People

Steering Committee of Slow Money NYC (in alphabetical order)

Derek Denckla is Co-Chair of Slow Money NYC, a chapter started in the Fall of 2010 which has grown to 440+ followers on Meetup. He is both an impact investor and a sustainable business entrepreneur. He chairs NYC LION, an angel investor network focused on funding local, sustainable food business.  He founded and runs FarmCityFund.org, a pilot project providing loans to urban farms and related business in 2012.  Currently, he is Senior Advisor to NewYorkMouth, a newly-launched online store for small batch, local artisanal foods that actively nurtures the growth of makers’ businesses. He founded FarmCity.US, an action-research project exploring ways to invest in social, cultural and economic growth of urban agriculture, spinning off the nascent FarmsNYC.org and blogged extensively about urban agriculture for two years on TheGreenest.Net and Small Farms Quarterly. Denckla provides and business consulting and private equity through his firm, Propeller Group (also known as “Denckla Projects”).  In the past, Denckla ran a green real estate development company, Dwelling Research Corp.  His premiere project was Greenbelt, the first LEED Gold building in Brooklyn, NY (completed in 2010), housing The Center for Performance Research, a partnership launched with community arts groups.  Denckla is also a multi-media artist and curator of various exhibitions themed with social issues.

Brian Kaminer is the Co-Chair of Slow Money NYC.  Slow Money has been one of the key organizations inspiring him to think, relate and invest differently.  His company Talgra is focused on cultivating sustainable investments, from sustainable food to renewable energy.  Brian has a growing portfolio of community and impact investments.  He is also a member of NYC LION, an angel investor network focused on funding local, sustainable food business.  He recently became an advisor to FarmCityFund.org, a pilot project providing loans to urban farms and related business.  Brian has consulted on award winning energy conservation projects.  In 2010 he participated in the NYU-Poly Cleantech Executive program.  Brian is active with his local community and co-chairs his town’s Sustainability committee.  His background includes 17 years in the brokerage business.  Brian focuses his personal and professional life on positively aligning the social, environmental and economic impacts of his choices and actions.

Sam Kressler was involved in finance until 2008 when he was finally able to pursue his passion for food. He obtained a Masters in Food Systems from NYU, where he studied the politics and economics of food and agriculture, focusing on developing sustainable purchasing practices and supply chains for institutional food service companies. He sees Slow Money as a way to develop more robust local food systems while simultaneously democratizing personal investment opportunities.

Lindsay Greene is the newest member of the Advisory Committee, joining in January 2012. Lindsay is passionate about building healthy business to support and drive strong sustainable food systems.  She is currently the category manager and merchant for prepared foods at NYC’s online grocer FreshDirect.  Lindsay has 6 years of experience at Goldman Sachs in urban redevelopment private equity and investment banking, and has an undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard and an MBA from Yale.  She also spends time outside work as a mentor through Breakthrough New York.

Slow Money NYC Advisory Board We are grateful for the generous guidance and support of these experts in sustainable food and business:

Anna Lappé Anna Lappé is a national bestselling author and sustainable food advocate.  Named one of TIME magazine’s “Eco” Who’s Who, Anna is a founding principal of the Small Planet Institute and Small Planet Fund. Her most recent book is Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It. She is also the co-author of Hope’s Edge and Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. An active board member of Rainforest Action Network, Anna’s researchon organic farming and food justice has taken her from Brooklyn to South Korea, China, Bangladesh, India, Poland, France, Italy, Mali, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and beyond.  She lives in Boerum Hill with her husband and their daughter.

Chris Harmon Chris Harmon served as the Executive Director of CADE, the Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship. CADE is a non-profit agricultural development organization serving farmers and agricultural businesses in New York. They provide strategic, technical assistance to clients in the areas of value-added production, business development, financing, accounting, distribution and marketing.

Mark Reed Mark is Contact Fund’s founder and manager. He is a former Vice President of Portfolio Management at the Bank of New York, where he concentrated on North American corporate credit risk management. While at the bank, he co-managed a $500 million bond portfolio and a $300 million credit derivative portfolio. He also performed corporate credit default modeling, and analyzed structured credit products and fundamental corporate credit. Since 1997, Mark has served on the Board of Directors of Simpson Investment Company, a fourth-generation, family-owned business based in Tacoma, Washington. The company produces commodity and specialty lumber, solid-wood doors, and specialty packaging products. Mark also currently serves as Chair of the Board of the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan. Prior to moving to New York, Mark managed an after-school program for public housing residents in San Francisco’s Mission District and managed a youth community center. He holds a BA in Anthropology from Stanford University and an MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Management at NYU.

Miriam Haas and Jon Zeltzman, Directors, Community Markets Miriam Haas is the director and founder of Community Markets.  She started her first farmers market in 1991 in Ossining, New York.  It was so successful that she began to develop markets for other communities.  An accidental entrepreneur, Community Markets now has 22 markets under her auspices in a territory ranging from Westchester and Rockland counties to four of the five boroughs of New York City.  In 2011 Community Markets is managing 4 indoor winter markets as well. Jon Zeltsman manages the finance and administration of Community Markets is Jon’s third professional cycle.  He was the owner of Zeltsman Woodworking and Design for 18 years followed by 10 years consulting with small manufacturing companies including the start-up of a worker owned furniture business in Vermont.  Joining his wife, Miriam, at Community Markets coincided with taking a culinary certificate at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.