Our Team

Tracy Palandjian
CEO and Co-founder
tpalandjian@socialfinanceus.org

For more than a decade, Tracy has dedicated herself to building a more impactful nonprofit sector by re-imagining the role of the capital markets in enabling social progress. Inspired by her work with its sister organization in the UK, Tracy co-founded Social Finance, Inc. in January 2011. Prior to Social Finance, Tracy was a Managing Director for 11 years at The Parthenon Group where she established and led the Nonprofit Practice and worked with foundations and NGOs to accomplish their missions in the US and globally. She is co-author of Investing for Impact: Case Studies Across Asset Classes, a report that provides an important view on the evolution of the impact investing industry. Prior to Parthenon, Tracy worked at Wellington Management Co. and McKinsey & Co. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Facing History and Ourselves, a member of the Board of Overseers at Harvard University and a Director of Affiliated Managers Group (NYSE: AMG). She also serves on the Investment Committee of Milton Academy. Tracy graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, with a B.A. in Economics, and holds an M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School where she was a Baker Scholar.

Robin Duddy-Tenbrunsel
Executive Administrator
rduddy@socialfinanceus.org

Robin provides administrative support for the entire Social Finance team. Prior to joining Social Finance, Robin worked for Partners In Health (PIH) as an assistant to the Right to Health Care program. While at PIH, she assisted in developing program infrastructure and coordinating comprehensive care for survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In addition to Robin’s professional experience, she has interned with the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, and the Office of Congressman Ed Markey. Robin graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University with a BA in Political Science.

Caitlin Fleming
Associate
cfleming@socialfinanceus.org

Caitlin Fleming is an Associate on the Business Development Team where she develops and implements innovative solutions for financing social outcomes. Her portfolio includes investments in outcomes across the “cradle-to-career” spectrum including re-entry, workforce development, child welfare, and education. She crafts investment proposals and conducts benefit-cost analysis and due diligence to assess their feasibility. She also builds the partnerships and infrastructure needed to execute successful projects.  Prior to joining Social Finance, Caitlin contributed to the design of successful social service models, growth and capital-raising strategies, and multi-million dollar government contract proposals for a variety of stakeholders including nonprofits, foundations, governments, and businesses. Most recently, she supported the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation’s work to advance evidence-based practices, innovative financing tools, and public-private partnerships to maximize public resources and drive investment toward effective social solutions. She also helped innovative nonprofits develop the capacity to scale effectively as a founding member of AchieveMission’s Talent Initiative, a management consulting firm for the social sector. Caitlin is a StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellow, and previously served as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs and AmeriCorps Resident in Social Enterprise.  She graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College with a B.A. in Political Science and Fine Art.

Jonathan Goodman
Senior Advisor
jgoodman@socialfinanceus.org

A successful investor and Wall Street veteran, Jonathan advises Social Finance and its clients on complex capital markets issues, business strategy and quantitative methodology. Jonathan started his finance career at Goldman Sachs & Co. where he was part of Fischer Black’s original “Rocket Scientist Group” devising quantitative strategies in the currency and commodity markets. He subsequently moved to London where he built and managed Goldman Sachs’ European equity program trading, derivatives and risk arbitrage businesses. He returned to New York to join Steinhardt Partners LP where his responsibilities included investments in special situations, mortgage-backed securities, convertible bonds, Japanese warrants, high yield bonds, distressed securities, equity and fixed-income arbitrage, private transactions, insurance derivatives and other esoteric securities. He was named the youngest partner in that firm’s history, and after Michael Steinhardt’s retirement, he founded Concentric Capital Management LLC, an opportunistic global hedge fund that he has managed for the past 15 years. He is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in Systems Engineering and Applied Mathematics.

Jane Hughes
Senior Consultant
jhughes@socialfinanceus.org

Jane drives the organization's thought leadership by helping to craft the Social Finance message and to develop research and analysis that helps fuel industry growth. She has inhabited both the financial world and the social development world, and is dedicated to bringing these forces together for the benefit of all stakeholders.  Most recently, Jane was executive director of World Learning’s master’s degree program in sustainable development in Washington, D.C., where she also created and taught a course on microfinance and impact investment. She spent 17 years as an international finance professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School. Prior to her academic career, Jane was a vice president at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company in New York, in the World Corporate Division.  Jane has consulted, lectured, and published widely in the fields of international banking and finance; business, government, and the global economy; and international development. She co-wrote a leading textbook on international banking, and is currently working on a second edition of Separating Fools From Their Money: A History of American Financial Scandals (first edition, 2007). Jane graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in French literature; she also has a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and an MBA from New York University

Kate Manning Kennedy
Director of Communications
kkennedy@socialfinanceus.org

Kate Manning Kennedy is the Director of Communications where she leads all external communications efforts for the organization including public relations and market education. Kate develops marketing collateral to reach the organization's key audiences and maintains the Social Finance brand and mission, vision, values. Prior to joining Social Finance, Kate developed and implemented strategic communications campaigns throughout the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, she was a Director of Strategic Communications at the Glover Park Group, a leading public affairs firm in Washington, D.C., where she developed communications strategies for Fortune 100 companies, private equity firms and their portfolio companies, and other financial services clients. In this role, she specialized in platform development, internal communications, employee engagement, brand development, executive messaging, and crisis communications. Prior to the Glover Park Group, Kate served as a Communications Manager at Fidelity Investments where she focused on internal change management communications, executive communications and employee engagement strategies. Earlier in her career, Kate managed marketing and communications campaigns at TechFoundation, Inc.. She has also worked in the legislative office of Senator John Kerry and the 2004 Democratic National Convention Finance Committee. A graduate of Fairfield University, Kate majored in International Studies with concentrations in Political Science and Spanish.

Rebecca Leventhal
Director
rleventhal@socialfinanceus.org

Rebecca Leventhal is a Director on the Business Development Team where she collaborates with nonprofits and governments to identify and structure innovative ways to expand evidence-based social service programs. Focusing on criminal justice and education financings, she leads deal teams to structure and develop Social Impact Bonds and other innovative financings by building partnerships, performing due diligence, overseeing benefit-cost analyses, and executing transaction negotiations. Additionally, she leads feasibility work to identify areas for future social investment. Prior to Social Finance, Rebecca spent 15 months working for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, where she cultivated relationships and built partnerships with communities in over 30 states. Previously, Rebecca was an ambassador for President Clinton in support of his political, charitable, and personal work. Rebecca also spent time in the Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. State Department. Rebecca began her career at Merrill Lynch in the Municipal Finance department where she financed state and local government institutions and nonprofit facilities and later joined the Structured Finance department where she arranged secured transactions. Rebecca holds a JD from Harvard Law School and an AB in Social Studies from Harvard College. 

Caitlin Reimers
Director
creimers@socialfinanceus.org

Caitlin Reimers is a Director on the Capital Markets Team where she leads the financial structuring and capital raising activities to drive social impact at scale. She brings investment insight to the Product Development Team to create optimized financing solutions tailored to achieve our public and private partners’ desired social and financial outcomes for each transaction. Specifically, she drives the development of outcomes pricing, financial projections and risk/return models, builds relationships with investors, and manages the execution of outcomes-based financing transactions. Prior to Social Finance, Caitlin worked in strategic management consulting and asset management.  While at Strategic Value Capital Management, she led due diligence and valuation analysis and made investment recommendations, including timing and portfolio weighting, to the fund manager.  During her time at The Parthenon Group, Caitlin drove in-depth market research and best-practice analyses to provide strategic support for prominent education and financial services clients. Committed to supporting enterprise development in low-income communities, she has also had experience facilitating the structuring of offering memorandums for an impact investing fund and assessing microcredit loans for low-income women. From 2010-2012 she served as the pro-bono Director of Finance and Strategy for a start-up fair trade fashion organization. Caitlin holds an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar, and a B.A. with honors from The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Jill Scherer
Associate and Grants Manager
jscherer@socialfinanceus.org

Jill Scherer is an Associate and Grants Manager for Social Finance where she oversees the organization’s foundation deliverables and grant reporting. Jill also contributes to Social Impact Bond development through research of potential applications, with a particular focus on how outcomes-focused financing can address homelessness. In addition, she plays a key role in the organization’s fundraising efforts by researching and writing grant applications. Prior to joining Social Finance, Jill conducted research on how innovative finance can drive community and international development. Most recently, she was a Senior Research Analyst with the Milken Institute, an economic and financial think tank in Los Angeles. She co-authored several reports in support of Milken's Financial Innovations Labs, roundtables designed to identify financial solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges. Her reports spanned the topics of early childhood, health, and small business growth. Previously, she worked in the private sector at Charles River Associates, a business and economic consulting firm. Jill has a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University.

Nirav Shah
Director
nshah@socialfinanceus.org

Nirav Shah is a Director on the Business Development Team where he leads the organization's efforts to create innovative financing mechanisms to advance healthcare policy and eliminate homelessness. Nirav develops collaborative partnerships with key, multi-sector stakeholders to deliver financial solutions that funnel investment capital into preventative programs, including chronic disease management, permanent supportive housing for the homeless and better coordinated care systems for the underserved. Prior to joining Social Finance, Nirav worked for the Financial Rescue Unit in the Office of Management and Budget within the Executive Office of the President. In this role he examined Federal policy and programmatic initiatives as part of the Federal economic stabilization policies with a specific focus on housing policy. Earlier in his career, Nirav worked with Cambridge Associates as a Senior Hedge Fund Analyst where he analyzed fund performance and created hedge fund manager reviews for foundation, university, and high-net worth clients. Prior to Cambridge Associates Nirav worked at Bank of America where he developed new, innovative credit products to the Bank’s retail clients. Nirav holds a Masters of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Boston University.

Sudip Singh
Spring Intern
ssingh@socialfinanceUS.org

Sudip is a Spring Associate at Social Finance where he provides analytical support to the full team. Prior to joining Social Finance, he worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York. In that position, Sudip worked on a variety of industry-shaping mergers and initial public offerings in the technology, diversified media and Internet sectors. As an undergraduate, he completed a wealth management internship at Northern Trust in Dallas and worked on several policy and business-related academic research projects. Sudip holds a BBA in Business Honors Finance and a BA in French from The University of Texas at Austin.

Joanna Vanden
Operations Director
jvanden@socialfinanceus.org

Joanna Vanden is the Director of Operations where she oversees all day-to-day operations of the firm including budget and financial management, human resources, organization development, and general office management. Joanna plays a key role in executing business priorities in support of the organization’s goals. Prior to joining Social Finance, she was Director of Operations for the homeless services agency, HomeStart, Inc., and worked in fundraising for prisoner reentry services. In addition to her work at Social Finance, Joanna serves on the Board of Directors for Food For Free, a Cambridge-based nonprofit working to alleviate hunger in Greater Boston. Joanna graduated summa cum laude from Boston College with a B.A. in history, and holds an M.B.A. with high honors from Boston University.