Team » CrossBoundary

Our mission is to
unlock the power of
capital to drive sustainable
development

The team

CrossBoundary’s team draws on a wide and deep range of experience across frontier markets, within both private and public sectors.

Jake Cusack

Jake has a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is also a graduate of the University of Notre Dame’s Honours Program. Prior to co-founding The CrossBoundary Group, he served as a Marine Corps Officer, receiving the Bronze Star for actions in Iraq. He also worked at Abraa...

Matt Tilleard

Matt holds a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from Stanford University where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar. He is originally from Australia and holds Bachelors of Laws and a Bachelors of Science from the University of Melbourne. Prior to co-founding The CrossBoundary Group, Matt led the design...

Tom Flahive

Tom has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelors from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the CrossBoundary Group, Tom worked at Abraaj Capital, the Mongolia International Capital Corporation, Lazard Alternative Investments and Jones Lang LaSalle in New York. He is based in CrossBoundary’s New York office....

Sebastian Deschler

Prior to joining The CrossBoundary Group, Sebastian was the General Counsel of TerraForm Power, where he was a member of the senior team that grew the company from concept to the publicly traded owner and operator of up to 3,000 MW of renewable energy power plants. Before that, Sebastian played a leading role in the international expansio...

Alex Muchoki

Alex graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Economics & Management from Cornell University and is a CFA Level III Candidate. Alex who is Kenyan has also lived and worked in London and New York. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Alex worked at Goldman Sachs in both the New York and London offices as a Senior Analyst focusing on managing the market risk of Emerging ...

Benjamin Munyao

Benjamin has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Colorado College, where he was awarded the Kaye Prize as the Economics Department’s most outstanding student. Following his graduation from Colorado College, he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study youth development in Ethiopia, Ghana, New Zealand and Australia. He is also a 2010 graduate of the Africa Leadership Academy. Benjamin i...

Bobby Patel

Bobby graduated Magna Cum Laude from Austin College, where he majored in International Economics & Finance and minored in Chemistry. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa US national honour society. He is originally from Kenya and has also lived in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Prior to CrossBoundary, Bobby worked as an Investment Analyst for the International Finance C...

Bodunde Akinola

Bodunde Akinola is based in CrossBoundary’s Lagos office where he is a member of the investment advisory team. He holds a Master of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Nottingham. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Bodunde worked at Global Oceon, a growing indigenous EPCI company, providing upstream engineering services to oil and gas supermajors in Nigeria. Bodunde ...

Caroline Chen

Caroline graduated from the University of Southern California where she was a Presidential Scholar and was also a David L. Boren Scholar based at Tsinghua University. Caroline is fluent in Mandarin and proficient in French. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Caroline was a member of PJT Partners’ Secondary Advisory team in New York and Cambridge Associates’ Investment Advisory team in San Francis...

Charlene Mburu

Charlene holds a BSc. in Electrical Engineering focused on electrical energy systems from the University of Vermont. Prior to joining the Investment Advisory team, Charlene supported CrossBoundary's Mini-Grid Innovation Lab on data analysis and publication of the Lab's first two Innovation Insights, a publication series highlighting preliminary findings of revenue-generating and cost reduction ex...

Charles Eberly

Charles has a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and an MBA from the Columbia Business School. He is a former Marine Corps infantry officer and combat veteran. Prior to joining the CrossBoundary Group, Charles was based in Hong Kong, where he worked in the alternative investment industry covering the Asia Pacific region. He has also worked as a graduate consultant for Bloombe...

Chris Hallier

Chris is a qualified Chartered Accountant (SA) and holds a Bachelor’s in Accounting from the University of Stellenbosch and a Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of Cape Town. Before joining CrossBoundary, he worked at Deloitte as part of the Financial Institutions Team. He also spent time in the Deloitte Atlanta Office in the financial services and technology sectors. While ...

Claudia Masemola

Claudia has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Bucknell University where she researched U.S Fiscal Debt Crisis solutions and Political economics. She is also a 2012 graduate of the African Leadership Academy. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Claudia was a Compensation Tax and Regulatory Accounting Associate at PwC's New York City office, where she worked on global tax compliance and equity...

Edmund Le Brun

Edmund Le Brun is based in CrossBoundary’s Dubai office, and is part of the investment advisory team. Having graduated from Oxford University with a BA in History, Edmund spent three years working for an NGO regenerating the old city of Kabul and supporting businesses across Afghanistan. Edmund went on to set up Ishkar, a social enterprise building international market linkages for businesses op...

Efe Braimah

Efe has a first-class Master in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London. She is a native of Nigeria, and has also lived in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Tanzania. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Efe worked for The Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”), where she supported the BCG Energy practice in upstream transformation for oil and gas supermajors as ...

Ehidiamen Oboh

Ehi has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a certificate in African Studies from Princeton University. Prior to joining The CrossBoundary Group, Ehi worked as an investment banking analyst in the Global Industrials Group at Jefferies in New York City, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions and other corporate advisory transactions for clients. Ehi is a member of the investment advisory...

Emir Benelmir

Emir Benelmir is based in CrossBoundary’s Dakar Office as a member of the Investment Advisory team. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, he worked for an infrastructure debt fund in London, Benjamin de Rothschild Infrastructure Debt Fund (BRIDGE). He also worked at Veolia in Tokyo, developing large scale renewable power plants across Japan. In 2017, he was appointed by the European Commission as an I...

Erika Lovin

Erika has an MBA from The Wharton School and a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. She completed her undergraduate degree in Applied Mathematics at Harvard College. Prior to CrossBoundary, Erika worked at the Gates Foundation, assisting the Nutrition team in redefining its strategy to achieve the greatest impact worldwide. She began her career as a consultant in Acce...

Fanta Conde

Fanta has an MBA from The Wharton School. She completed her undergraduate degree in Finance with a minor in Spanish at the City University of New York, Baruch College. Prior to CrossBoundary, Fanta worked at BlackRock in New York, focusing on the company’s proprietary investment management technology platform called Aladdin. She contributed to the business expansion of Aladdin to service provide...

Femi Fadugba

Femi has a first-class Master of Engineering from Oxford University where he published in Quantum Physics and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied as a Thouron Scholar. Femi is a British-Nigerian born in Togo and has also lived and worked in Rwanda and Tanzania. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Femi worked in The Boston Consulting Group's Energy and...

Frashia Muchiri

Frashia has a Finance Degree from the Kenya College of Accountancy University and a Diploma in Business Management from the Kenya Institute of Management. Prior to joining CrosssBoundary, Frashia was an Administration Officer at Saurus Networks Ltd., a leading firm in systems integration based in Kenya, where she successfully assisted in the setting up of human resource and administration policies...

Frederik Benzel

Frederik has a Master in Business Management and a Bachelor’s both from the University of Münster, and completed an Erasmus scholarship year at Strathclyde University, Glasgow. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Frederik spent seven years in Rothschild’s Global Financial Advisory business in Johannesburg where he provided M&A, strategic and stakeholder advice to multinationals, private equit...

Gabriel Davies

Gabriel has a Master of Arts in Physics & Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Prior to CrossBoundary, Gabriel worked as an Associate at Augusta & Co., a London-based investment firm focused on renewable energy, where he was part of the investment banking team. At Augusta & Co., Gabriel advised developers, utilities, and institutional investors on placing capital into over 2GW of ...

Hamara Abate

Hamara Abate holds a Bachelor of Arts in Global Affairs from Yale University. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Ms. Abate was with McKinsey & Company in the Addis Ababa office, as part of the Africa Delivery Hub, where she worked alongside government institutions to develop strategies and support with implementation. She also worked at IDinsight, conducting impact evaluations and advisory servic...

Hendrik Pelser

Hendrik has a Bachelor of Science Financial & Actuarial Degree from the University of Pretoria and has taken the Level III CFA exam. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Hendrik worked as a Senior Associate at a boutique transactional advisory firm, where he provided clients with business and project valuations, project finance fundraising and bankable financial models. Hendrik was also employed at...

Humphrey Wireko

Humphrey has an MBA from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The Ohio State University. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Humphrey worked previously at The Boston Consulting Group in Johannesburg where he focused on advising senior leaders in a variety of sectors across Africa ranging from mining to insurance. He has also worked at the Public Utilities Commission o...

