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APIS & HERITAGE
Our Team
Phillip Reeves
Founding Partner
Philip is a founder and Managing Partner of Apis & Heritage. Based in Washington DC, Philip oversees all aspects of the firm's activities and is a permanent member of the investment committee. Philip is responsible for the firm's investment process and leads debt capital raises. He also brings more than a decade of experience scaling small businesses to A&H's portfolio companies.
Prior to founding Apis & Heritage, Philip spent the majority of his career working with small businesses in private, public and nonprofit roles. He led business and corporate development at a growing government contractor and also managed an accelerator program for 1863 Ventures, which focuses on helping minority and women owned businesses grow and succeed. Philip has also worked in government, acting as Manager of Small Business Technology and Innovation for the Government of the District of Columbia.
Philip began his career at Lehman Brothers in the private equity division. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College and is deeply committed to using the power of business to bring positive change to communities too often left behind.
Todd Leverette
Founding Partner
Todd Leverette is Managing Partner at Apis & Heritage Capital Partners where he brings over a decade of experience working with and for small business to bear on A&H and the portfolio companies in Legacy Fund I. Todd's work at A&H is a continuation of a life and career dedicated to bringing the tools and best practices of big finance and business to those communities and individuals that need it the most.
Todd began his journey in employee ownership in Detroit, MI at the Center for Community Based Enterprise, where he discovered the power of alternative ownership models to change lives. He continued this journey as the lead of Legacy Business Initiatives at the Democracy at Work Institute, where he laid the foundation for the creation of Apis & Heritage and Legacy Fund I -- missioned with attacking the racial wealth gap and scaling employee ownership across the US for the collective good of workers, investors, and communities. To this end, Todd also currently serves on the board of Accent Landscaping and the board National Center for Employee Ownership.
Prior to his work in small business and employee ownership, Todd worked in corporate finance at JP Morgan Chase, and received his JD/MBA form Columbia University ('13). Along with his Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner, Philip Reeves, Todd is a proud graduate of Morehouse College ('08).
Michael Brownrigg
Co-Founder / Senior Managing Director
A co-founder of A&H, Michael is based in the San Francisco bay area where he helps oversee the western portfolio companies for A&H. His decades-long experience working with growth companies and founders gives him an ability to relate to founder/sellers who want to transact with A&H while also helping the new management team and workforce excel as an employee-owned company post-ELBO transaction.
Michael started his career as a US diplomat and then joined an international private equity firm for 10 years, rising to partner. In 2009 he co-founded Total Impact Capital, one of the first impact merchant banks in the US which has directed close to $400 million since inception into clean water, healthcare and regenerative agriculture projects around the world.
His commitment to public service continues: since 2009, Michael has been an elected council member for the city of Burlingame, California, and in 2023 he is serving as Mayor. Michael says, “The American Dream only works for one if it works for every one.” He thinks A&H and employee ownership are the best means to restore the American dream for the regular working person.
Natalie Edwards
Managing Director
Natalie K. Edwards, a Managing Director and Head of Legal for A&H, is based in New York. She shares her decades-long experience conducting complex financings, acquisitions and strategic alliances along with post-transaction integration and transition management with the business owners who execute the ELBO with A&H and subsequently with our portfolio companies.
Natalie was formerly a Managing Director at Citigroup Inc. and Head of Citi's Corporate M&A Legal team, conducting strategic proprietary M&A for Citi globally. Prior to Citi, she was counsel at Linklaters LLP and she started her career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. She has lived and worked in New York, London and Shanghai.
She attended the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, as A Better Chance scholar, and is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School. Natalie is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lilac Preservation Project (America's only surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender) and a member of the Board of Friends of the Roger Lehecka Double Discovery Center, which works with low-income, first-generation college bound youth in New York.
Jason Ollison
Managing Director
Jason is a New York-based Partner, focusing on strategy, portfolio firm management & operations, business & investment analysis, economic & industry assessments, risk management, and Impact/ESG. He brings 25 years of global experience in International Business, Corporate Management, Investment Strategy, Risk, Impact/ESG, Consulting, Public Policy, and Operations whose diverse experiences as an executive “operator,” manager, advisor, strategist, and risk manager supports A&H and portfolio companies grow in a sustained manner, enhance corporate planning, improve operations, manage risks, retain workforces, identify opportunities, advance Impact & ESG activities, protect assets, build resilience, and analyze macro trends.
