Bob Pattillo, Founder
Bob is an entrepreneur. He likes to start stuff. Some folks find him permanently outside the box. In real estate he pioneered the Single, Tenant, Cross-dock, Expandable, “STCDE” shell, and a speculative building concept that took Robert Pattillo Properties to eighth on the list of the largest industrial developers in the United States. He began his work in microfinance in 1998 in a donor capacity. He subsequently sold his 54-year-old business in 2003 to focus solely on impact investment and enterprise development.
Erika Norwood, Program Officer
Erika Norwood joined Gray Matters Capital and Gray Ghost Ventures in 2006. Since joining, she has worked across investment teams and foundation leadership, under the International Education Initiative, to support and expand the company’s impact investing efforts and the shared mission to increase educating opportunities for low-income families in the developing world. Erika’s experience in business development spans across internal operations, marketing, strategic partnerships and program development. Most recently, Erika worked alongside the Foundation’s Executive Director to lead global marketing and outreach initiatives, strengthening the Foundation’s presence and reputation, both domestically and abroad, in the international education and social enterprise sectors.
Hemant Nitturkar, Country Director- India
Hemant Nitturkar joined GMC in October 2011 to build on the successful fellowship pilots. He has over 20 years of experience, including 8 years as an Entrepreneur & Mentor in India, Kenya and Australia. He has start up experience in diverse sectors such as Agricultural R&D, Commercial Horticulture, Information Technology, Financial services and entrepreneurship development. Through his many years in start-up space he has gained a thorough understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India and the venture investment players and the climate. His core thesis revolves around the respect for individual talent in the field of Entrepreneurship and leveraging it for the common good. He believes that Human Capital development will be critical to complement the growing Idea Capital and Financial Capital in the social enterprise space and IDEX Fellowship program fits in neatly. Hemant has completed his Masters in Agriculture in India and Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance in Australia.
Jennifer Baird, Program Manager
Jen Baird has a background in international development and organizational management. She received her undergraduate degree from Occidental College, where she studied Diplomacy & World Affairs with dual emphases in U.S. Foreign Policy and Economics.
Following college, Jen worked for the U.S. Department of State at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and then for the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism as a Truman Fellow. She then worked for ShoreBank International, a consulting firm specializing in international development finance.
In 2008, she started a political action committee to impact voter education and turnout in marginalized and transitional neighborhoods, mobilizing over 12,000 voters for the 2008 election. After the election, Jen worked with the impact-investment firm Gray Ghost Ventures, first for a start-up investment in Hyderabad, India; and then for the head office in Atlanta. In 2009, Jen transitioned to a Georgia gubernatorial campaign, where she focused on communications, marketing, and volunteer engagement. Following the campaign, Jen worked for Next Generation Leadership, an organization specializing in corporate executive development. Jen is a recipient of the Truman Scholarship for public service.
Allison Gross, Field Manager- Hyderabad, India
Allison, IDEX '10 alum, graduated in May 2010, with a B.B.A from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, concentrating in Social Enterprise Management and Marketing. Allison began working with Gray Matters Capital as an intern in May 2009, focusing on internal and external communication strategy projects including the development of the company intranet site to increase functionality and employee adoption and creation of various marketing materials and a social media strategy. During her fellowship in Hyderabad, India, Allison helped her school create a digital financial record keeping system, introduced computer skills through fun competition, and started a career mentoring program in partnership with Junior Achievements India that reached all eleven schools in the initial network. She also co-Founded Camp VOICE, a 4-week summer program that uses an English immersion curriculum to teach life lessons to girls, that reached 430 girls across 11 schools in Summer 2011. Currently, Allison manages all the field efforts with the 2011 cohort and continues to head expansion and business management for VOICE.
