Board of Directors
Board Member
Mr. Moson has over 35 years’ experience in commercial real estate asset management, structured finance, investment banking and real estate investing. Currently, he is Head of Real Estate Lending Asset Management at Fortress Investment Group where he is responsible for oversight and supervision of the commercial real estate asset management staff, loan underwriting, due diligence, asset level reviews, workouts, reporting, formulation of policies and procedures, and systems development. David has held previous positions at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Nomura Securities. Mr. Moson received a BA in Economics from Columbia University and is an avid scuba diver, skier and member of the Kings Crown (Columbia University) Alumni Rowing Association.
Board Member
Ryan McCombie is a retired United States Navy Captain with over 26 years of service. His last duty station was as the Senior Navy Representative and Faculty Instructor at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Mr. McCombie was previously the commanding officer of SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Team Two. Beginning his career with a SEAL tour in Viet Nam, he has trained and served with commandos from all over the world being the 1st American to complete French SEAL training and serving a two-year tour with their elite Commando Hubert. He also served as the Operations Officer of the highly regarded Red Cell Team.
Because of his knowledge of French and special operations, he was selected to be the first United States Military Attaché to his nation’s embassy in Brazzaville, Congo. Following that billet, he commanded SEAL Team Two from 1985 to 1987. Mr. McCombie then served in high level positions at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC.
Over the years, Mr. McCombie has consulted with International American, French and Canadian companies around the world. He is the author of numerous publications, speeches and symposia presentations affecting both civilian and military decision-makers.
After completing his naval service Mr. McCombie turned his efforts toward the private sector where he has served as an executive at two financial service firms. He is now an independent business consultant and serves on the Board of Advisors/Directors of several national firms.
Mr. McCombie was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania in 1948. He is a member of the National Eagle Scout Association, a graduate of Penn State University and the National War College in Washington. He is past member of the Board of Advisors for Outreach Development and vice-chair of the military scholarship foundation of the world campus and the Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees Emeritus. He is a member of the Penn State Mount Nittany Society. Mr McCombie is married with three children and three grandchildren.
Secretary / Treasurer
Carl Pfleger has served in the international and global executive ranks of consumer goods leader, PepsiCo, for decades. Most recently, as Vice-President of Global Operations, he served as executive sponsor for teams providing globally leveraged services and governance across multiple supply chain functions including: Manufacturing, Environmental Sustainability, Agriculture, Engineering, Supply Chain Planning, Warehousing, Quality Control, Health & Safety, and Innovation Commercialization. During his broad and deep 36-year career with PepsiCo, Carl made significant contributions to business & strategic planning, corporate function start-ups, operating excellence, and external stakeholder engagement. Prior to his corporate roles, Carl honed his skills during multiple field assignments within the USA and abroad including “hands-on” field leadership with direct P&L ownership, entrepreneurial approaches in turn-around situations, and new business start-ups in volatile international environments. As part of his responsibilities Carl was the corporation’s global executive sponsor for their sustainable agriculture programs, and the Environmental Plank Leader for PepsiCo’s Performance with Purpose sustainability initiative having direct influence with the company’s c-suite executive leadership team. He is best known for his pragmatic and passionate leadership as well as for tackling new, unique, or challenging supply chain situations.
Carl is a founding member of the Sustainability Advisory Board for Penn State University’s (PSU) Smeal College of Business and is an active advisor to PSU’s Sustainability Institute since its inception. He is a strong advocate for leveraging sustainability to drive broad business value and is a passionate believer in the private sector’s role to advance societal goals through innovative, collaborative, and mutually beneficial partnerships. In his “Active” retirement, Carl, focuses his consulting efforts on his passions for Operational Excellence and Sustainability. He is currently engaged advancing the Event Sustainability industry working with the National Football League as well as an academic partner at Penn State University. Additionally, Carl advises new start-up organizations on business and supply chain strategies.
Carl lives in Ridgefield, CT with his wife Kim, of 27 years. They have two daughters Britteny and Danielle. He is an avid global traveler and enjoys spending his leisure time boating, water-skiing, scuba diving, snow-skiing, gardening, & woodworking.
USN SEAL
James spent 22 years serving in the Naval Special Warfare community at SEAL Teams Two, Six, Four, Naval Special Warfare Unit Eight, Naval Special Warfare Center as a Phase One SEAL instructor, Officer Candidate School, Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Special Warfare Command and the Joint Special Operations Command.
Retiring from the Navy in July 2020, he entered the private sector and joined a small defense contracting company (AMTI) where he served as VP of Homeland Security and a number of other senior management positions before taking over as CEO prior to the 600-person company being sold to SAIC, a large defense contracting company in 2006. Mr. Papineau serves, or has served, on several nonprofit boards such as the Naval Special Warfare Foundation, Navy SEAL Foundation, and Spirit of America. Currently Mr. Papineau serves on the board of Everywhere Communications and consults with other for and non-profit businesses and organizations.
Executive Director, Co-Founder
Working as a professional writer for over 25 years, Jim has penned and directed award-winning advertising campaigns, screenplays, teleplays and documentaries. As Founder and Creative Director of NYC-based advertising and content production company Chowder, Inc., Jim wrote and produced the theatrically released feature film, Cayman Went and the children’s book, Tuke the Specialist Turtle. An avid SCUBA diver and lifelong environmentalist, Jim previously served on the Board of Directors of the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) and was recently named “2019 Sea Hero of the Year” by Scuba Diving Magazine and the Seiko Watch Corporation for his work with FORCE BLUE.