GREEN ALPHA ADVISORS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Distribution & Marketing Officer / Portfolio Manager
- Managing Member of First Affirmative
Betsy oversees Green Alpha's sales and marketing activities, working diligently to describe the firm's unique investment philosophies, research processes, risk management priorities, and portfolio construction methodologies in a way those outside Green Alpha's walls can understand. In addition, she is the lead analyst on a portion of the firm's portfolio companies and actively involved in portfolio management decisions across Green Alpha's portfolios. She has a keen interest in diversity and social inclusion issues, keeping the Investment Committee informed of metrics to continually improve research and proprietary scoring processes.
Betsy joined the team in January 2015 as Chief Operating Officer, drawn to Green Alpha's unique methods of building sustainability-oriented, innovation-driven portfolios one stock at a time - never deviating from the underlying Next Economics framework. She first became acquainted with Green Alpha through her work at First Affirmative Financial Network, LLC. As a core part of her job, Betsy became familiar with many sustainability-oriented investment options and was particularly impressed by Green Alpha's rigorous research approach.
As the SVP and a Managing Member of First Affirmative, Betsy was responsible for building the firm's third-party platform business and institutional account investment capabilities.
Betsy was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of TAMRO Capital Partners, LLC in Alexandria, VA from 2004 to 2013. She participated in all aspects of the firm's growth from $200 million to $2 billion, expanding the business to include five mutual funds, a collective investment trust fund (CIT), institutional accounts, and separate accounts for high-net-worth clients, as well as separately managed wrap accounts and UMA programs where TAMRO served as an asset manager.
She began her investment career at Harbor Capital Management in Boston, MA, in 1999, where she undertook everything from portfolio administration to due diligence meetings, attribution analysis, earnings calls, trading support, and FX communications.
Originally from Eugene, Oregon, Betsy earned a B.S. from the University of Oregon's Charles H. Lundquist College of Business. She received her MBA from The Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. She has been a proud member of Darden's Alumni Board of Directors since 2012. Betsy also serves on the Board of Directors for The Alliance Center - a non-profit organization that exists to solve systemic environmental and social problems.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Colorado Governor
- Consultant to
- Member of the Board of the Directors of the Energy Foundation
- Strategic Consultant
Bill Ritter, Jr. is a consultant to Green Alpha, offering the firm strategic introductions and guidance on evolving clean energy trends. He is the founder and director of the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University, which launched on February 1, 2011. The Center employs an assistant director, five senior policy advisors, an executive assistant and a team of student researchers.
Mr. Ritter is a member of the board of the directors of the Energy Foundation and a senior fellow and member of the board of directors of the Advanced Energy Economy Institute. Mr. Ritter earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Colorado State University (1978) and his law degree from the University of Colorado (1981). With his wife Jeannie, he operated a food distribution and nutrition center in Zambia. He then served as Denver's district attorney from 1993 to January 2005. The Ritters have four children: August, Abe, Sam, and Tally.
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer
- Portfolio Manager
- Chief Investment Officer for Green Alpha Investments
Garvin is the Chief Investment Officer for Green Alpha Investments, where he leads investment research; conducts macroeconomic, scientific, and technological analysis; and develops and communicates the Next Economy investment approach.
Prior to co-founding Green Alpha with Jeremy Deems in 2007, Garvin had realized that traditional investment methods constrained the opportunity to have impact and achieve long-term competitive returns. How could he invest in the leaders of tomorrow's sustainable economy if they were limited to an index of the carbon economy's winners? Together with Jeremy, Garvin decided to throw out the rule book, found Green Alpha, and begin investing in the Next Economy-a method that aims to invest only in innovative solutions to system-level risks like climate change, never in their causes.
Garvin previously worked at Forward Management, LLC where he managed the Sierra Club Stock Fund and the Sierra Club Equity Income Fund.
Before Forward Management, Garvin served as Vice President of Strategic Services at Morgan Stanley where he contributed to such projects as the integration of European acquisitions and the sale of Morgan Stanley Online. He also served as a product manager at Morgan Stanley Online, managing the launches of wireless trading and after-hours trading for the firm's clients. After-hours trading on MarketXT marked the first time retail investors in the U.S. had the opportunity to trade in the after-close markets. His other experience includes research and analysis, trading and mutual fund sales.
