We could not run the NH Social Venture Innovation Challenge (SVIC) without the distinguished Preliminary Round and Final Round judges, who lend valuable time and expertise to the process. Their feedback and encouragement to our students is an incredible asset in their educational experience.
2020 Final Round Judges
*UNH alumni
**SVIC Judging Chair
Andre Beaupre*
Founder, Soulful Advantage
Andre Beaupre is a communications and corporate social responsibility strategist who partners with CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders to grow purpose and competitive advantage.
As an entrepreneur across three decades, he measurably increased credibility, belief and support for Beaupre & Co. clients within technology, B2B, education and nonprofit sectors. More than 30 were acquired, a cumulative value exceeding $16 billion.
Beaupre’s earned third party validation and results recognition includes a 2017 Engage For Good (www.engageforgood.org) HALO Award for youth-focused cause marketing as well as numerous Silver Anvils, Super Bells, SABRE and Bronze Anvil awards.
Beaupre & Co. was acquired by Omnicom, Inc., a multi-billion dollar, NYSE traded company.
In 2017, he founded Soulful Advantage, a strategic consultancy at the intersection of purpose and profit. The firm helps businesses expand social impact, increase support and improve competitive advantage. Soulful Advantage collaborates with B2B and B2C companies as well as B Corp and Ashoka leaders, for-profit social enterprises, 501c3’s and nonprofits.
Beaupre’s personal social cause passions include reducing food insecurity; improving the lives of service members and veterans; advocating for children and youth; and supporting entrepreneurs in developing nations.
His Board experience includes the University of New Hampshire Foundation; NH Granite State Children’s Alliance; Operation Hat Trick; NH Kids Count and New Hampshire Hunger Solutions.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications from the University of New Hampshire.
Katie Bouton*
Founder & CEO, Koya Leadership Partners & President, Diversified Search
Guided by the belief that “The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World,” Katie founded Koya Leadership Partners in 2004 to recruit exceptionally talented leaders to mission-driven organizations. Koya has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms for three consecutive years and by Hunt Scanlon Media as one of the top 50 fastest growing executive search firms. In 2019, Koya joined forces with Diversified Search. Both firms have been founded and led by women and have long track records of building diversity and equity internally and through their placements. Katie continues to serve as Koya’s Founder & CEO and has also assumed the role of President of Diversified Search. With over 20 years of experience in executive search and organizational development, Katie has built senior leadership teams at leading national and international organizations and partners closely with founders, boards, and donors to deepen the impact of today’s most pioneering mission-driven organizations. In addition to executive search, Katie’s areas of focus include leadership development, recruitment and retention best practices, company culture, purpose driven organizations, and diversity initiatives. Katie’s thought leadership has been widely quoted and published in leading publications such as Harvard Business Review, BoardMember.com, and Nonprofit Hub. She was featured by the Boston Business Journal as an Emerging Leader for her success as founder and CEO of Koya and was named a Boston Brava Award Winner by SmartCEO, which recognizes high-impact women business leaders. In 2018, Katie was named to the Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame at the University of New Hampshire and was a finalist for EY’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year® New England program. During the Obama administration, Katie was invited to the White House to attend the United States of Women Summit focused on key gender equality issues. Katie began her career in the public sector as a human resources generalist at the Institute for Teaching and Research on Women and the Women’s Law Center of Maryland. She then moved to the private sector, working as a human resources manager at Edelman Public Relations and ChildrenFirst. With a strong commitment to civic and women’s leadership, Katie serves on numerous boards. She is Chair of the Board of IGNITE, the bipartisan initiative committed to building the next generation of female political leaders. Katie also sits on the boards of The Home for Little Wanderers and her alma mater, the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire, and serves as a corporator of the Newburyport Bank. Katie is a Fellow at Pipeline Angels, a network of new and seasoned women investors that is changing the face of angel investing and creating capital for women social entrepreneurs. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Women’s Forum, a community of top women leaders from all sectors of society. Katie holds an MS in Human Resource Development from Towson University and earned her BA in English, Journalism, and Women’s Studies from the University of New Hampshire.
Howard Brodsky
Co-Founder, Chairman, and Co-Chief Executive Officer, CCA Global Partners
Howard Brodsky is Co-Founder, Chairman, and Co-Chief Executive Officer of CCA Global Partners, one of the largest privately held companies in the United States; and the second largest private company in the state of New Hampshire. CCA is comprised of 14 cooperatives, serving over a million family businesses and 22,000 childcare centers in 4 countries, with aggregated revenue of over 10 billion. Brodsky is a world thought leader on the cooperative shared ownership business model. In 2019, he was the first American to be awarded the Rochdale Award, the Nobel prize of Cooperatives which is given once every 2 years to one person in the world who has made the most impact in cooperatives worldwide.
