MJ Kaplan
MJ juggles several roles. In 2014 she joined Loomio, a social enterprise start up based in New Zealand. Loomio is an online platform for collaborative decision making that is in 75 countries and growing rapidly. MJ teaches social enterprise and strategy at Brown University. Since 2000, MJ has led Kaplan Consulting, focused on strategic alignment, partnerships and leadership. MJ was the Fulbright New Zealand Ian Axford Fellow in 2013, where she researched social enterprise start-ups. In 2014, MJ’s research contributed to national policy changes and substantial growth of the social enterprise sector in New Zealand.
David Melançon
David Melançon is a business strategist and brand-builder who leads The Ito Partnership, a strategic consultancy helping purpose-driven businesses and organizations navigate today’s world, creating strategies and programs that drive growth, impact and results. Moving beyond positioning and marketing, Ito’s work connects intention and purpose to actionable business goals and results.
David has spent the last two decades helping companies grow, both as a C-suite member and as a consultant. Most recently at Edelman, he led a 150-member team, responsible for a cross-section of high-profile clients, including Comcast, GE, Charles Schwab, Booking.com and Bacardi. In leadership roles at other agencies, David led work with global clients including Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Sony, Kaiser Permanente and wework.
David has worked for iconic brands such as Berkshire Hathaway’s Benjamin Moore — where his work as CMO led to being named an Adweek Brand Genius — to start-ups such as JUST Capital and the nation’s first ebook company, NetLibrary. As VP of corporate communications for Visa, he led global communications efforts in launching new technology products such as online payments, stored value cards, and Visa’s first digital products.
An early leader in helping organizations develop models that integrate purpose with financial sustainability, David has worked with social enterprise leaders such as Echoing Green, Global Citizen and Defy Ventures, as well as purpose-led brands such as Starbucks, Chobani and Kind. He began his career in the US Navy, serving as a journalist and public affairs officer. David is a featured speaker at industry conferences globally, a frequent contributor and commenter in publications and articles, and has served on the boards of non-profit organizations, including GLSEN, the AIA Foundation and Make It Right.
David completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland and graduate studies at both Keio University in Tokyo and the University of Oklahoma.
Ben Anderson
For the past 8 years Ben has served on the global leadership team at B Lab which is building a network to transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. He held the roles of Co-Chair of the Board of Directors, CEO and Executive Director at B Lab US & Canada. B Lab certifies B Corporations, companies with the highest verified performance for social, environmental, worker, customer and governance practices. There are over 6000 B Corps and over 200,000 users of B Lab’s tools. Ben established a strategy to scale transformational business practices and public policies that systemically advance climate justice, racial equity, and a stakeholder-driven economic system. Ben currently serves as Chair of the Board of Director at New Bedford Research and Robotics (NBRR) and as a mentor with Entrepreneurship for All. He is actively engaged with racial equity work via White Men for Racial Justice (WMRJ). Earlier in his career Ben served as COO at Preserve, a Certified B Corp, which is best known for turning yogurt cups into toothbrushes and running innovative closed-loop recycling systems. He also spent a decade founding, directing and expanding a range of education programs in Boston including for The Steppingstone Foundation and Citizen Schools. He received his BA from Williams College and MBA from Babson.
Kim Anderson
Kim’s more than 30 years as a business leader and entrepreneur started in the Executive Training/Buying Departments of Jordan Marsh and Macy’s. She founded Teapots & Tassels, Co., which was awarded “Best of Rhode Island” repeatedly, and was featured in Southern Home Magazine. Kim has founded and led several significant community based programs, including the Barrington Business Task Force, and was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” award by the SBA in 1991 and “Citizen of the Year Award” in 2005 by the East Bay Chamber of Commerce. She founded and chairs Flower Power, a community beautification effort in Barrington, and has raised close to half million dollars in twelve years for this endowed effort. In 2009 Kim and her daughter, Ava, founded Ava Anderson Non Toxic, a direct sales company offering the safest full line of 90+ organic and natural personal care and home cleaning products, whose singular purpose was to reduce harmful chemicals linked to disease for humans and the environment. In 7 years she and her daughter built the company to a $60M run rate, with 100 local employees, and 20,000 enrolled Independent Consultants across the country. The Andersons sold the business in 2016, and Kim is now dedicated to working with her family to impact invest for climate crisis solutions.
