Princeton University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University - Maxwell School

COO at Conduit Capital Partners

Conduit Capital believes in a world where the private sector plays a central role in social change, where impact is at the heart of every investment strategy, and where bold ideas have the resources they need to thrive. Radically collaborative, Conduit Capital is an impact investment manager whose products reach backwards to correct systemic inequalities and look forwards to address tomorrow’s problems.  It does this by forming strategic, cross-sector partnerships, creating innovative financial products, and sharing knowledge, networks, and capital to maximise impact at every stage.  By proving the financial viability of impact investment strategies, Conduit Capital is charting a course that others can follow, leading to a more just and resilient world.

Conduit Capital Partners

Chief of Staff (previously COO)

100 Resilient Cities - Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation

Chief Strategy Officer

Chief Operating Officer

•	Responsible for design and management of organization’s new sustainability strategy including evaluating earned income models and oversight of philanthropic fundraising 

•	Led the organization’s strategic planning process, including creation of the M&E strategy, Theory of Change, and various frameworks to evaluate performance of organization against its mission, to make trade-off decisions to maximize impact, and to evaluate new programs

•	Built core operational processes and systems across 100RC including: annual planning (objective setting, budgeting); governance models (decision making processes, executive team structure); human resources (recruiting, on-boarding, compensation/performance management, staff engagement and development); financial management and reporting (management of budget of  $30-40mm/yr); technology and data systems (implemented initial CRM); and grants administration (grant agreements and reports) 

•	Designed strategy for regional expansion and established three regional offices in London, Singapore and Mexico City. Grew organization to 100+ FTE, oversaw two reorganizations and a reduction in force of 15 FTE. Built and directly managed global operations team of 14 FTE, with 6 direct reports at peak

•	Led preparation of successful request for funding of $164mm from Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Directors. Key principal in on-going relationship management with Foundation

•	Advanced and contributed to programmatic functions – creation of training program for Chief Resilience Officers; design and execution of various convenings bringing together city officials, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs; evaluation and selection of applicant cities to program; represented 100RC at events

Chief of Staff and Deputy COO

•	Led an organization-wide five year strategic and operating plan, presenting key questions and long term strategic issues to the Board of Directors and Management Committee. Led resultant project with Bain & Company to create three-year fundraising strategy to increase annual revenue by over 60% per year) and to develop long-term strategy for leadership programs

•	Developed framework for understanding Acumen’s business model, linking impact and program objectives to cost and revenue streams. 

•	Led project to determine future state of in-country operations given organization’s goal to develop more autonomous local offices. Included analysis of capital structure, investment process, fundraising strategy, budget allocation and other key responsibilities.

•	Led project with Bain & Company to realign operating model including redesign of organizational structure, critical processes and decision-making rights to improve organizational effectiveness. Led internal implementation, including oversight of five work streams comprised of cross-functional and cross-geographic teams

•	Designed and led annual planning and goal setting process across organization, linking it into existing budgeting process. Implemented new organizational performance management system and managed integration into compensation process.

•	Developed organization-wide metrics for C-level management to gain better insight into core operations. Implemented monthly report that synthesizes these metrics in order to drive strategic decisions.

Acumen Fund

Deputy Chief Operating Officer

Operations and Strategy, Manager

•	Managed global operations of Business Development (BD) team of 11 members across 4 geographies, including tracking pipeline of $40mm of prospective donors, processing of all incoming donations ($15-20mm/yr), and managing the donor acknowledgement process. 

•	Standardized and streamlined entire donor cultivation process from prospecting to donor record management, including researching, selecting and implementing a new Salesforce based CRM system. Managed CRM system after implementation.

•	Led all data analysis for the BD team, identifying trends in data to help measure efficiency and progress of team. Used data to report trends in revenue streams and donor base to the Board of Directors. Created monthly report for Director of BD to track team’s progress against goals. 

•	Led the planning and execution of annual, flagship event, for approx 200 high profile business and non-profit leaders with a budget of $50K, including agenda setting, logistics and day-of management. Led planning and execution of annual Advisory Council meeting, chaired by Senator Bill Bradley.

Business Development Manager

•	Standardized and documented operational procedures for established housing microfinance fund, specializing in home improvement loans.
•	Selected for position through a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) fellowship program. Relocated to Cape Town for position.
•	Implemented new mobile loan processing and workflow system to support operational processes. Trained 14 South African staff members in new processes and IT software.
•	Acted as point of contact for all IT vendors, managing communication and streamlining issue resolution amongst three separate providers. 
•	Aided in reconciliation activities between the new Financial System and the MIS.

The Kuyasa Fund

Microfinance Liaison Officer

•	Worked with start-up microfinance fund to professionalize organization and implement a simplified monitoring and evaluation (M&E) process.
•	Traveled to Yoff, Senegal in-country technical assistance project in May 2007. 
•	Worked with Senegalese Loan Officers to test and assess M&E process. Trained Loan Officers in process.
•	Performed preliminary research on best practices for monitoring and evaluation systems and fundraising options for small microfinance organizations.

The Senegal Ecovillage Microfinance Fund

Intern

•	Led Annual Planning activities for department, preparing resource utilization projections and transfer pricing models for upcoming fiscal year.
•	Project Manager for implementation of a project management software. Responsible for overall success of project including managing $100K budget, vendor contract and team, deliverable completion, status reporting and issues resolution. Created training materials; trained 150 IT professionals in software.
•	Implemented monthly status reporting procedure across IT department to improve communication between project level teams in New York and executive senior management in Tokyo. 
•	Improved existing project management policies and procedures to increase efficiency within department. Led training session for new procedures for approximately 50 professionals. Created long term strategic plan for Project Management Office.
•	Created monthly report for senior executive management, tracking resource utilization and trends of IT organization in order to improve planning. Led presentation of report on a monthly basis to senior executive management team (approx 30 people).
•	Implemented periodic analysis of completed and on-going projects to measure timeliness and success and to identify trends in failed projects.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi

Assistant Vice President, Project Management Office

•	Created Excel model for IBM Strategic Change Practice to track resource utilization and to formalize opportunity management, allowing management to easily view trends and accurately plan to meet targets.
•	Assisted in the design and customization of a new teller application for a large US bank through participation in intensive workshops, fulfilling the role of Technical Writer/Business Consultant. Also worked part-time as Assistant Project Manager, managing and analyzing status reports to ensure timely and cost efficient completion of deliverables.
•	Implemented project management software at an international bank, leading the User Acceptance Test effort and the design of customized reports.

Elizabeth Mercer