Stanford Advisory Council

The Advisory Council guides the partnership's center at Stanford, helping to sharpen our strategies for scaling and increasing our engagement across the university’s schools.

Thomas A. Patterson

CHAIR, NATCAP STANFORD ADVISORY COUNCIL; MADRONE CAPITAL PARTNERS

Tom Patterson is a General Partner at Madrone Capital Partners, focused on investments in founder/family owned businesses, the emerging middle class in China and Brazil, and clean energy technology. He is Chair of NatCap’s Advisory Council, a role he assumed in December 2023.

Charles J. Katz, Jr.

CO-CHAIR, NATCAP STANFORD ADVISORY COUNCIL; KATZ FAMILY VENTURES

Chuck Katz manages family investments and is co-creator of several photographic books. Previously, he practiced law at Perkins Coie, Seattle, and then served as Executive Vice President of Opsware, Inc. He is former board member of REI, Inc. and several non-profit organizations, and is presently Vice Chair of NatCap’s Advisory Council.

Matthew R. Barger

INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL LLC

Matt Barger is the managing member of Intellectual Capital LLC and a senior advisor at Hellman & Friedman, LLC. Matt serves on the Board of Directors of Artisan Partners Asset Management. He is also a Director of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, the San Francisco Free Clinic, and is President of the USA Cycling Development Foundation.

Felicity Barringer

STANFORD’S BILL LANE CENTER

Felicity Barringer is currently the Writer in Residence at Stanford’s Bill Lane Center for the American West, where she created, edits and writes for a blog, “… & the West.” Before joining the Lane Center, Felicity worked for The New York Times and, before that, The Washington Post.

Peter S. Bing

STANFORD VOLUNTEER

Peter Bing is former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, former Trustee, and current volunteer for Stanford University.

Thomas Dickson

NEW ENERGY RISK

Tom Dickson serves as Chief Executive Officer of New Energy Risk, Inc. and as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Haverford Capital Partners (Cayman) Limited. Tom was formerly the CUO and CEO of Centre Solutions.

Robert (Bob) Fisher

GAP, INC.

Bob Fisher is chairman of the board of Gap Inc., a position he has held since 2015. He is the co-founder and trustee of the Pisces Foundation, which focuses on environmental giving, and serves on the board and executive committee at Conservation International. He is chairman of the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Harry Hagey

Harry Hagey is the retired Chief Executive Officer and Board Chair of the San Francisco investment firm Dodge & Cox. Harry and his wife Shirley are founding partners of the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) in 2010.

Robert Litterman

KEPOS CAPITAL

Bob Litterman is a founding partner at Kepos Capital and chairs their Risk Committee. Bob was a partner at Goldman-Sachs & Co, where he was head of the firm-wide risk function. He serves on the boards of Climate Central, Commonfund, Resources for the Future, and the Sloan Foundation.

Xin Liu

ENLIGHT FOUNDATION AND XINHE FOUNDATION

Xin Liu is the co-founder and president of the Enlight Foundation in the U.S., and director and founder of Xinhe Foundation in China. Her philanthropy focuses on action-driven research; improving educational opportunities for children in developing countries; and on social entrepreneurs, to scale their work on pressing issues including climate change and youth mental health. Xin has worked as an award-winning photojournalist at many news outlets in the U.S. and China.

Eduardo Mufarej

GOOD KARMA PARTNERS

Eduardo Mufarej is a Brazilian investor, entrepreneur, and social activist. He is presently Co-Chief Investment Officer and Head of Natural Climate Solutions at Just Climate. He is the founder of Good Karma Partners, a pioneer in sustainability investments in Latin America, and he was the co-founder and CEO of Tarpon Investimentos, one of Brazil's largest independent investment managers. He is also co-founder and Chairman of Renova, an incubator of political talent with a presence in different countries of Latin America.

Rose Niu

THE PAULSON INSTITUTE

Rose Niu is Chief Conservation Officer at the Paulson Institute. Earlier, she was Managing Director of China Programs at World Wildlife Fund-US; prior to that, she founded the China program at The Nature Conservancy.

Ramanan Raghavendran

AMASIA

Ramanan Raghavendran is the managing partner of Amasia, a venture capital firm, where he invests in companies that help fight the climate crisis and enhance sustainability. He serves as a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. He has served on the boards and/or been the seed funder for several non-profits, including Magic Bus, an NGO that works with 500,000 at-risk children in South Asia.

Roger W. Sant

THE SUMMIT FOUNDATION

Roger Sant is the co-founder and Chair Emeritus of The AES Corporation; a Fortune 200 company that generates and distributes electrical power worldwide. 

Before establishing AES in 1981, he was a lecturer in Finance at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, served as the Assistant Administrator for Energy Conservation and the Environment at the U.S. Federal Energy Administration, and directed the Energy Productivity Center at the Mellon Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Mr. Sant is co-founder and Chair of The Summit Foundation, co-founder and Chair of the Matsui Foundation, a member of the board of Nia Tero, and serves on the advisory boards of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the National Symphony Orchestra, The Stanford Advisory Council for the Natural Capital Alliance, and the National Geographic’s Pristine Seas Initiative. He is also a member of the Chancellor’s Board of Advisors at the University of California, Davis. 

He is a Regent Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution and served as its first Chair. He is also Chair Emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund – U.S., an Emeritus Board Member of the World Resources Institute, and he formerly served on the PBS Foundation Board.  

In addition to being Co-Founder and Chair Emeritus of the AES Corporation, he previously served on the corporate Boards of Marriott International, Thermo Electron, and Finnegan Instruments. 

Mr. Sant earned a B.S. from Brigham Young University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. He is a co-author of Creating Abundance: America’s Least-Cost Energy Strategy (McGraw-Hill, 1982).

He is married to California Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui, who has represented Sacramento and its surrounding areas since 2005 (CA-7).  

Alvaro Umaña

CATIE, SOLUTIONS FOR INCLUSIVE GREEN DEVELOPMENT

Álvaro Umaña served as Costa Rica’s first Minister of Environment (1986-1990), for which he was internationally recognized for implementation of innovative financial instruments and other path-breaking contributions to conservation. Dr. Umaña created the National Biodiversity Institute and developed a Master’s in natural resources and sustainable development at INCAE Business School. He was founding chair of the World Bank Inspection Panel, and has served on the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, the UNESCO Executive Council, the World Resources Institute, and the Stockholm Environment Institute. Dr. Umaña presently co-chairs Climate Transparency.

Jerry Yang

AME CLOUD VENTURES

Jerry Yang is founder of AME Cloud Ventures, and founder and past CEO of Yahoo! Jerry serves on the boards of Stanford University, Alibaba, Workday and Lenovo, and as senior adviser and board observer of Didi Chuxing. He is a member of the Committee of 100 and the Council on Foreign Relations.

William F. Meehan III

In Memoriam

Bill was a founding co-chair of the NatCap Stanford Advisory Council. He was the Lafayette Partners Lecturer in Strategic Management at Stanford’s GSB and a Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Co, where he had spent his career as an esteemed management consultant. At Stanford, he was also a founding member of the Advisory Council of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, a faculty member of the Public Management Program and the Center for Social Innovation, and a member of the Arts Advisory Council. He was a Life Governor of the San Francisco Symphony. He died on January 26, 2023 in Palo Alto. He was 70.