Sushma is a Community Coordinator for Start:ME serving as the local touchpoint for entrepreneurs in and around Clarkston. She is also the Executive Director of Refugee Women's Network in Atlanta, a local coalition partner organization of Start ME Clarkston. Sushma is the founder and owner of Sunavworld, a social enterprise that promotes fairtrade products made by women in Nepal and the US.

Giselle leads the Institute's collection of Latin America focused programs. She works closely with women coffee growers participating in the Grounds for Empowerment Program and collaborates with Goizueta Faculty on various research projects and global learning modules in the region. Giselle is an MBA alum of Goizueta.

Alina is passionate about neighbors, neighborhoods, and economic empowerment and applies that to her work with Start:ME. Alina graduated from Fordham University where she majored in International Studies and Economics. Originally from Atlanta, she is a half-Cuban and a fluent Spanish speaker.

Sarah is passionate about food access and food justice. She recently graduated from Georgia Tech, where she studied history, sociology and social justice. She supports Grounds for Empowerment programs serving women in Latin America.

Fran Carroll is the Start:ME Southside community coordinator, serving as a local touchpoint for entrepreneurs in Atlanta’s Southside. She is also the Director of Operations and Finance at International Community School in Decatur, GA and was a participant in Start:ME’s inaugural Southside Cohort in 2018. Fran loves entrepreneurship and has launched three ventures - Lay-ette; 9:90 Collective; and She Can, She Will Mom – as well as a movement with her "partner in activism” called #tinyactivistsatl.

Brian oversees the Institute's collection of innovative fieldwork programs, student activities, along with internal operations and stakeholder partnerships. He also serves as a co-instructor for two courses (Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy Lab). Brian studied sociology at the University of Michigan (BA) and received his MBA from the Goizueta Business School.

Kareem manages and delivers the Start:ME East Lake and Southside accelerator programs. He is a fellow entrepreneur with his own strategy and qualitative research consultancy, K Hall Consulting. He also owns a children's soccer franchise with his wife, Erika. Kareem is the proud father of a daughter (Eila) and son (Kingston).

Erin strengthens Atlanta area communities through micro-entrepreneur development as the leader of the Start:ME Program. Prior to joining Goizueta, Erin worked in finance and consulting. She has a Masters in International Policy from Stanford University and a Bachelors in Commerce from the University of Virginia.

Following his 20 year international career with Citibank, David Kyle has spent the past 15 years in the social enterprise industry on both the impact investing side with Acumen Fund and Calvert Foundation as well as building companies as an entrepreneur and advisor. Both here at Goizueta and in partnership with social impact organizations worldwide, David coaches and develops the next generation of social enterprise leaders.

Randy is a co-instructor for Nonprofit Management. Building on this long career in management consulting at Deloitte, he provides consulting and executive coaching services to non-profit, charitable and social enterprise leaders through his own consultancy, Randall Martin LLC. Randy serves on a number of nonprofit boards including CDF and Global Growers. He has a BA in sociology from Georgetown and Masters and PhD in sociology from Harvard University.

After a 20+ year career at Wachovia in International and Corporate Finance, Sam Moss joined Gray Ghost Ventures and Gray Matters Capital which were actively involved in microfinance and social impact investing. He continues to be very involved in philanthropic, social enterprise, social impact investing as a staff member of the CF Foundation and also as an advisor and mentor. Both here at Goizueta and in partnership with social impact organizations across Atlanta, Sam coaches and develops the next generation of social enterprise leaders.

Ruth is finance, accounting, grants management, and business process professional with deep experience in higher education including past roles in Emory's Office of Controller and School of Medicine. She has an MBA and BA in Accounting and is passionate about creating social impact.

Chad works as the Industry Liaison and helps lead our Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide project. Before his work with the Transaction Guide and with the Grounds for Empowerment program, Chad formed Reciprocafé, LLC, a consultancy prioritizing mutual benefit in coffee value chain support. Chad is committed to driving the industry toward transparency and underscores, as a threat to specialty coffee's existence, financial challenges in countries where coffee is grown.

Tené serves as co-instructor for Philanthropy Lab. She is philantrophic professional overseeing The Kendeda Fund’s Atlanta portfolio, focusing on equitable access to high-quality K12 education and economic opportunity (emphasis on long-term affordability, community wealth building, and accessible quality transit) for historically marginalized populations and Black and brown people in metro Atlanta. Tené has a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Georgia State University.

Mercedes is community coordinator for Start:ME East Lake, where she leads entrepreneur recruiting, nurtures partner relationships, and is the primary touchpoint with community-based entrepreneurs. She is a Start:ME East Lake alum and owner/designer and curator of Heart Mercedes LLC, and handmade jewelry company. Mercedes’s maker motto is “community over competition” - we are all better together.

Josh is an analytical, driven data professional who thrives at problem-solving. He puts this skills to work as a Database Manager supporting the reporting needs of researchers, program staff, and partners across the Institute. Josh holds a PhD from Washington State along with a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech.