Steering Committee
Calvin Chin
Before joining the Center for Faith & Work, Calvin worked in the finance industry for seventeen years. Most recently, he was a director in the investment banking group of Burnham Securities. He also gained investment advisory experience at Chase Manhattan and Sanford C. Berstein & Co., where he managed relationships with high net worth individuals. Calvin holds a B.A. from the University of Buffalo and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business. Calvin serves on the advisory board of Hope for New York and on the College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of Buffalo.
Sang Ahn
Sang is the Co-Founder and CEO of AhnWalker Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company that focuses on addressing the unmet medical needs of patient populations across a variety of therapeutic areas. He has also served as the President of Glenkirk Advisors, as a Principal at Dawntreader Ventures – a $300M venture capital fund, and as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting. Sang has been a Board Director and investor of various market-leading companies, including Gizmo5, Greenplum, HNW, Moreover Tehcnologies, Peer39, Tutor.com, and Xora. Sang has also served on the Board of Advisors of World Vision New York’s The Storehouse.
Justin Browne
Justin joined McKinsey & Company as a consultant in 2009 and has experience working with high-tech, healthcare, finance, and professional service clients. Prior to McKinsey, Justin worked for Redeemer Presbyterian Church to help create Redeemer’s Entrepreneurship Initiative and advise Redeemer’s Church Planting center on their 5-year strategic plan. Before joining Redeemer, Justin worked in finance for four years, spending two years as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley and two years as an associate at BlackRock Financial Management. Justin received his B.A. in public policy from Princeton University and his MBA from Columbia Business School.
Lora Gaston
Lora facilitates CIO Strategic Engagements for JP Morgan’s Software Development Organization and the Technology Strategies worldwide. Prior to this, she had a consulting practice that advised international and financial services companies. Earlier in her career, she held positions managing research for Sanwa Securities and business development for specific lines of Lotus Development Corp., Barra and Chase Econometrics. She has been a director for the American Bible Society and an adjunct professor of Statistics for Business and Economics and Entrepreneurship and Venture Formation. She is active with several non-profits and boards of privately held companies. Lora received her M.B.A. from NYU.
James Herring
James joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. in 1989 and has advised wealthy families for over 18 years. He managed Goldman Sachs Equities and Private Wealth businesses in the Southeast from 1996-2000 and the Goldman Sachs Wealth Management efforts in Salt Lake City during 2001. He relocated to New York in 2002. James received his BA and MBA from Vanderbilt University, serves as a director of the Free Enterprise Institute, and has served as an Elder at Redeemer Presbyterian Church since 2004.
Jim Gregory
Jim is a Vice President at American Capital, a private equity and asset management firm with approximately $15 billion of assets under management. At American Capital Jim has invested in and worked with middle market companies across a variety of industries. He currently serves on the Boards of Specialty Brands of America, American Driveline Systems, and Lifoam Industries. Prior to joining American Capital in 2005, Jim worked at Edgeview Partners, an M&A investment banking advisory firm. Jim graduated magna cum laude with majors in mathematics and economics from Davidson College.
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Kenny Jahng
Kenny Jahng is CEO of Big Click Syndicate LLC, helping non-profits and ministries with digital marketing and social media strategy. He was previously a partner in a venture catalyst firm assisting start-up companies with brand strategy. Kenny’s expertise also draws from experience with product launches at a traditional ad agency, Fortune 100 brand management & PR team, and a training & development group. Kenny also serves as Media & Innovation Pastor at Liquid Church, one of New Jersey's fastest growing multi-site churches. He earned his B.A. in economics from Duke University, MBA in Strategic Marketing & Entrepreneurial Leadership from Columbia Business School, and M. Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. Kenny spent a year as a ministry associate intern with Ei helping to implement its online footprint and now serves as a member of the Ei Steering Committee.
Thomas Kim
Tom is Principal & Global Risk Manager at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Prior to joining KKR, he was a Senior Operations Executive with Cerberus Capital Management. Over his career, Tom has worked as a due diligence advisor on private equity transactions and an operations advisor to private-equity-owned portfolio companies. He has experience in venture capital and startups having spent time at a venture incubator that advised entrepreneurs on fundraising, operations and strategy and connected them with venture capital funds. Tom received a JD/MBA from Loyola in Los Angeles and a BS from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Jensen Ko
Jensen is the COO of Tiger Asia. Immediately prior to this, he was the Executive Director of the Grace and Mercy Foundation. He has also worked in marketing with Weston Capital and was an entrepreneur in the financial services industry for seven years. He helped to establish Sigma Advisors, a software concern for asset managers. During that time, he also led the product management team at Volaris Advisors, an investment advisory firm, prior to its acquisition by Credit Suisse First Boston. Jensen is a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and serves as a leader in the Financial Services Ministry.
Katherine Leary Alsdorf
Katherine Leary Alsdorf established the Center for Faith and Work in 2003. Prior to this role, Katherine worked for 20 years in high tech, both in New York and California. She served as President and CEO of Pensare, Inc., an online management education startup in Los Altos, CA. Prior to that she was President and CEO of One Touch Systems, Inc., a corporate communications hardware/software company, in San Jose, CA. In the early 90s she was President of Private Satellite Network in New York. She has also worked in numerous consulting, sales, and marketing roles primarily in the technology sector.
Robert Semmens
Robert is a private investor, currently involved with startup companies in oil field services, biotech and information technology. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business and on the Board of Directors of CGG-Veritas, a Paris bourse and NYSE-listed company. Prior to this, Robert was a General Partner of the Beacon Group, a private investment and advisory firm. Prior to co-founding The Beacon Group, he was with the investment banking division of Goldman, Sachs, where he concentrated in corporate finance, private equity investments and commodity derivatives. He holds a J.D./M.B.A from Northwestern University.
Leslie Van Orsdel
Dan Watkins
Dan is currently a transactional associate with the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. He received his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was the managing editor of the Cardozo Law Review. Dan and his wife Amilee moved to New York City from Colorado in 2004 and shortly thereafter Dan began working for Aruba Productions, a general management and producing office focused on commercial theatre. At Aruba, Dan helped to launch a variety of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and international projects, including The Screwtape Letters. Dan is a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
H.G. Paul Yoo
Paul is a corporate development professional with experience working with technology, software and life sciences companies focusing on cross-border transactions. Paul was most recently a member of Nokia’s global M&A team. Prior to Nokia, Paul was in private practice with Hogan Lovells and Cooley Godward Kronish. He received an A.B. and A.M. from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. For the past ten years, Paul has mentored entrepreneurial groups such as the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and the Northern Virginia Technology Counsel. Paul has lived and worked in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.
Neal Winterhof
Neal is a strategist at Alphabet Management, a multi-strategy hedge fund focused on global volatility arbitrage, where he analyzes local markets, manages operational, legal and tax issues, and works with developers and quants to build necessary tools and models so that the fund trades most effectively in new markets. Neal is also on the board of Hope For New York and fundraises with Isaac Slade and The Fray to fight human trafficking. He was previously on the board of RestoreNYC and is an advisor to Hoppit, a 2011 Ei Business Plan Competition winner. Neal has a B.S. from Duke University.