Our Team

SJF team shown left to right, top row: Rick Defieux, Alan Kelley, David Griest, Cody Nystrom, Bonny Moellenbrock. Bottom row: Elizabeth Taylor, Erin Payne, Arrun Kapoor, David Kirkpatrick, Anne Claire Broughton.

Bonny Moellenbrock, Executive Director
Anne Claire Broughton, Co-Founder and Senior Consultant
Elizabeth Taylor, Finance Manager
Rick Defieux, Venture Advisor
David Griest, Venture Advisor
Arrun Kapoor, Venture Advisor
Alan Kelley, Venture Advisor
David Kirkpatrick, Venture Advisor
Cody Nystrom, Venture Advisor

 

Bonny Moellenbrock,
Executive Director

Bonny Moellenbrock is the Executive Director of SJF Institute and Investors' Circle and brings extensive entrepreneurial, venture capital, sustainable business, and nonprofit management experience to her role. Moellenbrock has been with SJF since 2001, first serving in administrative and investment roles. As SJF Ventures Managing Director, she served on the Investment Committee, generated deal flow in the natural consumer products sector, conducted due diligence on prospect companies, and monitored portfolio companies.

Moellenbrock is a member of the GIIRS Developed Markets Standards Advisory Council and serves on the Board of Directors of Bull City Forward and  the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South.

Prior to joining SJF, Moellenbrock was COO and CFO of Preservation North Carolina, a premier statewide nonprofit that promotes historic preservation and protects properties through its award-winning endangered properties acquisition and redevelopment program, and also served as VP of Administration for Orange Recycling Services, an entrepreneurial commercial recycling company. Moellenbrock holds an MBA, a Master of Regional Planning, and a BA in Environmental Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is a graduate of the Venture Capital Institute. She enjoys gardening and making music with her husband and two daughters at their historic bungalow in Durham.

Moellenbrock’s email is “bmoellenbrock” followed by “@sjfinstitute.org” and her phone number is 919-530-1177 x402.

 

Anne Claire Broughton,
Co-Founder and Senior Consultant

Anne Claire Broughton is the SJF Institute Co-Founder and Senior Consultant. Broughton has been with SJF since 1999 and served as the Founding Executive Director of SJF Institute (then known as SJF Advisory Services) from 2001-2007. Broughton helped raise significant grant funds, authored national research reports and articles, led twelve years of impact assessment and reporting, headed up SJF's marketing and outreach, and spoke at numerous conferences on behalf of SJF. She directed SJF Institute's employee engagement-related technical assistance to entrepreneurs and authored Employees Matter: Maximizing Company Value Through Workforce Engagement, released in July 2012. Broughton serves on the board of EarthShare North Carolina and on the Advisory Board of New Orleans-based AMCREF Community Capital, a New Markets Tax Credit fund with a focus on financing renewable energy projects.

Prior to joining SJF, Broughton was Editor-in Chief of Recycling Today, a premier national business magazine for the industrial and municipal recycling sectors. She has also served as the founding Recycling Coordinator for Richmond Heights, Ohio and   Recycling Analyst for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, where she co-authored a leading industry report. Broughton holds a BA from Oberlin College and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University. She is an active classical violinist, singer, and mom.

Broughton’s email is “acbroughton” followed by “@sjfinstitute.org” and her phone number is 919-306-2090.

 

Elizabeth Taylor,
Finance Manager

Elizabeth Taylor is SJF’s Finance Manager and is based in the Durham, NC office. She is a Certified Public Accountant and has more than 30 years experience in both for-profit and non-profit accounting and administration. Most recently she was the Firm Administrator for Thomas, Knight, Trent, King and Company in Durham, NC. In addition to working in finance and accounting, Elizabeth has several years of experience in the non-profit sector including positions with the American Dance Festival, Arts Advocates of North Carolina, the City of Durham, and as a private consultant. Currently she is an active member of the North Carolina Arts in Action and a leader/cook for the Sierra Club Service Committee. Elizabeth lives in Chapel Hill and has two grown daughters.

Elizabeth’s email address is “etaylor” followed by “@sjfinstitute.org” and her office number is 919-530-1177 x406.

 

Rick Defieux,
Venture Advisor

Rick Defieux, a Venture Advisory for the SJF Institute, the Chair of SJF Ventures’ Investment Committee, and the co-founder of SJF Ventures, has been a venture capitalist for 19 years. Rick is currently a Venture Partner at Battelle Ventures, a $220 MM fund investing in early-stage technology companies typically within the fields of energy & environment, health & life science and security. As a General Partner of Allegra Partners IV and Edison Venture Funds I, II and III, Defieux led investments in more than 25 environmental, energy and communications companies; he received a Cleantech Pioneer Award in 2003 from the Cleantech Group for his early work in cleantech investing. He currently serves on the board of Silicon Power. Defieux has an MBA from Columbia University and a BA and MA from Boston University. He is a steadfast husband and father and an occasional hiker, skier, tennis player and builder.

 

David Griest,
Venture Advisor

David Griest, SJF Institute Venture Advisor, is also a Managing Director in SJF Ventures’ Durham, NC office. He joined SJF in 2004. David serves on the board of SJF portfolio companies eRecyclingCorps (reprocessing wireless devices), Rustic Crust (all-natural and organic pizza products) and Telkore (wireless infrastructure services). David previously served on the board of Salvage Direct (online salvage vehicle auction) until its successful exit in 2010.

David was previously with Croft & Bender, an investment bank in Atlanta that provides venture capital, M&A and other financial advisory services for middle market and emerging growth companies in the Southeast. He also helped manage C&B Capital, a series of private equity funds that selectively invest in privately-held, small- and mid-sized, high-potential growth companies. C&B Capital’s investments include venture capital for emerging growth companies, growth capital for more established companies and leveraged acquisitions and recapitalizations for growth-oriented companies with strong cash flows.

David has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BBA in Finance from the University of Georgia. David enjoys mountaineering and hiking to each of the 50 states’ high points.

Griest’s email is "dgriest" followed by "@sjfinstitute.org" and his office number is 919-530-1177, ext. 409.

 

Arrun Kapoor,
Venture Advisor

Arrun Kapoor, SJF Institute Venture Advisor, is also Managing Director with SJF Ventures’ New York City office. He leads the NYC CleanLinks program and the SJF Cleantech Mentorship Program. He is an  Advisory Board Member of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Green Business Accelerator and a Mentor in the NYC Venture Fellows Program. He is on the Board of FieldView Solutions and a Board Observer to ServiceChannel and Truist. Kapoor was most recently with Bain & Company in London and Delhi where he launched the firm’s internal green practice initiatives. He worked with Bain’s Private Equity Practice and gained experience in a range of cleantech-related industries. Prior to Bain, he was a founding member and Manager with a successful consulting start-up in New York and London. He holds a Master’s in International Political Economics from the London School of Economics and completed a BA from New York University with an economics and business focus.

Kapoor’s email address is “akapoor” followed by “@sjfinstitute.org” and his office number is 212-209-3063.

 

Alan Kelley,
Venture Advisor

Alan Kelley, SJF Institute Venture Advisor, is also the Managing Director for SJF Ventures’ California office. Prior to joining SJF, he was at Milestone Venture Partners. Kelley served as an investment portfolio manager for SunTrust Banks from 1995 to 2004 and spent most of the time with the company’s institutional money management subsidiary, Trusco Capital Management. He conceived, developed and managed Trusco’s first Internet and technology mutual fund, which ranked in the top quintile of the Lipper Science and Technology Funds Universe.

Prior to working in investment management, Kelley was a Program Director for Hands On Atlanta, where he helped to create an innovative program to fund inner-city developments. He was also a Project Manager for The Landmarks Group in Berlin, Germany, where he joined a small team to develop a $50 million real estate project.

Kelley received a B.A. in Public Policy from Duke University in 1991. He earned his M.B.A. from the Goizueta Business School’s Evening Program at Emory University in 1999. Kelley serves on the boards of SJF portfolio companies ServiceChannel and Ryla. He is a board observer for MedPage and advisor to MediaMath.

Kelley’s email is “akelley” followed by “@sjfinstitute.org” and his office number is 415-659-8277.

 

David Kirkpatrick,
Venture Advisor

David Kirkpatrick, SJF Institute Venture Advisor, is a co-founder of the SJF Institute. He is also Managing Director and co-founder of SJF Ventures. David helped lead SJF’s capitalization of two funds totaling $45 million. SJF Ventures I and II have invested in 31 portfolio companies with more than $500 million in sales, 128 facilities, and 4,500 employees.

Previous to SJF, he founded and managed two other successful enterprises – KirkWorks, a cleantech investment research firm, and SunShares, a solar energy and recycling company. David was named the national 2005 CDVC Practitioner of the Year by the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance and Recycler of the Year in 1996, the National Recycling Coalition’s award for leadership in the recycling industry.

David earned a BA in Physics and History from Duke University in 1982 and an MBA from UNC Kenan Flagler Business School (KFBS) in 1991. He was named KFBS Executive MBA Alumni of the Year in 2010.   He serves on the Boards of groSolar, B.B. Hobbs, EdMap, the NC Sustainable Energy Association, the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, and the Advisory Committee of the NYC Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy. He is an avid gardener, bicyclist and Dad.

Kirkpatrick’s email is “dkirkpatrick” followed by “@sjfinstitute.org,” he is on Twitter @dkirk855, and his phone number is 919-530-1177 x407.

 

Cody Nystrom,
Venture Advisor

Cody Nystrom, SJF Institute Venture Advisor, is also a Principal at SJF Ventures. She joined SJF in 2007. Cody serves as board observer for SJF portfolio company, CleanScapes, a Seattle-based recycling, organics and waste services provider. Cody helped found and leads the RTP CleanLinks network, a clean energy business networking group with over 300 members. Additionally, Cody serves on selection, judging and advisory committees for Investors Circle, SVCIC (Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition) and the T-100 mentoring group at University of Virginia. In addition to her interest and involvement in clean energy, she has a strong passion for nutrition and sustainable food systems.

Cody was previously with Ewing Bemiss & Co., a middle-market investment bank based in Richmond, Virginia where she focused on renewable energy M&A transactions with a specific emphasis on landfill gas-to-energy companies. Cody holds a BS (summa cum laude) in Systems and Information Engineering from the University of Virginia with a minor in Business.

Nystrom’s email address is “cnystrom” followed by “@sjfinstitute.org” and her office number is 919-530-1177.