The Responsible Endowments Coalition is managed day-to-day by its executive director with the work of a strong team of staff, student organizers, interns, volunteers, and advisors. REC is governed by its Board of Directors and Student Steering Committee.

Dan Apfel, Executive Director

Dan has been an advocate for social and environmental issues for nearly ten years, and was an advocate for responsible investment while in college. At REC, Dan works with the staff, board, and student steering committee. He works with allies in advocacy organizations, industry, and the university community, and directs REC's work.

Prior to joining the REC Dan served as a Program Officer at the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, where he worked with credit unions serving diverse low- and moderate-income communities around the country. He managed a coalition of 16 credit unions running free tax-preparation sites that filed over 3,500 returns for low-income people in 200 and co-administered the New York State Coalition of Community Development Financial Institutions. While living in Rochester, NY Dan also lived in and served on the boards of two student housing cooperatives, the EcoHouse and the Ant Hill Cooperative.

Dan is passionate about creating democratic institutions that serve their communities. He loves the outdoors, and aside from changing the way the world invests its money, Dan dreams of sailing around the globe. Email him at dan@endowmentethics.org

Martin Bourqui, National Organizer

As a student at Tufts University, Martin took on the challenge of raising awareness and questions about his university's commitment to being a more responsible investor with the support of REC. He now has has the privilege of supporting campaigns and initiatives on campuses nationwide as REC's national organizer. Martin was born in England, raised in Texas, educated in the Boston area, and now lives in New York City. While REC has shaped and informed his activism and organizing above all for the past several years, he has also worked with Citizens for Voter Choice, a grassroots campaign to propose instant runoff voting on the Massachusetts ballot, the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University, and at Americans for Democratic Action in Washington, D.C. When not discussing our political, economic, and educational systems, Martin enjoys playing the piano and guitar, and looking for the next big ideas that will shape our society's future. Email him at organize@endowmentethics.org.

Annie McShiras, Development Director

Annie McShiras is thrilled to be on REC’s team. She works with REC staff, board, student organizers, allies, and individuals to promote the vital work of REC and direct all of REC’s fundraising initiatives.

Annie has been promoting movements for corporate accountability and economic justice for the past five years. In 2007, her vision of the world shifted when she learned of the realities of modern day slavery while working with Bolivian immigrants at a community organization in Argentina. Since then, and never forgetting the struggle of the people she met in Latin America, Annie has worked in organizations on issues ranging from sustainable agriculture to homelessness prevention. She has held roles in fundraising, outreach, and communications in Vermont and New York City. Most recently, she has joined as a volunteer on the editorial team of a collective publication on economic alternatives, Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO).

In her free time, Annie loves talking food politics and dancing capoeira. She welcomes the opportunity to talk to you about your creative fundraising ideas for REC. E-mail her at annie@endowmentethics.org.

Student Organizers

REC works with schools all over the country. Each year REC recruits a team of Student Organizers to help support the work going on at our coalition schools and beyond and to be leaders of our movement. Meet our 2011-2012 student organizers!

Caitlin Dally is currently a senior at the University of San Francisco majoring in international studies with a focus in peace and conflict resolution and a minor in European studies. The past year Caitlin studied at the University of Oslo participating in the HECUA Scandinavian Urban Studies term and the Divided States of Europe term. In Scandinavia she met with a diverse group of organizations, politicians, activists, artists, social workers, and other individuals working to change and maintain the Nordic welfare model. Observing a unique approach to social justice movements, Caitlin returned to the United States, and was drawn to the socially responsible investments movement. This year Caitlin is working towards gaining momentum on her campus to endorse responsible investment and community investment as a Jesuit value. When Caitlin is not studying, working, or making things, she is out in San Francisco exploring the city with her friends. She likes exploring nature, trying new foods, and frequenting independent book stores.

Will Lawrence is a junior at Swarthmore College in suburban Philadelphia. Originally hailing from lovely Michigan, Will has done activist work since middle school, but only recently started thinking of himself as an organizer. He currently organizes with Swarthmore Mountain Justice, which works in solidarity with the front-line communities struggling against mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. He is exited about the opportunity responsible investment provides for coalition-building across movements. Will is entranced by the possible, loves good company and being outside.

Casey Luongo is student at the University of Pittsburgh.  She is also a Semester at Sea 2011 alumni and plans to return to Semester at Sea for the summer of 2012 to finish her undergraduate degree.  During Semester at Sea, when sailing from Brazil to Ghana, Casey launched a campaign against Hershey’s chocolate to demand fair labor conditions for Ghanaian workers.  She is passionate about human rights with a particular interest in labor rights.  Her work for social justice is carried out in Pittsburgh for a variety of causes through numerous campus organizations and city partnerships.  Her initial interest in REC began when she found out that her university was working with a construction company that exploits members of the Burmese refugee community that she has strong connections with.  Casey is looking to bring responsible investment to her university so that she and other students can take full pride in their school.

Reamonn Soto is a Student Organizer, Activist, and Senior in Physics at Florida A & M University. Has served as a community organizer for the Energy Action Coalition, Truman National Security Project, and began the initiative Get Out the Vote Tallahassee. On Campus, Reamonn served in the Student Government Association as a Senior Senator and now holds the position, Director of Student Lobbying. During the 2009 Legislative Session in the Florida House of Representatives, he worked in the office of Representative Alan Williams of District 8, and developed a passion for leadership in the community.

Arturo Jaras Watts is a sophomore psychology major at Fairfield University in Connecticut. He finds delight in playing table tennis, mentoring young people, lifting weights, reading, hiking, biking, running, watching stand-up comedy, learning, and listening to music. In the future, he wants to live in a world with equal opportunities for every newborn child, where environmental appreciation and awareness will flourish. He has his heart set on Planet Earth, and is working to realize his desires. At Fairfield, Arturo enthusiastically participates in the environmental group. He plans to establish a Proactive Investment Club to facilitate some much needed community investment in nearby Bridgeport, as well as other forms of responsible investment. He is also learning to play the harmonica and studying Jiu-Jitsu. His favorite composer is Antonio Vivaldi.

Volunteers & Advisors

Martin Searle, Strategic Research Consultant
Chloe Ciccariello, Institutional Giving Coordinator
Dana Braverman, Online Outreach Consultant