Our People
Our Board
Guy Cogan
Toronto, ON Canada
Director, Monitor Company Group, L.P.
Martin Fisher
San Francisco
Co-founder and CEO, KickStart
Patrick Grace, Chairman
New York City
Apollo Philanthropy
Nick Moon
Nairobi, Kenya
Co-Founder and Managing Director, KickStart
Doreen Spadorcia
Hartford, CT
EVP Claim Services & CEO Personal Insurance, The Travelers Companies, Inc.
Laurie Thomsen
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Our Founders
Martin Fisher
Co-Founder & CEO, KickStart
Director
As a child in upstate New York, Martin Fisher often spent time in his family’s basement building things, taking things apart, and putting them back together. He wanted to understand how they worked - and how he could make them better. It’s a trait that has served him well as an inventor and social entrepreneur.
Nick Moon
Co-Founder & Managing Director, KickStart
Director
Nick Moon was born in Bombay, where his English father was a shipping company executive, and his Irish mother an interior designer. The family moved to Calcutta and later to Singapore where they stayed for 13 years.
He later excelled as a student in England. But at 17, restless, searching, a little impatient, Nick left school and spent the next seven years developing practical skills on construction sites in England, France and Italy. He later became a professional cabinet-maker and carpenter. In 1978 Nick settled in London and set up a business specializing in the restoration of Georgian buildings, and doing commissioned work for private clients.
In 1979, during a lull in the business, Nick saw a small want ad in the paper looking for a French-speaking carpenter. This led him on his first trip to Africa to build a music recording studio in Togo.
He saw that Africa was a place of energy and hope and optimism despite its troubles. The trip set the course for his life after that.
