VEI’s team combines extensive private investment expertise with many years of experience in developing economies, particularly Africa. Several of its team members are notable for having general management experience. By design, VEI’s team members are diverse in nationality, educational background, and area of expertise. Their shared characteristics include superb academic backgrounds, integrity, common values, a commitment to teamwork, and professionalism.
Each team member is a respected professional in his or her area of expertise, and most have worked in emerging markets
for many years, in both private sector and public sector roles. They share a commitment to development, and a belief that private sector expertise, approaches, and institutions can contribute to achieving sustainable economic growth and meaningful poverty reduction in the developing world.
VEI’s team resources include the following key individuals, among others:
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The Honorable Paul V. Applegarth, Chief Executive Officer
Mr.
Applegarth over thirty years experience in emerging market and private
equity transactions, and diverse management and leadership positions in
the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. From 2004 to 2005, Mr.
Applegarth was the founding CEO of the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. He previously served on OPIC's Advisory Board for Africa
and on the U.S. State Department’s Africa Policy Advisory Panel, and
recently co-chaired an informal advisory group to the State Department
on the reorganization of USAID. Prior to establishing MCC, he was the
Founding Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the
Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, a public-private partnership
established to invest in private sector infrastructure in sub-Saharan
Africa, and a Managing Director of Emerging Markets Partnership, an
asset management firm that specialized in international private equity
and debt investments in emerging markets.
Mr. Applegarth most recently
served as a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of
the United States, where he worked on more effective approaches to aid
delivery and innovative approaches to mobilizing funds for investment
in poorer countries that are committed to development. Earlier in his
career, he was with the World Bank and the International Finance
Corporation. He subsequently headed both the global project finance and
North American investment banking businesses of the Bank of America,
and then joined American Express/Lehman Brothers. Mr. Applegarth is a
graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, and earned an
M.B.A. with High Distinction from Harvard Business School where he was
a Baker Scholar. He is a Vietnam veteran.
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| Felipe P. Manteiga
Mr. Manteiga is the recently retired head of the Agriculture and Rural Economy Division at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, where he recruited and managed the team from its inception. Mr. Manteiga has more than twenty-four years experience in rural development, financial sector development, agriculture, and agribusiness ventures, with extensive field work in Africa, Latin America and throughout the developing world. Formerly, he was head of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture’s Office of Strategic Alliances. Mr. Manteiga is Cuban-American, with native fluency in Spanish. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida.
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Dr. Bonnie E. Loopesko
Dr. Loopesko has over twenty years of broad-based experience in the public and private sectors. By education a research economist, Dr. Loopesko was an officer of the Federal Reserve System, where she worked for 12 years on financial and capital market issues. Dr. Loopesko was also a Vice President at J.P. Morgan and a founding partner at the risk management advisory firm, NetRisk, Inc. She has lived in France and Algeria, and speaks French fluently. Dr. Loopesko has a BA from Wellesley College, and a Masters of International Affairs and PhD in Economics from Columbia University. During graduate school, she worked at the World Bank and IMF.
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Julio C. Montealegre
Mr. Montealegre has broad based entrepreneurial and business management experience, notably in food products and agribusiness. Having coordinated Nicaragua’s Millennium Challenge Account proposal, he has extensive relationships with the Nicaraguan government and Central American business community, and has native fluency in Spanish. Mr. Montealegre is a
member of the Board of Directors of Nicaraguan Association of Producers and Exporters, and co-founder of Nicaraguan Cashew Industry Association. He is a graduate of the University of Florida with highest honors and holds an MBA from
the University of California at Berkeley.
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Professor Ibrahima Ba
Professor Ba is Professor of Marketing Management with a focus on agribusiness at Dakar’s top business school, Ecole Superieur de Commerce. He is also the founder and former head of the marketing department of Africa’s 9th largest agribusiness company, CEVITAL, with US$770 million in sales in 2005 and over 3500 employees. Mr. Ba has also worked as a consultant on major agribusiness projects in Africa. He is a native of Senegal with fluency in French, English and Wolof. He graduated with honors from Howard University in Washington, DC, with a major in International Business and Computer-Based Information Systems.
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| Katharine Applegarth Simons
Ms. Simons has significant experience with early-stage companies, including business planning, strategy, fundraising, and early operational oversight of four successful multimillion-dollar startups. She is currently President of Eyeshot Marketing Services, which offers clients assistance with strategic planning, investor relations, product management, and all aspects of online and offline marketing. She has traveled extensively abroad, most recently on behalf of a large private equity fund investing in Indian real estate, where she has played a significant role in fund raising and investor relations. She received a BA in Psychology from Georgetown University and an MBA from Yale University.
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