Green Alpha Team

Jeremy W. Deems, CPA
Co-Founder, CFO and COO
Prior to co-founding Green Alpha Advisors, Jeremy was CFO of Forward Management, LLC, investment advisor to the Forward Funds and Sierra Club Mutual Funds, where 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 with Garvin Jabusch. In addition, Jeremy was the CFO of ReFlow Management Co., LLC, an innovative liquidity management tool for the mutual fund industry. He was responsible for all financial matters for more than 15 related business entities and affiliates. 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 and ReFlow, Jeremy served as Regional Marketing Assistant within the Investment Consulting Services Group (Separately Managed Accounts) at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.

Jeremy’s undergraduate studies at Saint Mary’s College of California resulted in a B.S. in Business Administration, Honors Concentration in Financial Services and a Minor in Accounting. Jeremy returned to Saint Mary’s College several years later to pursue his MBA in Finance. Jeremy is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.  Jeremy currently serves as independent trustee and audit committee chairman of four mutual fund trusts based in Denver, Colorado.

Garvin F. Jabusch
Co-Founder and CIO

Before founding Green Alpha Advisors with Maria Potapov and Jeremy Deems, Garvin was the Director of Forward Sustainable Investments, a business unit of Forward Management, LLC. There his duties included supervision of and responsibility for all aspects of the management of the Sierra Club Stock Fund and the Sierra Club Equity-Income Fund. This included overseeing portfolio managers, manger performance evaluation, research, marketing, sales, operations and relationship management. In addition, Garvin also directly co-managed the Sierra Club Stock Fund (SCFSX). Garvin previously served as Vice President, Strategic Services at Morgan Stanley. Strategic projects completed there by Garvin include integration of European acquisitions, establishing the European call center, and the sale of Morgan Stanley Online to the Bank of Montreal’s Harris Direct unit. His other experience includes trading, mutual fund sales and research and analysis. Garvin holds an MBA in international management and finance from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).

Prior to his entry into the business world, Garvin studied at the Ph.D. program in physical anthropology and archaeology for five years at the University of Utah. During the course of this work, Garvin wrote and contributed to many Environmental Impact Studies. Garvin’s thesis work in physical anthropology involved human adaptation to varying levels of ultra-violet exposure from sunlight. The study of ozone depletion was critical to this effort. Garvin published several papers on this topic, notably in the Canadian science review journal The Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary Chacmool proceedings. Garvin did other work in paleopathology and human osteology, and was a member of Sigma Chi, the national scientific research honor society. Garvin’s other activities and experience includes work as a white-water guide in Utah and Arizona, work as an EMT, swiftwater rescue certification, French language proficiency and travel.

Richard Imperiale
President, Uniplan Investment Counsel, Inc.

Rick is Co-Portfolio Manager on the Sierra Club Green Alpha Portfolio.  Rick is also President of the Uniplan Companies and the Chief Investment Officer of Uniplan Investment Counsel, Inc.  Rick was Chairman and Trustee of the Inland Retail Real Estate Investment Trust which was sold to Developers Diversified in a transaction valued at $6.2 billion in 2006.  He is widely quoted in local and national media on matters pertaining to real estate investments and is a regular guest on CNNfn's power Lunch.  He has appeared on Bloomberg News, CNBC, and is a frequent guest on the syndicated radio talk show, Money Sense.  He authored the book, Real Estate Investment Trusts: New Strategies For Portfolio Management, published by John Wiley & sons, 2002; now in its second edition.

Rick started his career as a credit analyst for the First Wisconsin National Bank (now US Bank), where he assisted in building credit-scoring models which helped identify companies with a high probability of financial success.  In 1983, Rick joined B.C. Ziegler & Company, a Midwest regional brokerage firm, where he was instrumental in the development of portfolio strategies for one of the first hedged municipal bond mutual funds.

Rick is a native of New Jersey.  He attended Marquette University Business School where he received a BS Degree in finance.  In addition, he completed the postgraduate lecture series in corporate finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

LeighAnne Riise
Intern, Social Media Manager

LeighAnne is the newest addition to the Green Alpha team, and is currently assisting Green Alpha Advisors with online marketing, social media and online outreach.  This role is part-time position as LeighAnne is also an Inside Sales Representative for Google Offers.  Prior to that she was an Internet Recruitment Specialist for Monster World Wide.  LeighAnne began this position with Yahoo! in 2010, when Monster purchased HotJobs.com. She is successful in maximizing sales opportunities, and enjoys being near the pulse of the employment market.

LeighAnne started her career in 2006 as a Multifunctional Device and Document Management Specialist for Lanier, later to be purchased by Ricoh in 2008. During this role she consulted businesses with strategies for greening their office spaces via scanning solutions such as back-end filing and strategic device placement. Toward the end of 2009 and 2010, she assisted The City and County of San Francisco, Santa Clara County, Lucas Film Ltd. and several hospitals with document management strategies focused on green initiatives.

LeighAnne is a native of Oakdale, California, a rural area near The Stanislaus River, where she found her love of nature and became a lifetime girl scout. She attended the University of Santa Barbara and received a BA Degree in Political Science. During college, she spent a year in Denmark studying via the UC’s Education Abroad Program at the University of Copenhagen.