ABOUT
Big Path Capital will host the 15th Impact Capitalism Summit in Denver in April 2019. ICS is one of the longest-running series of convenings for investors focused on maximizing impact and maximizing return.
Impact Capitalism Summits offer a curated, thought-provoking, and actionable agenda designed to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and encourage collaboration in a unique environment that captures the imagination and inspires participation. Participants hear from prominent family offices, institutional investors, and influential foundations about what is driving their impact investment decision-making in 2019 and experience an exciting lineup of discussions, debates, and performances.
WHO IS ATTENDING?
Family Offices, Foundations, Institutional Investors,
Wealth Advisors & Asset Managers
SPEAKERS
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Kelly Williams
The Williams Legacy Foundation
CEO
Check back to see our 2020 speakers!
2019 SPONSORS
Please contact Melissa@BigPathCapital.com with sponsorship inquiries. For more information, please download our Sponsorship Brochure here.
AGENDA
Check back to see our 2020 agenda!
REGISTRATION
Early Bird (Ended): $1,195
Last Chance (4/5/2019 – 4/25/2019): $1,295
Thomas Knowles
Thomas Knowles manages Gratitude Railroad, an investment partnership created by proven entrepreneurs, operators and investors with a common belief that business and capitalism can be a force for helping solve critical social and environmental issues. Prior to GRR, Thomas led corporate development and strategy for an e-commerce company, Backcountry, and a SAAS company, Liveperson. He also spent five years in investing roles with SVB Capital, the venture capital arm of Silicon Valley Bank. Knowles graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in Economics.
Scott Barrington
Scott Barrington is the CEO of North Sky Capital and is responsible for the overall management of the firm and its investment activities. Scott actively participates in all aspects of sourcing, analysis and execution of investment decisions. He is also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. From 2000 to 2010, North Sky Capital was the private equity team within Piper Jaffray & Co. While at Piper Jaffray, Scott led the team and also served on Piper Jaffray’s Merchant Banking Investment Committee. Previously, Scott practiced law at Dorsey and Whitney LLP. At Dorsey, he was a member of the emerging companies group where he advised start-up companies and private equity firms regarding LBO and VC transactions, M&A, IPOs and other corporate finance matters. Prior to this, Scott was in the M&A department of Citigroup in New York.
Scott is a board member of TPT Public Broadcasting-Twin Cities and a regular guest lecturer at Macalester College’s entrepreneurship and capital markets classes and at impact investing conferences and industry trade association roundtables. Scott graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Macalester. He earned his JD from the University of Michigan Law School.
Jonathan Rose
Jonathan F.P. Rose’s business, public policy and not-for-profit work all focus on creating more environmentally, socially and economically resilient cities. In 1989, Mr. Rose founded Jonathan Rose Companies LLC, a multi-disciplinary real estate development, planning, and investment firm, which creates real estate and planning models to address the challenges of the 21st century. Jonathan has lead the firm’s vision, program and growth, developing award winning new projects, investment funds and city plans to model solutions to the issues of housing, economic development and the environment.
The company’s mission is to develop communities that enhance opportunity for all. The firm’s work touches many aspects of community health; working with cities and not-for-profits to build affordable and mixed-income housing, cultural, health and educational infrastructure, and advocates for neighborhoods to be enriched with parks and open space, mass transit, jobs and healthy food.
The firm’s innovative development, planning, investment, and owners representation work has won awards from a wide range of notable organizations including: the Urban Land Institute, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Rose frequently lectures on affordable housing, community development, smart growth and the environment.
Mr. Rose’s book on how to create resilient cities, The Well-Tempered City: What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations and Human Nature Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life, was published by Harper Wave in 2016, and won the 2017 PROSE Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work by a Trade Publisher.
Mr. Rose frequently lectures at graduate schools of business, environment and architecture. In 2015, he held the Yale School of Architecture’s Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Architectural Fellowship.
Mr. Rose has testified before U.S. Senate and House Committees on housing, infrastructure and environmental issues, and served as an Advisor to the White House Office of Urban Affairs.
Mr. Rose is a Trustee of Enterprise Community Partners and the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Capital Institute. He and his wife Diana Calthorpe Rose are the co-founders of the Garrison Institute and he serves as co-chair on its Board. The Institute connects inner transformation with outer solutions to relieve suffering in the fields of trauma, education and the environment. He is an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects and Honorary Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Mr. Rose chaired the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Blue Ribbon Sustainability Commission, which developed the nation’s first green transit plan, and was a commissioner on Governor Cuomo’s NYS 2100 Commission, tasked with identifying strategies for the long-term resilience of New York State’s infrastructure post-Hurricane Sandy.
Mr. Rose graduated from Yale University in 1974 with a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy, and received a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980.
Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith is a Managing Director at ZOMA Capital, the private family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, where he leads the family’s fully values-aligned investment strategy across the energy and water sectors.
Prior to ZOMA Capital, Ryan was a Director of the Customized Fund Investment Group (“CFIG”) at Credit Suisse and GCM Grosvenor. CFIG is one of the largest global investors in private equity, with $20 billion under management. In this role, Ryan was responsible for establishing the firm’s alternative energy practice, as well as for leading the impact and sustainability verticals.
Ryan currently serves on the advisory board of Riverstone Pattern Energy II, L.P., and as an observer to the board of Jetti and OnPoint Medical Group. Previously, Ryan served as an observer to the board of directors of Crystal IS, Invenergy, Pinova, SmartSynch, SolarReserve, TAS Energy and Zeropoint. He also served on the limited partner advisory board of Energy Capital Partners, US Renewables Group, and Cortec Group.
Ryan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies and Psychology from the University of Notre Dame.
