Ben Collins

Ben first discovered responsible investment issues as an undergraduate at Harvard College as a co-founder and student leader of a Sudan divestment campaign at Harvard University. As part of the campaign, he worked with student groups, alumni, faculty, and Harvard's Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility to secure Harvard's divestment from the PetroChina Company in 2005. Ben has previously worked with the microfinance organization, FINCA in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Since 2006, he has conducted Sudan divestment research and analyzed corporate social responsibility issues at KLD Research & Analytics (recently acquired by the Riskmetrics Group in November 2009), an investment research firm based in Boston that focuses on the environmental, social, and governance practices of publicly-traded companies. Ben is also involved as a board member of the Investor Suffrage Movement, which works towards improving corporate accountability through shareholder proxy voting.

Joseph Dickerson, Treasurer

Joseph Dickerson is currently a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA pursuing a Master of Science Degree in Public Policy and Management from the Heinz College, and is the first Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development Fellow. He is focused on learning how cities and metropolitan regions can fund, manage, and improve the infrastructure, housing, and environmental conditions that enrich lives and create
vibrant sustainable communities.

Prior to school, Joseph lived and worked in Washington, DC for four years. While there, he worked for a community development corporation as a business development officer, for PNC Bank as a Low-income Community Business Banker, and as the Business Development and Education Training Coordinator for an affordable housing firm.

Finally, Joseph is passionate about the non-profit sector. In addition to having worked at two non-profits, he has served on the boards of over six organizations, and served in various roles ranging from Treasurer to Chairman. Graduating from Swarthmore College in 2004 with degree in Educational Psychology with a minor in Philosophy, Joseph is excited about serving on the board of REC. REC’s mission of leveraging the energy and creative capacity of college students to design solutions to complex issues is an approach that connects well with his personal perspective.

Neil Makhija, Board Chair

Neil Makhija is a recent graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where he led the socially responsible investment movement as president of the Class of 2009 and Chair of the Student Senate. During the 2008 presidential elections, he organized voter registration and turnout efforts in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and while abroad in Oxford, U.K.

Henry McKoy

Henry McKoy graduated with a BSBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School program in 1995. Henry spent over 10 years in Corporate Finance, Banking and Technology for Central Carolina Bank, National Commerce Financial, and SunTrust. As an executive and Operations Officer he grew and managed a 30-person, $3 billion-a-year multi-state profit center between and later managed the $17 billion-a-year Cash Services Group covering 1,200 ATM/Branch locations and 6,000 employees across the Bank’s 6-brand, 12-state footprint. Henry has worked with more than 100 non-profits since 1993 and founded the non-profit think tank, OneVoice Institute of Business and Entrepreneurship (OneVIBE) in 1999, which he still chairs, to focus on the connections between Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Henry sits on, and chairs, numerous boards across North Carolina and the United States related to sustainability, community development, business and education including Sustainable North Carolina, EmPOWERment Inc, SJF Ventures Advisory Services and the NC Council on Economic Education. In 2004, after his successful banking career, Henry launched an advisory and consulting firm working with sustainable minded companies and organizations across the country; as well as numerous early and growth stage businesses. He is currently Chairman of Fourth-Sector Bancorp, a NC-based bank holding company in the process of founding and leading the organization of the Nation’s first Venture Bank devoted to Sustainable enterprises. Henry is married to Euba, a former track All America and NC Teaching Fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill. They live in Durham and have two children – Jamila Anne and Jalen Anthony.

Hannah McMeekin

Hannah McMeekin is a student representative on the board and became involved in SRI during her first semester at Middlebury College. She is currently a member of Middlebury’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investment and is working to create a Social Choice fund for the college. Hannah is also a member of REC’s Student Steering Committee and she is very excited about being an active member in the REC organization. She is currently a sophomore “Feb” at Middlebury and is majoring in Geography with a minor in Arabic.

Sarah Pralle

Sarah Pralle is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of public policy processes and environmental politics. In particular, she studies the strategies and tactics of environmental advocacy groups, including market-based tactics like shareholder activism. She is the author of Branching Out, Digging In: Environmental Advocacy and Agenda-setting (Georgetown University Press, 2006) as well as several articles on environmental policy processes.

Before attending graduate school at the University of Washington, Sarah worked for Greenpeace USA as a fundraiser and activist. She has continued to be active in campus environmental groups as well as community groups in central New York.

Lillie Ris

Lillie Ris graduated from Duke University in May 2006. Later that year she moved to Amman, Jordan to study Arabic language on a Fulbright grant. She is currently working in the fields of communications and program design with several development organizations.

Lillie discovered SRI her freshman year at Duke when students launched a campaign calling for divestment. She wanted more information and so interned in the social research department at Trillium Asset Management. As a sophomore Lillie worked with several Duke student activist organizations to advocate for student participation in investigating and mitigating negative impacts of Duke's endowment investments. Duke University has since approved a socially responsible investing policy. Lillie is originally from Lexington, MA and is now living in Amman, Jordan.

Sandy Robson

Sandy graduated from Macalester College in 2008 with a degree in Geography and Human Rights & Humanitarian Issues.  With the help of REC, she led a successful campaign for Sudan divestment, worked with alumni and staff to create a partnership with a local community bank, and served on the school’s Social Responsibility Committee.  She has worked with a variety of labor rights groups including the Coalition for Immokalee Workers through the RFK Center for Human Rights, a farm and construction workers’ advocacy organization in India, and sustainable development projects in Mexico and Honduras. Sandy has served on the board of two other non-profits including a community bike shop and an organization to involve Baltimore City students in poverty issues and public policy. She is currently in her hometown of Baltimore organizing a network to support gardens at public schools with the Parks & People Foundation.

Becky Weiss, Secretary 

Becky Weiss, a student representative on the board, discovered her passion for the responsible endowments movement as the Finance & Facilities chair of the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA), Wesleyan University's student government. During that time she chaired Wesleyan's Endowment Advisory Committee, an all-student group that voted on the university's proxy statements. Recognizing the need for a body empowered to engage more directly in shareholder activism, Becky worked to create Wesleyan's Committee for Investor Responsibility. She is also a member of REC's Student Steering Committee. Becky is currently the Vice President of the WSA and in this capacity works to improve student life at Wesleyan. As a member of Best Buddies, an organization that partners individuals with "intellectually disabled" individuals, she enjoys spending time with her buddy David. Becky will graduate from Wesleyan in the spring of 2010 with a degree in American Studies and a concentration in Economy & Society.

Beth Young

Beth is the Senior Research Associate, Shareholder Issues, M&A and Takeover Defenses at the Corporate Library. She authors research reports in several areas of study for The Corporate Library, including takeover defenses. She is co-author of the Shareholder Proposal Handbook, published in 2001. Before joining The Corporate Library, Ms. Young served as the Shareholder Initiatives Coordinator in the AFL-CIO's Office of Investment. Previously, she worked as a corporate and bankruptcy lawyer in private practice. In addition to her current work, Ms. Young consults to institutional investors on corporate governance and shareholder initiatives. She has taught corporate governance and law at Harvard Law School. Ms. Young is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, and was the Fellow in the Center for Corporate, Securities and Financial Law at Fordham Law School from 2004 until 2006.