Impact Engine

Priya Parrish combines a dual perspective across early-stage impact VC and later-stage education investing to create thesis-driven, quantified impact frameworks that evaluate impact like financial metrics and favor purpose-built firms.

Roger Liew, former CTO and fifth employee at Orbitz who built its original infrastructure and co‑founded acquired travel‑tech G2 Switchworks, champions operational choices that align planet and profit.

Tasha Seitz blends enterprise‑software VC experience at a $1.1B fund with deep impact‑investing expertise, applying mainstream venture pattern recognition to impact deals and codifying practice via Impact Engine's due‑diligence framework.

Ander Iruretagoyena brings a fund-of-funds perspective to impact investing across economic opportunity, environmental sustainability and health equity, combining Latin America investment banking at BofA with Gates Foundation financial inclusion work.

Amie Patel is Partner and CEO at Elevar, where she leads organizational and operating functions including talent, strategy, business development, and LP and co-investor relations. She has over 20 years of experience in emerging market investing, having previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (which she joined through the acquisition of Imprint Capital), the Soros Economic Development Fund, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and began her career as an M&A analyst at Merrill Lynch and First Union Securities. She holds an MBA from Georgetown University and a BS in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis.

Cara Wood is Vice President of Finance and Operations at Impact Engine, where she handles finance, investor reporting, compliance, and office management. She previously served as Vice President and CFO, and earlier as controller, at New Markets Support Company, a subsidiary of Local Initiatives Support Corporation. She began her career as an auditor at Ernst & Young, earning her CPA, and holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance and a master's in student affairs from Miami University (OH).

Chuck Templeton is Managing Director at S2G Ventures, a multi-stage fund focused on sustainable food and agriculture. He founded OpenTable in 1998, which went public on the NASDAQ in 2009, and served as founding Chairman of GrubHub. He was Managing Director of Impact Engine from 2012 to 2014 and now serves on the boards of the Impact Engine venture capital funds.

Demetrius Palmer is an Associate at Impact Engine, where he works on sourcing, diligence, and management of private markets funds targeting economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and health equity. He previously invested in early-stage venture companies across education, workforce, and healthcare at Reach Capital, Zeal Capital Partners, and the Black Venture Capital Consortium. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Community Development from Howard University and an MBA from North Carolina A&T State University.

Jamie Jones serves as Director of Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Associate Professor of the Practice of Management at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, teaching entrepreneurship and leading community engagement. She previously led the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Rice University and directed Social Entrepreneurship at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. Her work applies design thinking and Lean Startup methods across ventures in India, Africa, and Latin America in agriculture, education, health, and water.

Jane DiRenzo Pigott is Managing Director of R3 Group LLC, where she provides leadership, change, and talent consulting to organizations. Her work focuses on helping organizations retain, develop, and promote key talent.

Joe Aguilar is the Chief Investment Officer for the Illinois State Treasurer, where he oversees seven investment portfolios across public and private markets, including the $1B Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund and multiple state savings and retirement programs. He previously served as Director of Investment Analysis and Due Diligence at the Illinois State Treasury and worked at Fortaleza Asset Management. He holds a B.S. in Finance and Business & Commerce from Aurora University and an M.S. in Finance from the University of Miami, and teaches as an adjunct professor at Aurora University.

Kathy Wanner is a Founding Partner of Fairway Capital Management and previously served as an Operating Partner and Advisor at Abundant Venture Partners from 2016 to 2020. She spent 22 years at Adams Street Partners and its predecessors, where she made over 100 primary and secondary fund investments and managed the US Primary investment team. Earlier in her career she held roles at Brinson Partners, Frontier Risk Management, Range Wise, and Morgan Stanley. She holds a BS in Finance from Binghamton University and an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.

Leslie Polster is a Senior Analyst supporting the Director of Finance & Operations at Impact Engine, where she helps run day-to-day firm operations including portfolio financial and impact data gathering, investment onboarding/offboarding, and inbound communications. Before joining the firm, she spent five years as Director of Operations at College Truckers, a moving-industry startup, overseeing its finance and logistics functions. She holds a BS in International Relations and Spanish from Loyola University.

Linda Darragh spent three decades working in academia and the non-profit sector to support entrepreneurship in Chicago before retiring. She served as the Larry Levy Executive Director of the Kellogg Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative until 2022, and previously directed Entrepreneurship Programs at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and served as Vice President of the Women's Business Development Center. She co-founded Impact Engine as an accelerator in 2012 with Jamie Jones and holds a Master's degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor's degree from Queen's University.

Liz Michaels is an operator, advisor, and ESG expert who works with growth-stage companies on scaling operations. She previously held senior roles at Morningstar (COO), Jellyvision (President), and Aperio (co-CEO at the time of its acquisition by BlackRock), where she led client relations, operations, and a values/mission-aligned investing practice. She has also served as an Executive-in-Residence at the Rustandy Center for Social Innovation at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Maggie Stohler is Senior Associate of Investor Relations at Impact Engine, working with the CEO to support current and prospective investors. She previously served as Communications Associate at the firm from 2016-2018 and, before that, was Partnerships and Engagement Manager at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics. She later helped build two impact investing organizations, Higher Ground Labs and the Catholic Impact Investing Collaborative, and holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Delaware.

Noelle Laing is the Chief Investment Officer of Builders Initiative, where she directs its impact-first investments and manages its endowment. She previously served as a managing director at Cambridge Associates, developing and executing mission-related and impact investing programs for institutional and family clients, and earlier worked in the investment offices of the American Red Cross and a Taft Hartley Pension Plan. She is a CFA charter holder and holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from St. Lawrence University.

Roxanne Martino is Co-Founder of OCEANM19 LLC and previously served as Chief Executive Officer and Investment Committee Chairperson of Aurora Investment Management, a hedge fund investment management firm. Earlier in her career she spent seven years at PricewaterhouseCoopers and over six years as a general partner at Grosvenor Capital Management. She holds a BBA from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Chris Wu is a Vice President at Builders Vision, where he invests in companies and fund managers focused on ocean sustainability and the blue economy. Previously, he held a similar role at Impact Engine, a venture capital and private equity firm, specializing in climate technology investments across environmental sustainability, economic opportunity, and health equity. Wu spent a decade as a structural engineering consultant on municipal water infrastructure and green building projects before pursuing other ventures, and holds degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.