Commonweal Ventures

Nate Loewentheil applies his National Economic Council experience and Yale teaching on technology and cities to help startups use government policy, spending, and regulation as growth drivers.

Paul, a lawyer‑economist, is public policy–native investor focused on how economic prosperity clusters spatially, prioritizing founders who give specific, thoughtful answers and ventures where social benefit and unit economics align.

Alan Estevez has an extensive career in national security, trade and export controls, defense, aerospace, and semiconductors. He served as the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry & Security from April 2022 to January 2025, where he led export control initiatives concerning China and Russia, and previously held senior Department of Defense roles including Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics. He also worked as a national security strategy and logistics executive at Deloitte Consulting and now advises companies on national security, supply chain, and export control matters. He holds a BA in political science from Rutgers University and an MS in national resource strategy from the National Defense University.

Alicia Barton is CEO of Vineyard Offshore, developer of the Vineyard Wind offshore project, and was previously CEO of FirstLight Power. Earlier in her career she led NYSERDA and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, co-chaired the Energy and Cleantech Practice at Foley Hoag LLP, and served as chief of operations of the Global Utility business unit at SunEdison. Her work has focused on offshore wind, solar, energy storage, efficiency, and clean technology innovation.

Anthony Foxx was the 17th U.S. Secretary of Transportation, where he worked on integrating driverless vehicles, expanding public-private infrastructure partnerships, and applying fairness standards to transportation grant-making. Before that role he served as mayor of Charlotte. After leaving government in 2017, he served as chief policy officer at Lyft and a member of its Executive Leadership Team.

Brenna Berman is CEO and executive director of City Tech, where she has launched more than 30 collaborative initiatives addressing urban challenges. She previously served as chief information officer and commissioner for Chicago's Department of Innovation & Technology under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and helped establish the Midwest IoT Council with the University of Chicago. She holds a bachelor's degree and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

Carol Browner has held roles across government, the private sector, and nonprofits, focused on environmental and public health policy. She served as director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy under President Obama, administered the Environmental Protection Agency from 1993 to 2001, and previously was Secretary of Environmental Regulation in Florida. She now advises the private sector on government policy and public-private partnerships, and is senior counsel at Covington and Burling.

Edward Fishman focuses on the intersection of business, economics, and national security, and invests in and advises early-stage technology startups aligned with US national interests. He served on the US State Department's policy planning staff from 2015 to 2017, working on economic sanctions and strategy, and earlier held roles at the Pentagon and Treasury Department. In the private sector he held operating roles at Via, Zoox, and IronNet Cybersecurity, and he holds a BA from Yale, an M.Phil. from Cambridge, and an MBA from Stanford; he is also a senior research scholar at Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy and an adjunct professor at Columbia.

Edward F. Davis leads the Edward Davis Company, a business strategy and security services firm advising government and Fortune 500 clients on crisis response, risk management, facility security, compliance, and cyber/IoT mitigation. He spent 35 years in law enforcement, serving as police commissioner of Boston from 2006 to 2013 and previously as superintendent of the Lowell Police Department. He holds an MA from Anna Maria College and honorary doctorates from several universities, and was a fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

Evan Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Altana, a value chain management platform built on a large supply chain data network, used by public and private sector organizations to manage global value chains. Before Altana, he worked as a founder, investor, and leader across supply chain, clean technology, and data businesses. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Yale University.

Jeffrey Berman is a general partner at Camber Creek, a venture capital firm focused on technology companies serving the real estate market. He has over twenty years of executive management experience across the startup, real estate, and venture capital sectors, and previously served as a principal at a large privately held real estate development and management company in the Washington DC area. At Camber Creek he has sourced deals, led due diligence, made investment decisions, and served on portfolio company boards, and has also invested as an early-stage backer of more than three dozen startups.

John Gedmark is an aerospace engineer and the CEO and cofounder of Astranis, a company that builds and operates satellites for geostationary and other high orbits to provide communications infrastructure for enterprises, governments, and the US military. He previously cofounded and served as Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and was Director of Rocket Flight Operations at the X Prize Foundation. He earned a B.S. from Purdue University and an M.S. from Stanford University, both in Aerospace Engineering.

Kerry C. Duggan is a policy leader and strategist who founded Energy Security Partners, a strategic advisory firm working at the intersection of energy, security, and economic development since 2017. She previously served in the Obama-Biden White House as a climate and energy advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden and as Deputy Director of the Detroit Task Force, and held several roles at the U.S. Department of Energy. She lectures at the University of Michigan, holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont and an M.S. in Natural Resource Policy & Behavior from the University of Michigan, and sits on several corporate and advisory boards.

Kevin Faulconer served as the 36th mayor of San Diego, where he oversaw a $3.8 billion municipal budget and more than 11,000 employees, led fiscal and operational reforms with an SEC-appointed monitor, and modernized city services into digital programs. He previously worked as a vice president at the public relations firm Porter Novelli, focusing on crisis management and public affairs, and is currently a strategic advisor at Collaborate for California and a Visiting Fellow at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy. His experience includes work on public policy, governance, trade agreements such as the USMCA, and cross-border relations.

Laura Fox is co-founder and managing partner of Streetlife Ventures. She previously served as Lyft's general manager for Citi Bike, overseeing strategy, growth, operations, and city partnerships, and earlier worked at Sidewalk Labs (an Alphabet company) and the Boston Consulting Group on urban mobility and technology projects. She teaches MBA strategy at NYU Stern School of Business, holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from NYU Stern.

Matt Enstice is president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc., a Buffalo-based organization focused on innovation, economic development, healthcare, and research. Before returning to Buffalo in 2002, he worked in the entertainment industry in LA and New York, including at Broadway Pictures and with Lorne Michaels at Saturday Night Live. He established the BNMC Innovation Center in 2010, holds an undergraduate degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an MBA from Canisius College, and authored City Forward: How Innovation Districts Can Embrace Risk and Strengthen Community (2022).

Nate Levine co-founded OpenGov, where he serves as director of strategic accounts and helped expand the company to nearly 500 customers across 43 states. Before OpenGov, he co-founded and was president of California Common Sense, a non-profit think tank focused on government transparency and data-driven policy analysis, where he built California's first data transparency portal. He studied engineering at Stanford University and previously conducted research on militarized conflicts for the university's Political Science Department.

Former Chief Technology Officer of Northrop Grumman, advising on defense and homeland security.

Richard Becker is a physician leader with over 35 years of experience running a range of healthcare organizations, including academic regional health systems and both for-profit and nonprofit entities. He served as deputy secretary of health for New York State during the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently joined Northwell Health as a senior executive in residence focused on integrating acquisitions and other strategic initiatives. He holds a BA and MD from the University of Virginia and an MBA from George Washington University, and is board-certified in anesthesiology and critical care medicine.