Will Tickle
Will is a Partner, Senior Investment Advisor, and the Director of Impact Investing at the firm. He is responsible for thematic research and manager sourcing and monitoring within his focus area of social impact investing, in which he has been actively involved through both public and private markets for over 13 years.
Will graduated from Brandeis University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with minors in International Business and Spanish. While in college, Will spent his summers working at the firm and joined the company full time in 2003. Will holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Will lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife and they often return to the White Mountains of NH in their free time to hike, bike, and ski where they grew up.
John Balbach
John brings more than twenty years of diverse experience across the nonprofit sector, large corporations, early-stage ventures and public-private partnerships to this role. Prior to MacArthur, he was integral to Silicon Valley Bank establishing a strong Seattle presence, and he led the financial effort that closed on both $23 million in venture capital and the eventual acquisition for a Seattle-based software company. Balbach has served on a National Science Foundation commercialization review committee, managed and raised capital for an Impact Investing Fund focused on developing the Michigan life sciences sector, advised industry leading corporations on infusing cleantech solutions into their supply chains, provided consulting services to leading nonprofit organizations with the Nonprofit Finance Fund, and served as a strategic advisor to hundreds of founders of technology-based startup ventures through a Michigan economic development program.
He holds a B.S in Finance from Miami (Ohio) University, an M.A. from St. John’s College, and an M.P.A. from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Jennifer Kenning
As the CEO of Align, Jennifer leads client relationships and strategic direction of the Align team. A frequent speaker, moderator, and guest lecturer, Jennifer is committed to building the impact investing ecosystem while leading Align. Prior to co-founding Align, Jennifer was the Director of Wealth Management and a member of the Board of Directors at Aspiriant, one of the largest family-office-style registered investment advisor firms in the country. Jennifer was named on the “40 under 40” list by Investment News in 2014, selected for Private Asset Management’s “50 Most Influential Women in Private Wealth” in 2016, and chosen as Investment News Icon and Innovator in 2017.
Jennifer serves as the Senior Investment Advisor for Impact Asset’s Annual IA 50 Impact Investing Fund Review Committee and sits on the industry advisory board of a joint project on investing in women organized by the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, the Wharton Social Impact Initiative, and the Tara Health Foundation.
Tamara Larsen
Tamara Larsen is an Executive Director at Perella Weinberg Partners and a member of the Investment Team of Agility. She leads the Mission-Aligned Investment practice of the firm. Tamara is responsible for partnering with clients to further align their investment portfolio with their mission. She leads the investment selection of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and impact investments across asset classes. She is a member of the Agility Investment Committee.
Tamara has more than 18 years of investment experience. Prior to joining PWP, Tamara was at Russell Investments from 2008 to 2017, where she most recently served as Head of Private Markets Research, responsible for leading the investment selection and due diligence for various private capital investment strategies, including energy, infrastructure, private equity / debt, and real estate; she was also portfolio manager for a mission-aligned mandate focused on the healthcare, climate change mitigation, and financial inclusion sectors. She was a voting member of the Russell Investments Alternatives Subcommittee, which governed all client investment recommendations for hedge funds, private markets and listed real assets. She was previously a Senior Vice President of Centerline Capital Group, where she was a portfolio manager and acquisitions officer for a real estate investment joint venture with California Public Employees’ Retirement System (“CalPERS”). Prior to that, Tamara held acquisitions roles at Lehman Brothers and boutique real estate investment manager Thor Equities. She began her career as an analyst at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Tamara earned a MSc in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Economics from Smith College. She serves on the boards of Colorado Public Television (CPT12) and a renewable energy venture focused on Africa. She is also a member of the Investment Committee for the David Rockefeller Fund as well as the Executive Committee of the Intentional Endowments Network.
Thomas Knowles
Mr. Thomas Knowles serves as an Advisor at Buckhill Capital LP since 2018. He is a Managing Partner and Partner at Gratitude Railroad. He serves as a General Partner at Builders Fund. Prior to GRR, he led corporate development and strategy at Backcountry, and Liveperson. He also spent five years in investing roles with SVB Capital. He holds BSc Economics from Santa Clara University in 2003 to 2007.
Amer Vohora
Amer provides holistic values-based advice on the client wealth and strategic investment consulting to VALUEworks’ key clients on their banking and private equity investments.
Prior to joining VALUEworks, Amer spent over five years at Rothschild Bank serving international clients with a focus on entrepreneurs and global families. He originally moved to Zurich in 2010 to join a multi-family office where he was responsible for all merchant banking. Amer started his career in London, where for almost a decade he was advising entrepreneurs and family businesses on private equity and M&A at First Capital and direct investments at First Ventures.
Amer studied Manufacturing and Management at Cambridge University as post-graduate and earned a Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Commerce with Japanese from Birmingham University, which included a year on scholarship to Japan. He holds a Diploma in Accounting and Finance (ACCA) and an Investment Management Certificate (IMC) from the CFA Institute.
He grew up in Kenya and is a keen cycler and open water swimmer. On the weekends, Amer can be found stand-up paddling or cooking.
Glen Macdonald
Glen Macdonald is a Managing Director of Bronfman Rothschild, an investment advisory firm serving families, privately held businesses, foundations and endowments.
Recognized as a leader in values-based investing and philanthropy, Glen is a founder and Chairman of the Wealth & Giving Forum, an organization that promotes the effective deployment of capital among families and foundations seeking both positive financial and social returns. He is also a Board member of Crane Institute of Sustainability and the Borough of Manhattan Community College Foundation, and he serves on Rising Tide Capital’s Strategic Advisory Board.
Glen was previously a Senior Vice President with U.S. Trust, a Principal at a private equity firm, and a Partner at PwC’s management consulting unit.