Tino Chow
Tino is a former military officer turned designer who combines operations with creativity to help mission-driven companies leverage the power of brand, leadership and design through his firm Giant Shoulders. Tino spent over a decade building creative cultures and teams with New York agencies and Silicon Valley startups. He holds an industrial design degree from RISD, where he also teaches. Tino is a TED fellow and co-founded the Better World by Design conference at RISD and Brown University.
Dan Crocker
Dan Crocker is a business leader with extensive experience leading the strategy and driving the results of global businesses. He currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Blount Fine Foods, a fifth generation family-owned leading provider of fresh prepared soups and sides sold in most grocery stores across the US, and recently recognized by Providence Business News as one of the Fastest Growing and Most Innovative companies in the region. Prior to joining Blount in 2019, Dan served as the Chief Operating Officer of Daniele Foods, a third generation producer of specialty Italian charcuterie, and the SVP, Chief Customer Officer of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., the agricultural cooperative known for creating a broad portfolio of cranberry products sold to over 100 countries around the world. Holding a wide variety of leadership positions throughout his career, Dan has consistently demonstrated a relentless curiosity to discover creative solutions to complex business challenges, which is why working with SEG entrepreneurs is so inspiring to him. Dan’s background also includes working across a broad range of industries as an attorney in the public sector, in a corporate private practice, and as in-house counsel. Dan earned his law degree at the University of Iowa College of Law, and his undergraduate degree in Economics and English from Drake University. Dan lives in Rhode Island with his wife, Erica, and their three children.
Michael Henderson
Michael Henderson is Vice President for Research and Chief Research Officer at Lifespan Corporation . He is trained as a scientist and a patent attorney admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Michael’s research interests include cancer therapy, substance abuse, population health, tax policy, health inequities and medical/health geographies. Michael’s areas of expertise include complex contract negotiations, innovation, technology commercialization, research compliance, and various facets of intellectual property.
Michael holds a BS in Biology from Lincoln University, a JD from Villanova University, a MS in Neuropharmacology from Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine, and an LLM in taxation from Temple University.
Dwayne Keys
Dwayne Keys has spent over 15 years advocating on behalf of historically excluded and disadvantaged communities. He’s has been involved in various community & volunteer organizations such the RI Young Professionals & Urban League focusing on economic development, housing, and political participation. Dwayne serves as Chairperson of the South Providence Neighborhood Association (SPNA), leading efforts to provide public forums where all South Providence residents may have direct input in the urban planning decisions that shape the future of the neighborhood. In addition to his advocacy and volunteer work, Dwayne is a full-time Financial Coach with Compass Working Capital, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial coaching and education to families with low income residents to help them build assets and financial capabilities. With over 15 years of experience working in banking & financial services before joining Compass, Dwayne still participates in various personal finance programs and economic prosperity events geared to eliminating poverty.
Rebeka Mazzone
Rebeka has spent over 20 years in financial strategy, planning, and analysis with a focus on collaboration and successfully partnering within the organization to close the gap between finance and operations. After spending several years with a Big 4 accounting firm, Rebeka provided outsourced CFO and financial turnaround services for a broad range of industries before working directly in higher education, most recently as the COO and CFO of an industrial arts school where she oversaw faculty, the development and launch of a new academic program and construction and financing of a new academic building. She is excited to return to her passion of consulting to help companies thrive and evolve. Rebeka is a strategist and planner, passionate about creating value for companies. Her entrepreneurial mindset and intellectual curiosity drive her to find creative ways to solve problems, prioritize and deliver tangible outcomes in a growing organization. Rebeka has demonstrated achievement in developing and leading organization-wide change management including turning around a company or department's performance several times throughout her consulting career.
