Founding Partners
We believe we have one of the best rounded teams to accomplish our mission. Our partners and advisors have experience investing in and managing companies in virtually all parts of the world; we have experience at all stages of capital development for enterprises, from start-up to restart, from expansion to sale. Our partners have succeeded in closing many high profile social transactions globally, including the creation of Liberian Enterprise Development Finance Company and its related fund, Buchanan Renewables, and the Africa Telecoms, Media, and Technology Fund. Aside from knowledge of what it takes to succeed as a social enterprise, the TIA team knows well the public aid and foundation-funded assistance programs that often are a necessary complement to private investors in these ventures, and has developed financing models designed to combine these two sources of funds.
Ambassador John Simon - Founding Partner (Washington, DC)
Prior to starting Total Impact Advisors, Ambassador Simon was a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he co-authored More than Money, a report on impact investing as a development tool. Previously, he held a variety of posts in the US federal government, including serving most recently as the United States Ambassador to the African Union and the Executive Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). At OPIC, Ambassador Simon championed the Agency’s involvement in the social impact investment marketplace, spearheading efforts to finance housing in Africa, small and medium businesses in Liberia, and a large scale renewable power plant in Liberia. Ambassador Simon led the Agency’s effort to develop a series of social development funds for Africa, which resulted in the creation of four private equity funds focused on achieving extraordinary social results as well as strong financial performance.
Ambassador Simon also served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Relief, Stabilization, and Development for the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House, the first to hold this post. During his tenure at the NSC, Ambassador Simon oversaw the implementation of groundbreaking development initiatives, including the Millennium Challenge Account, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, and the President's Malaria Initiative. He was also responsible for the U.S. government response to international humanitarian disasters, such as the 2005 South Asia Earthquake.
From 2002 to 2003, Ambassador Simon was Deputy Assistant Administrator at the United States Agency for International Development, overseeing the agency’s development information and evaluation units. Earlier in his career, he served as Director of Business Finance and Strategic Planning at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Executive Office for Administration and Finance in several capacities, including Deputy Director for Research and Development.
Ambassador Simon received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University.
Michael G. Brownrigg - Founding Partner (San Francisco Bay Area)
Prior to founding Total Impact Advisors, Michael spent 11 years in venture capital and 12 years in the US Foreign Service. At ChinaVest, the oldest US private equity firm in China, Michael was Managing Partner and helped make and manage investments in growth companies in logistics, manufacturing, consumer services and information technology. Michael served on the Investment Committee and oversaw investor relations with ChinaVest's blue chip US institutional Limited Partners.
Michael's commitment to public service began in the US State Department, where he served our country as a diplomat in Syria, Washington DC and Hong Kong, and it continues today in his home town of Burlingame, California where he serves as one of five elected City Council members. He is also an advisor at the non-profit Foundation for a College Education, an institution aimed at working with disadvantaged kids and their families to prepare for and succeed in college. Finally, Michael speaks, teaches and writes when he can about international economics (see, e.g., the Washington Post op-ed "Our Stake in the Bailouts"). Michael received his BA from Williams College in Economics and German.
"I eye-witnessed the China miracle in the 1990s, where more people were lifted out of poverty in less time than at any period in our planet's history. The mechanism was the market and entrepreneurship. I believe strongly that private enterprise can be a powerful engine for social benefits, when constructed and financed appropriately."
Arthur Wood - Founding Partner (Geneva)
Arthur is TIA’s European arm. Over his career he has held senior positions in both "for profit" and "not for profit“ enterprises (the latter a term he passionately dislikes). Arthur is a recognised innovator in social finance (http://bit.ly/of3jE9) and frequently invited to speak and write on innovative financing vehicles for social purposes.
Prior to his current roles with the World Sanitation Financing Facility and TIA he was SVP and a Leadership Group Member of Ashoka, the world's largest supporter of social entrepreneurs. At Ashoka he was Global Head of Social Financial Services, serving three years in DC and New York. Arthur has been instrumental in encouraging major global finance firms to enter the business of social investing in order to improve the way social capital is allocated and deployed. He is also deeply involved in the conceptualisation and creation of new legal hybrid structures to encourage social investment - most notably the L3C in the US and the SELLP in the UK. He has advised a range of broader social entrepreneurs in financing structures, including helping to launch a fund noted as "one of the top twenty ideas in new philanthropy" by Fast Company Magazine.
Prior to working in Social Finance Arthur worked for over 20 years on "the dark side" - the pure finance sector - including as an institutional specialist in US Aerospace Defence at leading Western financial institutions. Arthur is a regular publisher and speaker at leading global academic institutions as well as industry forums on social finance. Married to a Norwegian he has a BSc Hons - (Econ) from the London School of Economics and an MBA from SDA Bocconi (Italy) and HEC (France).
Derek E.N. Saleeby - Founding Partner (New York)
Prior to founding Total Impact Advisors, Derek’s professional background was in finance and investing in both emerging and developed markets across numerous sectors. This developing and developed market experience provides a holistic perspective to his approach to opportunities and situations. He has experience on the sell-side (investment banking, capital markets, and sales) and in asset management (private equity, a hedge fund, and a hedge fund of funds where he was chief investment officer). He has served with firms such as Citibank, Salomon Smith Barney, Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (Latin America), RAM Capital, and Deutsche Bank Asset Management/RLJ.
From 2006 to present, Derek has provided advisory work for private equity, hedge fund investors, companies and financial services firms in both emerging markets and developed markets, including facilitating the closing of a $67 million U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) funding to a new Africa focused private equity/mezzanine fund and also a $30 million Liberian Enterprise Fund. His advisory work, which has included negotiating local investment rights and sourcing new investments for funders, has enhanced Derek’s already strong network of private and public officials in Africa and Latin America.
From 1999 to 2001, Derek was a founding partner of the advisory firm African Private Equity Partners - his team provided advisory services to Mexico's Cemex in its exploration of African investment opportunities and the formation of a possible special purpose acquisition vehicle for developing markets.
Derek has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Princeton University.