Alissa Orlando, Fellow

Alissa Orlando, Fellow

Alissa is a serial entrepreneur passionate about hustling for hustlers. She was co-founder and Managing Director of The Drivers’ Cooperative and consulted for many shared ownership organizations including Inclusiv, Zebras Unite, and O1 Labs.  She is currently co-founder of You Should Smile More Productions, a Tony-winning Broadway production company. She previously spent four years building Rocket Internet and Uber across East Africa and worked at McKinsey.  She has her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University.

Kate Barron-Alicante, Director of Impact, Abacus Wealth Partners

Kate Barron-Alicante is a financial activist whose body of work spans twenty years in the social change and financial services sectors. Kate’s gift is in supporting individuals and organizations who, navigating our current capitalist system, seek authentic and intentional approaches to align their justice-centered values, their legacy and their financial practices. Along with her clients, Kate shares a passion for strategically leveraging money for climate justice at this moment in history.  

Kate serves as the Board Secretary-Treasurer of Taproot Earth, a global climate justice organization that centers the leadership of the Black diaspora, Indigenous and frontline communities in climate solutions. She is a founding member and inaugural steering crew member of Radical Planners, organizing progressive financial advisors to better support the movement for a Just Transition. Kate has worked over six years inside the financial services industry as financial advisor, relationship manager, and most recently Director of Impact and Board Member within a $3B financial advisory firm and B Corp.   

Prior to her career in finance, Kate spent 15 years in social justice & social change work in non-governmental organizations and academia throughout the US, Europe and South America. Kate holds an MsC in International Development from the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, a BA in International Relations from Boston University and is a Certified Financial Planner™. She lives in Philadelphia with her family. 

Dr. Sue Ernster, President, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration

Sister Sue Ernster ministered as the congregation’s vice president from 2018 to 2022 and treasurer from 2013 to 2022. She holds a BA in Accounting, an MA in pastoral ministry and has served in campus ministry, parish administration and faith formation. Sister Sue represents FSPA as a board member of various local, national and international organizations including the Economy of Francesco, a global movement inspired by St. Francis and convened by Pope Francis that calls us to engage in an economy rooted in justice, stewardship and inclusivity.

She is also committed to FSPA engagement in impact investing, putting investor support to work with responsibility for all of creation.

Geoff Gusoff, Family Physician and Assistant Professor at UCLA

Geoff Gusoff is a family physician and Assistant Professor in the UCLA Department of Family Medicine whose work focuses on social and structural determinants of health, particularly assessing how the ownership and control of basic resources in communities impacts health. His research explores the health impact of community ownership strategies such as worker-owned businesses and community land trusts. He has worked on a variety of solidarity economy projects, including the development of a worker-owned day laborer cooperative in Philadelphia and supporting cooperative businesses in El Salvador.

His current work focuses on the role of home care cooperatives – home care businesses owned and controlled by home care workers – in improving job quality, care quality, and turnover among home care workers. Through these efforts he hopes to build the evidence base for the effectiveness of community ownership interventions and help design and implement more effective models.

Molly Harmon, Investment Committee Chair, Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities

Molly Harmon is a dedicated advocate for justice, equality, and empowerment, channeling her passion into philanthropy and community building. With over 25 years of active involvement in the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities, she sits on its Board of Trustees, continuing her great-grandparents’ legacy of serving the global Roman Catholic Church. Molly, in relationship with her family, actively allocates $9M annually, focusing on Catholic social enterprises around the globe that drive systemic change. As a finance committee member at RFCA, Molly is committed to discerning how the Catholic voice and lineage can offer a vision for a more just financial portfolio that serves the common good.

Her expertise includes cross-sector collaboration, strategic partnerships, and sustainable program development, all underpinned by an entrepreneurial spirit aimed at disrupting systems and fostering a regenerative economy.

Paul Hazen, Executive Director, Overseas Cooperative Development Council

Paul Hazen became Executive Director of the Overseas Cooperative Development Council in February 2012. Previously, he represented one of the member organizations and served as OCDC’s board chair and as a board member. Throughout his career, Hazen has championed the U.S. cooperative system, which encompasses 29,000 co-ops; generates $654 billion in revenue; and creates more than two million jobs, representing $75 billion in wages and benefits.

Prior to OCDC, Hazen was CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National Cooperative Business Association. Active in cooperative matters at many levels, Hazen is the one of the founders of DotCoop the top-level domain for cooperatives around the world. He also serves on the boards of the National Cooperative Bank, Capital Impact Partners and the Community Purchasing Alliance Cooperative.

In demand for his cooperative expertise, Hazen speaks frequently at national and international forums on the role of cooperatives in community and economic development. He is a past recipient of the CEO Communicator of the Year award from the Cooperative Communicators Association.

Philip Reeves, Founder and Managing Partner, Apis & Heritage

Based in Washington DC, Philip oversees all aspects of Apis & Heritage’s activities and is a permanent member of the investment committee. Philip is responsible for the firm’s investment process and leads debt capital raises. He also brings more than a decade of experience scaling small businesses to A&H’s portfolio companies. 

Prior to founding Apis & Heritage, Philip spent the majority of his career working with small businesses in private, public and nonprofit roles. He led business and corporate development at a growing government contractor and also managed an accelerator program for 1863 Ventures, which focuses on helping minority and women owned businesses grow and succeed. Philip has also worked in government, acting as Manager of Small Business Technology and Innovation for the Government of the District of Columbia.

Philip began his career at Lehman Brothers in the private equity division. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College and is deeply committed to using the power of business to bring positive change to communities too often left behind.