Board of Directors

Alexander Wendeln

Position: Managing Director of Wega Support GmbH
Categories: Board of Directors

Alexander is Managing Director of Wega Support GmbH, a German Family Office of the Wendeln and Klaene Families. He co-founded the Family Office after the disposal of the industrial bakery Wendeln Grossbaeckerei GmbH & Co KG in 1999. Alexander is a graduate in business policy and business studies from the University of Muenster and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Alexander Wendeln

Managing Director of Wega Support GmbH

Alexander is Managing Director of Wega Support GmbH, a German...

Ann Short

Position: Chief Operating Officer
Email: ashort@unituscapital.com
Categories: Leadership
Location: New York, USA

Ann joined Unitus Capital in 2008 and has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Previously, she served as COO of Global Corporate and Investment Banking at Bank of America Securities, and was an Executive Vice President at NASD (now FINRA) where she launched a strategic initiative to support brokerage firm regulatory compliance. Ann began her career as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, where she worked for 18 years, rising to Managing Director. From 1994 to 1997, Ann was based in Hong Kong and Beijing where her clients included the People’s Republic of China, as well as leading corporations throughout Asia, non-Japan. Upon her return from Asia, Ann worked on the Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter merger transition team and subsequently joined Morgan Stanley’s Fixed Income Division as Head of Global High Yield Corporate Research.

Ann has an MS degree in Management from the MIT Sloan School and a BA degree from Wellesley College.

Ann Short

Chief Operating Officer

Ann joined Unitus Capital in 2008 and has over 25...

Geoff (Chester) Woolley

Position: Co-founder & Co-Chairman
Categories: Board of Directors

Geoff has been involved in impact investing and microfinance since he joined Unitus Labs as a board member in 2001. Geoff is currently CEO of Unitus Impact, which he co-founded in early 2011 to support livelihood acceleration in Asia and Africa, prove the viability of investments in livelihood ventures, and attract capital markets and other investors to the space. Among many positions, Geoff holds Board seats at Micro Benefits China and other social enterprises benefiting those at the base of the economic pyramid.

Geoff has been active in private equity investing for over 25 years, founding two successful venture funds in the United States and Europe. He pioneered the concept of venture debt and has invested in over 400 companies in his career, including Ciena, Coinstar, Hotmail and Human Genome Science. He is a Founding Partner of Dominion Ventures, Inc. and European Venture Partners (now called Kreos Capital). In 1998, he assumed an advisory role at Dominion in order to pursue non-profit and other business interests.

Geoff holds a B.S. in business management from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Utah.

Geoff (Chester) Woolley

Co-founder & Co-Chairman

Geoff has been involved in impact investing and microfinance since...

Kylie Charlton

Position: Co-Founder & Managing Director
Email: kcharlton@unituscapital.com
Categories: Leadership
Location: Sydney, Australia

Kylie has worked at the intersection of mainstream capital markets, impact investment and philanthropy since 2004 when she joined the team at Unitus Labs to lead their capital markets initiative. During her time at Unitus Labs, Kylie facilitated the delivery of growth capital for microfinance institutions across seven emerging countries and was instrumental in the launch of the Unitus Equity Fund, the first commercially focused microfinance equity investment fund. In 2008, Kylie co-founded Unitus Capital on the basis of this work and a commitment to mobilising capital to enable the success of businesses providing innovative market based solutions to environmental and social challenges.

In her home country of Australia, Kylie has been a key contributor to the development and growth of its impact investment sector. Her work in Australia includes authoring submissions and participating in round tables for commissioned studies of the Australian Government in regard to the development of the market for impact investment; consulting to and serving as an ex-officio committee member for the Australian Government in regard to Social Enterprise Development and Investment Fund (SEDIF); and co-authoring the feasibility assessment study and surveying investor appetite for the NSW Social Benefit Bonds (also referred to as social impact bonds) issued in 2013, which were the first in Australia and among the first in the world. Kylie is the Chief Investment Officer for Australian Impact Investments, a Venture Partner to the Giant Leap Fund – the first venture capital fund in Australia dedicated to impact businesses and an investment committee member of the Indigenous Real Estate Investment Trust. She also lectures on impact investment for the University of New South Wales and University of Western Australia.

Prior to transitioning her career to impact investment, Kylie was Vice President in the Project and Structured Finance Group of Citigroup, with more than 10 years experience in commercial and investment banking in New York and Sydney.

Kylie graduated in Commerce (Banking and Finance) at University of Canberra and has an MBA from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford in England.

Kylie Charlton

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Kylie has worked at the intersection of mainstream capital markets,...

Narayan Ramachandran

Position: Co-Chairman, Former MD and India Country Head, Morgan Stanley
Categories: Board of Directors

Narayan is an investor and entrepreneur with a focus on financial services and social businesses. As the former Country Head of Morgan Stanley in India, he led all of the group’s businesses. Prior to these roles, Narayan was the Head and lead portfolio manager of Morgan Stanley’s Global Emerging Markets and Global Asset Allocation teams, managing over $25 billion in assets from New York and Singapore. He joined Morgan Stanley in 1996 and has 20 years of investment experience. Prior to joining the firm, he was a managing director at Rogers Casey (now CRA Rogers Casey). In addition, Narayan was director of research at Rogers Casey and President of its investment advisory subsidiary. He began his career at Goldman Sachs.

Narayan received a B.Tech. in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Narayan Ramachandran

Co-Chairman, Former MD and India Country Head, Morgan Stanley

Narayan is an investor and entrepreneur with a focus on...

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