Team

Founders

Rupal Patel, MPP

Founder and Principal

Private equity executive with emphasis on financial inclusion

12 years private equity experience managing $150 million in renewable energy and agricultural capital investments; 10 years organizing and advocacy experience focused on poverty, labor and immigration issues;
Developed 1.6 GW of renewable energy projects, including the 579 MW Solar Star Project, ranked in the top 10 largest photovoltaic projects in the world;
Developed and managed an inaugural Corporate Social Responsibility program for one of California’s largest table grape producers gaining awards and recognition from Walmart, Costco, and Fair Trade USA;
Originated the first employee benefit company in the U.S., California Harvesters, of which Rupal is Co-founder and Board Member. Four years after launch, California Harvesters provides quality jobs to over 1,200 farmworkers in California’s Central Valley.
Holds a BA in Sociology and Masters in Public Policy from U.Michigan.

Karlo Marcelo, MPP

Founder and Principal

Business Strategist and Recruiter with emphasis on building teams

Sourced, recruited, and trained a national membership talent network of political candidates, elected officials, federal policymakers, and political consultants on national security issues at the Truman National Security Project;
Managed a $15M public-private partnership portfolio at the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles focused on youth jobs and public safety & security, gaining recognition by U.S. HUD; established new partnerships with LA Chargers and Disney to fund programs;
Developed national microfinancing benchmarks and microbusiness outcomes for CDFIs and other alternative community lending institutions to evaluate their success and sustainability at The Aspen Institute;
Millennial market researcher and vote expert during the 2006 and 2008 elections; provided Millennial marketing advice and research to campaigns and collaborated with Rock the Vote and WWE to produce Millennial engagement marketing materials.
Holds a BA in Economics and Government from U.Maryland and a Masters in Public Policy from U.Michigan.

Leadership Team

Sabrina Charles, JD

Director, Legal Strategy

Legal Strategist and Policy Administration Expert

Practiced law at Wachtell, Lipton & Katz and Ropes & Gray LLP in New York City advising diverse clients, including banks, hedge funds, manufacturers, large hospital systems, and small, not-for-profit health care providers, on transactional, regulatory, securities, and enforcement matters;
Developed an active pro bono practice, representing people before the Social Security Administration and advising a not-for-profit community health care provider on compliance matters;
Clerked for the Honorable Barrington D. Parker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit;
Doctoral candidate in Sociology at New York University focusing on law and society, the sociology of knowledge, and social theory; spent three years observing immigration court hearings and interviewing people about how immigration court proceedings impact people and their families for dissertation research;
BA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Phi Beta Kappa and with High Honors and Distinction; J.D. from Yale Law School; MPA from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government; and MPhil in Sociology from New York University.

Adarsh Parekh

Advisor, Capital Markets & Finance

Strategic Finance & Planning Advisor

Seasoned private equity and investment banking professional with over 20 years experience;
$2 billion of transaction experience in M&A, capital markets, and leveraged finance across multiple sectors;
Led acquisition, strategic planning, financial operations, turnaround and divestiture efforts for multiple vertically integrated portfolio companies resulting in outsized returns to principal investors;
Extensive on-the-ground asset management experience in small- and medium-sized enterprises, including establishing and growing organizations, recruitment and training of employees, and developing efficiency maximizing operating procedures;
Holds a BS in Economics, Finance & Business Management from U.Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Lucas Dickey

Principal, Technology

Technology executive with emphasis on new business creation

18 years of software/tech experience as product manager and senior manager of software engineering, data science, and UX design; including formative PM experience at Amazon.com and 5+ VC-backed startups;
Co-founded Fernish—a circular economy, DTC furniture subscription service—as Chief Product Officer; including raising $35MM in equity capital and 2x+ that in operating lease and AR-backed debt capital, growing a team to 100+ distributed across 6 major metros, creating a purpose-built ERP system, and serving 10k+ customers via $50MM+ in furniture & moving services.
Led process to bring two new products and one new product category in the digital music and consumer cloud storage spaces to market at Amazon circa ‘07-’11, including owning the “PR+FAQ” proposal and ultimately presenting to & receiving approval from Jeff Bezos and a wide group of S-team members, including current CEO, Andy Jassy, and former Consumer CEO, Jeff Wilke (who later invested in Fernish).
As an operator, Lucas has experience including ownership over business intelligence, marketing, BD, strategy, People Ops; spanning the pre-revenue stage, to acquisition, to scale-ups, and everything in between across adtech & martech, to ticketing, geolocation services, digital music, and cloud storage as retail and SaaS implementations. His angel investor/advisor engagements further expands his experience surface area into CPG, govtech, legal tech, CRM & customer support, and multi-sided marketplaces.
Holds a BA in Political Science and Political Science from U.Washington, where he was a founding member of UDoves—Students for Peace in Israel & Palestine, Affordable Tuition Now, and Rainy Dawg Radio (the school radio station).

Zebunissa Bradley

Talent Development
Portfolio Manager

Neel Garlapati

Director, Investor Relations and Communications

Brett Heeger

Outside Counsel

Abhishek Jasuja

Financial Analyst

Froy Terriquez

Technology associate

Jessica Wilcox

designer