Board of Directors + Advisors

Yarrow Kraner

Yarrow is the Founder of HATCH and Co-Founder of Montana Festival. He is an Aspen Institute Fellow, RSA Fellow, and named 2015 top 100 creatives in the U.S. by Origins. He is a pioneer of social networking and has been building communities for twenty years. In 1999, Yarrow created an online network – The Hero Project, which grew to 1.5 Million users and was acquired by FOX Studios in 2003. In 2004, Yarrow founded HATCH, connecting and cross-pollinating diverse global influencers and NextGen youth leaders to accelerate collaborations and solutions for the UN’s SDGs. Yarrow is featured in the book Talent for Humanity, was honored with the Audfest Impact Award in 2019, and has led think tanks with Intel, Hasbro, Ernst & Young, NASA, PolicyLink, and has spoken at TEDx, Vivatech, EarthX, Day One in Monaco, Business Innovation Factory Summit (BIF), and the Volcano Summit.

Otho Kerr

Otho E. Kerr III is Chair of the Board of Directors for HATCH, and the Director of Impact Investing at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He is charged with catalyzing capital providers to invest in underserved communities. Otho has helped to shape the impact investing sector as a founding partner and Chief Operating Officer for Encourage Capital and as Chief Investment Officer for Acumen. Otho has worked in finance for over 30 years, beginning with Goldman Sachs. He started his professional career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Otho received a BA from Dartmouth College and JD from The Harvard Law School. He is a Co-Chair of the Board of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, the nation’s largest LGBTQ youth services organization, and also serves on the National Academy of Medicine’s Advisory Committee on the Culture of Health Program. Otho enjoys running, skiing, and travel, and is an active member of TED.

Erica Mackey

Erica is a serial entreprneur, currently using Web3 to harness the power of caregivers to create an equitable and sustainable care economy and reimagine early childcare/education, focused on Early Childhood Development backed by science. Erica was the CEO & Co-Founder of Off-Grid Electric, the world’s first massively scalable off-grid electric company, connecting over 1 million Africans to affordable solar energy. Her ventures have raised over $130M from investors including Elon Musk, Paul Allen, Jeff Skoll, and others. She is on the Board of Directors for TheBoardroom Africa, a curated online marketplace that connects CEOs and C-suite level executives with peer-endorsed female candidates for private and public company board service. Erica was a Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship Fellow, was recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs and is a delegate at the Academy of Achievement.

Renay Loper

VICE PRESIDENT, PROGRAM INNOVATION / PYXERA GLOBAL – Renay centers people as an impact strategist driven by catalyzing change & leveraging the power of partnerships to shift unjust systems. Renay advises leadership of fortune 500 corporations & has implemented social impact programs globally; created Rhetoric to Action, a series of conversations to mobilize collective action for racial justice; led grant diversification efforts for the Japan Foundation; facilitated sessions at the UN and the US Department of State; teaches Personal Leadership to sustainability MBA students; and serves on several nonprofit boards.

Jay Hirschton

Jay Hirschton has over two decades of leadership in social finance, philanthropy, and nonprofit sectors building teams and scaling organizations. Jay is the COO of Vibrant Data Labs, a social mission company that amplifies the impact of climate funding by leveraging AI data tools. Previously, Jay was the CEO of Full Circle Fund and has led fundraising and operations for various international and national organizations. Jay is a fellow at the Stanford d.School, a graduate of the AltMBA, and has held numerous board leadership roles including Board Member for the HATCH Network.

Susan Carstensen

Susan is an independent business consultant, with more than 30 years of executive experience, highly respected among her peers and is often sought out for her expertise on business and entrepreneurial start-ups. She is an advisor, activist and a patron of heroic endeavors. She has impacted many with the generous sharing of her time and talent, from inspiring and mentoring students and entrepreneurs to serving her community through leadership on local, regional and national boards. She was the COO and CFO of RightNow Technologies, instrumental in building the company to a $1.5B acquisition in 2011 by Oracle, Inc. She is a board member at Workfront, Socrata, Foundant, Quiq, PFL, D.A.Davidson, MSUAF and MSUIC. As an active investor in Frontier Angel Fund, cofounder of OpensourceMT, a mentor in PowerhouseMT, Susan is focused on growing the high-tech ecosystem in Montana. Susan is a 5th generation Montanan, high tech growth advisor, investor, mentor board member, and avid adventurer.

Elke Govertsen

Elke is currently working on her memoir. “I don’t really fit on on org chart, but the titles I have held are CEO, Chief Community Officer, Editor, Creative Director, Founder, publisher, executive, author.” Elke was Founder / CEO of Mamalode Media Company which was named “America’s best parenting magazine” by Lisa Stone, Founder of BlogHer. Named one of Origin magazine’s Top 100 Creatives, featured in Forbes.com, Real Simple, Ad Tech, Huffington Post, and Godaddy Garage, Elke has made a large national footprint from Montana. She has spoken at events like AdWeek, The Girls Lounge, and C2 Montreal, and TEDx.