Meghan Curran

Member of the Board

Meghan is the West Africa Director for Acumen, where she sets strategy, oversees investing and leadership programs, and leads business development for the organization’s work in the region, based in Lagos, Nigeria. Meghan joined Acumen in 2013, and was leading the global Talent function before relocating to West Africa in 2018. Meghan’s commitment to market-driven approaches to tackling poverty is rooted in her experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Guatemala, after which she facilitated loans and created a financial literacy program for Grameen America, the U.S. affiliate of Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank.

Meghan holds an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and a bachelor’s degree from American University in Political Science, and is fluent in Spanish.

Executive Director & Founder

Emiliano founded WARC in 2011. He continues to support on strategy and fundraising. Emiliano is a multi-lingual entrepreneur, with experience as a corporate manager at a Fortune 500’s headquarters in Germany where he managed a portfolio of €60m and was selected as top manager. He holds a Master in International Management from ESADE University and Universität zu Köln, a BA in Business Economics from UTDT, is a Stanford SEED Program Candidate 2018, and speaks 5 languages fluently.

Jorge Lopez Menendez

Founder & COO

Jorge is an agricultural entrepreneur and founder of JTF, a company managing 27,000ha of land in Argentina. He holds an engineering degree in agronomy from Universidad de Buenos Aires, and has over a decade of experience managing large-scale farms. Jorge is one of the early adopters of no-till farming in Argentina, and was instrumental in introducing environmentally friendly models there. He has produced seeds and commodities for large multinationals such as Glencore, Bunge and Nidera. Jorge and his wife moved to Sierra Leone in 2015 and are based at the farm full-time.

Chairman of the Board

Cristián is an equity investor in Warc and sits on the Board of Directors. He is a long-time supporter of Warc and provides strategic advice. He is also a seasoned social entrepreneur, having founded DAP – a 20,000ha farm in Paraguay – and holds a group of telco companies in Chile and France. He is a member of the Board of Directors at the International Food Bank, a partner at Acumen and member of the BritDoc. Previously, he held different senior banking positions in New York and Buenos Aires

Brent Kessel

Member of the Board

Brent is the Founder and CEO of Abacus Wealth Partners and CEO of Align Impact, both Santa Monica-based financial planning and investment firms. Brent is also a Partner at Acumen and the author of “It’s Not About the Money”. His book was named one of Kiplinger’s Top Five Business Books of the Year, and was named by FastCompany as one of the five most generous people on Wall Street.Brent is the Founder and CEO of Abacus Wealth Partners and CEO of Align Impact, both Santa Monica-based financial planning and investment firms. Brent is also a Partner at Acumen and the author of “It’s Not About the Money”. His book was named one of Kiplinger’s Top Five Business Books of the Year, and was named by FastCompany as one of the five most generous people on Wall Street.