ICIC is a nonprofit research and strategy organization headquartered in Boston. Our team of 20 professionals is led by President and CEO Mary Kay Leonard.

• Matt Camp

  Senior Vice President, Urban Business Initiatives

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  As the senior vice president of urban business initiatives, Matt Camp’s primary responsibility is to lead ICIC’s partnership with Goldman Sachs to build and expand the 10,000 Small Businesses Program to scale. Mr. Camp also provides strategic support to ICIC’s corporate partnerships as they relate to small business initiatives.

  Before taking on his current role, Matt was the director of development at ICIC. He established and executed a national strategy to engage public, private and non-profit entities in significantly enhancing business growth in America’s inner cities and was responsible for managing and implementing all activities relating to fundraising, business development and client/donor management. Matt also conducted extensive analysis on the retail and construction, housing and real estate clusters as part of ICIC’s research team.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Matt worked as an independent consultant to organizations focused on educational and economic development issues. He has over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry, having worked as a senior financial analyst at Liberty Mutual and OneBeacon and as a general manager at American International Group.

  Matt holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a bachelor’s in government from Harvard College.

• Nydia Cardenas

  Senior Analyst, Urban Business Initiatives

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  As a senior analyst for ICIC's urban business initiatives, Nydia Cárdenas' primary focus is the implementation of the outreach, application and selection process for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Nydia worked as a program manager for the New America Alliance, a national non-profit organization comprised of prominent Latino and Latina business leaders. Her primary responsibilities included managing the organization's Pension Fund Initiative and the annual Wall Street Summit. Nydia also completed a 6-month fellowship with the Boston Red Sox focusing on evaluating the team’s fan clubs.

  Nydia hold's a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

• Mack Davidson

  Senior Analyst, Data

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  Senior data analyst Mack Davidson serves as the administrator of Blackbaud Sphere, ICIC’s constituent relationship management system. Mack also provides technical expertise to help staff develop specialized database applications using other software.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Mack worked a variety of analytical roles at Harvard University, University of Massachusetts-Boston, the Conservation Law Foundation and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

  Mack holds a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s from Princeton University.

• Mary Duggan

  Senior Analyst, Communications

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  Mary Duggan is the senior communications analyst at ICIC where she helps lead the strategy and execution of the organizations’ communication campaigns. With a focus on small businesses, Mary develops content for ICIC’s social media channels, e-communications program collateral and website.
  
  Prior to joining ICIC, Mary worked as an Economic Development Associate at MassEcon (The Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development). At MassEcon Mary managed communication outreach, planned corporate events, and fostered member relationships.
  
  Mary holds a bachelor’s in Communications and Human Development from Boston College.
   

• Alexandra Edelstein

  Analyst, Urban Business Initiatives

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  As an urban business initiatives analyst, Alexandra Edelstein’s primary focus is the implementation of the outreach, application, and selection process for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program.
  
  Prior to Joining ICIC, Alexandra worked as the Executive Assistant to the CEO at Boston Rising, an innovative startup anti-poverty fund in Boston. At Boston Rising, her primary responsibilities included providing research, writing, and administrative support to the CEO, development team and communications department. She also assisted the facilitation of initiatives in the organization’s key focus areas of education, community wealth, and social connections.
  
  Alexandra holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government/Law and Philosophy from Lafayette College and a Masters in International Law (LLM) from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

• Thomas Goff

  Senior Analyst, Research

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  Thomas Goff is responsible for synthesizing, analyzing and mapping demographic, socio-economic, education, workforce-skill, occupation, commuter, land use, infrastructure, cluster, industry and firm-level data for America’s regions, cities and inner cities. In addition to analyzing data, Thom enjoys bicycling with ICIC’s Initiative for a Companionable Inter City Cycle group to, in and through inner cities.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Thom worked on bicycle and pedestrian planning for the City of Cambridge’s Environmental & Transportation Planning Division and on neighborhood business redevelopment plans in New Orleans’ City Hall following Hurricane Katrina.

  Thom holds a bachelor’s in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• Kate Haggerty

  Manager, Urban Business Initiatives

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  Kate Haggerty provides strategic research, analytical and communicative support for ICIC's urban business initiatives.  As manager, Kate leads the outreach, application and selection process for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program. Since joining ICIC in 2009, Kate has supported a variety of projects in the Communications and Development departments.

