About Us: Board of Directors
Rafael Alfonzo
Attorney and Entrepreneur
Chief Operating Officer, Distributed Sun, LLC
Rafael Alfonzo is an attorney/entrepreneur with more than 15 years experience investing in start-up ventures. He is currently Chief Operating Officer for Distributed Sun, which builds and operates state-of-the-art solar power generation systems. Rafael has served on several non-profit boards, including The Earthshot Foundation, D.C. Wheels Productions (Dance Place), and the Miami Light Project. Rafael previously practiced law at an AmLaw 100 law firm, specializing in business litigation, corporate governance, and regulatory enforcement and is admitted to practice in California, the District of Columbia, Florida, and New York. Rafael was also a commissioned officer in the U.S. Marines. He served in various billets, including as a military prosecutor, as general counsel to a deployed combat unit, and as a human rights attorney in Southeast Asia and South America. Rafael received his JD from George Washington University Law School and his BA from the University of Michigan.
Organizational Development & Strategy Advisor, Clairvoyant Technologies, Inc.
ProInspire Alumni Representative
Lucila was the 2009 Inspire Fellow at Year Up, where she was the project manager for the Baltimore expansion, the site’s largest grant, and four critical human capital initiatives. Building on her work at Year Up, she currently supports non-profits with their talent management projects, including the creation and execution of professional development systems. Prior to Year Up, Lucila worked in the Atlanta office of Bain & Company on corporate growth and adjacency projects in the financial services, hospitality, telecom, and retail sectors. Outside of her business experience, Lucila has worked for the Americas Program at the Carter Center and the Latin American Research Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. She also co-founded SCEEN, an Emory organization that uses the consulting model to support non-profits by providing them with leveraged student teams. Lucila graduated magna cum laude from Emory University with a BA in Economics.
Keiva Dennis
Director, National Housing Trust Community Development Fund
Keiva Dennis oversees the National Housing Trust Community Development Fund (NHTCDF), a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Ms. Dennis is responsible for underwriting and closing new loans, servicing the outstanding loan portfolio and coordinating and executing NHTCDF’s operations. She is also involved in strengthening existing relationships and developing new relationships with borrowers, lending partners and funders. Prior to joining the Trust, Ms. Dennis was Assistant Vice President of Product Development at Deutsche Bank in New York where she was responsible for managing innovative Cash Management products for clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Ms. Dennis is part of the 2010 class of the Future Executive Directors Fellowship Program conducted by the Nonprofit Roundtable. She was also competitively selected in 2010 by the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) to participate in the CDFI v2.0 convening of emerging leaders to engage in vision casting for the community development finance field. Ms. Dennis is part of the leadership team of an informal group of Women of Color in Community Development (WCCD) in the DC metro area. Ms. Dennis has a Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the Yale School of Management and a B.S. from Cornell University.
Mike Kerlin
Associate Principal, McKinsey & Co.
Mike Kerlin is an Associate Principal with McKinsey’s social sector office and infrastructure practice, based in Philadelphia. His client work has included water and toll road infrastructure strategies, small business finance strategies, and economic development diagnostics and policy implementation. Prior to McKinsey, Mike worked as a consultant with the Rwanda Microfinance Forum and founded two small business incubator programs with Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation. He was also a co-founder of the Global Microentrepreneurship Awards, a multi-country collaboration between the UN Capital Development Fund, Citigroup, and a consortium of business schools. Mike holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a BA from Princeton.
Tom Nelson
President and Chief Operating Officer, Share Our Strength
Thomas C. Nelson, former chief operating officer at AARP, is Share Our Strength’s new president and chief operating officer. Nelson oversees the day-to-day management of the organization, including working with the organization’s executive and senior teams to implement a strategic growth strategy. While at AARP, Nelson led the build-out of its state strategy in all 53 states and territories. He also led the reinvention of the AARP Foundation, which today has a donor base of over one million and provides direct service to more than 2.7 million individuals. Nelson has a long history of service to civic organizations including the National Hispanic Council on Aging, Consumer Federation of America and the Alzheimer’s Association. Nelson also serves as Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, teaching in the MBA program about nonprofit leadership and management. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and an M.A. from Columbia University.
Pratichi Shah
President and CEO, Flourish Talent Management Solutions (FTMS)
Pratichi Shah is an HR executive with more than 15 years of talent management strategy experience. She is the president and CEO of Flourish Talent Management Solutions (FTMS), specializing in HR strategy, training and organizational development, and coaching. Prior to launching FTMS, Pratichi was the chief talent officer for Independent Sector (IS), where she created and led the organization’s human capital programs. Before joining IS, she was the global director of the Employer of Choice (EOC) function for Watson Wyatt Worldwide (now Towers Watson), responsible for the firm’s communications, employee relations, and training areas, as well as initiatives including climate surveys, introduction of elearning and executive coaching implementation. Pratichi holds an MBA in human resources from American University, a bachelor’s degree in psychology/management from Eckerd College and a coaching certification from the Newfield Network.