Julia McDowell
Julia McDowell is Director of Enterprise Strategy at CVS Health, where she is currently focused on new healthcare opportunities enabled by the recent acquisition of Aetna. At CVS, Julia has also worked on product innovation with CVS’s specialty pharmacy, enterprise adoption of new technology, evaluation of competitive threats, and organizational design for strategy and innovation. Prior to this, Julia served as Program Director of Family Planning at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), where she designed, launched, and led the organization’s first family planning program. She oversaw the implementation of pricing deals CHAI brokered with global pharmaceutical companies to make essential contraceptive products affordable, partnering with public health systems in sub-Saharan Africa to expand access to long-acting methods of contraception for millions of women. Early in her career, Julia was a Fulbright Fellow in Bolivia, where she collaborated with indigenous communities on environmental health and social justice issues, and later served as the Principal Investigator for Climate Change at Agua Sustentable, a local nonprofit research and advocacy organization. Julia earned an MBA at the Yale School of Management as a Frederick Frank Fellow, and an MPH at Emory University as a Robert W. Woodruff Fellow. She completed her BA at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she now lives with her husband, Seth.
Sonia Millsom
Sonia Millsom is the CEO of Oxeon, a trusted healthcare firm, powering change through talent, entrepreneurship and investment. She is a veteran healthcare leader who has been at the forefront of value-based healthcare, with extensive experience growing mission-driven innovative companies, as well as serving as an adviser, board member and investor.
Sonia is a dynamic healthcare executive who is known for her sharp insights and for her ability to see around corners, forecast consumer trends and drive remarkable growth. Her vast, multifaceted network of relationships spans virtually every healthcare industry segment, from startups to the biggest publicly traded corporations, and across the full spectrum of purchasers, payers and providers. She has worked across the healthcare ecosystem building solutions to deliver better care for commercial, Medicare and Medicaid populations, and has worked with founders and early-stage boards to evolve initial business models into scalable, sustainable growth strategies and paths to exit. She has successfully identified market trends, executed multiyear growth plans, expanded new lines of business, and delivered revenue growth for large national payers, mid-size tech-enabled services companies, and startups.
Prior to joining Oxeon, Millsom served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Maven Clinic, a telemedicine-based virtual clinic for women and families, which achieved the first unicorn valuation in women and family health. Before joining Maven, she was Chief Growth Officer at Boston-based startup Iora Health, where she helped strengthen the organization’s revenue and oversaw an expansion that led to its $2.1 billion acquisition by One Medical. Sonia also held leadership roles at Best Doctors, Health Dialog and UnitedHealthcare.
Improving healthcare has been a personal mission for Sonia since her time as a Maternal and Child Health Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco — where, in the 1990s, she witnessed close-up how broken delivery systems lead to poor care. She is a professional mentor to budding healthcare leaders with Menttium. She also is a board member and serves on the Audit and Compliance Committee for Clever Care Health Plan — which was founded to provide culturally sensitive health solutions for seniors. In addition, she is a board member for the Social Enterprise Greenhouse, where she chairs the Board Nominating and Development Committee, and for HealthSource RI, Rhode Island’s Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace. She holds advisory board member positions at Stellar Health, QHLTH and Flourish Fund.
Sonia has a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Boston College. She resides in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, where she and her partner are raising the next generation of strong women as the parents of two daughters.
Heather Provino
Heather Provino works with growth companies in the healthcare space to accelerate growth, create organizational viability and achieve financial goals. Prior to her current venture, Heather translated her joint passion for business and health into creating a proven industry leader in global population health management selling into the health plan, health system/at risk provider and employer spaces as founder and CEO resulting in an exit and a subsequent merger. Heather focuses teams on delivering exceptional customer service, system and performance excellence, disciplined financial management, creative distribution and innovation. Heather holds a Bachelor of Science from Binghamton University and a Master of Science from Ithaca College. She maintains an active role in the American Heart Association as a member of the Health Tech Advisory Board and previously as a Director on the Founders Board, member of the Go Red for Women Circle of Red, and as a Director of the Southern New England AHA Board where she is also past Chairman of the Board. Heather also serves as a Director on the Delta Dental of RI Board and has actively served as a mentor for SEG start-up founders. She was named a Woman to Watch in Health Care Services by PBN and has also been a contributing member of the HERO think tank, served as a health expert on 3 TEDMED Great Challenges panels and is a frequent speaker within the health care industry.