Ijeoma Marizu

Ijeoma Marizu is based in CrossBoundary’s Lagos office and is a member of the firm’s Administration Team. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Ms. Marizu worked as an Accountant at KPMG Nigeria, a leading Audit, Tax and Advisory services firm, where she managed banking relationships and their treasury function. She also co-founded a bakery, which she runs with her twin sister. Ms. Marizu holds a Ba...

Jad Mneymneh

Jad Mneymneh leads CrossBoundary’s investment advisory team based out of the Dubai office. Prior to CrossBoundary, Mr. Mneymneh co-founded Cornerstone Global and successfully led the scale-up of several foreign startups into the MENA region. Mr. Mneymneh also served as Advisor and Senior Director at the Albright Stonebridge Group where he spearheaded the growth of the company’s MENA practice a...

Jake Cusack

Jake has a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is also a graduate of the University of Notre Dame’s Honours Program. Prior to co-founding The CrossBoundary Group, he served as a Marine Corps Officer, receiving the Bronze Star for actions in Iraq. He also worked at Abraaj Capital. Jake has written for The New Republic, The New Yo...

James Shoetan

James has an MBA from Wharton Business School and a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from Duke University. He is an American-Nigerian, who has worked in Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, the United States and the Middle East. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, James worked at The Boston Consulting Group based out of Johannesburg and previously worked at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations ac...

Jamie McInerney

Jamie leads CrossBoundary’s investment advisory team based out of the Washington, DC office. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, he worked for FTI Consulting where he led client engagements specializing in foreign market entry strategies, principally in frontier and emerging markets. Jamie developed successful strategies that ensured enterprise value creation while also achieving key local market im...

Jane Dougherty

Jane Dougherty is based in CrossBoundary’s Nairobi office where she leads the data analysis and reporting of the Mini-Grid Innovation Lab. Ms. Dougherty holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oxf...

Jessica Hao

Jessica completed her undergraduate degree in Classics at the University of Oxford. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Jessica worked in the London office of Bain & Company, where she advised clients in commercial due diligence, strategy, and operational improvement. This spanned a range of sectors, including private equity, retail, and oil & gas. She also worked on a pro bono project to assi...

Justin Wanyeki

Justin Wanyeki is based in CrossBoundary’s Nairobi office and is a member of the investment advisory team. Prior to joining the CrossBoundary, Mr. Wanyeki worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in both the New York and London offices focusing on transaction advisory for consumer, retail and healthcare companies. Mr. Wanyeki graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree from the Univers...

Kate Wharton

Kate Wharton is a member of CrossBoundary’s investment advisory team. Ms. Wharton holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and International Affairs and a minor in Spanish from Georgia Tech. Prior to CrossBoundary, Ms. Wharton was based in Turkey as Chief Operating Officer of Hala Systems, a humanitarian tech...

Kathleen Jean-Pierre

At CrossBoundary, Kathleen is the Vision and Delivery Lead for CrossBoundary Energy, where she contributes strategic insights and manages the solar developer’s pan-African operations. Kathleen is based in CrossBoundary’s Nairobi office. Kathleen graduated from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs, where her research focused on policies promoting ...

Kelley Gasper

Kelley has a Master of International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts, both from Columbia University. He is a former United States Marine Officer with experience in Afghanistan and the Caucasus serving as a foreign military advisor, staff officer and platoon commander. Kelley joined CrossBoundary from the New York Syndicated and Leveraged Finance desk of J.P. Morgan, where he also held a strategic ...

Kirtika Challa

Kirtika has an MBA from the Wharton Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics & Engineering Studies from Lafayette College. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Kirtika worked at Morgan Stanley’s headquarters in New York as a trader on the New Issue Commercial mortgage-backed Security desk and as a Manager in the Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis Group. Additionally, during he...

Kristine Muriuki

Kristine Muriuki is based in CrossBoundary’s Nairobi office and is a member of the firm’s administration team. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Ms. Muriuki was a Business Manager at Climate Fund Managers, a leading boutique investment firm, where she established operations for their regional Africa office. She also worked as an Executive Assistant at responsAbility, an asset management firm foc...

Lauren Gaffney

Lauren has a Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center, a Master’s in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development studies in Geneva, and a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Philosophy from Wellesley College. Lauren has practiced law as a clean energy and infrastructure corporate counsel, developing projects and closing deals for 6+...

