Experienced builders, investors, and operators in your corner

Co-Founder and
Managing Partner

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Daniel Skaff is Co-founder and Managing Partner of Radicle Impact, a multi-stage venture firm focused on climate and economic inclusion. Dan is an experienced board member, growth company investor and financial services senior executive. He is former President and Co-CEO of Beneficial State, a de-novo bank dedicated to building prosperity in local communities with a focus on social justice, environmental resilience and economic sustainability. Beneficial State is the #3 rated B Corp globally and recipient of the California Prize for Service and the Common Good, San Francisco Bay Area Environmental Business of the Year and a Real Impact 100 Magazine Top 20 National Company.

Dan received a BA with honors from Harvard University where he was a John Harvard and Harvard College Scholar, and an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Wharton Fellow and has been a guest speaker in Wharton’s Leadership in the Business World and School for Social Impact Programs. He also completed Stanford Law School’s Director’s College, an executive education program for more effective board service, and he has been featured in Latino Leaders Magazine as a top U.S. Corporate Director.

Dan is Chairman Emeritus of the Latino Community Foundation, the nation’s leading non-profit focused on Latino families, children and communities; Chairman of Impact Assets, a pre-eminent RIA for impact investing with $5B+ in assets and the 6th largest venture investor in the U.S.; Chairman of Jiko Group, a technology-focused national bank holding company and SECregistered broker dealer providing innovative money storage, payments and banking infrastructure solutions; a Director of Suma Wealth, a leading digital platform for economic inclusion and wealth creation among individuals seeking financial tools, engagement and economic advancement; and Alphy Inc., which provides AI enabled software tools to enhance compliance and reduce harm in digital communications. Dan is former Trustee and Investment Committee Chair of the Marin Community Foundation, among the nation’s largest with $4B+ in philanthropic assets. He is past advisory board member of The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; Founding investor and Co-Chair of Glu Mobile (Nasdaq GLUU, sold to Electronic Arts), Director of EBT Mobile Communications Plc (LSE EBT), and Vice Chair of The Harvard College Fund’s West Coast Council.

Earlier in his career Dan served in the Corporate Finance and Treasury Departments of Bankers Trust Company, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. He subsequently founded and served as Managing Partner of Sienna Ventures, a multi-stage investment firm focused on emerging mobile communications, technology, and consumer-related businesses. Sienna’s venture investments exceeded benchmarks by approximately 50% and included companies such as Protocol Communications, @Motion, Phone.com, Priceline, DemandTec and Glu Mobile.

“We started Radicle Impact because my partners and I believe we have overlooked some of the most deserving communities and entrepreneurs among us. Ability and hope for advancement are widespread. Opportunity is not. We’re pleased at Radicle to work with exceptional founders, CEOs, advisors and like-minded investors to balance opportunity with access in creating a more fair, transparent and just economic system – one with people at its center, not just profits.”

Co-Founder Investor and
Special Limited Partner

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Kat Taylor works in service of restoring social justice and environmental well-being to build a more equitable and inclusive world.

Kat is active in a variety of social enterprises and philanthropic ventures focused on deep systems change. Currently, she serves as Co-Founder and Board Chair of Beneficial State Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and certified B Corporation whose mission is to bring beneficial banking to low-income communities in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner – and to change the banking system for good.

As the co-founder and special limited partner of Radicle Impact Partners, Kat supports venture funds for early stage companies working in sustainable food systems, fair and transparent financial services, and resilient environmental solutions.

Kat is also a Founding Director of TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation (TKREF), dedicated to inspiring a sustainable food system through ranching best practices, training, educational tours, scientific research, and school food and garden programs. TKREF owns the social enterprise LeftCoast GrassFed, humanely raising cattle and other livestock for the benefit of healthy soils.

Kat serves and has served on many nonprofit boards including, Ecotrust, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, ProPublica, the Community Development Bankers Association (CDBA), Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ), and CuriOdyssey.

She graduated from Harvard College and earned a JD/MBA from Stanford University. She and Tom Steyer, Kat’s climate-energy-justice activist husband, have four grown children, each pursuing their one wild and precious life, too.

Partner

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Ami Naik is a Partner at Radicle Impact, where she conducts investment diligence, supports portfolio companies, and contributes to the firm's overall strategy and impact management. Ami brings close to two decades of experience across company building and impact investing.

Ami currently serves on the board of eCurrency, which builds the infrastructure central banks and financial institutions use to issue and move digital currency, and previously served on the board of SuperCircle, the supply chain and compliance infrastructure for next-generation retail, where she is now a board observer.

Before Radicle, Ami built her career at the intersection of investing and operating. As Head of Business Operations at BloomThat, she oversaw the company's day-to-day operations during its early-stage growth. As a Product Manager at Fairloan Financial, she led the build of the company's income verification product. Earlier in her career, Ami was an investment professional at Elevar Equity, an early-stage emerging markets fund manager, where she conducted due diligence and monitored portfolio companies, and at Cedarview Capital, a high-yield focused hedge fund. She began her career in JPMorgan's Power Investment Banking group.

Ami holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Wellesley College.

Partner

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Corey Vernon is a Partner at Radicle Impact. She joined Radicle Impact in 2015 as an Associate and has since helped shape the firm’s investment and impact
framework. 

Corey serves as a Board Director at Evrnu, a textile innovations company transforming garment waste into regenerative fibers, and previously at Aether Biomachines, a synthetic biology platform developing novel, sustainable industrial materials. She continues to serve as a Board observer at Aether.

Prior to Radicle, Corey was an Analyst at ING Capital, where she focused on structured acquisition financing for leveraged buyout transactions. She holds a B.S. with distinction in Commerce from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, concentrating in Finance and Entrepreneurship. 

Chief Financial Officer

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Sofia Faruqi is Chief Financial Officer at Radicle Impact, where she leads finance and fund operations and works closely with the investment team on portfolio construction, capital allocation, valuations, follow-on investments, and liquidity strategy. 

Sofia brings nearly two decades of experience spanning venture-backed companies, investment management, investment banking, and impact investing. She has served as CFO and strategic finance leader to companies across fintech, climate tech, AI, and biotechnology, advising CEOs and boards on fundraising, M&A, growth strategy, and capital allocation. Earlier in her career, she was a portfolio manager at Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge, an equity research associate at OMERS, and an investment banker at JPMorgan.

Prior to returning to the private sector, Sofia spent five years at the World Resources Institute, where she founded the Land Accelerator, a global accelerator for sustainable agriculture and forestry entrepreneurs, and developed innovative approaches to financing climate and land restoration. This experience cemented her passion for impact. 

Sofia is a CFA charterholder and holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics and Arabic from Dartmouth College. 

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Marc Brown joined EQT Partners in October 2020 as Partner and Head of EQT Growth.

Prior to joining EQT, Marc was at Microsoft for over 20 years where he was most recently Corporate Vice President of Corporate Development. Having overseen Microsoft’s M&A and strategic investment activities, leading more than 185 acquisitions (including LinkedIn, GitHub and Minecraft) and 80 strategic equity investments (including Flipkart, Databricks and Graphcore), Marc has vast experience across the technology industry.

Marc holds an AB in Economics from Colgate University, an MBA in Finance from the NYU Stern School of Business, and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

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Tom is a serial tech entrepreneur and Co-Founder of super{set}, a venture studio that founds, funds, and builds technology companies. For the past 20+ years, Tom’s professional focus has centered on using data, decision science, and AI to solve hard, interesting problems. Prior to forming super{set}, Tom was the CEO and co-founder of Krux, acquired by Salesforce in 2016. Before Krux, Tom was the CEO and co-founder of Rapt, acquired by Microsoft in 2007. Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tom has lived and worked in San Francisco for the last 30 years. He holds a B.A. in Computer Science and Philosophy from Harvard and Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research from Stanford. He supports and serves on the boards of non-profits in the areas of education, immigration, and entrepreneurship.

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Lorna has served as President of multinational consumer goods companies for 20+ years, in Danone, Kraft and Mondelez. She was the President of Kraft China and the President of Nabisco North America.

She has been a key leader in Danone’s purpose journey and as a Global Ambassador for the B Corp movement. In 2017, Lorna served as CEO and Chairwoman of Danone North
America, where she established that $6 Billion entity as a Public Benefit Corporation and it achieved B Corp status in 2018, making it the largest B Corp in the world.

She is a member of the Social Mission Board of Seventh Generation, the Integrity Board of Sir Kensington (both companies owned by Unilever), the Board of Guayaki, the Advisory Board of Radicle Impact and the board of B Lab Global. She is now working on bringing indigenous wisdom into business through a series of fire circles with indigenous elders.

Lorna has done a TED talk on Radical Interdependence which has been viewed by over 2 million people.

