, a two-year old fund that uses creative capital to help socially and environmentally committed small businesses and related initiatives succeed. Prior to the SK2 Fund, Laurel was the Chief Operating Officer at Thriive, which provides pay-it-forward loans that help expand businesses in developing markets that serve vulnerable populations. Laurel has a Bachelor of Science degree from Pacific Lutheran University and an MBA degree from Boise State University. 

Edward Mungai - CEO, Kenya Climate Innovation Center

Edward is the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC), which supports a holistic country-driven approach to accelerate the development and deployment of locally relevant climate technologies to the private sector. Before joining KCIC, Edward was the East Africa Region head for the Danish International Investments Fund and worked for KPMG East Africa in Corporate finance and Transactions Services. He also sits in several boards and is a faculty member at Strathmore University Business School where he teaches Corporate Sustainability and Innovation to executives. Edward is an Eisenhower Fellow and author of Impact Investing in Africa, A Guide to Sustainability for Investors, Institutions, and Entrepreneurs. 

Morgan Babbs - Chief Innovation Officer, iluméxico

Morgan is the Chief Innovation Officer at iluméxico, a Mexican social enterprise that provides high-quality electricity services to households currently living outside of the electricity grid. Currently, iluméxico has the largest amount of installed capacity of any off-grid consumer solar company, globally. Morgan contributes her expertise in accessible cash-in and payment networks, affordable consumer finance, and international expansion. Morgan came to iluméxico after founding another prepay solar energy company, Colibrí, in Nicaragua. As an entrepreneur, Morgan was recognized by President Clinton in 2016 for having an Exemplary Commitment to Action, and, to date, is the youngest winner of the D-Prize.  

Sola Adeola - Executive Director, Designing Futures

Sola has over 15 years of work experience as a strategy and organizational development consultant and has worked in the private sector, the public sector and with development agencies. Sola has worked for a start-up political party (Kowa Party) and Nigeria's first innovation hub as the Coordinator of the FATE Institute for Venture Design. She is currently working at Designing Futures as a freelance consultant supporting faith-based organizations and their philanthropy investments in education in Africa. Her guiding mission is to build a future in which every African child gains access to quality education that will enable them to dream and reshape the future of the continent. Sola is a Kauffman fellow with a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master's in Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. 

Leonard Mungarulire - Co-Founder & Partner, Ntare Insights Ltd.

Leonard is a co-founding partner at Ntare Insights Ltd., a boutique business advisory firm in Rwanda focusing on private sector development. He has over 16 years’ experience at the intersection of trade policy, regional integration, technology policy formulation/implementation, and private sector development, actively promoting an environment for economic growth in Rwanda and the East African Community (EAC). He has also worked with and advised the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Ministries of Trade and Industry, East African Community (MINEAC), TradeMark East Africa (TMEA), as well as the Private Sector Federation (PSF) in Rwanda and South Sudan. He has extensive knowledge of the business 

Carmina Bayombong - CEO & Founder, InvestEd

Carmina is the CEO and Founder of InvestEd- the Philippines’ leading student loan company. Prior to InvestEd, Carmina worked with Smarter Good Inc. to raise millions of dollars for youth-focused social enterprises. Over the past 8 years, she has also trained more than 6,000 youth in topics of employment, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. Carmina also worked on projects with leading institutions such as Ashoka, Australian National University, Lutheran World Relief, and USAID. She has a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Philippines; Three certificate courses from the Asian Institute of Management in Entrepreneurship, Startup Management and Data Strategy, and a Social Entrepreneurship Certificate from INSEAD.

Alberto Irezabal - CEO, Yomol A’tel

Alberto is the CEO of Yomol A’tel, a group of social and solidarity businesses in Mexico. Since 2007, he has worked alongside Tseltal indigenous communities in the northern jungle of Chiapas, México in the promotion of inclusive development alternatives for the coffee, honey, cosmetics, and finance sector. Alberto is also a professor at the International Investigation Center of Social and Solidarity Economics (CIIESS) of the Universidad Iberoamericana (Ibero) at Mexico City, specializing in capacity building and multistakeholder strategies for social enterprises. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, an MBA of social economy from Mondragon Unibertsitatea in Spain, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in advanced organizations of social economy from the same university

Huyen Huyong - Program and Impact Investment Officer, SK2 Fund

Huyen is the Program and Impact Investment Officer at the SK2 Fund. Originally from Hanoi, Vietnam she now lives in Aarhus, Denmark. Huyen has always had an interest in international affairs and has worked in impact investing and engaged philanthropy for over 10 years. Previously she served as the International Program Officer at Thriive, Vice Director at the Center for Economic Development Studies, and worked as a consultant at the World Bank in Vietnam. She is also an advisor and coordinator at Interhands, an organization that provides university scholarships and social entrepreneurship training to ethnic minority students from Sapa, Vietnam. Huyen received her Bachelor's degree in Economics from Foreign Trade University and her MBA from Troy University.  

Mainak Chakraborty - CEO, GPS Renewables

Mainak is the CEO of GPS Renewables, one of India’s leading biogas & waste-management technology firms, with a focus on decentralized waste treatment and clean energy generation. GPS today has close to 100 urban waste to biogas projects with clientele ranging from City Corporations to Fortune 500 Companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Bosch, and many more. In 2019, GPS replaced over 3 million kg of LPG with clean fuel and mitigated over 600,000 tons of GHGs in the process. According to the MIT Technology Review, Mainak is one of the top Indian innovators under the age of 35 and Fortune Media has recently named him “The Bioenergy person of the year”. He is also an INK Fellow and has been a Global Shaper, World Economic Forum. 

Marion Ngoya - Executive Coordinator, Belsa Energy Limited

Marion is a Co-Founder of Gweth, a community-based non-profit that supports at-risk teenage girls and distributes menstrual hygiene products in rural Kenya. Currently she is an Executive Coordinator at Belsa Energy Limited, a distributor of liquified petroleum gas across East Africa. She was first exposed to social enterprise and Miller Center when she participated in a work-study program at Digital Divide Data (GSBI 2014). At DDD she worked as an Associate delivering digital content, data, and research services to clients worldwide. She also owns Lingo Styles, a fashion business that trains and employs single mothers from underserved backgrounds to make African-inspired clothes and accessories. She is passionate about female empowerment and community development. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Kenyatta University with a double major in Sociology and Literature. 

Ron Caton - Former Executive Vice President, Wells Fargo

Ron recently retired from a 38-year commercial banking career. He most recently served as the Executive Vice President and head of Latin America at Wells Fargo’s financial institutions based in San Francisco, California. While at Wells Fargo, his responsibilities ranged from relationship management to sales, credit, treasury management and capital markets. He received both his Bachelor of Arts and MBA from Santa Clara University. 

John O'Keefe - Senior Mentor, Miller Center

John is an impact investor and has been a Senior Mentor at the Miller Center for the past 9 years.  He has mentored over 30 social entrepreneurs from 13 countries and 5 continents.  He has over 35 year of business experience spending time with large corporations and several startups and was co-founder of two.  He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Our work is made possible by our partners Beneficial Returns and Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship.

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