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Burgess COMMENTARY | |||||||||
David Abernathy started his career doing project administration and management at a London based engineering and consulting firm. From there he transitioned to an Australian investment bank where he worked with the Infrastructure Legal team financing multi-billion dollar wind farm projects. He spent several years doing investment due diligence, business development, and business administration consulting. From 2009-2012, he ran a financial services and consulting firm for the medical cannabis industry whose clients included cultivation collectives, dispensaries, equipment manufacturers, and cannabis R&D companies around the State of California. Mr. Abernathy worked as an adviser to UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy on a report for the City of Oakland about the economic impact of regulated, large-scale, indoor cannabis cultivations. In addition to his work with The Arcview Group, David currently teaches the Economics of Cannabis at Oaksterdam University and co-owns an indoor miniature golf course. He has held leadership positions and served on the boards of notable non-profits in the fields of art, education, human rights advocacy, and animal rescue, and currently serves as President of America’s first cat cafe.
Maggi Alexander directs TPI’s Center for Global Philanthropy and in this role supports New England International Donors (NEID). An entrepreneurial leader, Maggi has spent over 25 years focused on improving the quality of life for low-income children, families, and communities in the United States and over 30 countries worldwide. She has extensive experience building partnerships and alliances that cut across traditional divides and has worked in the corporate, philanthropic, nonprofit, and public sectors. Maggi’s experience in organizational development spans the early start-up process to achieving scale and sustainability; she is passionate about turning great ideas into reality. Maggi’s commitment to international development was ignited when she worked as a street educator providing direct services to working and street-based children in developing countries. In 1991, Maggi joined the International Youth Foundation (IYF) shortly after it was established, playing numerous key leadership roles as the organization grew, including direct program and organizational leadership of a fast growing network of partner foundations across Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Today, IYF is among the world’s leading public foundations focused on investing in young people, with operations in more than 80 countries. Most recently, Maggi worked with the ImagineNations Group to provide rural young people and smallholder farmers with relevant education, training, and finance, fostering a new generation of Africans who are prosperous along the field-to-fork agriculture value chain. In 2006, Maggi founded and continues to serve as volunteer Director for Kids-Take-Action, a nonprofit aimed at inspiring service and social action among school-aged children. Over her career, Maggi has held several other senior leadership positions with national and international organizations, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, UNICEF, the Fetzer Institute, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Maggi is currently a Senior Fellow in Social Innovation at Babson College, and she has a Master’s degree from John’s Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.
Christina L. Alfandary is Managing Director, ESG and Sustainable Investments at GAMCO Asset Management. Since 1987 GAMCO has worked with Socially Responsible Institutions to meet their values based investing objectives through individual mandates as well as a mutual fund. At GAMCO, Ms. Alfandary oversees the company’s expansion of its ESG integration efforts and ESG investing capabilities across the organization. She is a member of the firm’s Proxy Committee. Ms. Alfandary has over twenty- five years of experience in the investment business. Prior to re-joining GAMCO, she served as Senior Managing Director, Co-Head of Nikko Asset Management Americas, Inc. until 2015 where she was instrumental in initial US asset raising efforts for an ESG green bond product developed in collaboration with the World Bank. Ms. Alfandary has spoken at conferences on impact investing to family offices and foundations looking to develop ESG and impact investing portfolios. Prior to Nikko AM, she was a Vice President at GAMCO Investors from 2000 to 2005 where she worked with institutional and high net worth clients. Her investment experience includes working at Morgan Stanley from 1990 to 2000, as both a banker and in institutional fixed income sales and trading. A native of California, Ms. Alfandary received an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia Business School after earning her B.A. from Lewis & Clark College.
Bio coming soon.
Ryan Ansin is an entrepreneur, angel investor, philanthropist, and anxious learner who thrives off of seeking out new frontiers. Ansin utilizes his time, capital, and collaborative networks to drive profits and change conjointly, focusing on various start-ups in both the non-profit and for-profit worlds. Ansin buckets his professional time between Clarity Project (Founder and CEO), Family Office Association (President), advising his early stage investments in fashion and technology, and more recently has taken an interest in the intersection of real estate development and indoor farming. Clarity Project is a great metaphor for Ansin’s approach to business and life. He chose to get married but did not trust the diamond companies so started his own first in mining and exploration, and now in Lab-Grown Diamonds. Beginning at a young age, Ansin has sat on various boards of directors for organizations focused on children, poverty reduction, and the use of media to improve transparency around the world. This was largely through a multi-national organization Ansin founded and ran for four years, Every Person Has a Story (EPHAS), which taught journalism and photography in thirty-two locations around the world. Ansin has been a recent participant and contributor to such conferences as Nexus Global Youth Summit, Global Economic Symposium, Giving Women International, G8YS, WEF, and many more.
Through March 2013 Jeff lead Saving for Change at Oxfam America which grew to 650,000 Savings Group members in Mali, Senegal, Cambodia, El Salvador and Guatemala. By training groups of about 20 to save, lend to each by the thousands these groups provide a better way to save and lend at a small fraction of the cost and complexity of financial institutions. Jeff previously founded and led Working Capital for several years this country’s largest microfinance initiative honored by President Clinton at the White House. While at Acción International he directed the PISCES studies, the first worldwide study of microfinance and introduced group lending with this model replicated worldwide. He has consulted to microfinance projects in more than 30 countries. Through Carsey Jeff is bringing Savings Groups to the USA building on immigrant savings circles, introducing savings groups through Conditional Cash Transfer programs in the Dominican Republic, introducing Savings Groups to Bangladesh as he launches research on the long term survival of these groups. His book “In Their Own Hands: How Savings Groups are Revolutionizing Development” published by Berrett Koehler has been well received. He teaches microfinance at Columbia and Brandeis Universities.
As Co-Chair of Foley Hoag’s Energy & Cleantech Industry Group, and head of the firm’s Renewable Energy Project Finance and Development Practice, Mark Barnett has an extensive business law practice focused on the energy and clean technology and infrastructure sectors. Mark works closely with clients developing innovative technologies and business approaches to solving energy and sustainability challenges, advising these emerging and high growth companies in all aspects of strategic development, financings and acquisitions, intellectual property and industry-specific regulatory and policy matters. He also leads the firm’s renewable energy project finance practice with a particular focus on solar energy project development and finance, working with a broad range of developers, project sponsors and investors in this dynamic and growing sector.
Carol Baroudi, Global Sustainability and Compliance for Arrow Electronics, works to define and drive sustainability initiatives. Her primary focus is sustainable electronics and its potential contribution toward overall sustainability goals, brand protection and enhancement. She works to support customers’ sustainability initiatives, including education, evangelizing and reporting. She is the lead-author of Green IT For Dummies, which gives organizations basic principles and guidance in moving toward sustainable IT. She co-leads the Boston Area Sustainability Group, producing monthly programs aimed at furthering sustainability education, building collaborative networks, and driving sustainability forward. Prior to joining Arrow, Carol worked as an industry analyst as Research Director of Sustainability and Green IT at Aberdeen Group, CEO of Baroudi Bloor International, and Vice President at Hurwitz Group. A best-selling author, Carol’s books have more than 7 million copies in print in more than 30 languages. Ms. Baroudi holds a B.A. from Colgate University and a post baccalaureate certificate in Sustainable Development from the University of Massachusetts.
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Molly joined Federal Street in 2014 with over 10 years of experience working in the sustainable investing arena. Prior to joining Federal Street, Molly was Head of U.S. Research for EIRIS, responsible for managing a team of seven research analysts specializing in ESG analytics for asset managers. She also served as Lead Sustainability Analyst for Pax World Funds, where she oversaw proxy voting and researched companies’ ESG profiles using quantitative and qualitative indicators to identify investment risk and opportunity. Molly’s newly created role as an ESG Research Analyst is a natural expansion of Federal Street’s expertise and reputation as one of the nation’s leading sustainable investing advisory firms. “Most other firms are newer at this; I was impressed by the depth of thinking here.” Molly holds an MBA from the Whittemore School of Business at UNH, where she also earned her BA in Linguistics. Molly serves on the board of a New Hampshire running club that is working to get children involved in running.
Nominee 2015 Katerva Award – Global Sustainability, equivalent to Nobel, nominated by France Scientist Lives in Winnipeg, Canada, married with 2 children: daughter (18) and son (21), enjoys cycling, soccer and travel. Retired IBM in 2013 after 35 years airline technology, last position Enabler – host and network configurations, specializing in telecommunications. 2 IBM Automation Awards: 2006 and 2008, Employee of the month: July 2011 The root cause to global waste is distribution, not packaging! Billions of dollars spent annually on: packaging R&D, waste pickup, incineration, ocean cleanup and recycle. These are all endless routines handling ongoing symptoms; these are not sustainable solutions! As a innovator motivated to create a sustainable future for our children, once I learned recycle was 80% inefficient, I started designing! I am Lean Architect with new process structure and sustainable design, focused on reduce, reuse efficiency. Startup, Refill Depot transforming distribution to remove packaging; root solution essential to reducing global waste. Addressing social, creating new habits with reuse efficiency, evolves Smart Sustainable Savings; economically and environmentally US Patent approved July 2016; Intl filing. Innovative dispensing system: high volume vat system; no electricity or pumps; least operating cost and quietest system. Walmart seeks the technology to remove packaging will increase their profits, Refill Depot exceeds their expectations with 12 key “Big Edge” features: theft/shrinkage prevention, highest LCA score, new markets moving wholesale volume to retail level and much more. Our innovative dispensing system is versatile to liquid, powder, granular and small items has multi industry global markets; big box retail, automotive, hospitals, resorts, military and much more. Our objective is to transform; selling patent dispensing systems and 3 building models: 1) multi car drive-in, 2) walk-in and 3) assisted multi car drive-in Technology: refill 17 containers with 16 different products in less than 15 minutes. At funding stage, seek partnerships with: construction, tech, tablet, sensors and building trades.
Victoria Kumpuris Brown, senior program officer, joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation staff in 2015, bringing her exceptional experience in connecting business and health care to the battle against childhood obesity. Working to engage business around health, Brown views her role as bridging multiple sectors, including the business community, to address the epidemic of childhood obesity and help children lead longer, healthier lives. “Ultimately building a Culture of Health takes collaboration and partnerships,” she says, “and it takes all of us working together with a common purpose.” She believes that the Foundation will raise the bar on engaging businesses and activating the private sector in building a Culture of Health. Brown’s demonstrated track record of mobilizing the business community around social imperatives began with her previous position as the vice president for Strategic Alliances at the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, founded by the Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association. She led the Alliance’s work with the food, beverage, and health care industries, helping them become part of the obesity solution through the facilitation of commitments to business practice changes that create healthier environments for children and families. Under Brown’s leadership, the Alliance signed a groundbreaking agreement with McDonald’s to increase access to fruits and vegetables and help families make informed choices across their top 20 markets worldwide, impacting more than 85 percent of global sales. She also negotiated a landmark agreement with the American Beverage Association, Coke, Pepsico and the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group to reduce beverage calories 20 percent by 2025 for all Americans. In addition to her work with food and beverage companies, Brown also created and launched the Healthier Generation Benefit, a collaborative of over 20 health insurers and employers extending first ever health benefits for the prevention and treatment of obesity. She joined the Alliance in 2007, after a decade of experience in the public, private, and academic sectors focusing on issues that affect children and families. Brown holds a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in public policy from Washington and Lee University. She and her husband, and two children, reside in Dallas, Texas. While she enjoys tennis, spinning, travel, and reading just about anything, most of her spare hours are devoted to family activities.
Morgan is CEO and co-founder of Whole Water Systems, LLC., a leader in sustainable water resources (water/energy/nutrients) and onsite wastewater treatment. Whole Water is focused on offering investors (VC & Institutional) sustainable impact opportunities in water infrastructure through innovative & efficient design/build/operate (DBO) facilities that solve urban wastewater problems for green businesses (breweries, wineries, food & beverage), green developers (Living Building Challenge, Living Community Challenge, EcoDistricts) and green communities (cities with old infrastructure, lack of funds). Whole Water projects emphasize biomimicry and sustainable Integrated Design by incorporating the recovered resources into urban development amenities (e.g. breweries, urban agriculture/vertical farming, water-feature urban oasis parks and recreation, public market/public commons). Whole Water’s designers are pioneers in local, onsite treatment technology (vertical membrane bioreactors, constructed wetlands) which allow for large-scale treatment of wastewater in restricted urban settings (basement utility rooms, small buildings, or even green landscaping) – the holy grail for sustainable decentralized treatment and reuse. Following his passion for environmentalism and sustainability, Morgan left a successful career in high tech to start cutting-edge ventures in renewable energy, green development and wastewater treatment. Morgan has a degree in electrical engineering, became a LEED AP and NABCEP certified solar professional in 2003, started the Sun Valley Sustainability Conference (2005), is past president of a regional Smart Growth non-profit, and is a co-founder of Whole Water Systems (2007). Morgan is a frequent speaker on sustainable water.
Driven by the belief that change begins with a single step, Richard Brubaker has spent the last 15 years in Asia working to engage, inspire and equip those around him to take their first step. Acting as a catalyst to driving sustainability, to bring about the changes in leadership and business models, and to recalibrate old models so that new opportunities can be captured, Brubaker’s work is centered around building foundations of knowledge, understanding core issues, engaging stakeholders, and doing what it takes to move forward. Currently, as the Managing Director of Collective Responsibility and a Visiting Professor of Sustainability at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Richard is focused on building platforms that promote long term organizational capacity to address the economic, environmental and social hurdles that China faces as the country’s economic growth accelerates. To date, Brubaker has overseen the development and execution of more than 200 projects focused on solving the social, environmental and economic challenges that are faced in Asia. Rich is regularly invited to speak at leadership, social innovation and sustainability-focused conferences to speak on issues of social innovation & entrepreneurship, sustainability, corporate social responsibility and leadership. Richard holds a Masters in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and serves as the Vice Chairman of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. You can follow Rich on Twitter at @richbrubaker
Karla Canavan has been in trading, finance, asset management, and agribusiness over the past 20 years. She began her career in private banking and boutique structured finance in Banco Santander in Mexico City and next achieved success as a fixed income and derivatives trader. Passionate about sustainability, Karla developed her deep understanding of the food and energy value chains through her work in agribusiness giants Cargill and Bunge. With experience working directly with producers such as small holder farmers to determine logistics, pricing, and marketing, Karla obtained the firsthand experience that underpins her knowledge of product traceability, social and environmental impact, and profitability factors that are necessary to optimize the food supply chain from farm to table. After leaving Cargill, Karla joined Bunge and has applied her skills and experience to serve in many diverse roles. She began in risk management and trading commodities for the Latin American region. She then helped develop the food products line for Latin America, leading business development and serving as head edible oils trader for the region. Next she joined Bunge’s Financial Services Group unit, where she served as Global Head of Origination for Bunge Environmental Markets where she helped finance, develop and execute over 100 emissions reduction projects across a variety of business sectors and methodologies. Her investment expertise encompasses projects in in waste management ,composting , waste-to-energy generation from landfill gas and biodigestion, sustainable agriculture, women empowerment, integrated farming, renewable energy ,bio fuels, and sustainable forest management. Recently appointed as Bunge’s Director of Sustainable Finance , Karla looks forward to develop new opportunities in the food and energy sectors to achieve the triple bottom line returns for investors – social, environmental, and financial – that are key to the sustainable businesses of the future.
Chris is an emerging social “eco-preneur”, community organizer, and sustainability professional with a passion for accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy. He’s currently the senior adviser for Mayor Buddy Dyer and the City of Orlando, developing policies and programs to support the sustainability, energy & climate-related goals of the Green Works Orlando municipal and community action plans. In 2008, Chris co-founded IDEAS For Us, an international 501c3 nonprofit & UN-accredited NGO, building a global community of leaders working to advance local environmental solutions to global challenges. In 2012, Chris also partnered with professionals to create a clean energy consulting firm – Citizen Energy – that is providing energy services and implementation of energy efficiency + renewable energy solutions in commercial buildings in Washington DC Metro area. Chris has held sustainability & energy-related positions with University of Central Florida, Orange County Government, and the US Department of Energy. He’s been awarded a Delegate for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the Clinton Global Initiative, selected as a ‘Global Shaper’ by the World Economic Forum, and is the co-founder and chairman of Florida Green Chamber of Commerce (FGCC), the first state-wide business chamber aimed at creating environmentally-friendly, sustainable business practices & policies. In addition, Chris is a public speaker and has been recognized for his effort as a emerging environmental leader; including the prestigious IAMECO Warrior designation, formal recognition from President Bill Clinton, and ‘Champions of Change’ honorable mention from the White House & Obama Administration. Most recently, Chris gave an inspiring TEDx Talk in October 2012 on Biomimicry; he spoken at the United Nations HQ & the UN Rio+20 Summit; and was a keynote speaker at the 2013 NASA KSC Innovation Expo, and 2013 International Economics Congress in Berlin, Germany.
Tom Chappell is an entrepreneur, environmentalist, philanthropist, and author. After he and his wife, Kate, an artist, settled in Maine to live a lifestyle closely connected to nature, they founded Tom’s of Maine in 1970 which became a pioneer and leader in the natural personal care business. Their legacy of a belief that a business can be environmentally sensitive, socially responsible, and profitable lives on with Tom’s of Maine under its new owners, Colgate-Palmolive, Inc. Since the sale in 2006, Colgate has continued to support the practice of these values . Tom has had a life-long interest in the responsibility of the corporation to society and has written two books on business ethics. The Soul of a Business, 1993, sets a standard for the moral corporation. Managing Upside Down, 1999, defines a set of tools for leaders to manage with both head and heart together, called The Seven Intentions of Values-Centered Leadership. A 1961 graduate of Moses Brown School in Providence, Trinity College in 1966 with a BA in English, and Harvard Divinity School in 1991 with a Masters in Theological Studies. Tom is on the Trinity College Board of Trustees, and is a Harvard Divinity School Deans Council Member. Concerned about environmental and community sustainability, Tom and Kate now own a sheep farm to produce fine wool for their use in recreating a regional supply chain to produce next- to-the-skin fine apparel, shirts, and jackets under the name, Ramblers Way Farm that launched in 2009. Additionally, their home and offices in Kennebunk operate on geothermal energy while preparing to complete a sustainable lifestyle with solar energy as well. They are both active in Maine philanthropy.
Emily Chasan edits the sustainable finance newsletter at Bloomberg Brief. She covers responsible investing, corporate sustainability, and corporate governance. She was previously a senior editor at The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Journal, and a senior correspondent at Reuters where she covered accounting, law, hedge funds, manufacturing, and the U.S. stock market. She led the wire service’s team of bankruptcy reporters during the financial crisis from 2008 to 2010. Emily started her career as an intern in The Wall Street Journal’s Dallas bureau. She has won two Front Page Awards from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, and in 2012 was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors’ “Directorship 100” list of people most influential on corporate boards. She graduated from Tufts University cum laude with a degree in Economics and International Relations.
