Board of Directors

Hooman Yazhari

Hooman Yazhari is a Co-Founder of Beyond Capital Fund. Hooman is a highly accomplished lawyer whose practice has covered restructuring, corporate, finance, project finance, and corporate finance transactions as well as a wide variety of more general commercial transactions and in-house legal issues as General Counsel of a public company listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange and currently as General Counsel of ILFC in Los Angeles. Hooman read law at Jesus College, Oxford University and completed an LLM at the London School of Economics (in Corporate and Commercial Law). Hooman has also helped to establish, grow and lead a venture capital-backed company to a successful trade sale in the London market. His skills in diligence, process, management,and a familiarization with the non-profit world assist in the establishment and growth of Beyond Capital Fund.

Eva Helene Foust Yazhari

Eva Helene Yazhari is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Beyond Capital Fund. Throughout her career, Eva has been involved in management and investment efforts in both non-profit and corporate settings. Eva was previously a Vice President at EnTrust Capital Inc., an asset management firm where she focused on due diligence, portfolio construction and business development. Eva leverages her experience at EnTrust in ensuring that the capital allocated from the Beyond Capital Fund portfolio is put to effective use in accordance with due diligence best practices. She is a pioneer in the field of impact investing- going beyond capital in her interaction with colleagues and professionals interested in socially oriented investing. She holds regular roundtables in Zürich for banks, foundations and individuals, in addition to being a panelist at SOCAP Europe and the Skoll World Forum. Eva recently gave a keynote speech at the Elite Summit in Montreux, Switzerland which described how family offices can use the same skills they apply in their asset management work to impact investing. Eva graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with a B.A. in Mathematics, and lives in Los Angeles.

Dr. Manouchehr Yazhari

Dr. Manouchehr Yazhari is a member of Beyond Capital Fund's U.K. Board of Directors. During his career, Manouchehr worked within the health industry and lived around the world while managing related businesses. In this field, Manouchehr was actively involved in the development of community partnership programs, bringing together government authorities, universities, the private sector, non-profit and NGOs. Manouchehr is a leader in the promotion of ethical entrepreneurship and values in business.

Kim McEwen

Kim McEwen is a member of Beyond Capital Fund's Board of Directors. She is a financial services professional who specializes in product management, operations, sales and marketing. She has always had a passion for assisting others and has spent time volunteering with children in Guatemala and underprivileged youth in New York City in addition to consulting the South Pacific Business Development Foundation in Samoa, a Grameen Bank style micro finance organization serving those living in poverty in the Pacific Islands. She has an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University in Kingston, ON Canada and a Masters of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

Stephen Brenninkmeijer

Stephen is a private investor with interests in impact investing, education and mental health.  He was founding Chairman of NFTE UK, now NTYE (Network for Teaching Young Entrepreneurs) and is a director of responsAbility Social Investment Services AG and the Schwab Foundation. In addition, Stephen is an investor in Accion Investments, Grassroots Business Fund, Phorms Schools Berlin, People Tree London, Fair Finance London, Bridges Social Ventures, and serves on the board of The Mentoring Foundation in London.

John A. McKenna, Jr.

John A. McKenna, Jr. is a Managing Director of Miller Buckfire.  Over the course of his career, Mr. McKenna has advised clients in a broad range of industries on financial restructuring, M&A and financing transactions. Mr. McKenna previously served as co-head of the eastern region of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin's financial restructuring group, where he was responsible for business in the Eastern United States, Latin America, and the United Kingdom.   Prior to that, Mr. McKenna was a member of the financial restructuring group at Wasserstein Perella & Co. Mr. McKenna currently serves on the board of directors of Second Market, Inc. and the New York Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  Previously, he served on the board of directors of Gate Gourmet Group, Haights Cross Communications, and US Airways.  During his board service, each of these companies completed significant business transformations, and financial restructuring.  Mr. McKenna graduated, with honors, from Claremont McKenna College in 1989.

Joshua Kennedy

Joshua Kennedy is currently Managing Partner of Sonian Capital Management, a Boston-based global investment manager.  Joshua focuses on evaluating investments in East, Southeast and South Asia, and travels frequently throughout the region.  Prior to joining Sonian in 2011, Joshua served as Director of Research at Liberty Square Asset Management, also in Boston.  Previously he worked on the news staff at The Wall Street Journal.  He holds an MBA from New York University and a BA from Brown University.

