The performance of the UUCEF is the result of collaborative efforts among qualified staff at UUA offices in Boston, Unitarian Universalist volunteers with extensive investment experience who contribute their time and knowledge to relevant committees, and carefully selected outside investment management, consulting, and service firms.

UUA Staff

The Treasurer and the Treasurer’s staff implement the Policies and Guidelines. This includes maintaining the books and records of the Fund, monitoring account balances and rebalancing as necessary, arranging Investment Committee meetings and preparing minutes, maintaining the website with current performance information and meeting minutes, meeting with Investment Managers, monitoring monthly reports from Investment Managers and consultants, preparing and distributing quarterly performance reports, answering inquiries from investors and interested congregations, conducting shareholder activism on behalf of the Fund, and other tasks as appropriate from time-to-time.

Tim BrennanInterim Chief Financial Officer

From 2006 to 2019, Tim Brennan served as Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and from 2019 until 2022 he led the UUA’s shareholder advocacy. During that time, he also provided consulting to organizations on responsible investment strategies. As CFO he oversaw the Association’s assets including the UU Common Endowment Fund and the UU Organizations Retirement Fund. He was a member of the UUA’s Investment Committee, Socially Responsible Investing Committee, Retirement Plan Committee, and the UUA Health Plan Board of Trustees. Tim came to the UUA after seven years with Ceres, the national network of institutional investors working to advance corporate responsibility for the environment. In addition, Tim spent seven years working for a New York investment company and has many years of experience in nonprofit financial management. He has served on the boards of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. Tim holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in finance and accounting.

Susan HelbertAssistant to the Treasurer

Susan is responsible for the UUCEF’s relations with congregations. As such, she is the initial contact for inquiries from congregations interested in obtaining information about the Fund. Susan joined the UUA in September of 2012 and prior to that worked for Calvert Investments, a leader in sustainable and responsible investing.

Investment Committee (Volunteers)

David Stewartco-Financial Advisor

David is the co-Financial Advisor to the UUA, focusing on. the Investment and Audit and Risk Committees. He completed an MBA from the University of Tulsa with a Finance and Portfolio Management concentration in 1998 while working in manufacturing related to his Bachelors in Chemical Engineering. He subsequently worked in academia for a time after completing a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology in 2010. A UU since 2000, he has volunteered in many committees of his home congregations, including Youth Advising, Ministerial Selection, Ministerial Intern Evaluation, Endowment, Worship Associates, Preschool Startup, congregational Board of Trustees, and congregational President. He served on the Socially Responsible Investment Committee for the UUA for eight years and concurrently on the UUA Investment Committee for four years. He currently manages his family business of rental real estate and lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his three sons and wife of 24 years.

Brian Lasher Co-Chair

Brian is Head of Investment Strategy and a Lead Advisor at CIG Capital Advisors (CIG) which provides successful entrepreneurs and senior executives with wealth management and business advisory services. The firm’s DNA includes an extensive focus on medical professionals and their enterprises. CIG offers solutions to successfully navigate the complex intersection of business, wealth, and family -- allowing clients to focus on what is most important to them, including socially responsible investing. Brian’s past experience includes developing innovative and successful investments as CIO of a private equity firm, Principal for a manager/advisor to multi-asset class, multi-manager discretionary portfolios, Managing Director at an investment subsidiary of a Fortune 50 insurance company, and Vice President at a Forbes 400 family office. Earlier in his career, he directed financing for a NYSE-listed regional shopping mall REIT and post college, he completed real estate development and construction management projects in Boston and the surrounding areas. Brian holds an MBA in Investment Management and Finance from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Brian has been a member of the Birmingham (MI) Unitarian Church and The Universalist Church of West Hartford. Currently, he is an active member of The Unitarian Church in Westport.

Asha MehtaCo-Chair

Asha Mehta, CFA, is Managing Partner & CIO at Global Delta Capital. Her thematic focus includes Emerging & Frontier Markets and Sustainability Investing. In prior roles, Asha was Lead Portfolio Manager and Director of Responsible Investing at Acadian Asset Management as well as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Early in her career, she conducted microfinance lending in India. Asha was named one of the Top 10 Women in Asset Management by Money Management Executive and was profiled as a "Brilliant Quant" by Forbes magazine. Her work has been featured in Pensions & Investments, the FT, CNN, WSJ, and other publications. Asha is a Board Member of CFA Society Boston and an Advisor to the High Meadows Institute. She is a supporter of Compass Working Capital and 100 Women in Finance to promote financial literacy and inclusion. Asha holds an MBA with Honors from The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and a BS, Biological Sciences and AB, Anthropology, from Stanford University. Asha has traveled to over 80 countries and lived in six.

Tim BrennanInterim Chief Financial Officer

See above under Staff.