He has presented his perspective on the capital markets, impact investing and philanthropy at various conferences, including the Forbes Family Business Conference, Big Path’s Impact Capitalism Summit, the Social Impact Exchange Conference, and the Family Wealth Alliance. His views on industry, markets and financial management have appeared in a Wall Street Journal article he authored and in interviews with the New York Times, Financial Times, Chicago Tribune, and various business journals.
Glen was a recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship at the Harvard Center for International Affairs, a French Government’s Chateaubriand Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in Mexico. His research and writings have focused on economic development, foreign direct investments and the formation of common markets.
Glen received his B.A. with highest honors in political science and economics and his MA in international relations, both from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Chintan Panchal
Chintan Panchal is a Founding Partner at RPCK, Rastegar Panchal, a global boutique law firm, and head of the firm’s New York office. As a corporate lawyer, entrepreneur, and sustainability professional, Chintan brings a unique perspective to his practice, counseling private equity, foundation, family office and growth company clients on corporate merger & acquisition, finance, and dispute resolution matters.
Under Chintan’s direction, RPCK has developed a dedicated impact investing practice, advising both mission-aligned investors and social enterprises. The firm works closely with clients to execute capital investments in both emerging and developed markets that generate social and environmental impact alongside market rate, risk-adjusted financial returns. Drawing upon deep commercial lending, private equity/venture capital and industry specific experience, RPCK helps clients qualify opportunities and structure transactions that achieve long term, measurable results.
With a diversity of experience building impact-focused concepts into commercial transactions, Chintan often speaks about how finance can be harnessed to leverage social and environmental objectives. He represents many of the leading impact-focused private investment funds, advisors, family offices and foundations.
In addition to his corporate practice, he has performed pro bono work representing displaced US workers denied retraining benefits under the Workforce Reinvestment Act, and also served as a member of the team representing 11 Yemeni detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Chintan is also a board member of Camelback Ventures and serves as pro bono general counsel to Keep a Child Alive.
Holly Ruxin
Holly is the CEO and Founder of Montcalm TCR, a B Corp-certified wealth management and capital markets trading firm based in San Francisco. At Montcalm TCR, Holly and her team work to guide clients to engage with their wealth by providing services that support their values, needs, and goals in the short and long term, while facilitating a holistic trading flow in impactful and sustainable investments. On the innovative financing side, Holly is also the CEO and founding partner of Montcalm Capital, Montcalm’s affiliate fund. Montcalm Capital works with companies and infrastructure projects to bring capital to the market in a collaborative win/win equation where everyone benefits, advancing environmental solutions, social initiatives and Sustainable Development Goals. For over twenty years, Holly has managed client assets, led private client teams, and traded in capital markets at Morgan Stanley, Montgomery Securities, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs. Holly uses her extensive experience and expertise to create an innovative financial services model that raises capital in a collaborative fashion, customizes client investment portfolios, and creates financial sustainability within an overall better economic system for all.
Michael Hokenson
Michael Hokenson serves as Partner of Community Investment Management and leads business development for the firm. He was co-founder of Minlam Asset Management and served as Managing Director from 2005 to 2012, where he developed an extensive network of global institutional and individual investors for Minlam Microfinance Fund. Mr. Hokenson served as a member of the fund’s Investment Committee and performed credit analysis including on-site due diligence and monitoring of active investments. Following Minlam’s acquisition, he joined TriLinc Global LLC as Director of Sales to launch the first SEC-registered impact investment fund in June 2013 focused on emerging market SME private credit.
Mr. Hokenson has published case studies on the profitability of MSME lenders in The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by Professor C.K. Prahalad. Mr. Hokenson graduated from the Erb Institute of Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, earning a M.B.A. at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and a M.S. at the School of Natural Resources and Environment. He received his B.A. from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Andrew Siwo
Andrew Siwo is an Investment Director and Head of Mission Related Investments at Colonial Consulting, an investment consultancy to leading foundations and endowments. The firm has over $35 billion in assets under advisement. Prior to joining Colonial Consulting, Siwo was a manager at the Global Impact Investing Networking (GIIN). In his capacity there, he was responsible for the operation, sourcing, and development of ImpactBase, the largest platform of impact investment funds worldwide, which he grew by $10 bn and approved more than 100 new impact funds/products targeting a financial and social/environmental return. He also educated and fostered institutional investors seeking exposure to socially/environmentally responsible investment portfolios.
Prior to joining the GIIN, Andrew spent five years in the investment banking division at JP Morgan–most recently in the Global Special Opportunities Group, a $3 billion proprietary portfolio of principal investments in private equity, debt, mezzanine, infrastructure, and real estate. He also held roles on the Rates Desk executing fixed income financing transactions as well as the Securitized Products Group valuing collateralized mortgage obligations.
Before JP Morgan, Andrew was a member of the Corporate Finance and Real Estate Strategy Group at Victoria’s Secret leading project finance initiatives. He began his career at E*Trade Financial managing a team of investment representatives serving active traders and high net-worth, self-directed investors. Andrew completed an MPA in Finance and Fiscal Policy at Cornell University and holds BA in Accounting from Morehouse College. He has held FINRA Series 7, 63, and 24 licenses.
Adam Rein
Adam Rein is President and Co-Founder at CapShift, a turnkey impact investing platform for donor advised funds. Since 2013 Adam has served as a Managing Director at MissionPoint Partners, helping lead direct investment origination, portfolio management, and broader impact investment strategy. In 2010, Adam co-founded Altaeros, a startup launched out of MIT to bring low cost telecom and renewables services to rural communities. Adam is also a co-founder of Greentown Labs, the country’s largest clean technology incubator. Previously Adam worked as a consultant for Bain & Company. Adam has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a BA from Yale University.