Jason previously held executive, managerial, and advisory roles within Sumitomo Corporation, the World Bank, Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton, the US Government, and startups focused on global operations, investment, economics, geopolitics, finance, consulting, security, social development, business continuity, and supply chains. His knowledge involves multiple industries, governments, Fortune 1000 firms, multilateral organizations, Small/Medium Enterprises, and startups involving North America, Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe, and India. He has lived on 4 continents, traveled to 50+ countries, is proficient in Japanese, some Spanish, and holds a Master’s Degree (MSc) from the London School of Economics, a B.A. from Georgetown University, and an International Business Management Certificate from Georgetown.
Kyle Chin-How
Director of Business Development
Kyle is based in New York City and he leads sourcing and deal origination for A&H. He previously worked at Skadden and Citigroup Inc., where he executed a wide variety of M&A transactions. He has managed special projects and worked on pro bono, community development and other strategic initiatives — including Citi's $50M investment in minority-owned and operated financial institutions.
Before entering the private sector, Kyle was a dedicated activist and student government leader at his local community college, the place where he engaged elected officials, advocacy groups (environmental, immigrant rights, education, etc.) and small businesses in the New York City borough of Queens. He also interned in Joe Biden’s office at the White House during the Obama Administration. He was hired as the firm’s first associate, but soon became its chief of staff before pivoting to BD.
Kyle is the proud son of multiracial immigrants from Guyana, and he grew up in Queens. He is a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar and received his B.A. summa cum laude in Philosophy and Political Science from The City College of New York. Outside of work, he loves languages, politics, sports, and hip-hop.
Jungyun Kim
Investment Analyst
Jungyun is starting her career at Apis and Heritage as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and WES Mariam Assefa Fund fellow. As an investment analyst for A&H, Jungyun’s main objective is to provide support to the team. Her support focuses on tasks like financial modeling, providing research and analysis on both the deal side and impact side, as well as helping to oversee A&H portfolio companies.
Her background, majoring in finance and her previous experience at a search fund helps to aid her ability in supporting deal processes. In addition, she is creating a library of documents, codifying processes, and helping to build systems that will help A&H support future Fellows more robustly.
Pamela Burgos
Operations Manager
Since joining Apis & Heritage Capital Partners, Pamela Burgos has been a key player behind the firm's operational success. As Operations Manager, she’s responsible for guiding the organization: ensuring efficiency, financial stability, and process improvements. With a reputation for driving success in various organizations, Pamela has mastered the art of strategic planning, project management, and team leadership to elevate the company's operations.
Pamela not only oversees the day-to-day business but also takes the lead in implementing systems that facilitate scalability. Her knack for financial management keeps us fiscally responsible, and she ensures compliance with all regulatory frameworks.
In addition to her corporate effectiveness, Pamela enjoys exploring new places and perspectives on the world with her husband and two young children gained from her leisure pursuit as a flight attendant. As a proud daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, her personal connection to our mission amplifies the passion she brings to her role.
Our Advisors
Dwayne Boothe
Advisor and Member, Investment Committee
Mr. Boothe brings decades of credit and investment experience to the A&H Investment Committee and advisory board. Prior to joining Directional Capital, Mr Boothe was a Principal at RLJ Credit, one of the largest minority-owned SBIC Funds, supporting U.S. small businesses by providing senior debt and subordinated debt investments in lower middle market companies. Prior to joining RLJ Credit, Mr. Boothe was an investment professional with RLJ Equity Partners, L.P., an investment fund focused on private equity investments in middle market companies with $230 million under management, beginning in March 2008. Both are and part of The RLJ Companies founded by Robert L. Johnson, the former Founder and Chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET).
Prior to that, Mr. Boothe served as an Associate with Allied Capital Corporation, a publicly traded private equity investment firm with more than $4.5 billion of assets under management, from March 2006 through February 2008. At Allied Capital, Mr. Boothe executed unitranche and mezzanine debt investments in excess of $275 million. Also at Allied Capital, Mr. Boothe executed five equity investments in excess of $475 million. Mr. Boothe received a B.S. in Finance from Georgetown University.
Dr. Russell Read
Advisor and Member, Investment Committee
Russell Read, CFA, Ph.D. Co-Founder and Group Managing Partner, C Change Group.
Dr Russell Read is a well known investor, having served as Chief Investment Officer for CalPERS, the Alaska Permanent Fund, and the Gulf Investment Corporation. He has also served as Chairman of the Investors’ Committee for the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets under Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. His undergraduate degree in Statistics and MBA in Finance and International Business are both from the University of Chicago while his master’s in Economics and Ph.D. in Political Economy (focusing on the role of natural resources in national economic growth) were earned from Stanford University.
Dr Read is now Managing Director of the C Change Group, which is focused on initiatives that can materially and positively transform the world’s utilization of natural resources. C Change’s initiatives over the past decade have included transformative energy and materials technology company investments that make the world cleaner and safer.