She has lived and led businesses in 7 countries and is passionate about purpose in business, wildlife conservation, and her dog, Stir.

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Phil Graves led Patagonia’s global corporate development team and founded and served as Managing Partner for its corporate VC unit called Tin Shed Ventures.  During his seven years running the CVC unit, Phil invested approximately $80 million into 12 start-ups across North America, South America, Europe, and APAC.  

He also launched and oversaw the company’s pioneering recommerce division called Worn Wear, a breakthrough R&D team called Patagonia Innovation Works, and a sustainable agriculture standard for food and fiber called Regenerative Organic Certified.  He has held board roles for Mango Materials, Bureo, Circ, Tersus Solutions, and Wild Idea Buffalo.  

Prior to joining Patagonia in 2014, Phil spent a combined decade at Deloitte and PwC, where he provided financial advisory, M&A, and investment-related services to clients such as Nike, Walmart, KKR and TPG.  Most recently, he served as Chief Sustainability Officer and Foundation President at Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s – the world’s largest outdoor retailer.  

Phil earned his BBA Accounting (magna cum laude) and MS Finance degrees from Texas A&M University.  He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist 100 Fund Manager.

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Pete Hartigan’s career thesis is to help enable the “Values Economy.” To actualize this vision, he serves in a variety of roles, including Founder of MUSE (Mutual Society, Inc), CFO/CIO for a Family Office, Managing Partner for Marketplace Funds, a specialist fund focused on community health (financial, mental and physical), Board Governance (SOFI – Nom/Gov, Happify – Comp, Conventus), and Advisor (Radical Impact & VC Include). Prior, Pete assisted the SoFi founders from pre-incorporation to serving as its original Chief Community Officer, as well as additional operating and venture capital roles since the early 1990s (SOFTBANK & Battery Ventures). Pete has earned FINRA Series 7, 62 and 63 licenses (all expired). He has an MBA from Stanford University (Arbuckle Award) and earned degrees in Psychology & Philosophy from Duke University, summa cum laude & Phi Beta Kappa. In 1993, USA Today picked Pete as one of their Top 20 College Students in the United States.

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Kanyi is a Managing Partner at Kindred Ventures. He served as a Partner at Collaborative Fund, where he was an early advisor to Tala and Walker & Co., and a board member at Buffer, Camino Financial, Spruce, and True Link. Kanyi is a co-founder at Heartbeat Health, and previously ran growth at One Block Off the Grid (acquired by $NRG) and was an early employee at Doostang (acquired by Universum Global). Kanyi has also served as a Lecturer and Adjunct at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, a curriculum adapted from his time as a student at Stanford University.

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Jan Owen is Senior Advisor in Manatt Financial Services, resident in the San Francisco and Sacramento offices.

Jan’s broad practice includes the representation of a wide variety of regulated entities with respect to consumer-facing products and services. She also counsels clients on strategic approaches in response to state and federal inquiries, exams, investigations and enforcement actions, and appears on their behalf before state and federal regulators.

Examples of her current representations include:

• consulting on state and federal regulatory matters including enforcements actions, regulatory exam results,

• Counseling cannabis industry clients on various aspects of their operations

• Representing banks with respect to cannabis industry issues  and compliance

• Assisting clients on innovative new financial products

• Counseling start-ups in the financial services businesses, including new banks, credit unions and FinTech companies.

• Providing strategic advice to major banks, credit unions, consumer financial lenders, independent mortgage companies, fintech companies and startups, blockchain and cryptocurrency companies and technology companies with respect to matters that may come before state and federal regulators.

Prior to joining Manatt, Jan was the first and longstanding Commissioner of California’s Department of Business Oversight (2013 to 2019) now known as the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), the state’s financial regulator.  A hands-on Commissioner, Jan actively led a massive agency with oversight over licensed and regulated financial services and securities entities.  Prior to her role at DBO, Jan held other senior positions in both government and at a major financial institution.

In addition to Jan’s work at Manatt, Jan enjoys being on the Board of Directors of Bank of Southern California and on the Board of Directors of Kraken Financial.  Jan also is on the Advisory Board of Radicle Impact and on the Advisory Board of Jiko, a financial services company.

Jan is a frequent speaker and author on topics relating to women’s issues, regulatory and consumer protection developments across the country.  She continues to be extensively quoted by national publications such as American Banker and Bloomberg and is referenced in articles written in other publications as such American Lawyer.