Earlier, Garvin studied in the Ph.D. program in physical anthropology and archaeology for five years at the University of Utah. Garvin was a field Director for the American Expedition to Petra, Jordan for two excavation seasons, and served as archaeologist and crew chief at many sites in the American West. Other jobs held by Garvin have included EMT and whitewater rafting guide.
Garvin holds an MBA in international management and finance from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird). His mix of business and science-intensive backgrounds brings knowledge of long-term systemic risk and societal collapse to portfolio management.
Job Titles:
- Compliance & Operations Director
Isabel Magaraci is Green Alpha's Compliance & Operations Director, and bring to the team a breadth of skills and more than 10 years of experience in financial services. Isabel's responsibilities include overseeing and enhancing Green Alpha's compliance, investment operations, information technology, and human resources infrastructure to ensure that they continue to meet and exceed industry best practices as the firm grows and serves an increasingly larger and more sophisticated client base.
Prior to joining Green Alpha, Isabel was the Vice President - Head of Tax Reporting and Withholding at Morgan Stanley in South Jordan, UT where she oversaw implementing all tax reporting IRS regulations, operational processes, and strategic solutions across Institutional and Wealth Management business lines.
Isabel has also held a variety of impressive project and process management roles from 2010 through 2020 in Client Onboarding and Data Governance at Morgan Stanley. She was responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance with client onboarding verification and maintenance through implementing data monitoring programs, and innovative account opening interfaces and solutions.
Originally from Colorado's bordering neighbor, Utah, Isabel recently moved to Colorado to join the Green Alpha team and is having a great time exploring the other side of the Rocky Mountains.
Job Titles:
- CCO
- Chief Financial Officer
- Portfolio Manager
- Independent Trustee and Audit Committee Chairman of the Reaves Utility Income Fund
As Green Alpha's Chief Financial and Chief Compliance Officer, Jeremy oversees the company's financial well-being and ensures the firm's operations are in compliance with all regulatory rules and best practices. He is also a co-portfolio manager on all Green Alpha portfolios.
Jeremy brought his impact investing expertise to Boulder in 2007, where he co-founded Green Alpha with Garvin Jabusch. Thinking more like a VC and scientist than a traditional public-equity manager, Jeremy understood the immense investment opportunity presented by the transition to a de-carbonized economy. The result was Next Economy investing-a method that aims to invest only in innovative solutions to system-level risks like climate change, never in their causes.
Prior to co-founding Green Alpha, Jeremy was CFO of Forward Management, LLC, the investment advisor to the Forward Funds and Sierra Club Mutual Funds. He was responsible for all areas related to finance, operations, and human resources. Jeremy was also a co-portfolio manager on the Sierra Club Stock Fund, alongside Green Alpha co-founder, Garvin Jabusch. In addition, Jeremy was the CFO of ReFlow Management Co., LLC, an innovative liquidity management tool for the mutual fund industry, developed by Gordon Getty. There, he was responsible for all financial matters for more than 15 related business entities and affiliates with over 50 employees. From 2004 to 2005, Jeremy also served as treasurer of the Forward Funds and Sierra Club Funds. His tenure at Forward and ReFlow provided invaluable experience related to new venture creation and the opportunities and challenges associated with start-up ventures in the investment industry.
Prior to joining Forward Management and ReFlow in 1998, Jeremy worked within the Investment Consulting Services Group (Separately Managed Accounts) at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
Jeremy holds a B.S. in Business Administration, Honors Concentration in Financial Services and a Minor in Accounting from Saint Mary's College of California. Jeremy returned to Saint Mary's College several years later to pursue his MBA in Finance. Jeremy was a licensed Certified Public Accountant from 2001 to 2016.
Jeremy also serves as an independent trustee and Audit Committee Chairman of the Reaves Utility Income Fund (a closed-end fund), the ALPS Variable Investment Trust (an insurance mutual fund family), the ALPS ETF Trust (a family of exchange-traded funds), the Financial Investors Trust (a family of open-end mutual funds), and the Clough Funds Trust (open-end mutual funds). Together, these trusts offer over 60 funds and manage in excess of $30 billion in client assets.
Jeremy enjoys the outdoors with his wife and two kids as much as possible, sharing with them a love of skiing, fly fishing, backpacking, and golf.