Our Team

As the Program Evaluation Lead for the AHA’s Social Impact Funds, Claire Ugo-Ike guides the evaluation of community-based solutions and initiatives designed to address social determinants of health to reduce health disparities across different communities in the U.S.

Claire brings a scientific background and international expertise in community-led programs culminating in her more than 14 years of experience including a focus on social determinants of health. Her work in West Africa, during a time of resource-related conflict, involved peace-building programs, study design, and qualitative and quantitative evaluation of community-led programs. Before joining the AHA, Claire led impact evaluations for different community-based, government-funded projects including coordinating implementation and evaluation of USAID-funded HIV prevention, conflict resolution and peace-building programs across different West African communities.

Claire holds a bachelor’s in microbiology and a Master’s in pharmaceutical microbiology.

Haroon Khan is the Senior Program Coordinator for the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Funds, including the Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund. In this role, Haroon is responsible for supporting the Social Impact Funds Team, managing grants, communicating with investees, and sourcing.

He started with the AHA as an intern then Project Coordinator for the Office of Health Equity. Haroon has helped coordinate internal projects, manage diversity and inclusion initiatives and help plan education initiatives centered around DEI. He was also an intern for the EmPOWERED to Serve team, working extensively with the Hispanic Serving Institute Scholarship Fund helping to pilot the program in 2021.

Haroon holds a bachelor’s degree in public health from Baylor University.

Jennifer “Jen” Herbert (she/her) is a member of the Navajo Nation from Flagstaff, Arizona. Jen supports the American Heart Association’s development and implementation of program evaluation activities for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Scholars Programs and the Association’s Social Impact Funds. This includes producing and implementing data collection tools, performing qualitative and quantitative data analyses and developing and contributing to final reports.

Jen brings seven years of clinical experience and knowledge from allied health and six years of public health experience to this current role. Prior to joining the AHA, Jen worked as an evaluator at a tribal epidemiology center, where she evaluated public health programs for Urban Indian organizations. She provided research and evaluation services grounded in Indigenous principles and values to principal investigators and tribal communities.

Jen has a BA in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of Colorado Boulder and an MPH in Health Promotion from the University of Arizona.

Lisa Suennen has spent more than 35 years in healthcare and technology as an entrepreneur, operating executive, venture capitalist and strategy consultant. She has worked broadly across healthcare including digital health, medical devices, health services and especially at the convergence between these sectors. Lisa is Managing Partner and the Head of American Heart Association Ventures, overseeing all investment activities for the Association including Cardeation and the Impact Investing Group’s Social Impact Funds.

Prior to joining the Association, Lisa has long led Venture Valkyrie Consulting, advising large and emerging companies and venture funds across the healthcare spectrum. Previously she held executive-level operating roles at Canary Medical, Merit Behavioral Care and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. She has also held General Partner roles at several venture funds, including Manatt Ventures, Psilos Group and GE Ventures, where she led the healthcare venture fund and sat on the overall Investment Committee. Lisa was co-founder and CEO of CSweetener, a company focused on matching mentors with rising healthcare leaders (sold to HLTH Foundation), chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health and the International Investment Committee of the Australian & Victorian government-funded ANDHealth Digital Health Fund, and is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Health Innovators Fellowship and on faculty at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business where she teaches the annual class on healthcare innovation and investment. Lisa writes the Venture Valkyrie blog and is an internationally recognized author and speaker.

Mark McCoy is responsible for sourcing, conducting due diligence, and negotiating terms for new investments for the AHA’s Social Impact Funds, including the Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund.

Mark comes to AHA with more than 15 years of diversified capital markets experience including 10+ years specializing in Impact Investing. He has designed, launched, and managed small business development programs, impact assessments, and bespoke investment products across five continents for numerous public and private institutions including the World Bank/IFC, CDC Group, Norfund, Deutsche Bank, SIDA and others.

Mark started his career at Archer Daniels Midland trading commodity option contracts at the Chicago Board of Trade and later founded a social enterprise in the hospitality sector while living in Nairobi, Kenya. Upon moving back to the U.S., Mark has worked for private family offices in various portfolio management and direct investment roles with varied focus including food security, health equity, poverty reduction, peace and security, and access to capital markets.

Mark holds an International MBA from the University of Denver and a BS in finance and economics from North Park University.

Max Gritzuk is a Senior Portfolio Manager for the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Funds, including the Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund. In this role, Max is responsible for sourcing, conducting due diligence and negotiating terms for new investments. He also actively manages investee relationships to ensure compliance, monitor financial performance and drive social impact.

He has nearly 10 years of diverse investing experience including more than five years in the impact investing space. Max was previously Vice President of Financial Services at Opportunity Finance Network where he underwrote and structured investments in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), managed the portfolios of three mission-aligned funds and processed more than $500M of US Treasury impact bond applications. Max also worked as a high yield credit analyst in New York evaluating opportunities in the consumer products, healthcare and REIT sectors.

Max holds a bachelor’s in finance from Northeastern University.

Sarah Young is an Associate Portfolio Manager for the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Funds, including the Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund. In this role, Sarah is responsible for sourcing, conducting due diligence and negotiating terms for new investments. She is also helping to evolve the technical assistance offerings from the Funds.

Sarah comes to AHA with seven years of experience in venture-backed technology startups where she built out finance functions and scaled operations teams. As a graduate student, Sarah led the Food and Agriculture Deal Team for the NYU Social Impact Fund and spent a summer as an associate on the Food Security Unit at the US International Development Finance Corporation. She began her career as an AmeriCorps member working with Habitat for Humanity in Monroe County, Indiana and Orange County, California.

Sarah holds an MPA in Social Impact Investing from New York University and a BA in Rhetoric and Public Advocacy from Indiana University Bloomington.

As a Senior Portfolio Manager for the AHA’s Social Impact Funds, including the Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund, Valerie Dao identifies new investment opportunities to reduce gaps in health equity and provides strategic support to the Western and Midwest market portfolios.

She comes to AHA by way of Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society where she managed a research study exploring the role of nonprofit organizations in their communities across seven global regions. Valerie has 10 years of experience in the social sector, and her prior roles include working at a venture philanthropy fund and a consulting firm where she specialized in program monitoring and evaluation, organizational assessment and strategic planning.

Valerie is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a bachelor’s in political science from University of California, Irvine, and an MPP from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.