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Lisa Stevens is Aon’s Chief People Officer. In this role she is responsible for creating, implementing and leading the strategies that empower the Firm’s 50,000 employees across 120 nations to fully align with the client-centric Aon United mission. Stevens leverages her proven ability to deliver business results as she leads the People Organization, including culture & change, talent, rewards and diversity, equity & inclusion strategies and their global functions. As a member of the CEO’s leadership team, Stevens also plays a critical role in overseeing the coaching and executive talent development and succession planning strategies for Aon.
Stevens joined Aon in 2018 as Executive Vice President of Aon United Operations where she led the Delivering Aon United strategy and adoption to accelerate client value creation and drive growth by increasing collaboration across geographies and solution lines.

Her ultimate objective is for colleagues around the world to be inspired by the Aon United mission, committed to professional development and work as a unified global team to build and be a part of a firm that consistently delivers great outcomes for clients, and even greater impact in the communities we serve around the world.

Stevens joined Aon from Wells Fargo Bank after a 29-year career. In her last role with Wells Fargo, Stevens was Executive Vice President and Head of the Western U.S., leading 34,000 employees and 2,700 branch offices across a 24-state region with annual community engagement in excess of $100 million. Prior to that role, Stevens ran 20 states plus sales and marketing for the entire Community Bank while leading Small Business Banking for the company. Earlier roles included serving as President of both the Pacific Northwest and the California Regional Banking Divisions.

Stevens has an extensive background in managing operational, market, reputational and credit risk, in addition to having managed multi-billion dollar operating organizations. Under Stevens, Small Business Banking served over 3 million small business customers with sales up to $5 million with a full range of financial services. As the leader in the banking industry for small business lending, Stevens was responsible for building and innovating small business customer solutions including FastFlexSM, the first product in traditional financial services that disrupted enterprises such as Lending Club, OnDeck and Cabbage. She also created national lending commitments to minority and women owned businesses.

Stevens earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Santa Clara University. She services as a commissioner for the Rose Bowl Operating Committee and is an active board members of several non-profit organizations, including the Executive Committee of the California Roundtable, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, and the Board of Regents for Santa Clara University.

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Barbara A. Yastine is a 30-year veteran of financial services, with leadership success in a broad range of sectors, market conditions and challenges. Her direct experience spans retail banking, consumer lending (auto, mortgages, personal loans), investment/corporate banking and capital markets, and asset management and wealth advisory.

Barbara serves on the Boards of Directors of Primerica Corporation, Zions Bancorporation and AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. She recently ended her service on the Board of First Data Corporation upon its August 1, 2019 acquisition by Fiserv, Inc., serving since September 2016. Barbara was a director of privately held Symphony Teleca Corporation from 2006 to 2013. She is an advisory board member of venture capital firm MissionOG and MoCaFi (payments for the underbanked) and a former advisory board member of Transactis, a growth stage payments company acquired by MasterCard International in 2019. Barbara’s not-for-profit efforts include current Board roles at United Hospital Fund, Grace Institute and The Charles S. Draper Laboratory.

Until June 2015, Barbara was Chairman, CEO and President of Ally Bank, the award-winning $100 billion direct bank subsidiary of Ally Financial, which has been recognized as the best online bank for 7 consecutive years by Money Magazine. Barbara was a key player in the company’s turnaround and repayment of the U.S.’s $17 billion TARP investment. She joined Ally in 2010 as CAO and chair of Ally Bank. During Barbara’s tenure, the bank grew from $25 billion in deposits to $65 billion and developed the roadmap to $100 billion in deposits and 1 million customers, introducing omni channel client experience, new tools and features, robust client engagement programs and data-driven targeted marketing campaigns, while at the same time reducing expenses by $125 million across interest, marketing and operations.

Barbara was named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking in 2013 and 2014 by American Banker. She chaired the national Financial Services judging panel for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2016 and 2017 and served as a member of that judging panel in 2015. She was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors’ Directorship 100 in 2017.

Before joining Ally, she was with Citigroup for 15 years in various leadership roles, including CFO of its Global Corporate and Investment Bank, and its Consumer Finance Business, Chief Auditor and CAO of the Global Consumer Group. She left Citi in 2002 to become CFO of Credit Suisse First Boston, until 2004. Shortly thereafter, she was a partner in a start-up, Southgate Alternative Investments. Most recently, on an interim basis from September 2015 to June 2016, she served as Co-CEO of Lebenthal Holdings LLC.

Barbara previously served on the Board as vice chairman of nonprofit Phoenix House for 13 years and as a trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation.