The Microlumbia Board

David Del ser Bartolome, founder and chairman of the board

Katie Leonberger, founder and associate McKinsey & Company

Philip C. Bowers, managing director Bentley Associates L.P.

Brad Swanson, partner at Developing World Markets

Josh Siegel, associate McKinsey & Company

Howard J. Finkelstein, attorney Law Offices of Howard J. Finkelstein

DAVID DEL SER BARTOLOME is a Telecommunications Engineer, graduated with a dual degree from the Universidad Politecnica in Madrid, Spain, and the ENST in Paris, France. He worked for Vodafone Group for 5 years and was R&D Project Manager by the time he left the company. Projects of note include two around mobile phone payments, as well as others focused on music and identity management. While he was getting his MBA from Columbia Business School, he interned during the summer of 2007 for Donors Choose in New York and for Endeavor in Johannesburg. Today he is working part-time for CBS launching an expansion into Latin America of experiential educational activities. At the same time, he is launching Frogtek, a social business that will produce IT systems to support retail micro-entrepreneurs in the developing world.

KATIE LEONBERGER graduated from Stanford University with a dual BA in International Relations and Economics as well as an MA in International Policy Studies.  While at Stanford, she helped start Volunteers in Latin America, a nonprofit that provides undergraduates with meaningful service-learning opportunities in international development in Latin America.  Katie’s professional life began when she spent 3 years working as an economic consultant for Cornerstone Research while serving on the board Refugee Transitions, a San Francisco nonprofit.  Her experience in microfinance includes 4 months working as an ACCION consultant for a local microfinance bank in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and consulting to Women’s World Banking and the Grameen Foundation in the Philippines.  Currently an MBA student at Columbia Business School, Katie focuses on social enterprise and management.  She spent her summer at McKinsey & Company and plans to combine consulting with international development work in the future.

PHILIP C. BOWERS began his career at Merrill Lynch in 1982 and spent 21 years at the firm in various positions. After six years as a Corporate Finance generalist covering major Fortune 500 companies, he joined Merrill’s High Yield and Restructuring Group as a Managing Director. In 1994, he joined the firm’s Asia Pacific Investment Banking Group, working in Hong Kong for two years and in Singapore for two years. Mr. Bowers moved to Tokyo in 1998, growing the office from 20 to 90 bankers. During his tenure in Japan, Merrill was voted “Best Foreign Investment Bank” in 1999. Returning to New York in 2002, he gained middle market merger & acquisition experience working in the Exclusive Sales and Divestiture Group. In 2004, Mr. Bowers became Head of US M&A for Nomura Securities before starting his own investment banking boutique, Linkwell Capital. He joined Bentley in 2008. Mr. Bowers earned his B.S. from University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce and his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

BRAD SWANSON is a partner in Developing World Markets, which he joined in 2003. As a banker and a diplomat, he has worked in emerging markets for 25 years and done business in more than 50 countries. He has led a number of pioneering transactions in the international capital markets on behalf of issuers in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. His former employers are Global Environment Fund (Washington DC), BNP-Paribas (London), Bankers Trust (NY/London), Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (NY), and the US State Department (several countries in Africa/Washington DC).  In 2003, he took a 5-month leave of absence to work in the occupation government in Iraq, where he managed funding programs for medium, small and micro businesses. Brad has a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia University Business School. He speaks French.

JOSHUA SIEGEL recently wrapped up his MBA at Columbia Business School.  Since emerging in 2001 from upstate New York with a degree in economics from Colgate University, Josh first journeyed to Boston to work for a retail and wholesale consulting firm.  Following the trauma of the 2004 ALCS, Josh and his fiancé escaped to friendly Manhattan where he joined a global advertising agency, JWT, to manage client brand communication.  Josh currently lives in New York City where his rapidly evolving hobbies currently include homebrewing (Boston Ale), traveling (Korea, Spain), and running (outside). He has also worked in strategy consulting at Monitor Group.