
Team.
Champions of water.
Dr. Allison Schwartz
As the Founder & CEO, Allison started Aqualateral to create an investment model that would be shaped by community members and catalyze private investors to invest in solutions that empower communities to solve acute water challenges. After working alongside NGO and impact investing efforts, she perceived large funding gaps that exacerbated the economic and structural inequality that dictated how communities accessed water. She developed Aqualateral’s multi-asset investment strategy that allows a comprehensive approach to capital deployment and aims to tackle water challenges at the local and global level. She ensures that the Company’s portfolio is centered around safeguarding each person’s right to clean water and generates long-term value for communities and our planet. Prior to starting Aqualateral, she founded Grameen PrimaCare—an organization she co-founded with Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus—to provide women from low-income immigrant communities with health and empowerment programs, which are based on a community health worker model. She continues to support PrimaCare’s efforts as she advances water technologies that can better protect the livelihoods of women and their families. Previously, Allison has worked on efforts to safeguard the rights of incarcerated women and secure legislative reform for domestic violence survivors.
Allison holds a BA from the University of Chicago and an MA from Columbia University. She earned her PhD in History. As a swimmer, Allison’s favorite body of water to swim in is the Indian Ocean.
Jiten Manglani
As Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Jiten leads investment sourcing, execution and portfolio management for Aqualateral. Jiten brings more than a decade of investment experience across infrastructure, impact and sustainability. Previously, he led Impact Investing at Pershing Square Foundation, where he served as the Director of Social Investment and Portfolio Manager of an impact investment portfolio consisting of early-stage social ventures and impact funds. Prior to Pershing Square, Jiten spent eight years at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP), a global private equity fund investing in and managing infrastructure assets in the transportation and utilities sectors. During his time at MSIP, Jiten was involved in multiple transactions and public-private partnerships in a variety of infrastructure sub-sectors such as parking meters, electricity transmission and distribution, power generation, container terminals and toll bridges. He also served on the Board of Directors for multiple MSIP portfolio companies. Prior to joining Aqualateral, Jiten worked as a consultant at Sidewalk Labs, and as an adviser to impact investment funds and early-stage businesses on their financial, investment, impact measurement, and fundraising strategies.
Jiten holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. from Boston University.
Outside of work, Jiten enjoys listening to audiobooks while running, going to the zoo with his children, and is an avid supporter of Chelsea Football Club. Jiten lives in Brooklyn with his wife, son and daughter. Jiten’s favorite body of water is the Caribbean Sea.
Kelly Trott
As Managing Partner & COO at Aqualateral, Kelly ensures the firm delivers triple bottom line returns by sourcing, evaluating, and executing deals from both financial and community perspectives, while also leading post-investment strategies to help portfolio companies scale and maximize impact.
Before joining Aqualateral, Kelly led Imagine H2O’s Global Water Innovation Accelerator and Pilot Programs, where she sourced, evaluated, mentored, and funded hundreds of startups in the water sector. She previously held roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, and NatureVest, where she developed extensive experience in finance, impact investing, and grant making.
Kelly currently serves as a Radicle Impact Fellow and Steering Committee Member of the Ocean Sewage Alliance.
Her favorite body of water is Lake Vermillion, Minnesota where she spent many summers canoeing, fishing, and enjoying a dip post-sauna.
Emily Volkmar
As Vice President of Community, Emily conducts research on the state of water infrastructure, access, and shadow pricing, among other water-related issues, to inform the team’s investment strategies. This work provides due diligence in relation to the potential environmental, social and governance impacts of investment targets to ensure the sustainability of investment opportunities. Previously, Emily has worked in conservation and development with experience in non-profit, government-led, and academic project-management and research around environmental change. Emily holds an M.A. in Geography from University of Colorado, Boulder and a B.A. in Anthropology from Yale University. Her favorite body of water is Menemsha Pond on Martha’s Vineyard.
Scott Casper
As Executive Business Partner, Scott coordinates, implements, and streamlines the team’s administrative and operational processes. Most recently, Scott has worked as a facility and office manager in a startup biotech/pharmaceutical company, shepherding their growth from a shared office and laboratory environment into a dedicated private space, which propelled that team to more than double its size in the US. Prior to that, he worked as office manager for a philanthropic networking organization, partnering with members, leadership, and staff to enable new initiatives and promote ongoing operational success.
Scott’s background is as a theater professional, which enabled him to found and serve as the Artistic Director for a small theater company in New York City, dedicated to developing a uniquely theatrical voice through collaboration. As part of that work, Scott produced, directed, wrote, and performed in a myriad of the company’s productions across more than a decade of work. He also edited and published several anthologies of short plays the company developed. His favorite body of water is watching the sun set from the soft sands along the Gulf of Mexico.
Aqualateral
195 Montague Street,
14th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