Melissa Hoover
Advisor
Melissa Hoover is the founding Executive Director of the Democracy at Work Institute, the think-and-do-tank that expands worker cooperatives as a strategy to address economic and racial inequality. A leader in the worker ownership movement for over fifteen years, Melissa helped start and grow the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the national grassroots membership organization for worker-owned businesses. She was a cooperative business developer for many years with the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives in Oakland, doing business and capital planning for two startups, training cooperative members, and serving as CFO in the first year of each startup's operations.
In 2018, Melissa was named an Executive Fellow of the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of The ICA Group/Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, The Working World, and Safe Passages of Oakland, and serves as a strategic advisor to foundations, investors, nonprofits, local governments and other organizations that want to incorporate worker ownership into their economic development and community wealth-building programs.
Melissa Bradely
Advisor
Melissa L. Bradley is a co-founder of venture backed Ureeka, a community where small businesses gain unprecedented access to the expertise needed to grow their business. She is also founder and Managing Partner of 1863 Ventures, a business development program that accelerates New Majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth. In this role she created a community of over 10,000 New Majority entrepreneurs in three years. Melissa also serves an advisor the New Voices Foundation and New Voices Fund, as well as the Halcyon Fund. Melissa is the former Co-Chair, National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and was recently named one of The Most Entrepreneurial Women Investors in 2018.
Melissa is a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University where she teaches impact investing, social entrepreneurship, P2P economies and innovation. She is also a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Sidecar Social Finance, a social impact agency that provides impact investing advisory and capital services to individuals, institutions, and social enterprises.
Michael Quarrey
Advisor
Michael’s work has focused on building high engagement organizations, where relationships and teamwork come first, and exceptional corporate performance follows naturally from the creativity and enthusiasm of employee-owners.
As a staffer at the National Center for Employee Ownership, Michael pioneered research in the relationships between employee ownership, workplace culture, and corporate performance (HBR, September 1987). He has since held executive roles in in industrial, aerospace, and medical device manufacturing companies, and currently serves as Vice President of Web Industries, a 1,000 person 100% ESOP-owned manufacturer in Marlborough, MA.
Believing that employee ownership promotes justice and human flourishing, Michael serves as the President of Ownership America. A policy research and advocacy organization launching in 2021, Ownership America is building a grassroots movement to promote broad based capital ownership as a foundational characteristic of public policy.
Karin Burns
Advisor
Karin Burns has over 20 years of operating and investing experience across venture capital, private equity, M&A, sustainability and alternative energy. Previously she was the Chief Executive Officer of Build It Green, where she executed a successful financial, strategic, and management turnaround before selling the business to Franklin Energy, where she then became Regional Vice President managing 5 Pacific states.
Prior to Build it Green Karin served as Executive Director for Code REDD, an environmental company she built from a piece of paper into a globally recognized brand. Its signature program, Stand for Trees, produced one of the most viral environmental videos in history, and under Karin’s leadership the organization’s efforts helped raise millions of dollars from corporations, government agencies, and everyday people for high-quality, voluntary market REDD+ carbon credits.
Before leading high growth organizations, Karin was a Managing Director at Ambata Capital and a Vice President at Gulf Capital, where she sourced, diligenced, fundraised, and/or invested in alternative energy, new media, and sustainability companies across the US and Middel East / North Africa. She has served on several boards and advisory boards of both companies and investment funds from US to Asia. Karin earned a Fulbright Scholarship to India, speaks several languages, and spent almost a decade overseas in emerging markets from Brazil to China. She has a certificate in energy innovation from Stanford School of Engineering, an MPA in international development from Harvard University, an MBA in finance with distinction from Edinburgh Business School, and a BA with honors from Duke University.
Walter Mayo
Advisor
Walt Mayo is the Chief Executive Officer of Expert System, a leader in Artificial Intelligence applied to text with more than 20 years of experience in Natural Language Understanding. Prior to joining Expert System, Walt led the growth of Endeavor, an impact capital organization focused on scale-up businesses, more than tripling its global market reach and developing major new sources of revenue. Endeavor’s global network includes investors and entrepreneurs in more than 30 countries around the world and in virtually every business sector.
He previously worked at Dell across a range of sales, marketing, software, and channel management roles and in accelerating the company’s international growth as General Manager for Southern Europe, Australia, Japan and Asia. He began his career after graduating from Harvard University as a Foreign Service Office and served in US diplomatic missions, the White House and the US Congress. He has an MBA from the University of Virginia and lives in the Boston area.