Eric Horvath

Eric is primarily driven by a single, fundamental question: how do we transform how power and resources are shared in our economy, while truly centering the brilliance and bravery of those who have been systematically excluded? At Common Future, Eric serves as its Director of Capital Strategies, where he leads the organization’s work in designing and developing innovative investment capital products for BIPOC communities, with an emphasis on creating more just terms, structures, and impacts. In addition, he also teaches a course on impact investing for City College's MPA program. Before joining Common Future, Eric worked at Transform Finance, where he launched several initiatives that collaborated with activists, organizers and other social sector allies across the country to explore paths for their communities to harness and reclaim capital. He has also worked in philanthropy, where he supported the Woodcock Foundation’s grantmaking and impact investing efforts. Through his time at the foundation, he helped steward several millions of dollars in grants and program- related investments. Outside of work, he is engaged in progressive local politics and mentoring youth of color. A former Fulbright ETA, Eric earned his MPA from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and is completing an MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU. He calls Brooklyn home.

Vanessa Lowe

Vanessa's career has been focused on economic and social justice starting with 10 years in Philadelphia legal service agencies - Juvenile Law Center, National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women and AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania. She's spent the last 20 years in federal service supporting access to capital for underserved communities. She underwrote investments in community development financial institutions (CDFIs) while working for the U.S. Treasury Department's CDFI Fund, delivered consulting and training to strengthen small credit unions at the National Credit Union Administration, and currently works for the Economic Development Administration delivering disaster recovery support for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. She's currently pursuing the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) certification and hosts Vanessa's Money Hour, a bi-weekly radio show on G-town Radio. Ms. Lowe has a B.S. in Education from Temple University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She's a proud member of the Unitarian Society of Germantown. Vanessa is excited to return to the UUA's Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (CSRI). From 2005-2011 she served, leading the committee's working group on Community Investments and later serving as CSRI co-chair. She discovered All Souls Church and Unitarian Universalism in 2001 after moving to DC to work for the U.S. Treasury Department. At All Souls DC she served as Treasurer and helped to produce Money, Values and Impact - A Conference on Ethical Investing for UU Congregations in 2009.

Ken Redd

Kenneth E. Redd is a Senior Director, Research and Policy Analysis at the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). At NACUBO, Ken directs the annual survey of college and university endowments and other studies on higher education finance issues. He came to NABUCO in 2008 from the Council of Graduate Schools. Previously, he was Director of Higher Education Research at the USA Group Foundation and Director, Research and Policy Analysis at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. In addition to his professional work, Ken is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Georgia Institute of Higher Education. Ken also serves on the advisory board of the Frank Battan School of Public Policy at the University of Virginia and the Alumni Society Board of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. Ken has a master’s degree in public affairs from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, and a bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science from Tuft’s University, Medford, MA.

Julie Skye

Julie works with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility through her membership on the UUA Socially Responsible Investment Committee. She is on the Board of Tulsa Interfaith Alliance and is active in all-things-green, in Tulsa. She is a member of the All Souls Green Team, Sustainable Tulsa and the local chapter of the Sierra Club. She will be a Sustainable Tulsa Scorecard Coach for 2019, working with local companies to save money and improve their business practices. A passionate gardener, she is a Linnaeus Master Gardener and recently started a community garden for the South Tulsa Community House. She is also a founding member of the City of Tulsa Human Right’s Committee subcommittee “Compassionate Tulsa” and a member of The Tulsa Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, “Mosaic.” Committed to reducing violence in the Tulsa community, Julie is active in the All Souls Criminal Justice Committee. She was appointed to Tulsa’s Community Policing Commission, and Sheriff Regalado recently appointed her to Tulsa’s Citizen’s Jail Oversight and Review Committee. In 2001, she joined the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Committee and has been active since on reparations and other ways to heal the scars deep within Tulsa’s history. With over three decades of experience in the financial services industry, Julie combines her experience with her passion for Values-Based Investing as she works with families, nonprofits, and endowments. Her knowledge of research-based best practices allows her to focus on strategic planning and investment policy design for families and organizations. She also has extensive experience in retirement plan participant education. Her work on Sustainable Impact Investing became such a passion she launched her own Registered Investment Advisory firm, Skye Advisors LLC, in December of 2017. She now can focus on Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Investing all day, every day. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in finance and a Master’s Degree in organizational change from the University of Tulsa. She has also passed the Series 65 exam.

Pamela Sparr

Advancing Beloved Community and honoring the sacredness of creation are at the core of how Pam tries to live her life – both personally and professionally. She is a long-time and active member of All Souls, Unitarian in Washington, DC. Pam runs her own consulting business specializing in developing and launching advocacy campaigns and programs for non-profits which weave together education, organizing, and policy advocacy. Her projects have led her all around the world and the US. For example, she has worked with Egyptian trade unionists grappling with the privatization of state-owned enterprises and NAACP leaders interested in advancing climate justice through their rural electric coops. An educational project for UU Ministry for Earth (UUMFE) sparked the production of the UU Common Read Justice on Earth. Pam has also worked on staff for UUSC and United Methodist Women, winning an international “Sacred Gift to the Planet” award for one of her UMW corporate campaigns. Early in her career, she worked in and around Wall Street as a journalist and analyst. Pam has a master’s degree in Economics from the New School for Social Research and a double degree in government and economics (with honors) from Oberlin College.

Contact

Tim Brennan
Interim Chief Financial Officer
timbrennan@mail.uua.org
(617) 948-4305

Susan Helbert
Assistant to the Treasurer
shelbert@uua.org
(617) 948-4306