Brodsky was inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame, that recognizes individuals who make unparalleled contributions in advancement of the principles of cooperation in the United States. One of Brodsky’s other notable accomplishments was being inducted into the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame along with such notable people as Michael Dell and Starbucks’ Howard Schultz.
In 2020, he was named the Business leader of the Decade. In 2019, he received the Global Leadership Award from the World Affairs Council. Brodsky serves on many boards including Southern New Hampshire University, SoutionHealth, NCBA, Big Brother Big Sister and NHPBS and is Chairman of the Better Business Bureau. He also founded and is Chairman of Cooperatives For a Better World, a nonprofit operating in 14 countries.
Edward Dane (Ned)*
Chief Strategy Officer, Aidentified, LLC
Ned is the Chief Strategy Officer at Aidentified, LLC. He has served as a senior executive in the wealth and asset management industry for nearly 30 years. Over his career, Ned has built businesses, lead high performing teams, and developed innovative products and solutions to meet the needs of high net worth investors. He is an expert on the topic of multi-generational wealth and is a highly sought-after speaker on issues facing wealthy millennials. Prior to joining Aidentified, Ned’s career comprised senior roles at OppenheimerFunds, Merrill Lynch, AXA Advisors, and Putnam Investments. Ned also serves on the boards of several philanthropic and cultural organizations including The University of New Hampshire, where he serves on Foundation Board and co-chairs the Sustainability Advisory Board, The Frick Museum in Pittsburgh, where he is Vice Chairman, and The Helen C. Frick Foundation.
Ashley Davis
Director, Global Corporate Responsibility, Cole Haan
Ashley Davis is a corporate social intrapreneur and an Aspen Institute First Movers Fellow, addressing leadership development through the lens of corporate social intrapreneurship by imagining and implementing new initiatives to blend positive social impact and business value creation. Previously holding roles in Sales (ever so briefly, an attempt to take down Big Tobacco from within) and HumanResources, Ashley has been working in and leading Corporate Responsibility for the past decade and is currently the Director of Global Corporate Responsibility for Cole Haan. At Cole Haan she coaches, guides, develops, and implements leadership practices and business operations to be a means to create a more sustainable future by fostering shared values across the value chain and the business ecosystem. Ashley is a values driven leader in pursuit of shared purpose. She spends much of her time traveling and co-creating programs with supply chain partners in Asia, alongside global nonprofits and NGO’s. Ashley’s latest endeavors aim to question the status quo definitions of “leadership” and “success” in order to contribute to shaping a more sustainable future at the intersection of business and society. She is focused on values driven leadership, and shifting the collective consciousness of impact leaders toward leading change from within. In this work, she boldly co-conspires in guiding others to lead and live to their furthest ripple of positive impact. Her “soul spot” is Sri Lanka, where she feels most connected with her true self and a sense of community, calm, and natural beauty.
Kate D. Dumas, CFA
Principal/Consultant, Prime Buchholz
Kate joined Prime Buchholz in 2005 and has more than 20 years of experience in the industry. In her current role, she provides advice to various endowment and foundation clients. She is co-chair of the Mission-Aligned Investment Committee, of which she was a founding member and a member of the Flexible Capital Committee; the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council; and Executive Committee. Kate’s experience includes helping clients develop investment programs that reflect their values and researching mission-aligned investments. Previously, she served as a consulting analyst and a research analyst for the Firm, conducting due diligence on traditional as well as ESG managers, with a focus on U.S. equity. Prior to joining Prime Buchholz, Kate was with Deutsche Bank AG and Mellon Trust. She earned her M.B.A. from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, with a specialization in Finance and Global Business, and her B.A. in Economics from McGill University. Kate is a member of the CFA Institute/CFA Society Boston where she volunteers with its financial literacy initiative. She also assists in facilitating seminars with Year Up and Invest In Girls.
David Ferran*
Success came early in David Ferran’s career. At the age of 23 he raised his first million dollars in venture capital. By the time he turned 33 he had bought his first public company and by his 40th birthday he had taken his fist company public with an IPO on the NASDAQ. For nearly four decades David Ferran worked, played and fought with Venture Capital investors, Private Equity investors and Wall Street analysts. Having been President, CEO and or Chairman of four publicly traded companies gave David an inside view of how Capitalism really works in America. Founding seven companies of his own gave him a chance to understand the challenges faced by young entrepreneurs.
These days, David Ferran is committed to creating and empowering a new generation of Conscious Entrepreneurs while also seeking to impact the flow of global investment capital towards more socially responsible businesses and conscious business leaders.
Julie Fox Gorte, Ph.D.**
Senior Vice President for Sustainable Investing, Impax Asset Management LLC
Julie Fox Gorte, Ph.D. is the Senior Vice President for Sustainable Investing at Impax Asset Management LLC. She oversees Environmental, Social and Governance-related research on prospective and current investments as well as Pax’s shareholder advocacy and work on public policy advocacy.
Dr. Gorte has served on the boards of Ceres, the Sustainable Investments Institute, the Endangered Species Coalition, E4TheFuture, Clean Production Action and the American Sustainable Business Council. She has served as the co-chair of the Asset Management Working Group of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiatives.
Prior to joining Pax, Dr. Gorte served as Vice President and Chief Social Investment Strategist at Calvert. Her experience before she joined the investment world in 1999 includes nearly 14 years as Senior Associate and Project Director at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, Vice President for Economic and Environmental Research at The Wilderness Society, Program Manager for Technology Programs in the Environmental Protection Agency’s policy office and Senior Associate at the Northeast-Midwest Institute. Dr. Gorte received her Bachelor of Science in Forest Management at Northern Arizona University and a Master of Science and Ph.D from Michigan State in resource economics.
Geno Miller*
Cofounder & CEO, Shtudy
Geno was born and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland, about 10 minutes from Washington D.C.
He attended the University of New Hampshire on a full scholarship, where he played Division 1 football and graduated from the Peter T. Paul Business School of Economics with a degree in Business Administration and Entrepreneurial Studies.
Geno has a profound love for scaling companies and solving social problems that improve peoples' lives. Geno has founded 4 successful startups since the age of 14, including Code25 (a growth marketing agency for early-stage companies).
In his leisure time, you can find him listening to Lil Wayne or Jay-Z, reading a book about Ray Dalio, blogging about the latest topics in tech, or brainstorming with other mission-driven tech founders.
Austin Perea*
Pricing and Policy Manager, SunPower
Austin Perea is the Pricing and Policy Manager for SunPower where he helps support financial products and go-to-market strategy for distributed solar and energy storage. He was previously a senior analyst for Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables (formerly Greentech Media/GTM Research) where he was the lead author for the U.S. Solar Market Insight report series, a nationally recognized market report tracking solar market dynamics across the U.S. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Austin worked at The Boston Consulting Group, where he supported the energy practice as a research associate. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and political science and a minor in Middle Eastern studies from the University of New Hampshire.
Nelson Thomas*
Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, ecoText
Nelson Thomas graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a B.A.in Communication. He is a Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of ecoText, a dynamic Start-Up company that is creating a sustainable way for students to easily and affordably obtain the learning materials they need to succeed. Nelson is a fierce mental health advocate stemming from his personal experience as a student-athlete. During his time as Co-President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at UNH, he founded Bench-Out-The-Stigma, an annual fundraiser that works to de-stigmatize and normalize the conversation around mental health. Nelson is the host and producer of the Becoming More Podcast, where he speaks with guests about the transformative stories of the human identity.
Liz Torrance*
Community Relations and Social Responsibility Manager, Kennebunk Savings
Liz Torrance is the Community Relations and Social Responsibility Manager for Kennebunk Savings. She oversees corporate social responsibility and the Community Promise program, through which the bank will contribute more than $1 million to local nonprofit organizations in 2020. She also manages the Kennebunk Savings Spotlight Fund, an effort to proactively shine a light and make a positive impact on critical issues affecting our communities by researching and developing strategic partnerships and initiatives. She serves on the Regional Advisory Board and Community Impact Investment Committee for United Way of the Greater Seacoast and represents the Seacoast on the Community Impact Committee of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. Liz studied Environmental & Resource Economics at UNH and recently graduated from Leadership Seacoast.
Colleen Vien
Sustainability Director, Timberland
As sustainability director for Timberland, Colleen Vien is responsible for setting the brand’s strategic direction related to all aspects of sustainability, with a focus on making products responsibly, protecting and enhancing the outdoors, and community and employee engagement. This includes internal and external stakeholder engagement, NGO relationship management and CSR reporting and communications.
