ACG NY VIP Family Office Series: The Food Revolution - Why it Matters

Sasha Bernier is the Senior Vice President and Investment Committee Member of Cheltenham Enterprises, a single-family office seeking to invest opportunistically. Mr. Bernier is an active real estate and venture capital investor with a focus in finding technology opportunities that can scale in Southeast Asia.

Previously, he served as the vice president of Revere Capital, a real estate debt fund with the responsibility for underwriting and structuring new investment opportunities in the real estate debt space. He started his career as a banker at Evercore Partners. Mr. Bernier holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.S. in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Julia Paino is an investor and entrepreneur focused on supporting solutions that promote a more sustainable and equitable food system. Julia is currently a Founding Partner at Trofi Holdings and a Strategic Advisor to Desert Bloom Foods. Previously, Julia co-founded Branch Venture Group, a Boston-based syndicate that provides capital to early-stage companies in the food, beverage, and agtech space. Prior to co-founding Branch Venture Group, Julia joined as a Founding Venture Partner at NextGen Ventures, the first network- driven venture firm investing in innovative technology solutions. In addition to her work in venture capital, Julia founded Swoffle, a nationwide organic food company where she now serves on the board of directors. Through various philanthropic partnerships at Swoffle, the company provides over 8k healthy meals per month to those in need.

Julia has also been a part of several philanthropic initiatives including MIT Solve, Feeding America, MIT Enterprise Forum, and the Northeast Clean Energy Council. In addition to her philanthropic experience, Julia has been a mentor and judge for MassChallenge, CleanTech Open, and MIT. Julia has also been a featured speaker at The Federal Reserve Bank, Harvard University, Nexus Global Summit at the United Nations, among others. As an active member of NEXUS, Julia Co-Chairs the NEXUS Impact Investing Working Group. 

Alexandra Peterson Cart is a strategic advisor and entrepreneur focused on helping organizations launch and scale. Alexandra is currently a founding partner at Trofi Holdings, an investment vehicle supporting initiatives with a vision to create a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food future. Previously, Alexandra co-founded Madeira Global, an environmental, social and governance (ESG) advisory and reporting firm, in 2012. For her work in the industry, she was named a Forbes “30 Under 30” Social Entrepreneur, a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Fellow, and one of the WSJ “Women of Note.” Alexandra has been a featured speaker at Yale University, UBS, J.P. Morgan, the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit, and the Nexus Global Summit at the United Nations, among others.

Alexandra began her career in investment management at G2 Investment Group, ultimately serving as Managing Director and interim-COO. She has a B.A. from Middlebury College in International Studies and Political Science with a specialization in Latin America Studies. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where she sits on the Term Member Advisory Council.

Shen Tong is a serial entrepreneur and impact investor with more than seventy investments in food, media, and other high-tech ventures. He is currently the founder and Managing Partner of FoodFutureCo, the food business accelerator and impact investment fund that focuses on scale-up stage food and agriculture disruptions. One of Newsweek’s People of the Year in 1989, Shen Tong was an organizer of the democracy movement in 1989 that occupied Tiananmen Square whilst at Beijing University. After his exile to the USA, he completed an undergraduate degree at Brandeis University and went on to study Ph.D. programs at Boston University and Harvard University. Shen became an entrepreneur in the 1990s as founder and co-founder of B&B Media and VFinity among other ventures. Over the past 2 decades, he has served on many boards and advisory boards including Spark & Honey, Food Tank, and Poets & Writers. In 2014, he founded FOOD-X and also serves as a partner of tier 1 VC - a start-up accelerator and multi-stage venture capital fund. Shen is a long-time social activist, film buff, foodie, intrepid traveler, and writer/poet and has spoken at TEDx Manhattan among hundreds of outlets about his passion for food & beverage, agriculture, personal health and wellness, climate action, and human rights.