Scott is Vice President of the Bay Area Family of Funds and oversees the management of $200 million in double bottom line private equity funds. The Family of Funds portfolio currently includes the Bay Area Smart Growth Fund I and II and the Bay Area Equity Fund. In addition to his fund responsibilities, Scott manages execution of the second bottom line programs throughout the Bay Area. The programs currently focus on education, double bottom line business development, and community capacity building.

Prior to joining the Bay Area Council Family of Funds, Scott was involved in acquisitions of over $225 million at Cohen Asset Management, a commercial real estate investment firm based out of Los Angeles, and a commercial real estate appraisal firm based out of the central valley. Scott spent the first five years of his career at Deloitte Consulting, where he focused on facilities and location strategy, corporate strategy and operations, and global systems and process implementation.

Scott is a native of California, originally from the great city of Fresno. He holds a Master of Real Estate Development and MBA from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Scott is involved in the San Francisco Urban Land Institute Young Leaders Steering Committee and the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, has traveled to 44 countries, and enjoys kitesurfing.

Kristina Schick is Program Director at the Bay Area Council. In this role, she is responsible for coordinating a number of initiatives for the Family of Funds, with a focus on both financial and community-based social returns (the second bottom line) for investors. Projects include Bay Area Capital Connections, a region-wide conference series which provides investment and business resources for inner-city and minority-lead companies in the Bay Area and the Bay Area Ross Program in Real Estate, an executive training program which provides urban developers from the nonprofit, private, and public sectors with the technical expertise and resources needed to develop significant real estate projects in their communities.

In addition, Kristina plays a management role in the Bay Area Council Scholarship Program which provides financial scholarships to underserved, high-achieving Bay Area scholars entering their freshman year of college. To date, the Scholarship Program has helped 30 promising students achieve their dream of a college education.

Prior to working at the Bay Area Council, Kristina was employed by the Portland Development Commission as the Executive Assistant to the Director of Resource Development and Project Administrative Specialist for the South Waterfront Urban Renewal Area. Throughout her four years with the Commission, Kristina served as the sole project assistant for Portland’s largest, inner city urban renewal project and provided support to the South Waterfront Urban Renewal Advisory Committee and the governing boards of the Portland Family of Funds.

A native of the Bay Area, Kristina holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Oregon

Joseph J. Gross is President, CEO, of Sustainable Systems, Inc. a business and economic development corporation. Incorporated in 1993, Sustainable Systems specializes in using market strategies to achieve sustainable development and smart-growth objectives – typically through undertaking collaborative projects in the form of public-private-community partnerships.

Prior to Sustainable Systems, Mr. Gross served as Executive Director of EDGE:
The Alliance of Ethnic and Environmental Organizations; Executive Director of Neighborhood House of North Richmond; and General Manager of the Berkeley Distribution Cooperative. Mr. Gross also served as Board President of Berkeley Unified School District and as a member of the development team for the CALSTART Project Hatchery advanced transportation incubator at the Alameda Naval Air Station.

Joseph Gross is a Board member of numerous organizations, including: the ACET Business Incubator; the California Foundation for the Economy and the Environment; EastBayTech.net; Natural Logic, Inc.; Oakland Sharing the Vision; the Oakland Workforce Initiative Board; the Economic Development Alliance for Business; the Telecommunications Policy Commission of the City of Oakland; the Urban Habitat Program; and the PG&E/Greenlining Institute Partnership.

James Hurd Nixon
Co-Founder and Chair of the Board
Sustainable Systems, Inc.

James Nixon is Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of Sustainable Systems, Inc., a business and economic development corporation, located in Oakland, CA, that provides market-based strategies for the achievement of sustainable development and smart growth. Sustainable Systems is the Initiative Building Consultant to the Bay Area Council for the Bay Area Family of Funds. Sustainable Systems is also the developer and manager of the Communications Technology Cluster, a Business Resources Center with incubation and acceleration programs located in downtown Oakland.

Mr. Nixon holds a Series 7 Securities Registration and a Series 24 Principal's Registration with Growth Capital Services.

Prior to assuming these roles, Mr. Nixon served as Senior Vice President for Social Research and Network Services for 12 years with Progressive Asset Management, Inc., the first socially responsible investment broker/dealer. Mr. Nixon co-coordinated three international “Building the Sustainable Economy” conferences and drafted Building the Sustainable Economy: An Opportunity for Oakland, a policy framework unanimously adopted by the Oakland City Council.

Mr. Nixon is Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Community Development, co-sponsor of the Bay Area Equity Fund: A Double Bottom Line Fund, one of the funds in the Bay Area Family of Funds. He also is a member of the Advisory Committee of Inner City Advisors and co-founder of Café de la Paz, Inc., a restaurant and community center in Berkeley California.