Marty Kuehne

Martin R. Kuehne joined Seabury Group in 2008 as Managing Director, Human Capital and became the Chief Operating Officer for Seabury Group in 2011. Prior to joining the Seabury Group, Mr. Kuehne was the Founder and CEO of Organizational Concepts International (OCI), a human resources and management consulting firm that was acquired and brought into the Seabury Group in 2008. He has held senior positions at American Express, Wells Fargo and Northwest Airlines with responsibility for compensation, benefits and training and development capacities with significant interface with the Board of Directors. A member of World at Work, CEBS, and the Young Presidents Organization, he received a B.A. in Economics and an M.A. Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota.

Brian Axelrad - Chief Investment Officer

Brian Axelrad joined Beyond Capital Fund in January 2011 and currently serves as Chief Investment Officer.  Brian is also a corporate attorney at Horwood Marcus & Berk and represents clients in all manner of business counseling from guidance on general operations to sophisticated strategic transactions.  For startup companies in particular, Brian counsels clients from the perspective of an outside general counsel.  Brian originally joined Beyond Capital after working in venture capital at Early Stage Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused exclusively on the kid-centric audience, and then as co-founder at Entrepreneurs Playground, a business incubator focused on conceiving and developing monetization strategies for startups.  He was also Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of a technology startup company.  Brian started his career as a corporate attorney at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He received his undergraduate degree in economics and history from the University of Michigan, a Juris Doctor from the Northwestern University School of Law and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

John Shea - Chief of Staff

John Shea joined Beyond Capital Due Diligence's Committee as Chief of Staff in July 2012.  He is currently an investor director with Hamilton Lane, an investment firm focused on global private equity, venture capital and debt strategies. Prior to Hamilton Lane, John was a member of the private equity research group at Cambridge Associates, an investment advisory firm, where he covered international markets from both Boston and London. John received his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he participated in an international field study based in Chennai, India, and a B.A. in Government from Colby College.

Hanna Adeyema

Nicholas Java

Nicholas is a dual degree graduate student at Columbia Business School and Columbia University's School of International & Public Affairs. Prior to Columbia, he served as an officer in the United States Army and received a B.A. in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University. Nicholas is also the U.S. Head of Business Development for Glovico, a social venture and online language learning platform, as well as the Co-President of Columbia’s Impact Investing Initiative, a student-led group dedicated to preparing professionals for careers in impact investing and social entrepreneurship.

Shivani Garg Patel

Shivani Garg Patel comes to BCF's Due Diligence Committee with a passion for social innovation and poverty alleviation. She has broad experience advising and launching a variety of social enterprises and organizations, which include the Grameen Foundation, Technoserve, World Health Organization, Accion USA and multiple social enterprises across Africa, India and the US. Previously, she worked as a strategy/management consultant at McKinsey & Company and as a Product Manager at Microsoft. Shivani received her M.B.A. from MIT Sloan School of Management and B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and B.A. in Cognitive Science from University of California, Berkeley.

Anna-Marie Harling

Anna-Marie Harling is a member of the Beyond Capital Fund Due Diligence Committee. She currently works as a consultant with the European Venture Philanthropy Association on their impact measurement initiative and with Ashoka on their social finance “globaliser”. She is also an Ashoka volunteer in Central and Eastern Europe and is based in the Czech Republic. Anna-Marie completed her MBA at IESE Business School in Spain where she collaborated with Uli Grabenwarter and Heinrich Liechtenstein on their impact investing research and spent time in Mexico as an investment manager at Promotora Social Mexico. Previously, she worked for 6 years in investment banking at Credit Suisse in London and Zurich. She holds an MA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and speaks English, Spanish and French.

Devang Vussonji

Devang is a consultant with Dalberg Global Development Advisors in Johannesburg. He advises both public and private sector clients on a range of development topics, including agriculture, healthcare, water and sanitation, education, and access to finance. Prior to joining Dalberg, Devang spent six years with Mercer Consulting in Los Angeles where he advised Fortune 500 companies on strategic human capital and performance measurement issues. Devang holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Claremont McKenna College. He was born and raised in India.

Advisors      

Nina Cejnar

Nina Cejnar is an Advisor to Beyond Capital Fund's investment due diligence process and business mentoring. Nina currently works at Kois Invest in Brussels. She was previously a consultant for CAA Int., Tanzania, where she leads first implementation steps of Village Power a project that supplies solar for rural un-electrified regions. Previously, Nina has also worked as a business manager for Alphamundi Group, Switzerland, where she supported the establishment of SAIF, an Impact Finance Fund targeted towards social businesses in Latin America, as well as consulting services on sustainable investment. Other work experiences include the support for a microfinance cooperative in Nepal, as well as an internship with McKinsey, Germany, and L’Occitance, Sydney. She holds a Masters Degree (German diploma) in Economics and has passed the CAIA Level I exam. Nina is fluent in German and English, and a beginner in Kiswahili.