Lesego Kenned

Lesego has a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Accounting from the University of South Africa and attended the Leading Women Programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), which focuses on organisational leadership. Prior to joining CrosssBoundary, Lesego worked at First National Bank in the Private Wealth Division where she held several positions including Management Accountant in ...

Marcos Sampablo

Marcos has an MBA from INSEAD and a Master of International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar. Marcos graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Marcos is originally from Spain. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Marcos worked for several organizatio...

Mariam Sow

Mariam has an MBA and a Human Resource Management Degree. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Mariam was the Human Resources Manager at G4S (formerly Group 4 Securicor) Mali, a provider of security products, services and solutions. She also worked at the Ghanaian Embassy in Mali as a bilingual secretary. Mariam is a member of The CrossBoundary Group’s finance team and is based in CrossBoundary’s ...

Marilia dos Reis Martins

Marilia is an Economist with an MPhil in International Development from the University of Cambridge and an MRes in Development Management from the LSE. Prior to joining CrossBoundary in London, Marilia spent three years at Lion’s Head Global Partners, where she advised clients ranging from governments and DFIs to foundations and corporates on innovative investment structures, results-based finan...

Mark Zubov

Mark Zubov is based in CrossBoundary’s Dubai office and is a member of the investment advisory team. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Mark was an associate at IFG Capital, a Luxembourg-based investment firm, where he focused on sourcing, developing and analyzing investment opportunities in the metals & mining, construction, cleantech, financial services, technology and other sectors in Cen...

Martha Nabukeera

Martha has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Bucknell University, where she was Portfolio Manager and Energy Sector Lead for the Student Managed Investment Fund. She was also awarded the Bucknell Public Internship Program Award to facilitate her work in promoting the rights of vulnerable and marginalized workers in her hometown, Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Martha is a New York licensed CPA...

Matt Tilleard

Matt holds a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from Stanford University where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar. He is originally from Australia and holds Bachelors of Laws and a Bachelors of Science from the University of Melbourne. Prior to co-founding The CrossBoundary Group, Matt led the design of financing facilities in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, he...

Mona Alsubaei

Mona holds a Master’s from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and a Bachelor’s in Economics from King Abdulaziz University. She is a native of Saudi Arabia, and has also lived in the United States, Switzerland, Australia, Lebanon, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates. Prior to CrossBoundary, Mona worked at The Abraaj Group, as part of the Sub-Saharan Africa Inves...

Najib Rahmani

Najib Rahmani is based in CrossBoundary’s London Office where he is a member of the investment advisory team. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, he was an oil and gas consultant in London where he mainly advised clients on multi-billion dollar infrastructure transactions across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. As a consultant, he also advised on various strategic issues across the energy a...

Nathan Kelly

Nathan is a graduate of Washington and Lee University, where he studied Global Politics and Economics, focusing on monetary policy in fragile states. Prior to working at CrossBoundary, Nathan worked for the international development firm, The Kaizen Company and the global investment bank, Lincoln International. He has advised on a variety of transactions including international cross-border merger...

Nneka Chime

Nneka has a first-class Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Nneka was part of the founding team of an impact investment fund focused on Sub-Saharan Africa’s Healthcare sector. Nneka also worked at McKinsey and Company and Shell where she led the energy efficiency team in a large re...

Noreen Zobel

Noreen Zobel leads CrossBoundary’s People team and is based out of Nairobi. Prior to joining us, Ms. Zobel was based in Rwanda as the Head of People for One Acre Fund, a social enterprise working with smallholder farmers. Over the course of her career, Ms. Zobel has overseen Human Resources, Training & Development, Operations, and Infrastructure teams, managing upwards of 150+ full-time staf...

Paul Ouma

Paul has a Bachelor’s in Finance with a minor in Accounting from DePaul University in Chicago. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Paul worked with a sub-Saharan Africa focused private equity firm. He has also worked for the International Finance Corporation executing debt and equity transactions across Sub-Saharan Africa in the manufacturing and services sectors. Paul began his career in the Chica...

Pieter Joubert

Pieter has a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Accounting & Finance and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from Bond University in Australia, where he studied as a Vice-Chancellor’s Scholar. He is originally from South Africa and has also lived in Zimbabwe and Australia. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Pieter worked in J.P. Morgan’s Investment Banking Group in Sydney, where he was responsible for me...

