Our Team
Mike Humphrey
Board Chair
Mike Humphrey serves as chairman of Commonwealth. His career in private equity began as co-founder of Tanglewood Investments in 1997, a private equity firm focused on hands-on investing in the global manufacturing industry. Over seventeen years Tanglewood acquired 22 businesses that were assembled into five operating groups. These groups were re-envisioned, restored to profitability, and sold to long-term owners.
Drayton Wade
Principal, Commonwealth Ventures
Drayton Wade joins Commonwealth Ventures as a Principal, leading due diligence efforts and CV’s approach to the tech sector. Prior to CV, Drayton served in various go to market leadership roles at multiple tech startups, most recently serving as Senior Director of Partnership for UiPath. Drayton joined UiPath (leader in intelligent automation space) as one of the first 75 US employees before leaving post-IPO this fall. Outside of CV, Drayton is an advisor to Natural Language Processing startup Kognitos, serves as Founder/President of the Clemson University Balkans Foundation and contributes to the Christian Economic Forum. Drayton is completing his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and previously earned his MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and BA in Political Science from Clemson University.
Rob Panos
Chief of Staff
Rob Panos serves as Director of Strategic Operations and Chief of Staff at Sagamore Institute. Prior to joining Sagamore, he helped individuals and companies make meaningful charitable investments at the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado in Fort Collins. He has worked in numerous capacities in the nonprofit sector and brings a passion for service and community engagement. Rob received his Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Master of Public Policy degrees from the University of Virginia.
Amy Sherman
Social Measurement
Amy directs the social measurement activities of Commonwealth. After receiving her Ph.D. in international economic development from the University of Virginia in the early 1990s, she has been one of the nation’s leading faith-based social enterprise scholar-practitioners in America. She has written numerous books including Kingdom Calling, one of the leading contributions to the field of vocational stewardship.
John Handelsman
CEO, Commonwealth Ventures
With 35 years of experience in specialty finance, strategic leadership, and consulting, John has a proven track record in leading businesses to success. Most recently, he was the Operating Partner for Brixey & Meyer Capital, co-leading a $40M raise of Fund II and leading the strategic planning and execution processes of all Fund I and Fund II businesses including serving as chairman of the boards.
Chuck Bentley
Board Member
Chuck Bentley is the Founder and Executive Director of the Christian Economic Forum where focuses on advancing God’s economic principles through this annual gathering of select marketplace leaders dedicated to improving the world through the advancement of ideas that work. He is also CEO of Crown Financial Ministries. Chuck is the author of four books and he produces a daily radio broadcast heard on over 1,200 outlets in the USA. He also serves on the board of Foundations for Farming, an initiative aimed at bringing transformation to individuals, communities, and nations through sustainable agriculture and faithful stewardship of the land.
Rich Westlake
Chief Financial Officer
Rich Westlake joined Commonwealth as Chief Financial Officer in 2020 upon the retirement of his longtime friend and business associate, C.E. Crouse. Rich received his degree from Greenville College and earned his CPA Certificate while employed with Capin & Crouse, a local CPA firm. Most recently, Rich served as CFO at Shepherd Community Center, a well-known Indianapolis non-profit ministry and partner of Commonwealth, making a positive impact on social issues with the community.
Dan and Marsha Coats
Co-Founders
Dan and Marsha Coats established the Foundation for American Renewal in 1999 to increase the understanding and practice of effective compassion in America. Since then, Dan has served as US Ambassador to Germany, as United States Senator from Indiana, and as Director of National Intelligence. Dan and Marsha met at Wheaton College and remain very committed to growing and improving faith-based giving and serving.
Jay Hein
Managing Director
Jay directs Commonwealth as part of his role as president of Sagamore Institute. Commonwealth is an impact investing platform that accelerates market-based solutions to some of society’s biggest problems. Sagamore is a think tank that supplies research and consulting services to Commonwealth’s investors and portfolio companies. Jay is also co-chairman of the Minority Entrepreneurship Institute and a senior fellow at the Baylor University’s Institute for the Studies of Religion. Previously, he directed numerous public-private social enterprises as a senior advisor to President George W. Bush from 2006-08 and he chronicled the White House compassion agenda in his book, The Quiet Revolution.
Cliff Benson
Board Member
Cliff is managing partner of American Homesmith and he works in asset management. He is also president of the Palin Foundation, chair of the National Christian Foundation-Carolinas, and chair of Mission Triangle. He and his father tell their philanthropy story in the book, The Generosity Bet. Cliff played competitive golf throughout his career and he has provided faith-infused mentoring through groups such as Telemachus.
Jacob Baldwin
Program Manager
Jacob serves as Commonwealth’s Program Manager. Prior to his work at Commonwealth, Jacob was a business analyst at Red Ventures in Charlotte, NC. He studied business administration at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and is fascinated by the intersection of faith, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship.