Jennifer Gennaro Oxley is a recognized leader in change leadership and innovative business strategy whose career has spanned for-profit, trade associations, chambers of commerce, and nonprofit organizations. She currently serves as Executive Director of The Motley Fool Foundation, a new public charity formed in 2020. She formerly co-led the Mid-Atlantic regional office of Playworks, an award-winning social enterprise actively promoting safe and healthy play for elementary school children across the nation. Prior, Jennifer was the executive director of the Fulbright Association, where she co-launched TEDxFulbright, accelerated global advocacy that led to a restoration of Congressional funding for the Fulbright Program, and expanded the regional chapter network, all while creating new funding sources, international conveniening opportunities, and member value. Jennifer has also held pivotal leadership roles at the U.S Chamber of Commerce where she co-launched the mid-market business division and led the small business department’s membership efforts, and the Electronic Retailing Association, where she co-introduced the first online retailing alliance, led all membership and marketing efforts, and launched the international product search competition. Jennifer holds leadership and volunteer positions with civic organizations that largely focus on human empowerment and child development, such as Compass Bono, American Marketing Association-DC Chapter, DC Scores, UMASS Alumni Club, and YMCA National Capital. Jennifer has created and fostered numerous mentoring programs for young adults and has won a variety of awards for her work in this area. She earned a B.A. in business from UMASS Amherst. Jennifer is a 27-year DMV resident with her husband and two children, and is deeply committed to the community and fostering social good for impact.
The Next Big Bet: Launching a New Public Charity
Interview with the co-founders of The Motley Fool
With close to 30 years of history under their belts, the co-founders of The Motley Fool reflect on their successes and what is needed for society and for the company to thrive. They discuss the newly formed Motley Fool Foundation and its purpose of making the pathway to Financial Freedom more accessible for all.
Can you tell us a bit about the history of The Motley Fool?
David: My brother Tom and I founded The Motley Fool nearly 30 years ago in a backyard shed. Looking back on it, it’s hard to believe that The Motley Fool grew from such humble beginnings to become a trusted advisor to millions of people and helping them realize the wealth-building power of the stock market.
Tom: Our family instilled in us a passion for investing, the wisdom in taking the long view, and an enthusiasm for learning. All of that – plus a good dose of levity – came together to create The Motley Fool.
What brought about the decision to create The Motley Fool Foundation?
David: I’m proud of the work The Motley Fool has done to make the world smarter, happier, and richer, but we realize we have much more work to do, and now we have the resources to start to do it.
Tom: The stock market is one of the most powerful wealth creation tools in the world. But for many people who struggle daily to make ends meet, this tool is financially out of reach. Personal finance truisms can only go so far when one is also fighting systemic racism, unconscious bias, an education gap, and many other roadblocks to building wealth.
What role do you see Fools around the world playing in the Foundation?
Tom: Over our company’s history, I have seen our community of Fools come together not just as investors, but as philanthropists in support of many worthy causes. We ask them to join us now on the next leg of the journey in support of The Motley Fool Foundation and its mission. With David at the helm as Chairman of the Foundation and Jennifer Gennaro Oxley as our Executive Director – combined with the support of our global Foolish community – the Foundation will achieve remarkable, lasting change for the benefit of millions.
David: Thanks Tom. That means so much coming from you. The Foundation wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for your conscious and empathetic leadership as our CEO.
What do you hope to achieve with The Motley Fool Foundation?
David: One of my guiding investing principles is this: “Make your portfolio reflect your best vision for our future.” I know many of you share this thinking and find investing not only personally enriching but also a way to create a better world for all. We are about to welcome a LOT more people to the campfire. The warmth we will show them will lead to global betterment, and the stories they will tell will fashion a lasting legacy for our Motley Fool community!
Fearless Leaders
Board of Trustees
David Gardner
Motley: Excelsior
David Gardner
Chairman and Co-Founder, The Motley Fool
David Gardner is Chief Rule Breaker at The Motley Fool, a financial services company he co-founded in 1993 alongside his brother Tom. The Motley Fool’s purpose is to make the world smarter, happier, and richer. To that end, David has picked stocks for a worldwide membership for 27 years and hosted his own weekly podcast, Rule Breaker Investing, since 2015. In October 2018, David made his 200th consecutive monthly stock pick for the company’s flagship service Motley Fool Stock Advisor; those 200 picks returned an average annualized return of 20.7% over 16+ years vs. the market’s S&P 500 average of 7.5%.