Gary Rindner
Gary enjoys sharing his extensive business, legal and operational experience with aspiring and successful entrepreneurs. He started his career as a corporate lawyer in New York City and then served as General Counsel for a multinational trading firm for over 15 years. In 2007, Gary transitioned to the nonprofit sector and directed his efforts to developing infrastructure and improving business efficiency and operational outcomes. He served as COO for one nonprofit providing free job training and placement in New York City and another nonprofit supporting a national partnership of healthcare providers. In these positions, he helped ambitious and demanding CEOs implement their visions! Gary currently serves as a Director and Vice Chair of Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, a workforce development nonprofit for jobless and working poor New Yorkers. He splits his time between Westchester, New York and Westerly, Rhode Island.
Sandy Ross
Sandy has devoted the majority of her career to working with nonprofit organizations since graduating from the University of Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. Sandy concentrates her efforts on providing advisory, financial and consulting services to tax-exempt organizations and clients requiring contract compliance audits. She has worked with clients from the application to the dissolution phase and is also responsible for audit, tax, consulting, and compliance services in the nonprofit services group. She also performs management consulting on a variety of issues relative to the management of the modern not-for-profit organization, including governance best practices, grants management, internal controls and internal financial reporting. Sandy has served as a partner at the accounting firm KLR since 2001 where she provides audit, tax and consulting services to clients in the nonprofit industry.
Lorne Adrain
Lorne Adrain is a co-founder of SVPRI and served as the Chair for several years. He is highly engaged in philanthropy – author of a book series raising money to support community needs (www.adrain.com), founder of National Neighborhood Day, RI Foundation’s “Inspiring Partner of 2005” and winner of Northwestern Mutual Life’s community service award “Most Exceptional Volunteer” in the nation. Lorne serves on multiple boards including Harvard Business School, Big Picture Schools, and the Business Innovation Factory. He earned his BS at University of Rhode Island and his MBA at Harvard. Mr. Adrian lives in Providence, Rhode Island.John Farber
John Farber has over 25 years experience in developing and managing brands in the food and housewares sector. He is currently the president of HEYMB Food Enterprises LLC which manages the food and housewares businesses of renowned chef Mario Batali. Mr. Farber was also an owner/founder of OXO International, the iconic housewares brand. Prior to OXO, Mr. Farber spent 6 years on Wall Street in the Mergers and Acquisitions Business. Mr. Farber has an MBA from Yale University and a AB from Oberlin College.
Martin Keen
A leader in design innovation, serial entrepreneur Martin Keen is the founder of the global socially-conscious KEEN® Footwear brand and, more recently, the award-winning Focal Upright Furniture company based in Portsmouth, RI. His love of sculptural form, structures found in nature and competitive sailing inspire his pragmatic design aesthetic, helping him create many of the market trends and innovative products in use today.
Keen was born in 1965 in Somerset, England. He holds a BA in Industrial Design from the Ohio State University. In addition to racing sailboats, Keen also enjoys traveling, beekeeping, creating sculptural pottery and snowboarding in the mountains of Vermont. He lives in Jamestown, Rhode Island with his wife and two children.
Diane Lynch
Diane Lynch has been a Social Enterprise Greenhouse partner since June 2009. She has served on the Loan Committee and the Board for the last four years, and has been Chair since 2013. Previously, Diane was a management consultant with Booz, Allen, working primarily in the food sector, assisting domestic and international food manufacturers and retailers in the areas of operations, logistics, strategy and product launch. From 2009-2011, she served as Director of Social Enterprises at Amos House, working with their catering, restaurant, baking mix, and home improvement businesses. She holds a BA from Brandeis University and an MBA from Boston University. Her public service experience includes work in education, municipal planning and urban environmental planning. Diane, her husband Jim and their three children reside in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
