Team
Joshua Phitoussi
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Joshua’s mission is to find breakthrough solutions to environmental and human health problems.
His driving belief is that food systems innovation is the strongest lever we can pull to reach net zero by 2050 while simultaneously regenerating planetary and human health. Prior to founding TO VC, Joshua had a career in agribusiness where his experience gave him insight into the severity of natural habitat destruction and nutrition issues stemming from conventional agriculture and food processing. From 2013 to 2017, he held positions at Archer Daniels Midland that included freight trading, grain origination and marketing, and wheat trading in the United States, South America, South Africa, and Switzerland. In 2017, he became a managing partner at Alliance Commodities, a leading rice trading firm specializing in West African trade flows with South America and Asia. Since 2017, he has worked with to.org and Groupe Mimran in building an investment and philanthropic program to deploy resources in regenerative agriculture, improved food production, and natural habitat restoration. Joshua holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Entrepreneurship from Babson College.
Arieh Mimran
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Arieh dedicates himself to using finance as a force for good.
He believes that capitalism can be creatively directed to solve the world’s greatest challenges. Prior to founding TO VC, Arieh served as Chief Investment Officer of to.org, which he co-founded in 2015. Arieh directed investment strategy and worked closely with portfolio companies across climate technology, Africa, and generalist portfolios.
Arieh holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Princeton University, where he conducted novel sociological studies on finance, elites, and inequality. He has advised foundations, family businesses, and family offices, designing governance systems that facilitate stakeholder alignment. He co-founded the University of Zurich’s Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth in 2018, and is a course Design Team member at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Arieh built the Groupe Mimran family office and investment program. As Chief Investment Officer, he directs investment strategy and oversees allocations across the global portfolio of operating companies and diversified endowment-style portfolios. He has held various leadership positions and served on the Board of Directors of numerous Groupe Mimran entities.
Howard-Yana Shapiro, Ph.D.
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Howard has been involved with sustainable agricultural and agroforestry systems, plant breeding, molecular biology and genomics for over 50 years.
In his career, Howard has been involved with and advised indigenous communities, non-governmental organizations, governmental agencies, and private institutions worldwide, including serving as an advisor and policy maker to several national and regional agricultural, biotech, and agroforestry institutions. He has delivered over 100 keynote speeches, lectured at 45 universities, and advised across the spectrum on policy, practice and scaling. He currently serves as Science Advisor to a number of food and ag tech companies.
Howard’s academic career spans 45 years. Currently a Senior Fellow at UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, he served for 20 years as the Chief Agricultural Officer at Mars, Inc. He was lead author in the IAASTD chapter on Biotechnology and Biodiversity, a member of the National Research Council Committee on Citrus Greening, Chairperson of the Board of the Agriculture Sustainability Institute at UC Davis for 10 years, and was the recipient of The Award of Distinction from The College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, UC Davis. He served as Co- Chairperson for the 1st and 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry, co-authored the Mid- Term Review of the CGIAR, was named to the UC Davis Grand Challenges Working Group, and is the recipient of the University of California Lifetime Achievement in Innovation Award.
Charles Goodwin
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Charles is passionate about building businesses with impact and helping companies navigate the startup journey.
Prior to TO VC, Charles managed the Enterprise Technology portfolio at Point72 Ventures and is currently an Advisor to Global Predictions and BlockApps as well as a member of the Board of Melior Innovations. Charles loves working with entrepreneurs who are driven to change the world they know. Charles brings significant experience building and managing investment firms from new funds to the world’s largest hedge fund.
Charles was COO both at a division of Bridgewater Associates and at Point72 Ventures, with responsibility for business strategy, investment reviews, building new business lines, and recruiting and developing investment talent. He understands the process rigor required to operate a world class investment business and implement best practice decision-making.
Tom Baruch
Kate Fischer
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Kate is inspired by people, connection to nature, and partnering with innovative companies dedicated to impactful solutions.
She believes in the importance of supporting early-stage businesses to catalyze meaningful change. Prior to joining TO VC, Kate was an Investment Associate at Walton Enterprises on the Direct Investments Team where she was responsible for executing and monitoring direct and fund investments across a range of sectors on behalf of the descendants of Sam and Helen Walton. Prior to joining Walton Enterprises, Kate was an Investment Banking Associate and Analyst covering Financial Institutions at Credit Suisse in New York. Kate holds a Master’s in Finance, Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of Denver.
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Tom Baruch currently invests in early stage companies focused on resource scarce and climate sensitive markets out of his family office, Baruch Future Ventures (BFV).
Tom founded Formation 8 in 2011, a venture capital fund with $950 million under management, and currently serves as an Emeritus Partner. Tom earlier formed CMEA Capital in 1988 with New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and 3M Corp, and was responsible for managing a total of $1.2 billion of capital across seven funds at CMEA where he personally led investments resulting in 18 IPO’s.
Tom was a founding member of Obama’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where he advised the U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Council of Competitiveness, and a member of the Steering Committee of its Energy, Security, Innovation and Sustainability Initiative and the U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative.