He and his wife, Margaret, both graduated as Morehead-Cain Scholars from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988, and David is a recipient of UNC’s prestigious Distinguished Young Alumni Award. He loves games of all kinds, especially board games, having a collection of hundreds of them, which the Gardners have played a lot over the years with their three children. David served on the Individual Investor Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange for 15 years and the Folger Shakespeare Library board for 10 years. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Conscious Capitalism Institute and is a Co-Founder of Conscious Capitalism D.C. He is a graduate of the Leadership Greater Washington Signature Program Class of 2019.
Margaret Gardner
Motley: Create Delight, Give Thanks
Margaret Gardner
Motley: Create Delight, Give Thanks
Margaret Gardner has known the Fool since its inception as its first cheerleader and consultant, advisor and activist. Supporting its growth and championing its mission is a lifetime goal. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar with a BA in English and History and has an MA in English Literature from UVA. She has worked as an English teacher, researcher, editor, and at-home mom of three. As a community volunteer, Margaret is engaged with issues of homelessness, hunger, and educating at-risk youth. She has served on the boards of churches, schools, and nonprofits, focusing on fundraising and development, grant distribution, governance, and strategic planning. She is currently in her final semester of theological studies at Wesley Theological Seminary, with concentrations in ethics and theology & art.
As David is to games, Margaret is to flowers. An avid gardener Margaret served as president of the Garden Club of Alexandria, overseeing their recent renovation of the small garden at Alexandria’s Visitor Center on King Street. (There’s even a Foolish touch – go see! ) As a flower arranger, she’s won awards at state and regional flower shows and teaches floral design classes.
Ollen Douglass
Motley: Purpose & Profit
Ollen Douglass
Motley: Purpose & Profit
Ollen Douglass is the Finance Chair of the Motley Fool Foundation. He is also the Managing Director of Motley Fool Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund. The fund focuses on startups deploying technology as a strategic asset to increase efficiency, improve access, or operate at scale in large, growing markets. Ollen serves on the Board of private companies Bitwise Industries, Eyrus, InHerSight, Ketos, StreetShares, and Upskill.
He is the board chair for the nonprofit group Young Artists of America. Before creating the fund, Ollen served 14 years as the corporate CFO of The Motley Fool Holdings, and previously held several positions in banking and public accounting. He earned his bachelor’s degree from The University of Baltimore and is an inactive Motley CPA. Ollen lives in Maryland with his wife and three sons.
Neel Shah
Motley: Evolve
Neel Shah
Motley: Evolve
Neel Shah is the founder and President of Shah Capital Advisors, a financial consulting group that helps nonprofits navigate the use of the federal New Markets Tax Credit program to subsidize real estate projects. He has structured and closed over $1 billion of financing to support the building of supportive housing, food banks, schools, youth centers, health clinics, workforce training centers, and manufacturing facilities in severely distressed, low-income communities. Neel made several trips to India as a child and returned every time with a renewed appreciation of how hard life could be for those living in poverty. After experiencing a series of financial challenges in his youth and watching his immigrant parents struggle as entrepreneurs in the United States, Neel decided he would learn how the world of money works and help those who didn’t get a lucky roll of the dice. After a few years of 80-hour work weeks in the world of investment banking, where he watched his managers invest only in T-bills, he realized that, a) it was time to put all of this know-how and effort to work helping impoverished communities lacking access to capital, and b) learning about high falutin’ finance had little to do with learning how to grow your money.
Neel eventually found a home in the world of community development finance, where he has worked with hundreds of dedicated social entrepreneurs and professionals to channel capital into underinvested neighborhoods and ensure measurable community impact. While he was helping clients finance their projects and access the financial system, Neel found out even more about how the world of money works through nerding out on newsletters and conferences as a proud member of The Motley Fool. He credits The Fool with helping him build the mindset and access the tools to build wealth, and he enthusiastically teaches and mentors others on how to do the same. Neel holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, a bachelor of science from Brown University, and a certificate in Culinary Arts from the Natural Gourmet Institute. He lives in New York with his wife and two daughters (who like to parade around the house in his Motley Fool jester hat)
Elaine Hungenberg
Motley: Thoughtful Disruptor
Elaine Hungenberg
Motley: Thoughtful Disruptor
Elaine Hungenberg is a proven leader of financial empowerment interventions and research, and offers expertise in leading successful strategies to help close financial inclusion and wealth gaps. Her passion to financially uplift communities, combined with her experience in developing data insights to pioneer real change for at-risk populations, has defined her career. Elaine is currently executive vice president of Operation HOPE’s Research and Impact Institute. Operation HOPE is one of the world’s largest financial empowerment organizations, and as an expertly trained quantitative social scientist, Elaine is responsible for organizational research and thought leadership initiatives. Her commitment to using data to identify financial inequities has spanned partnerships with Gallup Inc., Harvard University, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, FICO, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Experian, and many others.
Before her decade-long tenure at Operation HOPE, Elaine began her career in the nonprofit sector in 2007 with the Colorado Children’s Campaign (CCC) in Denver, Colorado. Analyzing statewide data, Elaine focused her efforts on creating publications to help Colorado’s legislature create appropriate and formative programs for at-risk youth. While working with the CCC, Elaine was able to successfully help in the formulation of positive public policy to close educational attainment gaps. She earned a B.A. in political science and English from St. Michael’s College in Burlington, VT, and a master’s degree from the University of Colorado in econometrics and political science. Elaine is a current resident of Windsor, Colorado, with her husband and three children. With endless energy to make the world a better place, she considers herself a thoughtful disrupter in the pursuit of positive social change.
Sean Milliken
Motley: Positive Persistence
Sean Milliken
Motley: Positive Persistence
Sean Milliken is committed to creating innovative partnerships and solutions that result in positive social impact. Most recently, he served as PayPal’s Head of Global Social Innovation, where he led the company’s efforts to harness the power of its unique assets and expertise to improve the lives of people and the communities in which they live and work.
Prior to his role at PayPal, Sean served as director of nonprofit strategy for eBay Inc. He joined eBay Inc. following their acquisition of MissionFish, an organization he founded in 1999 and led until 2011. Under his leadership, the award-winning social enterprise teamed up with eBay to launch eBay Giving Works (now eBay for Charity), a groundbreaking charitable giving program that enables eBay’s community of users to donate to their favorite causes through their buying and selling activity – and that has raised over $1 billion since its inception.
Sean started MissionFish after working as associate VP of marketing & development for Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, where he developed a passion for using entrepreneurial initiatives for social good while helping teens start successful businesses. He led a collaboration to create the Center for Entrepreneurship at Manual Arts High School, a business incubator and micro-loan program for young people. Sean began his career at Communities In Schools, a leading community-based organization devoted to helping young people succeed in school and prepare for life.
Sean, his wife, Jill, and two children live in Alexandria, Virginia. He is a co-author featured in the book Innovation and Technology Strategies, and serves on the board of directors of Communities In Schools of Northern Virginia and The Motley Fool Foundation. He received his BS in communications from Virginia Tech.
Trish Costello
Motley: Do The Impossible!
Trish Costello
Motley: Do The Impossible!
Our passion starts with
The Motley Fool Foundation Leaders
The Motley Fool Foundation couldn’t move toward our goals without the people who work here, who help us steer the ship, and who add their knowledge and passion.
David Gardner
Board of Trustees Chair
David Gardner
Board of Trustees Chair
Jennifer Gennaro Oxley
Executive Director
Jennifer Gennaro Oxley
Executive Director
Jeff Haslow
Treasurer
Jeff Haslow
Treasurer
Jeff Haslow has been living his Motley “Up and to the Right” since joining The Motley Fool in 2014. He is the Treasurer/Finance and Operations Director of The Motley Fool Foundation and Treasurer/Finance Director of the related for-profit companies under The Motley Fool Holdings umbrella. He has more than 34 years of experience as a finance executive for private high-growth companies and has served on multiple nonprofit boards. Jeff is a CPA and CGMA, and a Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Adrian College and a master of business administration from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He and his husband split their time between Northern Virginia and Palm Springs, California. Jeff has many hobbies, including cooking, reading, fitness, and performing. His acting career included a performance of the Shakespeare monologue that gave The Motley Fool its name (“As You Like It”, Act 2, Scene 7).
George Khalaf
Program Director
George Khalaf
Program Director
As the Program Director at The Motley Fool Foundation, George leads the program strategy and portfolio to actualize the Foundation’s vision of Financial Freedom for all. He has spent half his career in the for-profit sector and half in the nonprofit and startup space, working in the U.S., India, Lebanon, and Egypt. In the private sector, he worked at Accenture, Dalberg, and The World Bank advising leading multinational organizations and corporations in the areas of strategy, multi-sector partnerships, and business process re-engineering.
Most recently, George was the co-founder and executive director of Empatico, a digital platform that connects children around the world to build bridges across lines of difference. George took a philanthropist’s initial vision and built a team of 30 people, an award-winning digital platform, and a globally recognized brand reaching over one million students across 140 countries. Empatico is the recipient of a 2018 Fast Company World-Changing Idea Award and was featured on NBC Nightly News.
Prior to Empatico, George was the director of the Middle East and North Africa region for the Synergos Institute, a nonprofit poverty alleviation organization. In this role, he directed all programs and activities in the MENA region with the aim of connecting people, ideas, and resources to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and inequity. He designed, implemented, and raised $7.8M for the Arab World Social Innovators Program, which is the Arab world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs.
George has a master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a B.A. in political science and international studies from Swarthmore College. He lives in Brooklyn NY with his wife and two children, Gavin and Oliver.
Motley: I grew up in a war in Beirut, Lebanon, and learned at an early age the importance of building bridges across lines of difference. I see our diversity as a strength and am constantly seeking to build bridges across lines of difference to help people overcome divides and discover a shared humanity. I was a nationally ranked college tennis player and represented my home country of Lebanon in a match against Saudi Arabia. I keep up my tennis as a weekend warrior on the public courts in Brooklyn. Both on and off the tennis court, I believe a better world starts with habits – deliberating with curiosity, relating with empathy, and collaborating with courage across perceived lines of difference.
Mike Gardner
Brand and Communications
Mike Gardner
Brand and Communications
Mike is a senior marketing executive, currently working with the newly formed Motley Fool Foundation. He is responsible for all Brand and Communications.
prior, Mike served as the Chief People Officer and Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Millennial Media, a Mobile advertising platform located in Baltimore, Maryland. In his role, he was responsible for overseeing all HR-related functions while also doubling the size of the company’s talent during its IPO.
A seasoned professional marketer, his experience includes roles as Brand Strategist and Consultant for the Verizon Brand Global Launch, Director of Marketing Digital Services at AOL, and Senior Manager of Enterprise Product Development at Discovery Communications.
He has served twice as the president of the DC chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMADC), Three-term board member and chairman of AMA’s National Nonprofit Marketing Conference, and has served as a member of the AMA National Professional Chapters Council (PCC). Mike and his family reside in Northwest Washington, D.C.
Jackie Leach Pierce
Major Gifts Officer
Jackie Leach Pierce
Major Gifts Officer
Jackie Leach Pierce joined The Motley Fool Foundation as a Major Gifts Officer in April 2022, bringing with her several years of experience as a fundraiser in the healthcare, higher education, and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, she served as a senior philanthropy officer at UNC Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, NC.
Jackie is a native of Raleigh, NC. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master of studies in law from the Wake Forest University School of Law.
Jackie has also been involved in several civic engagement activities, including the Holly Springs (NC) Rotary Club and LAUNCH Holly Springs, a community-based organization dedicated to supporting underserved, underfunded, and minority/women entrepreneurs. She also serves on the board of trustees for the Hill Learning Center (Durham, NC), a nationally recognized school that works with students with learning differences.
Although she’s generally outgoing, Jackie is a true introvert. In her free time, she can often be found reading a book or listening to a podcast. And she greatly enjoys spending time with friends and family. However, she has a tendency to depart from her introverted nature whenever she’s watching the Tar Heels play basketball.
Sarah Darradji
Development Manager
Sarah Darradji
Development Manager
An Atlanta native living in Washington D.C., Sarah spearheads fundraising strategy and development operations on the Foundation team. Her background is in nonprofit fundraising and marketing. Before joining The Motley Fool Foundation, Sarah worked at United Way, where she managed multimillion-dollar corporate partnerships with Fortune 500 companies. Her previous experience includes nonprofit marketing for local United Ways and business development for Atlanta-based advertising agencies. Sarah enjoys going to comedy shows and hanging out with her rescue dog, Poppy.
Alan Tobias
Operations Manager
Alan Tobias
Operations Manager
Alan Tobias donned his first jester cap in 2014, when he joined The Motley Fool’s Member Services team, assisting The Fool’s subscribers via phone, email, and at member events across the United States. He served as Director of Client Experience for Motley Fool Wealth Management from 2016 to 2020, and became the second full-time employee of the new Motley Fool Foundation in March 2020. Before The Fool, he worked in the Secretary’s Office at the Democratic National Committee and as manager of convention services for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. Alan is an alumnus of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, Sea|mester, and Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College. In his spare time, he loves playing board games, LARPing, and exploring every local ice cream parlor he can find!