Sara Zulkosky
Sara is a Venture Partner at Greenspring Associates and is responsible for sourcing and due diligence efforts on fund, direct, and secondary opportunities, and managing a number of Greenspring’s direct investments. Sara previously served as a Principal with CNF Investments, LLC, the venture capital and private equity investment firm affiliated with Clark Enterprises, Inc. Prior to joining CNF, Sara participated in Foundation Capital’s Young Entrepreneurs Program, where she helped identify promising investment opportunities in the Washington, DC area. Previously, Sara was the Director of Product Management for SkyBuilt Power, Inc., a venture-backed clean-tech company that provided rapidly-deployable renewable energy solutions to the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Intelligence Community, and telecommunications industry. She was with the business from its inception, also supporting it as a Project Engineer, Project Manager, and its Director of Engineering. Sara received a M.B.A from Georgetown University, and a M.S. in Engineering Management and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The George Washington University.
J. Tyler Blickhan
Tyler Blickhan is the Senior Real Assets Investment Analyst at Ascension Investment Management (Ascension). He is responsible for upfront due diligence and monitoring of the public and private securities in the Ascension Alpha Fund’s real asset, impact, and commodities allocations. He has ten years of industry experience. Mr. Blickhan previously worked as a Senior Investment Consulting Analyst at Mercer and for Hammond Associates in St. Louis. Mr. Blickhan earned a degree focused on Economics from Saint Louis University and an MBA from Indiana University at Bloomington. He is a charterholder for the CFA and CAIA programs.
Juliette Menga
Juliette Menga is an investment Director at Alternative Investment Group and co-manages the Sustainability and Opportunistic Funds. Juliette is a member of the firm’s ESG and Sustainable Investing Committee and leads engagement efforts with fund managers and portfolio companies. Juliette also works closely with the firm’s head of investment strategy to define the firm’s strategic investment direction. Prior to joining Alternative Investment Group in 2007, Juliette was an Analyst at New York Life Investment Management (NYLIM), with primary responsibility for analyzing derivative investments. Prior to NYLIM, Juliette worked as a Research Analyst for Excalibur Advisors LLC, a hedge fund advisory firm, responsible for research and portfolio construction analysis.
Juliette holds a dual B.S., cum laude, from Kennesaw State University in Mathematics and Computer Science and a M.S. in Financial Mathematics from Florida State University. Juliette is also a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the Hedge Fund Working Group for United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI).
Brian Hughes
Brian works exclusively in the family office and family wealth advisory industry focusing on business development best practices. Working with boutique, independent and national firms, he works to improve their results, focusing on lead generation and lead conversion strategies, as well as pipeline and people management. He developed the HGS Client Acquisition Operations Manual, which was created with over 20 years of practical implementation working with dozens of firms and hundreds of affluent families. Brian has coached and mentored hundreds of successful CEO’s and advisors on business development and growth. Brian is a graduate of the Wharton Private Wealth Management program and received is BS in Marketing and Economics from the University of Tampa. He resides in a Philadelphia suburb with his wife Carey and two young children.
Scott Sadler
Scott Sadler is a 30-year veteran of the investment industry. He is the Director of Impact Strategies at Altera Private Access and is the Founder and President of Boardwalk Capital Management, a Certified B Corp wealth management firm focused on sustainable and impact investments. His prior experience includes wealth management for affluent clients of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Wachovia Asset Management across the United States and Canada. At Wachovia, he was also the founder and, for seven years, the Lead Manager of a top ranked international (emerging markets) mutual fund.
Mr. Sadler is a graduate of the University of Virginia and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is a regular guest lecturer at universities across the region, and is on the advisory boards of the University of North Georgia – Cottrell Business School and Montreal-based Will Solutions, an environmental services company. He is the Immediate-Past Board Chairman of the Green Chamber of the South, a board member of the Technology Association of Georgia, and a volunteer for the Citizens Climate Lobby. He is married and has three mostly-grown kids.
Elias Bachmann
In addition to his roles at BSW, Elias serves on the advisory board of the Burridge Center for Finance at the Leeds School of Business (University of Colorado), chairs the investment advisory committee for the New Summit Impact Fund I and II, and serves on the Rose Impact Advisory Board (Jonathan Rose Companies). He served as Treasurer for the CFA Society of Colorado and continues to volunteer with the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance as an instructor.
Elias completed both his Bachelor’s and MBA degrees at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He is also a CFA® charter holder.
Away from the office Elias pursues his passion of the outdoors and traveling – taking great pleasure in backcountry skiing and mountain biking. Travel, when it isn’t to visit his various family members around the globe, probably involves warm water and waves with his family.
Lisa Davis
Lisa Davis is an executive director at PGIM Real Estate and Portfolio Manager of Impact Investing. Based in New York City, Lisa is responsible for developing and leading PGIM Real Estate’s Impact Investing Strategy, including the creation of a new impact investing fund.
Most recently, Lisa was Director of Investor Relations and Specialty Originations at Pembrook Capital Management, where she raised capital from institutional investors for commercial real estate investment, primarily focusing on affordable housing and community development.
Before joining PGIM Real Estate, Lisa spent six years at the Ford Foundation where she made grant investments in affordable housing and community development, led the foundation’s Detroit program, and helped to start Ford’s impact investing initiative. Prior to the Ford Foundation, Lisa spent 12 years doing commercial real estate development in Boston, first with non-profit community development corporations such as Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation and Asian Community Development Corporation, and then with the private equity firm New Boston Fund. She led the redevelopment of some the most significant publicly-owned sites in the city, including the former Boston State Hospital site and MTA Turnpike parcels that came available as part of the Big Dig. Lisa started her career in Texas and the Bronx as a community organizer and advocate on housing and homelessness issues.
Lisa has a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development and Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has lived and worked abroad in France, Costa Rica and Japan. Lisa serves of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and IMPACCT Brooklyn.
Bruce Campbell
Bruce wakes up every day motivated by the opportunity to leverage his profession in service of the global community. With almost 20 years of experience as a corporate attorney – including six years at the international law firm Hogan Lovells — Bruce brings a true depth of expertise to serve impact investors and entrepreneurs. He has advised clients on transactions worth billions of dollars in the aggregate, ranging from angel financings for start-ups to public offerings for multi-national companies. Bruce has completed corporate transactions on six continents, and he regularly visits with clients and collaborators and reviews projects in Europe, Asia, the UK, India and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Bruce is himself an impact investor, and has committed to invest 100% of his assets in support of sustainable business practices. When he’s not “working,” Bruce enjoys all things outdoors, especially trail running, biking and snowboarding. He also helps facilitate mindfulness retreats as well as a weekly meditation group in Boulder.
Louisa M. Ives
Louisa M. Ives is a Managing Director & Head of Manager Research. Ms. Ives is responsible for external manager selection and due diligence for Chilton clients and is also a member of the Executive and Investment Committees at Chilton Trust. Prior to joining Chilton, Ms. Ives was a Managing Director at Chilton Investment Company, where she was a research analyst covering the financial services sector. She also served on the company’s Board of Directors.
Prior to joining Chilton, Ms. Ives worked at Coopers & Lybrand Consulting Group, reporting directly to the CEO, and began her career at Chemical Bank in their Middle Market Lending Group. Ms. Ives graduated cum laude from St. Lawrence University with a B.A. in English Literature and earned an M.B.A from Harvard Business School. She serves on the boards of The First National Bank of Long Island, The Project Y Theatre Company, and on the Investment Committee of Vinalhaven, ME Land Trust.
Casey Verbeck
Casey Verbeck is a Partner and Managing Director of Marketing and Business Development. He leads marketing, strategy and business development for Veris Wealth Partners. Casey is very skilled in helping families, individuals and foundations align their wealth with their values. He is a member of the firm’s Marketing and Business Development team with a national purview on marketing.
Casey is a proven entrepreneur and executive who is knowledgeable and passionate about impact investing. Over the past 16 years Casey built and managed two firms focused on strategic advisory and business management. He worked with leading artists, non-profits and Fortune 500 corporations around the globe to accelerate their growth through program design and overall strategy. Some of his most rewarding engagements included The Nature Conservancy, Feeding America, the UN Foundation and National Geographic. He also created and launched the [i4c] campaign and venture fund in partnership with Sarah McLachlan and ABC television to support the growth of impact entrepreneurs in the U.S. Casey serves on the Board of Directors at the University of Colorado Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, [i4c] LLC, Colorado B Lab Impact Committee and on the advisory board of Accion. He enjoys fly-fishing, snowboarding, cycling and is still trying to master the art of surfing. He lives with his wife Lisa and two kids, Miles and Avery in Boulder, CO.
Kate Starr
Kate Starr, is the Chief Investment Officer of Flat World Partners, where she drives the investment philosophy, product development, and portfolio management for the firm. Previously, she led the capital deployment team at the Heron Foundation that invests Heron’s approximately $300 million portfolio for impact. Kate started her career as an economics and equities analyst at First Asset Management and moved into research on microfinance in Tanzania. She is a CFA and active member of NYSSA’s Sustainability Committee and advisor to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. Kate serves on the investment committee of the Christopher Reynolds Foundation and Impact Assets. She also advises Humanity United’s Worker Innovation Fund. Kate graduated from Indiana University with an Honors degree in English and Italian, and earned a Master’s degree in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.
Alex Lamb
Alex is a Managing Director at New Summit where he directs private market research. Alex co-founded the New Summit Impact strategy and is a member of the Fund’s investment committee.
Alex has over a decade’s experience with the integration of Impact and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations into business value creation and risk mitigation. At Ernst & Young LLP, (and previously as Vice President for North America at Trucost), Alex worked with corporate and investor clients on the integration of Impact and ESG factors into core strategy and due diligence. As a corporate sustainability analyst at KLD Research & Analytics, he assessed the ESG performance of corporations for institutional investors and partnered with Newsweek magazine on the inaugural Newsweek Green Rankings. Alex is the Co-Founder and prior President of Building a Sustainable Investment Community (BASIC). Alex currently serves on the non-profit boards of Change is Simple, Inc. and Monserrate College of Art.
Debra Schwartz
Debra is Managing Director, Impact Investments and serves on the Executive Leadership Team of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation–a private, global philanthropy with approximately $6 billion in assets and annual grantmaking of roughly $250 million. A pioneer in impact investing, MacArthur has dedicated $500 million of its assets to this purpose. Debra’s group serves as a Foundation-wide resource and engages deeply with selected program teams to devise impact investments that advance key goals. Her group also makes investments and grants that advance innovation, knowledge and connection throughout the impact investment ecosystem, with a focus on fostering the use of catalytic capital.
Debra joined MacArthur in 1995, having previously worked as an investment banker at John Nuveen & Co., and as CFO for a nonprofit child welfare agency. A frequent speaker and guest lecturer, Debra was a presidential appointee to the United States Treasury Department Community Development Advisory Board and a founder of the Mission Investors Exchange.
She holds a Master’s degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree from Yale College, summa cum laude.
