Zeal Capital Partners

Lara Metcalf is Chief Portfolio Officer at The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation and a member of its Operating Committee, focusing on sourcing new investments and supporting portfolio organizations as an operating partner and board member. She previously served as Managing Director and Venture Partner at The Social Entrepreneurs' Fund, CFO and COO at MIT-launched deep-tech fund The Engine, and Managing Director leading Social Investments at Social Finance. Earlier she was CFAO and Senior Associate Dean at Harvard's Kennedy School and spent eighteen years in fixed income at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse; she holds a BS in Finance from Boston College and an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School.

Nasir Qadree, who still goes by Little Spoon and co-owned a NYC coffee shop-turned edtech hub, directs roughly 75% of investments outside NY and SF, backing Atlanta, Detroit and Denver.

Stefanie Thomas Martin is a Partner at Zeal Capital Partners, where her work focuses on inclusive economies, innovation, and capital accessibility. She is also associated with Barclays Pre-Seed Investments (BPI) and has founded organizations and led projects across her career.

Stefanie Thomas-Martin, a Partner, leads a Barclays-backed pre-seed strategy that applies Wall Street structured-finance and impact investing to back founders and emerging fund managers expanding economic opportunity for underserved communities.

Stefanie Thomas is a Partner at Zeal Capital Partners, where her work focuses on inclusive economies, innovation, and capital accessibility. She is also involved with Barclays Pre-Seed Investments (BPI) and has founded organizations and led multiple projects over the course of her career.

SKIP The About section describes a different person ("Stefanie") than the named profile (Scott Ernst), making the input internally inconsistent and unreliable for a factual bio.

Richard Odior—an operator at Meta, founder, product strategist and consultant—takes a hands‑in investing approach, appearing personally on cap tables while backing human-centered AI for the future of work.

CFO who was previously Managing Director and CFO at Siguler Guff & Company and a manager at Ernst & Young. Holds a B.S. in Accounting from Binghamton University and is a CPA.

Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP serves as Chief Knowledge Officer at SHRM, overseeing research, insights, and innovation functions. His research has appeared in major media outlets including USA Today, NBC News, BBC, and CNN, and he has delivered over 400 speaking engagements throughout his career. Dr. Alonso has received multiple awards for applied research in human capital management, including SIOP's M. Scott Myers Award, an APA Presidential Citation, and the SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award, and has authored books and peer-reviewed publications on human resource management, workforce development, and organizational sustainability.

Michele Courton Brown serves as Chief Business Inclusion and Belonging Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, where she leads inclusion initiatives and chairs the Inclusion and Belonging Council. In this role, she develops strategies focused on health equity and supports underrepresented entrepreneurs through the Health Equity Business Accelerator Program. Her background includes experience at Quality Interactions in areas including strategic partnerships, workshop facilitation, and marketing communications.

Royce Shey is an investor at Zeal Capital Partners, where he works with early-stage founders in healthcare, fintech, and the future of work and learning. His focus includes companies pursuing systems change across these sectors.

Susannah Burrage is Principal and Head of Portfolio Management at Zeal Capital Partners, where she invests across financial technology, the future of work, and healthcare. Her work includes fund-level analysis, board participation, and decisions on new and follow-on capital deployment, exit strategies, and fund construction. She focuses on partnerships with founders and businesses serving underserved consumers.

Aarti Chandna is an impact and angel investor focused on early-stage ventures driving social change, and she mentors social entrepreneurs. She serves on SV2's Investment Committee, is on the leadership team for MIT Solve's Innovation Future Fund, and is an Investment Advisor/LP at Symphonic Capital as well as an LP at Black Opal Ventures and Impact First. She previously held IT executive roles at companies including Oracle, Hitachi, Coherent, Autodesk, and Nikon, and holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Bombay University and an M.S. in Computer Science from Case Western Reserve University.

Partner who previously held Managing Director roles at Vatera Healthcare Partners, Essex Woodlands, and Warburg Pincus, and began her career at Goldman Sachs. Earned an M.B.A. and A.B. from Harvard.

Oshiomah Richard Odior is an early stage investor at Zeal Capital Partners, focusing on technology-enabled businesses.

HR leader and Chief Diversity Officer at Motley Fool, X, the Moonshot Factory, and StubHub, and former Head of Recruiting at Yelp and Clearslide. UC Berkeley graduate.