Simone Thompson

Simone Thompson is an Advisor to Beyond Capital Fund. She brings a broad background to the team having worked at a number of bluechip organizations. Simone will be supporting Beyond Capital Fund mostly on strategy and positioning, business development and fundraising. She holds a Bachelor of Law from Birmingham University. Simone has spent time volunteering in India at an orphanage in Kolkata and is very involved in supporting a number of non-profit organizations.

Kenneth Youngstein

Kenneth Youngstein is an Advisor to Beyond Capital Fund. He is CEO of Biocom. Biocom is a specialist medical communications and education agency working with healthcare companies and non-profit and government agencies throughout the world. In the early 1980's Biocom had offices within the Ministry of Health of the Peoples Republic of China – the first Western medical communications agency in that country. In 1990, Biocom established the organ transplant system for the government of Kuwait. Today, Biocom is a leading innovator in the use of cutting edge technologies and behavioral medicine to further the communication between the healthcare industry and healthcare providers; between healthcare providers and their patients. Kenneth advises Beyond Capital Fund on healthcare technology and related investments.

Dr. Jahan Tavangar

Dr. Jahan Tavangar is an environmental/water resources engineer, and a serial entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in the fields of environmental protection, water supply and treatment, infrastructure development and maintenance, and business management.  He is the co-founder of TotalFacility (www.totalfacility.com), a leading provider of infrastructure maintenance services.  Jahan has also founded One World Environment (www.oneworldenvironment.com) and Coffee for Water (www.coffeeforwater.com).  His passion lies in social entrepreneurship.

Dr. Jack Kreindler

Dr. Jack Kreindler is a physician and physiologist with a parallel career in technology spanning 18 years. Jack architected and founded some of the UK’s largest online ventures in social media, health and finance: Douglas Adams’ H2G2.com acquired by the BBC, vielife.com acquired by Cigna and Dictate.IT, the National Health Service’s largest transcription provider. Jack continues to operate in the start-up space in addition to as a physician. Jack advises Beyond Capital Fund on health and technology-related social enterprises.

Saurabh Sharma

Saurabh Sharma serves as an Advisor to Beyond Capital Fund’s investment due diligence process through analysis of deal flow and provides business mentoring to companies.  He is passionate about healthcare, entrepreneurship, and social innovation efforts for poverty alleviation. He currently works as a performance manager at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH)/Faculty Foundation, where he is responsible for financial and operational management for a 65 bed urban Level 1 trauma center in downtown Chicago.   Prior to NMH, Saurabh worked in various capacities as a Mergers & Acquisition associate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch & BMO Capital Markets, a healthcare high-yield analyst rating hospital bonds at Raymond James and a public finance analyst structuring municipal debt at Citigroup.  Saurabh received his M.B.A from University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Masters in Public Health (MPH) from Yale School of Public Health and B.S. in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology from Emory University.

McGuireWoods is a top tier firm with approximately 900 lawyers and 19 strategically located offices world-wide. McGuireWoods uses client-focused teams to serve public, private, government and non-profit clients from many industries including automotive, energy resources, health care, technology and transportation. As partners Beyond Capital Fund and McGuireWoods will engage in the investment diligence process and mentor early-stage social businesses in the Beyond Capital Fund Mentoring Program. McGuireWoods is also a financial supporter of Beyond Capital Fund.

Dechert LLP is a leading international law firm with 21 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. With in-depth industry knowledge and legal experience, Dechert is able to identify the most complicated issues and focus on what matters most to the firm's clients. Together Beyond Capital Fund and Dechert will be pioneering the professionalization of the social investing due diligence process and adding value to early-stage social businesses in the Beyond Capital Fund Mentoring Program.

Baker & McKenzie is a firm with a global perspective, based on the firms knowledge of local laws and customs everywhere it operates, while Baker's lawyers understand issues across a broad spectrum of business and legal practices. This fluency allows Baker to bring the right talent and knowledge to deliver world-class commercially pragmatic advice. Baker & McKenzie will be assisting Beyond Capital Fund and the social enterprises in our Mentoring Program.

With offices in Mumbai and London, TresVista Financial Services is a leading provider of high-end research, analytics, and other customized financial services ranging from valuation analysis, financial modeling and knowledge process outsourcing to advisory work, research, and due diligence. TresVista has always believed in the transformative power of social impact investing and supports social impact funds, enterprises, and entrepreneurs across the globe with financial expertise. As a partner, TresVista assists Beyond Capital Fund with the due diligence process, research, and advisory work.