Pooja Yadav

Pooja has an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Emory University. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Pooja worked as a consultant for Accenture Strategy in New York City where she advised clients across the life sciences, financial services, and retail industries. She has lived in Argentina and previously w...

Rezvan Ahmed

Rezvan holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Rezvan is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Rezvan was an electrical engineer at Arup, a global design consultancy, in Toronto. While at...

Richard Stanford

Richard has an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He has over 10 years’ experience in African renewable energy and has worked on projects in South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Chad. Before joining CrossBoundary, he was the Uganda Country Manager for Cambridge Clean Energy responsible for development, implementation and operation...

Robert Mutune

Robert holds a Diploma in Marketing from Universal College in Nairobi. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Robert founded and ran Bertis Tours & Travel, a provider of business and tourism travel services across Kenya. Prior to that, Robert was the Head of Logistics for Jatco Tours & Taxis, one of Kenya’s leading taxi and tour companies. Robert is a member of The CrossBoundary Group’s finan...

Sebastian Deschler

Prior to joining The CrossBoundary Group, Sebastian was the General Counsel of TerraForm Power, where he was a member of the senior team that grew the company from concept to the publicly traded owner and operator of up to 3,000 MW of renewable energy power plants. Before that, Sebastian played a leading role in the international expansion of SunEdison, at the time a global pioneer in the developm...

Shanti Pieniak

Shanti Pieniak is based in CrossBoundary’s Washington DC office and is a member of the firm's administrative team. She holds a bachelors degree from the College of Charleston in Psychology and Political Science. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Ms. Pieniak was part of a commercial construction project management team in Charleston SC. She also volunteers with a nonprofit that works on connecting ...

Simisola Abere

Simi Abere is based in CrossBoundary’s Lagos office and is a member of the firm’s advisory team. Ms. Abere holds a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD Business School and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Accounting and Financial Management from Loughborough University. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Ms Abere worked as a consultant for Boston Consulting Group in t...

Sonia Aoula

Sonia is based in CrossBoundary’s Dakar office, where she is a member of the investment advisory team. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Sonia worked for a private equity fund, Meridiam, where she supported the deal team in London, as well as implemented the first PPP airport in Madagascar. Sonia previously worked on the project finance team at Natixis in France, as a commercial underwriter at Cof...

Souleiman Magumba

Souleiman has an Electrical & Electronic Engineering Degree from Moi University in Kenya. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Souleiman worked as a Project Advisor for The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (“GIZ”) - ProSolar Program in Kenya; where he was responsible for technical viability assessments, implementation and the delivery of solar hybrid mini-grids solu...

Tala Bassil

Tala Bassil is a member of CrossBoundary’s Clean Power Advisory team in London. Tala holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in Development Studies and a bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, Ms.Bassil worked at IHS Markit, within their Power and Energy Technology team. Her research at IHS Markit focused on the...

Timoni Akindolie

After graduating from Wellesley College with a degree in Economics, Timoni started her career in commercial diplomacy within the Africa Practice of the Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington DC. Thereafter, she joined the Abraaj Group where she supported the full spectrum of the firm’s investment activities across West Africa before joining Nithio, an off-grid financing platform, as th...

Tom Flahive

Tom has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelors from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the CrossBoundary Group, Tom worked at Abraaj Capital, the Mongolia International Capital Corporation, Lazard Alternative Investments and Jones Lang LaSalle in New York. He is based in CrossBoundary’s New York office....

Tunuka Gray

Tunuka has an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. Tunuka is American and German and was born in Nairobi. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, she worked in the Chicago office of The Boston Consulting Group where she advised senior leaders across various sectors including technology and healthcare on strategy and operations. Tunuka also served as a Boston Consulti...

Vicky Aadnesgaard

Vicky Aadnesgaard sits in our Johannesburg office and holds an Honors Degree in Finance from the University of Cape Town, is a qualified Chartered Accountant (SA) and has passed CFA level III. Prior to joining CrossBoundary, she worked at FirstRand Ltd. on various teams, including the Equity Sales desk at RMB Morgan Stanley and as a financial engineer within RMB Global Markets. She also has experi...