  In addition to her work at ICIC, Kate is involved with the DREAM program, a New England-based non-profit organization which supports social and economic development in low-income communities.

  Kate holds a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Vermont.

• Brenda Harley

  Office Manager

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  Brenda Harley is the ICIC office manager and is responsible for managing ICIC Board events, vendor relations and human resources as well as filling out the development team.

  Brenda comes with over 25 years of administrative and operations experience. Prior to joining ICIC, Brenda worked in various administrative roles supporting senior-level executives in both the public and private sectors. Additionally, she sits on several community/civic boards and has worked as a public servant for over 20 years in Massachusetts.

  Brenda holds a bachelor’s in Business Management from Alabama A & M University in Huntsville, AL.
   

• Brian Hull

  Senior Consultant, Research and Advisory Practice

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  Brian Hull focuses on the intersection of research, data analysis and strategic consulting. Brian identifies how anchor institutions can better provide local economic opportunities for low-income urban residents and explores innovative workforce development systems to create a more productive local labor force.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Brian was State Coordinator for an activist group working for progressive change in Rhode Island to support low-income workers though community organizing, coalition building, policy development, and advocacy. He has worked on economic and workforce development projects for the City of Providence, the City of Worcester, Broad Community Connections in New Orleans, LA and the Port of Miami in Florida. Brian also ran a successful small business in Rhode Island from 1996 until 2010.

  Brian earned his Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, with a focus on urban economic and workforce development, social and urban policy, and state and local public finance. He also holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from Rhode Island College.

• Lisa Karcich

  Analyst, Inner City Capital Connections

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  As an analyst for Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC), Lisa supports the outreach, analytical and strategic efforts of the program.  She also assists in the coordination of ICCC's local training days and national signature conference. 

  Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science in economics from Northeastern University.

• Mary Kay Leonard

  President and CEO

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  As the president and CEO of ICIC, Mary Kay Leonard manages ICIC’s strategic direction and is focused on increasing the organization’s impact on inner city economic development across the U.S. She also directs ICIC’s efforts to engage new corporate and foundation partners, expand recognition and education programs for inner city businesses and leverage the underutilized assets of America’s urban communities to maintain the country’s competitiveness internationally.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Mary Kay served as the senior vice president for The Community Builders (TCB), one of the nation’s leading developers for low-income housing areas, and successfully launched a program to double the earned income level of residents living in affordable and mixed-income housing. Previously, Mary Kay was the interim CEO and chief operating officer of United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB) and, later, the vice president of investor relations for the United Way system where she was responsible for raising more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

  Mary Kay also served as the senior vice president for Work/Family Directions (WFD), which designed and delivered work/life and employee assistance programs for Fortune 500 companies. From 1985 to 1990, she served as the commissioner for the Massachusetts Office for Children and is credited with doubling the agency’s budget during her tenure.

  Mary Kay holds a juris doctor from Northeastern University School of Law and is a graduate of Colgate University with a degree in urban studies. She has completed senior executive programs at Yale School of Management, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School.

• Nicki MacManus

  Director, Strategy Consulting Practice

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  Nicki MacManus joined the ICIC in summer 2009, as part of the Harvard Business School Leadership Fellows program. As director in the strategy consulting practice, Nicki is responsible for advising clients based in inner cities across the U.S., with a particular focus on the role that anchor institutions play in stimulating local economic growth.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Nicki worked as a management consultant at Mercer HR Consulting in Ireland and Monitor Group in the UK.

  Nicki holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in international business from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland and the École Supérieure de Commerce et de Management de Tours-Poitiers, France.
   

• Adetola Olatunji

  Analyst, Urban Business Initiatives

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  As an urban business initiatives analyst, Adetola’s primary focus is the implementation of the outreach, application and selection process for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Adetola worked as a Business Analyst at Dhar Law, LLP, where she focused on implementing business development projects, creating marketing initiatives, and developing relationships with small businesses. Adetola is also actively involved in her church, serving as its Praise and Worship Leader, and as a mentor to high school students as part of the church’s Youth Mentoring Program.

  Adetola holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from Princeton University, where she also minored in African Studies and Spanish.

• Genevieve O'Mara

  Analyst, Urban Business Initiatives

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  As an Urban Business Initiatives analyst, Genevieve O'Mara's primary focus is the implementation of the outreach, application and selection process for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program.
  
  Prior to joining ICIC, Genevieve spent a year working for the Spanish Ministry of Education in Madrid. She has also worked as a Special Projects intern at Dean & DeLuca, where her primary responsibilities included conducting an extensive competitive analysis in the New York City market and improving D&D's pricing schemes.
  
  Genevieve holds a Bachelor of Arts in geography from Dartmouth College.

• Steven Pedigo

  Vice President, Communications and Content

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  Steven Pedigo is the vice president of communications and content for ICIC, where he is responsible for overseeing the engagement and dissemination strategy for the organization.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Steven was the vice president for business attraction and research for Greenlight Greater Portland, a regional economic development organization for the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. Steven began his career in economic development as the director of research for the Greater Washington Initiative (GWI), a regional marketing organization for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

  Steven holds graduate degrees from the H. John Heinz III School for Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

• Kyle Parrish Polk

  Manager, Research

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  As a manager in the research division, Kyle Parrish Polk is focused on identifying the strengths of inner city residents and employers. Kyle translates those skills and industrial capabilities into growing markets of the national and international economy.

  Kyle plays a lead role in ICIC’s industrial strategy for Mayor Dave Bing’s Detroit Works Project. He is responsible for identifying, understanding and developing opportunities around Detroit’s competitive and emerging clusters.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Kyle was a bank examiner for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and focused on rating risk management practices and testing institutional conformity with Basel II. Additionally, he has extensive experience as an investment banking analyst within the Mergers & Acquisition group for Deutsche Bank’s Global Corporate Banking Division in New York City.

  Kyle hold a bachelor’s in finance from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA.

• Alex Rodriguez

  Manager, Inner City 100

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  Alex Rodriguez joined ICIC in 2008, and manages the Inner City 100 program, a list of 100 of America’s fastest-growing inner city firms. Now in its fourteenth year, the Inner City 100 offers an education curriculum and networking forums for the Inner City 100’s CEOs, helping them to continue to grow their organizations.

  Under Alex’s leadership, the Inner City 100 program has expanded to include record numbers of nominating partners and new companies. Additionally, Alex has organized a variety of local events and panels to keep Inner City 100 winners involved with the program.

  Prior to joining ICIC, Alex worked as a Washington, D.C. staff member for Senator John Cornyn of Texas and on numerous political campaigns.

  Alex holds an MBA from the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from TCU. While pursuing his MBA, Alex served as president of Neeley School’s Honor Code Council and as a consultant for local non-profit organizations. Alex is also an adjunct faculty professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston where he teaches a capstone course in Strategic Management.

• Hyacinth Vassell

  Director, Inner City Capital Connections

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  Hyacinth Vassell manages ICIC’s Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC), a national program designed to stimulate equity capital flow to underserved inner city markets by matching inner city businesses with investors. This program provides growth-oriented inner city businesses with education tools and coaching on the financial options available to support their growth. ICCC also facilitates the connections between inner city entrepreneurs and investors.

  Hyacinth has broad experience in business consulting both as a senior consultant at Andersen Consulting (Accenture) and as an independent consultant. She has led a diverse project portfolio including as re-engineering, process improvement and change management.

  Hyacinth has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
   

• Sathya Vijayakumar

  Analyst, Urban Business Initiatives

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  Coming to ICIC as a New Sector Alliance Resident in Social Enterprise (RISE), Sathya builds capacity and completes projects across ICIC programs. Working primarily within the Inner City 100 and Communications teams, Sathya provides broad support while also working on a strategic project to optimize social media outreach.
  
  Prior to joining ICIC, Sathya was an APPLES Social Entrepreneur Fellow and co-founded Project Educate to raise educational funds for orphans in the developing world. A recent graduate, he is a proud Tar Heel.

  Sathya holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration from UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
   

• Renee Wood

  Controller

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