Colleen has been with Timberland since 2005. Prior to being promoted to sustainability director in 2014, she led the company’s Code of Conduct / Supplier Sustainability program, which today continues to provide enrichment opportunities, beyond compliance, for partner factory workers. Colleen reports to the vice president of strategy for Timberland, with a dotted line to VF Corporation’s VP Sustainability and Responsibility.
Over the years, Colleen has held a variety of leadership seats in several collaborative multi-stakeholder industry groups, such as Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), Social Accountability International (SAI), Outdoor Industry Association’s (OIA’s) Social Responsibility Working Group (SRWG) and Sustainability Working Group (SWG), the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Social/Labor Convergence Project, and Social Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS). She is currently a member of the SAAS Board of Directors, on the Advisory Board for SAI, a member of the Advisory Council for the OIA SWG, and on the Steering Committee for the Social/Labor Convergence Project.
Prior to Timberland, Colleen held various ethics and compliance roles with TYCO Engineered Products and Services, and Apogent Technologies Inc.
Colleen has a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Preliminary Round Judges
Jeff Ashe | Author and Research Fellow
Margo Bailey | Community Outreach Manager, United Nations Association of Greater Boston
Ted Barber | Co-Founder, Prosperity Candle
Courtney Bidwell | Director, Kelley Institute for Social Impact, Indiana University
Kimberly Curry | Director, Community Relations Goodwill Northern New England
Wendy Curtis | Chief Innovation Officer and Chair eDiscovery & Information Governance Group Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Rebecca Darr Litchfield | Co-Founder Atayne // transcend
Susan Dewhirst | Deputy Director, NH Progress Alliance
Megan Grocki | Principal, Research and Strategy, Fork in the Road Partners
David Guenther | Director, International Transactions Clinic and Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
Joe Harrison | Director of Project Development, SunRaise Investments
Anh-Dai Lu | Educator and Management Consultant
Steve Martineau | Executive Director, Friends Forever International
Kevin Porter | Loan Officer, ROC USA Capital
Dan Quinlan | Founder, SolaVida
Tara Reardon | Director, ROC-NH
John Rodat | President, Public Signals, LLC
Bill Seretta | President, The Sustainability Lab
Mary Zwolinski | Executive Director, Wayside Food Programs
Susan Kaplan | Founder, Sustainable Futures Consulting
Casey Otis | Director, Custom Programs Harvard Business School Executive Education
Brett Pierce | Executive Director, Meridian Stories
Maggie Schmidt JD, MPH, Staff Attorney Victim Rights Law Center
Beth Tener | Principal, New Directions Collaborative
Zack Angelini | Environmental Stewardship Manager, Timberland
Julie McBride | Founder and CEO, Stage Six LLC
Mark McPeak | Interim COO, Disability Rights Fund and Disability Rights Advocacy Fund
Beth Meadows | Founder and CEO, Supply Hope
Jeff Pillet-Shore | Marketing Director, Allagash Brewing
Greg Starbird | Principal, Starbird Consulting
Paul Susca | Board Member, New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility
Lynda Toussaint | CEO, Unjani Clinics
Alyssa Trometter | Deputy Director, External Affairs, Clinton Global Initiative University
Wojtek Uzdelewicz | Managing Director, New Europe Ventures
Keri Wolfe | Associate Director of Impact & Evaluation, Cradle to Crayons
Jessica Forrest | Consultant Environment, Climate Change, and Spatial Planning
Jared Fuller | Principal/Head of Private Capital/Real Assets, Prime Buchholz
Tim Coffin | Senior Vice President, Breckinridge Capital Advisors
Katherine Eads Galdieri | Senior Operations Director, ROC USA, LLC
Holly Fowler | Co-Founder & CEO, Northbound Ventures Consulting, LLC
Sarah Glatt | Founder & Principal Consultant, Paper Crane Associates
David Herring | Executive Director, Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment
Mark Kaplan | Leader, Advisor, Director
David Loehwing | Vice President, Sustainable Investing, Impax Asset Management | Pax World Funds
Andrea McGrath | Principal, Consultant, Researcher, Connector, amplified impact
Christine Morin | Chief Risk and Loan Operations Officer, Mascoma Bank
Brigid Murray | Vested for Growth Investor, NH Community Loan Fund
Kevin Peterson | Director of Economic Development, New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority
Hilary Robbins | Founder and Senior Strategy Consulant, Hilary Robbins Consulting
Rick Trenchard | Director of Business Development, Freight Farms
Michelle Veasey | Executive Director, New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility
Atlanta McIlwraith | Senior Manager, Community Engagement & Communications, Timberland
Doug Smith | Community Relations Coordinator, Kennebunk Savings
