About LENDonate
Vivienne Hsu — Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Vivienne’s vision at LENDonate is to create a new ecosystem for nonprofit finances. This idea was a culmination of her 20+ years of experience as an investment professional and a seasoned nonprofit fundraiser.
Prior to her work as a social entrepreneur, Vivienne was Senior Vice President at U.S. Trust, where she advised clients on a wide range of investments. She served a Senior Portfolio Manager for Charles Schwab Investment Management where she oversaw its active equity strategies and was the lead portfolio manager for the Schwab Hedged Equity Fund. Prior to that, she was at American Century Investments where she co-managed mutual funds that totaled more than $10 billion. Rounding out her experience was investment risk consultant at MSCI Barra, and pension actuarial work on retirement plans.
Vivienne’s volunteer fundraising experience includes a one-year position as development director at Women’s Initiative for Self Employment. She has led three successful capital campaigns ($5m+ total) at her church, among other volunteer positions.
She received an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also received an undergraduate degree in applied mathematics. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) charterholder.
Brett Ayers – Chief Credit Officer
Brett brings over twenty years of financial industry experience in commercial and investment banking to LENDonate. He has expert knowledge of credit risk, credit underwriting and loan lifecycle processes. Brett has developed a deep understanding of lending policy and procedures with extensive experience working with external regulators and auditors related to credit risk.
Brett started his career First Bank as the Regional Credit and Portfolio Manager. He continued his growth as Senior Portfolio Manager and Credit Analyst at Fifth Third Bank. At PNC, his role was Senior Credit Risk and Financial Review Officer where his focus was on compliance and risk for commercial and industrial portfolios. At Fidelity Bank as Chief Credit Risk Review Officer, he worked to reduce processing time and overall streamlining of reporting processes.
Brett’s main focus has been to develop newer, complete methods of determining risk and automated methods of over-all portfolio management. Brett has dual BA degrees in Economics and History from Fordham University. While at Fordham University, he was a four-year letter winner as a member of the men’s basketball team.
Sameer Nadkarni — Chief Financial Officer
Sameer has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry including corporate and investment banking work. He has most recently been working with startups as a CFO on strategic and operational finance matters including financial reviews, business analysis, forecasting, modeling, expense analysis, financings, and investor / Board communication. Sameer’s prior experience includes corporate work at SAP and HP’s software business unit and included business development, global alliances, strategic investments and product management. His experience in investment banking was at Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and WR Hambrecht & Co and included IPO and M&A transactions for companies in the software, Internet and IT services sectors.
Sameer has an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and dual BS degrees in Computer Engineering and Cognitive Psychology from the University of California – San Diego.
Michael Darnaud — Head of Business Development
Michael joins LENDonate with more than 20 years of experience working in sales, business development and strategic consulting in start-up environments. Before heading business development for LENDonate, he was in charge of building up the Government and Transportation verticals for PayNearMe, a company delivering payment services to the under-banked.
Earlier on, Michael was with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where he was a founder of a new consulting practice focused on Social Enterprise Collaboration. While with PwC, he initiated and managed a worldwide strategic partnership with Jive Software to jointly deliver services to major banks and technology companies.
Michael hold an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, a Bachelor of Science in Econometrics from La Sorbonne, Paris and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the Institut National des Telecommunications in Evry, France. His non-profit experience through the years includes membership on the Boards of Directors of the Museum of Performance + Design, San Francisco Pocket Opera and ZSpace.
Marion Askins – Project Manager
Marion brings over twenty years of experience in executive administration, project management and executive recruiting. She has a unique combination of experience with start up companies and large corporate organizations. Marion has knowledge of many industries including financial services, technology, luxury goods, retail, clean-tech, corporate venture and consumer services.
Before joining LENDonate, Marion was an executive recruiter and administrator for Talent Age Associates responsible for client and candidate management for search assignments and overall administrative support including presentations, event planning, social media and projects. Prior to Talent Age Associates, Marion spent ten years in the financial services industry working for Tatum LLC, a professional services organization providing project based, interim and permanent solutions. Marion was the area administrator of the Northern California office comprised of thirty CFO Partners and other Financial Executives.
Earlier on, Marion was an executive coordinator with Odwalla and a Customer Service manager for Briggs & Riley Travelware. Marion started her career in the retail industry in managerial positions with Ross Stores, Lanz of California and Mervyn’s.
Sarah Weller — Technical Project Manager
Sarah’s career began in technology consulting at CGI, where she built trusting relationships with clients such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Australia New Zealand Bank (ANZ) and Comerica Bank while delivering exceptional customer support and training. Her experience ranges from compiling business and systems requirements, to designing and creating products, to implementing global software solutions.
At the end of 2013, Sarah joined Weller Smith Design, a boutique design studio specializing in creating thoughtful design solutions that reflect the client’s vision and mission.
Our Advisors
Carrie Dolan, Marketplace Lending AdvisorCarrie Dolan was CFO of Lending Club from 2010-2016. Prior to that, she served as Treasurer for The Charles Schwab Corporation, as well as CFO of Schwab Bank. Ms. Dolan holds a B.S. in finance and accounting, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley.
Prior to joining Roofstock, Inc. in 2017 as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Jason Altieri was the General Counsel of Lending Club who led the company in legal/compliance strategy and development from start-up to 1,600 person public company. Mr. Altieri received his J.D. – magna cum laude from University of San Francisco School of Law.
Current CEO of Bay Area Women Leaders Network and former CEO of Women’s Initiative for Self Employment, Ms. Abrams is also board member, investor, philanthropist, and consultant to numerous small enterprises. She is co-author of Scrappy Women in Business.
Mr. Copen is a recognized nonprofit finance leader both as a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, and as a nonprofit executive. He is currently the CFO at Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center. He received his MPA in Finance and Non-profit/Public/Organizational Management from Columbia University.
Ms. Downey is a seasoned private equity executive having managed teams at Pantheon Ventures, Goldman Sachs, and Merrill Lynch. She received her BA from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from Wharton’s Graduate School of Business.
Ms. Sin is a senior executive with 15+ years of strategy and execution experience who is on a mission to create social impact through revolutionizing financial services and capital markets. She is Managing Director at State Street Global Advisors and is also co-author of Impact With Wings.
Ms. Ein-Gar is a social scientist and marketing professor at Tel-Aviv University. She is currently a visiting professor at the Berkeley Haas School of Business. Her research involves studying behaviors in pro-social giving.
Mr. Tsai is head of cloud platform and data management in product marketing at SAP. Prior to joining SAP in 2005, he had 10+ years of marketing and sales experience working at various Silicon Valley firms. He received his BA from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Saha’s 20 years of product development in the San Francisco Bay Area include roles at SAP, Sun Microsystems and Tibco. He has been involved in various non-profit charitable activities including founding global alumni association in the U.S. of his Alma Mater, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology.