Steering Committee

Calvin Chin - Director, Entrepreneurship Initiative

Calvin is the Entrepreneurship Initiative Director at the Center for Faith and Work. Before joining the Center for Faith and Work, Calvin worked in the finance industry for seventeen years. Most recently, he spent seven years with Burnham Securities, Inc. as a director with its investment banking group where he focused on a range of activities for clients in multiple industries. His experience at the boutique enabled him to work with start ups as well as small cap public entities. Calvin also has investment advisory experience at Chase Manhattan and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc. where he managed relationships with high net worth individuals. Calvin received a B.A. from the University of Buffalo and an MBA from The NYU Stern School of Business. He also serves on the board of Hope for New York as well on the University of Buffalo’s Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Advisory Council.  Calvin and his wife, Amy, have two children.

Sang Ahn – Investment professional

Sang was most recently a venture capital investor focusing on startup companies in the fields of software, Internet and digital media. While at Dawntreader Ventures, which Sang joined in 2000, he had been involved in all aspects of the Fund’s investment lifecycle. Sang served on the Board of Directors of HNW, Tutor.com, Xora and was a Board Observer of DeepNines and Peer39.  Sang was also actively involved with the management of Greenplum, Moreover Technologies (acquired by VeriSign), and SIPphone. Prior to Dawntreader Sang held various positions at Deloitte Consulting where he worked with Fortune 500 companies in Telecommunications and Pharmaceuticals on corporate strategy, sales growth, and new product development. Sang also served on the Board of Advisors of The Storehouse, a non-profit program of World Vision New York.

Justin Browne – McKinsey Partners

Justin formally joined McKinsey Partners after spending a successful summer internship with the company last summer.  He has a M.B.A. at the Business School at Columbia University and was formerly the Project Manager for Global Church Planting and New Initiatives at the Redeemer Church Planting Center. Justin initially joined Redeemer’s staff as Coordinator for Redeemer’s Entrepreneurship Initiative at the Center for Faith and Work in February of 2005. Before joining Redeemer, Justin worked in the finance industry for four years. He spent two years with Morgan Stanley as an investment banking analyst and then was an associate at BlackRock Financial Management for two years.

Lora Gaston – Founder, GastonWhite

Lora Gaston is the founder of GastonWhite. She has been instrumental in the success of a number of international and financial services companies. She was responsible for creating and managing research departments for Sanwa Securities, and for business development for specific business lines of Lotus Development Corp., Barra and Chase Econometrics. She is currently an adjunct professor at The King's College in Manhattan, New York where she teaches Statistics for Business and Economics, Mathematical Ideas and Practice, Quantitative Analysis, Linear Programming and Quantitative Modeling, and Entrepreneurship and Venture Formation. She is also a director at the American Bible Society and active with several not-for-profits and boards of privately held companies. Lora received her MBA from New York University, with concentrations in computer applications and finance. She also has a BS in mathematics.

James Herring – Co-Head of the Goldman Sachs Family Investment Office

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 (.com) 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.

Thomas Kim – Senior Risk & Insurance Executive, Cerberus Capital 

Thomas is a Senior Operations Executive at Cerberus Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar global investment & private equity fund, where he is focused on risk and insurance. In this capacity, he leads risk and insurance due diligence on Cerberus’s private equity acquisitions and provides strategic advise to Cerberus Portfolio Companies worldwide. As a due diligence professional, he has worked on 250+ private equity transactions including some of the largest private equity deals ever completed. Thomas has also held positions in sales, sports marketing and venture capital, where he advised entrepreneurs on fundraising, business planning and strategy. He received his JD/MBA from Loyola in Los Angeles and a BS from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Jensen Ko - Executive Director, Grace and Mercy Foundation

Jensen joined the Grace and Mercy Foundation in 2008 to build up its capacity and oversee future grants. He had been with Weston Capital in charge of marketing.  Before joining Weston Capital, Jensen has been an entrepreneur in the financial services industry for the last seven years. He helped to establish Sigma Advisors, a software concern, with products and services for asset managers. During this time, he led the product management team at Volaris Advisors, an investment advisory firm, prior to its acquisition by Credit Suisse First Boston and is currently creating custom portfolios of alternative investments at Sigma Advisors. Jensen is a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and serves as a leader in the Financial Services Ministry.

Katherine Leary – Executive Director, Redeemer’s Center for Faith and Work

Katherine Leary 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 – Private Investor and Professor at The Stern School at NYU   

Mr. Semmens is a private investor where he is currently involved with startup companies in oil field services, biotech and information technology. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, where he teaches a graduate finance course entitled Private Equity Finance which covers venture capital and buyout investing. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of CGG-Veritas, a Paris bourse and NYSE listed company. From 1993 until 2000 when the company was sold, Mr. Semmens was a General Partner of the Beacon Group, a private investment and advisory firm, where he managed two private equity funds concentrated on the energy business. Prior to co-founding The Beacon Group, he was with the investment banking division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he concentrated in corporate finance, private equity investments and commodity derivatives. He holds law and MBA degrees from Northwestern University. 

Leslie Van Orsdel - Head, Other Businesses, Bloomberg LP

Leslie has been with Bloomberg LP for over 20 years. Currently, she leads global new business development for new industries, outside traditional financial markets. Prior to this role, she managed cross-market initiatives across the global Core Financial Business Development team, after heading the global Fixed Income business development teams. Prior positions included running the Americas Product Training Group, and leading various Bloomberg sales initiatives over more than 10 years, including the Transaction Products businesses for the Americas.

Previously, Leslie was an interest rate/commodity futures and options trader for RXR, Inc., an investment advisory firm, and for Prudential-Bache, following a career as a Wealth Manager for E.F. Hutton. She graduated cum laude from the University of Vermont with a BA in Zoology, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.. She and her husband, John Eddy, both worship at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Rye.

Dan Watkins - Law, former theater manager