Sandra Kartt
Jay Ripley
Jamie Martin
Matt Greenfield
Matt is an experienced EdTech investor, thought leader and influencer, and has been with Rethink Education since its launch in 2012. He currently sits on the boards of BrightBytes, Allovue, CareAcademy and Southern New Hampshire University. His non-profit affiliations include the leadership council of NewSchools Venture Fund and the board of Mouse.org. Matt received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in English from Yale University, where he won five academic prizes and fellowships from the Mellon and Whiting Foundations and served on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities. He taught at Bowdoin College, where he served on the committee overseeing admissions, and the City University of New York, where he served on a college curriculum committee, helped launch an interdisciplinary learning community program for first-year students, taught in the teacher preparation program, and taught graduate classes in literature to teachers from the New York City public schools.
Regan Pritzker
Regan Pritzker has a background in education and is an influential philanthropist. She chairs the investment committee of her family’s foundation, the Libra Foundation, and is active in the Just Transition movement, taking leadership in moving progressive investors to rethink their ethical framework for private investment. Regan works with her family and advisors to align the Libra Foundation’s and her personal assets with progressive and radical values. Regan argues against extractive and speculative investment and for ensuring just returns for communities not just investors. She also has deep familiarity with cooperative movements and efforts across the country and is a strong proponent of third sector economic models valuing collective ownership and community control.
Stacey Flier
Stacey joined NEPC as a Senior Consultant and has over 24 years’ experience advising ultra-high net worth individuals and family offices on their investment portfolios. Stacey’s expertise is in structuring portfolios to maximize after‐tax return, taking into consideration clients’ differing risk tolerances and delivering investment advice and education to clients on investment trends, opportunities and challenges. She is experienced in both discretionary and nondiscretionary portfolio management.
In addition to her client activities, Stacey is a member of the Impact Investing Committee at NEPC. NEPC’s Impact Investing Committee is responsible for analyzing trends in this space, researching impact-focused managers and working with clients to develop strategies that meet their needs. This Committee is comprised of consultants and research professionals across both traditional and alternative asset classes. Stacey represents the interests of Private Wealth clients on the Impact Investing Committee.
Prior to joining NEPC, Stacey held the position of Director, Investment Advisory Services at CTC | myCFO. During her 21 year career at CTC | myCFO, Stacey held a number of roles, including Director of Asset Allocation, where she specialized in assisting clients in determining their optimal asset allocation, taking taxes into consideration. She was also on the Impact Investing Advisory Committee, a voting member of the Investment Committee, and on the Fund Investment Risk Committee, which was responsible for evaluating risk levels in CTC | myCFO’s proprietary funds. Before Stacey’s time at CTC | myCFO, she worked as an Employee Benefits Analyst at U.S. Bank in Seattle, where she assisted discretionary management clients with their IRAs and 401ks.
Stacey earned her MBA from Portland State University and a B.A. in Business Leadership with honors from the University of Puget Sound. Stacey is a Chartered Financial Analyst and is a member of the CFA Society of Portland. She was on the CFA Society of Portland Board from 2001 – 2007 and served as President of the Board from 2006-2007. During her free time, Stacey enjoys gardening, landscape design, running and spending time with her son. In addition, Stacey and her husband are fond of attending Formula One races as well as other sports car events.
Jeffrey Tannenbaum
Jeffrey Tannenbaum is the founder of Titan Grove, an investment holding company focused on building mission-driven businesses that transform industries and promote sustainable, healthy and just capitalism. Titan Grove works with exceptional entrepreneurs and innovators who are committed to creating companies that demonstrate the power of markets as a force of good. Prior to Titan Grove, Jeff founded Fir Tree Partners, a private global investment firm, in 1994. Jeff spent his early career working at Kohlberg & Co. for Jerome Kohlberg, the senior founder of KKR and one of the pioneers of the private equity industry. Jeff has served as Board Chairman of numerous public and private companies and founded and served as the Chairman of sPower LLC, which he helped build into our nation’s largest private solar utility.
Through the Fir Tree Philanthropies (“FTP”), Jeff focuses on domestic job creation via accelerating America’s energy independence. FTP promotes job creation and sustainable capitalism through innovations in public policy, finance and entrepreneurship. FTP organized our nation’s first major bi-partisan symposium focused on eliminating foreign oil dependence, hosted President Obama’s energy cabinet members for their 100 day planning retreat and operates a Scientist in Residence program. Jeff also founded the not for profit PACENation.org which has helped develop a new form of financing for energy retrofits of homes and buildings.
Jeff is a lecturer at Cambridge University where he teaches a global investing class. He received a JD-M.B.A. degree from NYU, graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Tulane University and studied at the London School of Economics and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Debbie Huttner
Debbie Huttner is the President of Pearl Wealth, an RIA firm focused on investment strategy, planning and impact investing for individuals, families and private foundations. Prior to starting Pearl Wealth, Debbie served as a financial advisor and the Impact Specialist at Colorado Capital Management. She has also held a variety of high-level positions in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. As Vice President at Time Warner, she oversaw corporate development and investments for CNN Interactive. She has also done M&A and founded The Wellness Initiative, a non-profit that taught yoga-based wellness programs to over ten thousand K-12 students and teachers throughout its 9-year lifespan.
By leveraging her legal, financial and philanthropic expertise, she is uniquely positioned to service her firm’s clients with bespoke services tailored to their needs. She helps clients navigate the best ways to have their environmental and social values represented in their portfolios. Her ability to assess both public and private investments stem from her years doing M&A and corporate due diligence. Debbie translates complex financial concepts into language her clients can understand as they seek to make an impact with their wealth.
Debbie is a graduate of Brown University (BA cum laude) and NYU School of Law and Stern School of Business (JD/MBA). She also holds the Accredited Wealth Management Advisor certification from the College for Financial Planning.
Paulina Cromwell
Paulina is responsible for client education, advisory, and research related to Impact Investing & Philanthropy at Family Office Exchange (FOX). Paulina cares deeply about helping families align their activities with their values. She works with families to achieve their goals across the family enterprise, including charitable giving, impact investing, and business initiatives.
Paulina also brings valuable investment expertise to FOX, with portfolio management experience across the capital spectrum. She works with some of FOX’s most sophisticated investment clients on complex analysis and deep investment issues, in addition to providing investment education and insights across the membership base.
Prior to joining FOX, Paulina was a portfolio manager in the Family Office Investment Advisory Practice at Northern Trust. She worked with family offices and their foundations on investment strategy, asset allocation, portfolio construction, and cash flow planning. She also led the team that conceived Northern Trust’s Family Office Consulting business. She began her career in Corporate Strategy, focused on the company’s M&A activities and the annual Strategic Plan with the Board of Directors.
Paulina believes in aligning business activities with personal and organizational values. She was a founding member of Northern Trust Asset Management’s Female Development Group, created to address gender equality and engagement in the investment business. She also helped develop a proprietary diversity scoring methodology for investment managers which resulted in the creation of an Equality-Focused mutual fund.
Paulina received a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Finance from Florida State University, with a Minor in History. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) charterholder and a member of the CFA Society Chicago. She is also involved with several mentorship and financial coaching organizations throughout the Chicago area.
Will Tickle
Will is a Partner, Senior Investment Advisor, and the Director of Impact Investing at the firm. He is responsible for market research and evaluating and monitoring public and private investment opportunities for the firm’s clients within his focus areas of real estate, timber and social impact investing.
Will graduated from Brandeis University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with minors in International Business and Spanish. While in college, Will spent his summers working at the firm and joined the company full time in 2003. Will holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Will lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife and spends much of his free time in the White Mountains of NH, hiking, skiing and biking, where he grew up.
Christopher Knapp
Mr. Knapp serves as Chief Executive Officer for Collaboration Capital. He served most recently as Chief Executive Officer of Chilton Capital Management, of which he was co-founder in 1996. He was formerly associated with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. from 1984 to 1995. A stalwart believer in the importance of active community engagement and civic leadership on the part of corporate citizens, Mr. Knapp serves or has served as board member and/or in some leadership capacity of the Honors College at the University of Houston, BridgeUp at Menninger, Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston Parks Board, Memorial Park Conservancy, Peckerwood Garden Conservation Foundation, Workshop Houston, Stewardship Council of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and Advisory Board of Breakthrough Houston. Mr. Knapp received a BA from Williams College.
Serge LeVert-Chiasson
Serge LeVert-Chiasson is the founding vice president and chief operating officer at Sarona Asset Management. Sarona is a private equity impact fund of funds manager focused on frontier and emerging markets and small to mid-cap private companies. Serge focuses on sourcing, negotiating, monitoring and exiting private equity funds and direct private investments in frontier and emerging markets. Serge brings over ten years of experience in the field of international finance in private equity investing, private banking, international commercial lending and international accounts receivable insurance. Prior to his work with Sarona, Serge was vice-president of MEDA Investments Inc, an international accounts receivable underwriter and loan services officer at Export Development Canada (EDC) and a business analyst for the North Eastern private banking division of Crédit Lyonnais. He has served on several fund’s advisory committees and was the founding chair of Agro Capital Management LLC, a Ukrainian operating asset lending company. Serge is also on the advisory committee of the Global Impact Investment Rating Standards (GIIRS). He holds a Masters in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics (UK), is a CFA charter holder (USA) and has completed an International MBA at York University’s Schulich School of Business (Canada).
Natasha Lamb
Natasha Lamb is a Principal at New Summit Investments and sits on the Investment Advisory Committee for the New Summit Impact Fund.
As a Managing Partner/Director of Equity Research & Shareholder Engagement at Arjuna Capital, Natasha was named by Bloomberg Businessweek as one of the “Bloomberg 50” most influential people who defined global business in 2017, and was also featured on the cover of the magazine in June 2017. In 2018, she was named to InStyle magazine’s ‘The Badass 50: women who are changing the world” list. Natasha has been profiled in Forbes, Fast Company, and the Boston Globe, while her work has been featured in Rolling Stone, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, as well as on NPR and CNN. Her 2014 landmark negotiation with Exxon Mobil led to the company’s first public report on global warming and carbon asset risk. In 2016, Natasha received the Upstart Business Journal Upstart 100 Award and the Aiming High Award from Legal Momentum for pioneering a shareholder campaign on gender pay equity. Natasha is a trustee of The Food Project and Chairman of the Crane Institute of Sustainability, host to the Intentionally Designed Endowments Network. She holds an M.B.A in Sustainable Business from Presidio Graduate School, where she taught sustainable investing for 5 years. Natasha received her B.A. cum laude from Mount Holyoke College.
Katherine Pease
Katherine Pease is Managing Director of Impact Strategy at Cornerstone Capital Group. Cornerstone helps families and individuals, foundations and endowments, multifamily offices and other registered investment advisors to develop and manage customized investment strategies aligned to their financial and values-based objectives. In her role as Head of Impact Strategy, Katherine works with clients, helps develop and monitor impact strategies, manages the firm’s impact measurement effort, and provides contributions to Cornerstone’s professional research team. She previously served as the Principal of KP Advisors, Inc., whose mission is to help foundations, nonprofits and investors develop thoughtful, innovative approaches to address the challenges they care most about by using a variety of types of capital and other resources to make the world more just, fair and equitable. Previously she served as Senior Vice President for Philanthropic Investment and Public Policy at Gary Community Investments and as Executive Director of the Gill Foundation. In addition, Katherine is a board member of Global Greengrants Fund and the Colorado Nonprofit Association and she serves on numerous philanthropic and nonprofit advisory boards.
Carl Jenkins
Carl A. Jenkins is Managing Director and Head of Community Investments for BMO Harris Bank N.A., the U.S. banking subsidiary of BMO Financial Group. He oversees Community Reinvestment Act investments targeting lower middle market companies and community-based real estate development in all BMO Harris markets. Presently, Carl manages a team and investment portfolio with commitments exceeding $500 million and covering the states of Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington and Wisconsin. Prior to his current position, he served as a commercial real estate lender for BMO Capital Markets and the BMO Harris Community Development Lending team.
Prior to joining the bank, Carl worked for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national community development financial institution. He earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and holds an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina. He serves on the board of directors for several organizations, including; National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders, Cook County Land Bank Authority, Disability Opportunity Fund, Small Business Investor Alliance, Chicago Sinfonietta and Goodman Theatre. Carl also serves on the advisory committee of several lower middle market private equity funds.
Gunnar Lovelace
Growing up poor with a single mom as Latino immigrants left Lovelace with a burning desire to create wealth and do good. As a result, he is a 5X serial entrepreneur and investor focused on social impact at scale (people, planet + profit). His most recent company Good Money (30m+ raised), is a conscious mobile banking platform that is democratizing ownership to all customers for the first time in history. He is also the Founder of Thrive Market, which offers organic groceries online at wholesale prices (200m+ raised, 7.5m+ users and 600+ employees in 4 years). Prior to Thrive Market, he started and sold two technology companies (Ego X & Cognition) and is a cofounder of two successful conscious consumer brands (Love Heals & Goddess Delivers). Lovelace recently co-founded Alliance for Good (25m+ raised and pledged) as a community of influencers working together to create a thriving future for humanity and the planet.
Tom Gougeon
Tom Gougeon became President of the Gates Family Foundation in August of 2010. The Foundation invests in public education, natural resources stewardship, and community development throughout Colorado. For the prior ten years he was a Principal and Chief Development Officer for Continuum Partners, LLC. Continuum is a developer and operator of mixed use and transit oriented real estate projects. While at Continuum, Tom was heavily involved in the Belmar redevelopment project in Lakewood and the creation of a regional transit hub and neighborhood at Union Station. Prior to Continuum Tom ran a charitable foundation, was the CEO of the Stapleton Redevelopment Foundation and served for eight years in the Mayor’s Office in the City and County of Denver.
Tom has served on the boards of numerous housing, land conservation, urban redevelopment, environmental, and historic preservation organizations. He is a former Chair of Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, The Nature Conservancy, the Urban Land Conservancy, and the Denver Water Board. He currently serves on the Elevation Community Land Trust board, the Gary Community Investment/Piton Foundation board, the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the University of Colorado Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning, the Colorado Forum, the Executive Committee of the Barton Institute for Philanthropy and Social Enterprise at the University of Denver, the Real Estate Development Committee of the Urban Land Conservancy and the executive committee of the Colorado Media Project. Tom has a BA from the University of Denver and a MCRP from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
Stephanie Gripne, PhD
Dr. Stephanie Gripne is an academic entrepreneur, impact investor, philanthropic advisor, researcher, educator and the creative force behind the Impact Finance Center. Stephanie founded the Impact Finance Center in 2012 and formed the partnership between University of Denver Daniels College of Business and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors – Sustainable Endowment Institute. The Impact Finance Center is a national impact investing think-do tank that produces rigorous and relevant research, educations, and develops transactions in the area impact investing and venture philanthropy. Dr. Gripne and her exceptional research team are currently interviewing over 100 foundations as part of one of the first academic research project on program related investments and mission related investments.
Stephanie has over 20 years of experience working in the intersection of business and natural resources which has included working for the EcoProducts Fund $100 Ecosystem Service private equity fund, the Nature Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service, DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Journal of Wildlife Management, and several universities.
Stephanie received her Ph.D. from the Boone and Crockett Wildlife Conservation Program at the University of Montana working with Dr. Jack Ward Thomas. She has a B.S. in Biology & Wildlife Management from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and a M.S. in Ecology from Utah State University. Stephanie is an Aspen Institute Environment Forum Scholar, Environmental Leadership Senior Fellow, Property Environment Research Center Fellow, Ford Foundation Community Forestry Fellow, and Boone and Crockett Professional Member.
Praveen Sahay
Praveen is a nuclear physicist and gained experiences in oil exploration, petrochemicals and power industries. Thereafter he took on leadership roles, first becoming an Armed Forces battalion commander, and then with the UNO as National Coordinator (CIVPOL) for the first ever democratic elections in Mozambique, for which he was awarded a UN Peace Medal. For the last 15 years, he has been investing in technology companies. Praveen’s talent lies in identifying technological and business innovations that will catalyze rapid market adoption and generate strong investment returns. He is a member of WAVE’s Investment Committee.
Prior to founding WAVE, Praveen was a Director with VIMAC Ventures, an early stage venture firm, since 1993. Before that, he was an Associate at Updata Partners, an investor in IT and communications startups. He was also a strategy consultant to technology corporations and private equity investors during his tenure at Dean & Company. Praveen has an eclectic set of experiences that include managing mutual fund retail operations, exploring for oil and gas deposits in the Arabian Sea, and leading armed troops as a Deputy Commandant in situations involving threats to industrial safety and security. He was also the National Elections Coordinator (CIVPOL) at the United Nations Operation in Mozambique where he played a key role in the country’s transition to democracy.
Praveen has an MBA from the University of Chicago, a degree in Geophysics from IIT, Roorkee, an MS in Nuclear Physics, and BS in Physics (Honors) from St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi.
EDUCATION
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