Catherine Nelson is a senior executive, board director, and investment strategist and advisor recognized for recommending the actions able to yield the most value within the elements of time, space, money, and reputation. She has extensive Board and Advisory Board leadership experience in start-up and non-profit organizations, and as a member of executive, audit (SEC defined Audit Committee Financial Expert), risk, and finance committees. Catherine’s global perspective, strong business judgment, and corporate finance expertise are hallmarks of her career.

As an Advisory and Board member, Catherine brings her strategic vision and creates environments where change is successful. She is a consensus builder able to unite boards and management around a common purpose. As business environments fluctuate, Catherine recognizes the breadth of business risk and financial issues requiring board level attention. She serves on the board of the is the Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee and as a trusted Advisory Board member to the founders of Foundera, an early-stage beauty start-up delivering an accurate and inclusive AI-driven foundation matching system. She is also a director of CMMB, a global provider of health solutions through the distribution of medicine. Previously, she was an Independent Director of the Rourke & Gunner Group, a private investment firm and served on the boards of Green Bronx Machine and Catholic Guardian Services as well as its Audit Committee.

Currently, she leads Windmill Lane Advisors LLC, a strategy and financial advisory firm providing C-level and Board leadership of diverse enterprises and start-ups with advice on corporate strategy development, financial and risk scenario planning, capital structure optimization, and due diligence for M&As and IPOs. Previously, Catherine served as Senior Equity Analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Investments and created the consumer sector model portfolio, which drove decision making across the firm’s institutional client-base. She was also a member of the Proxy Committee ensuring transparency and fairness in the voting process for the firm. She advised institutional investors and mutual funds on capital markets transactions from M&As to spinoffs and IPOs for 15+ years. Catherine’s appreciation for the complex issues that could generate activist interest was critical in advising C-suite executives and Board members on anticipating and addressing immediate activist shareholder proposals. She engaged the C-suite of Fortune 500 and Russell 3000 firms of premier brands in consumer facing industries including Anheuser Busch, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Diageo, General Mills, Mead Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. among others.

Earlier, she was Vice President and Senior Equity Analyst for Cosmetics, Household & Personal Care at Morgan Stanley having started her finance career with Ark Asset Company. As a champion of women-led start-ups, Catherine is an alumnae of Golden Seeds, LLC and a former Managing Director; she is also an Advisor at Astia Angels and a former angel investor.

A graduate of Boston College with a B.A. in Economics with Honors, she received a M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Catherine earned Directorship Certification® from the NACD and certificates in Cybersecurity Oversight from the NACD & CERT Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Corporate Governance from Wharton Executive Education, Private Company Governance from the Private Directors Association, Investment Foundations from the CFA Institute, and Climate Leadership Certification from Diligent. Catherine and her husband have two daughters and divide their time between New York City and Bridgehampton, NY.