Richard D. Segal is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Seavest Investment Group where he is the Chairman of Seavest Healthcare Properties, is a Managing Partner of Rethink Education and sits on the Rethink Impact Investment Committee.
Mr. Segal has a long history of investing in real estate and venture capital investments. Prior to founding Seavest in 1982, Mr. Segal was a partner at Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn where he managed the firm’s private investments. He has served on the boards of many public and private companies including Hudson General Inc. (acquired by Lufthansa, SchoolNet (acquired by Pearson), Wireless Generation (acquired by Newscorp), and Hyponex Inc. (sold to Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.).
Today, Mr. Segal serves on the Board of Trustees of New York Presbyterian Hospital where he is a member of the Real Estate and Major Facilities Committees, and also serves on the Steering Committee of the hospital’s Millstein Heart Center. Mr. Segal also serves on the boards of various education technology companies including Advanced Prison Data Systems, Flocabulary, Knowledge to Practice, Noodle Markets, Voxy, Civitas and Speakaboos.
Mr. Segal is deeply committed to creating better communities through his philanthropic engagements, which are primarily focused on health, education, providing opportunities for low income children and the arts.
Mr. Segal is a Trustee of the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City, where he serves as Treasurer. He also sits on the Board of New York Academy of Art, serving as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Wesleyan University.
Michael Walden is a Managing Partner of Rethink and Chief Operating Officer of Seavest Investment Group. Through his role as COO, Michael oversees the launch, development and operations of the Rethink venture strategies and ensures the necessary connectivity between those ventures and the Seavest Investment Group back office. Since joining Seavest in 2011, he has lead the development and launch of Rethink’s four venture funds and developed the firm’s operating division Seavest Investor Services. He is a member of the Investment Committee for Rethink Education, Rethink Impact and Rethink Community and has served on the board of EverFi and Neverware.
Michael brings over 25 years of experience establishing, operating and growing businesses in a variety of industries. This includes operating positions in venture-funded growth companies in the technology and telecommunications sectors.
Prior to joining Seavest in 2011, he was a Managing Director at Potomac Media Partners, a corporate development advisory services firm where he advised technology companies on fundraising and growth strategies. Prior to Potomac, he served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at InPhonic, Inc. where he was responsible for strategic partnerships, financings, business development and M&A activities.
Michael began his career in Washington, D.C. serving on the legislative staff of U.S. Senator Arlen Specter. Mr. Walden received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Richmond.
Jenny Abramson is the Founder & Managing Partner of Rethink Impact. She is a proven executive and entrepreneur having held a range of leadership roles across the impact tech space–in education, personal data, and media. She has been covered in CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, interviewed on Squawk Box, featured at the Code Conference, at the United Nations, and on Capitol Hill, and was named one of Washington’s 100 Top Tech Leaders in 2017, Top 40 Under 40 in 2015, and a DC Power Women in Tech in 2014.
Before leading in the venture space, Jenny served as CEO of LiveSafe, a mobile security company focused on preventing school shootings and sexual assaults. She also held significant business roles at The Washington Post, Personal (a data tech company), and The Boston Consulting Group. In the education and social sector, Jenny oversaw the Transformation Management Office for DC Public Schools Chancellor Rhee and served as the Director of Strategy & Development at Teach for America, and sits on four boards.
Beyond her entrepreneurial and executive experience, Jenny has played leadership roles in the investment realm. Most notably, beyond her current fund, she is an Advisory Board member of the Camden Partners Nexus Fund (a Venture Capital fund focused on investing in Maryland-based businesses). She also was selected to be the only Harvard MBA to serve on Harvard’s Investment Committee for Shareholder Responsibility.
Jenny received a BA and MA from Stanford, graduating with honors and Phi Beta Kappa, and an MBA with honors and the Dean’s Award from Harvard Business School. She was also a Fulbright Scholar focusing on Human Genomics at The London School of Economics.
Heidi is a Managing Partner at Rethink Impact. Previously, she was President and Head of Communities Investing for New Island Capital Management, an institutional-scale and 100% mission-focused investment advisor to a single ultra high net worth family. In this capacity, she helped grow and run the firm while also focusing on early stage private equity investing in online marketplaces, sustainable food and consumer brands, alternative financial institutions, and local living economies. She sat on New Island’s Executive Team and the Investment Committee, overseeing 100+ investments, across multiple asset classes, in sustainability, conservation, education, economic development, sustainable agriculture, and green real estate.
Prior to this, Heidi was an Acumen Fund Global Fellow working with D.light Design India, a social enterprise operating in India, China, and Tanzania to eradicate kerosene through the design, manufacturing and distribution of solar-powered LED lights. Before Acumen, Heidi was a Director at Pacific Community Ventures, a double bottom-line private equity fund and non-profit organization in San Francisco, California focused on small businesses creating high quality jobs in low-income neighborhoods. Previously, she was a founding member of AOL Time Warner Ventures and worked in Investment Banking at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Heidi Patel teaches (and co-created) a course on institutional impact investing at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and she serves on the Investment Committee for the Stanford GSB Student Impact Fund. Heidi is an advisor to Impact America (another women-led impact investing firm) and board member of Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo. Heidi’s work in social enterprise and impact investing has been featured in the Wall St Journal, NPR’s Marketplace, Fox Business News, Forbes.com, Huffington Post, Ladies Home Journal, AOL’s WalletPop, Rick Roberts Show, and the Acumen Fund blog. Heidi earned an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Kate Castle is a Partner and the Chief Marketing Officer for Rethink VC and Seavest Investment Group where she oversees marketing, communications and investor relations across all of the firm’s impact and real estate funds.
Most recently, Kate was Marketing Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm and Co-founder and Operating Partner at XFactor Ventures, a Flybridge community fund focused on investing in female founders. Prior to that, Kate served in marketing and public relations roles at Battery Ventures, Cisco Systems, Sangate Systems and Porter Novelli. She started her career as an educator in the United States Peace Corps teaching English as a Second language at a high school in Gabon, Africa.
Kate is an active community member, serving as a Pod Leader for the Parity Partners P3 program, a mentor to entrepreneurs participating in the TechStars Boston program, a mentor to high school students participating in the Boston BUILD program and a mentor to female founders in the Boston entrepreneur community. She also spends times volunteering each week with her dog Ripley in the Somerville, MA public school system helping children learn to read and providing emotional support. Kate previously sat on the board of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge.
Kate holds a BA in Anthropology from Wheaton College in Norton, MA where she graduated cum laude and was a Wheaton Fellow.
Shakawat Chowdhury is the Chief Financial Officer of Seavest Investment Group. Shak joined Seavest in 2013, and manages the firm’s financial and accounting operations. He has over 18 years of experience in the real estate industry with a focus on accounting and taxation.
Prior to joining Seavest, Shak was a Senior Tax Director in the tax group for Tishman Speyer where he had responsibility for the U.S. tax reporting function of over 1,500 legal entities globally. Prior to his tenure at Tishman, he spent four years as a Senior Tax Associate at Arthur Andersen & Co.
Shak received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree Cum Laude in accounting with a minor in mathematics from Bernard M. Baruch College. Shak is a CPA licensed in the State of New York.
Erin is Director of Investor Relations for Rethink and Seavest.
Prior to joining Seavest Investment Group, Erin worked in marketing and investor relations at an established alternative investment manager where she worked closely with the Chief Marketing Officer to assist with fundraising efforts. Earlier in her career, Erin held similar positions in the alternative investment space working with a range of sophisticated institutional clients.
Erin is also a board member for Grace Outreach, a nonprofit based in South Bronx that serves low-income women seeking to enhance their academic skills and is co-Chair of the Next Gen New York group of 100 Women in Hedge Funds. Erin holds a B.S. from Ithaca College.
Chelsea Morris is an Associate at Rethink Impact. She has a breadth of experience in both the for-profit and nonprofit worlds, most recently Program Coordinator of the Development Office at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. At CSIS, Chelsea secured new donors, tracked revenue, and played a key role with senior staff in transitioning CRM systems. In 2012 she started her own company, Love and Be Loved, that sold T-shirts and donated a portion of its profits to the local women’s shelter.
Malcolm McClain is an Associate at Rethink Impact. Previously, he was an Investment Associate at Cambridge Associates, a global investment firm that delivers portfolio management services to institutional and private investors. At C|A, Malcolm provided investment guidance to college endowments, foundations, and ultra high net worth families with a focus on venture capital and impact investing. In addition, he worked on the firm’s Resource Efficiency research team and helped to broaden client investment in women and minority investment managers. Malcolm graduated from Amherst College where he ran the school’s Entrepreneurship Society.