Danielle Chesebrough is the Senior Manager of Investor Engagements with the United Nations Global Compact at Principles for Responsible Investment. She coordinates and promotes global investors’ collaborative engagements with publicly listed companies, stock exchanges, and policy makers on a range of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics. Additionally, Danielle facilitates joint projects and information sharing between the PRI and UN Global Compact. Danielle also co-coordinates the Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative. She has been coauthored a variety of publications, including the Model Guidance on Reporting ESG Information to Investors: A Voluntary Tool For Stock Exchanges to Guide Issuers. Danielle has worked at PRI since 2011, holds a M.S.W. from the University of Connecticut and a B.A. from Clemson University, and currently resides in Connecticut.
Bio coming soon.
Ms. Régine Clément is dedicated to advancing innovation, investment and adoption of sustainable technology and business solutions that help better manage natural resources, our built environment, as well as increase process optimization in all sectors of the global economy. She joined the CREO Syndicate in January 2016 as its inaugural CEO to lead the growth of the organization and provide tailored support to its members in the successful deployment of private capital into CleanTech, Renewable Energy and Environmental Opportunities (CREO) markets. Régine is also proud of having co-Founded and co-managed the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) for CleanTech (2012-2015), a 12-week accelerator program that offers tailored coaching and mentoring, as well as access to key resources from NYC metro area and Silicon Valley to promising Canadian cleantech companies and their CEOs/Founders (for more info: www.ctaconnects.com).
Morgan is the Senior Program Manager for International Projects at the Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) Foundation and has more than 15 years of experience delivering water education to all ages. Project WET is the largest water education-focused organization in the world, with a network of partners in 70 countries and 50 US states who are dedicated to improving water literacy. A US Water Prize winner and Global Journal Top-100 NGO, the Project WET Foundation trains 30,000 adults and reaches over 1 million children each year with a goal of solving pressing water issues through community action. Working with the Project WET for six years, Morgan is responsible for international programs and specializes in Corporate Sustainability and Employee Engagement programs with multiple corporate partners. She has been integral in the development of dozens of educational resources and has managed programs across the globe from Tanzania to Taiwan.
Todd Cort is a faculty member at the Yale School of Management and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He also serves as Faculty Co-Director for the Yale Center for Business and the Environment. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and a Professional Engineer’s license in California. Dr. Cort works at the intersection of corporate responsibility and sustainable finance. His objective is to reduce the barriers to moving capital (either corporate or investor) to more sustainable investments. In this space, Dr. Cort is working on: 1) Metrics and standards for measuring the environmental impacts of fixed income investment products such as green bonds 2) Metrics and the underlying data for environmental, social and governance (ESG) that demonstrably drive corporate growth and improvement in equity value 3) Metrics for underwriting more sustainable insurance products – particularly around the means to measure effective climate adaptation In addition to these specific research areas, Dr. Cort educates and collaborates with investors and fund managers to effectively integrate sustainability into investment strategies. These integrated investment strategies range from fixed income focused funds to venture capital strategies.
Experience Mr. Cozzone joined Bain Capital’s Global Private Equity team in London in 2011 and transferred to the Double Impact team in 2016. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Cozzone was a Consultant in Bain & Company’s Dubai and San Francisco offices, a private equity investor with Cinven in Europe and a consultant for the Africa Transport unit at the World Bank. Mr. Cozzone is also involved in seed stage impact investing as a Mustard Seed Fellow. Mr. Cozzone holds a M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford, a Masters in Economics from The Sorbonne University in Paris, and a Masters in Engineering from the Mining School of Paris.
Bio coming soon.
Cynthia is vice president, sustainability consulting for Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a Fortune 500 commercial real estate management and outsourcing provider. In this capacity she works with JLL clients to help design and implement sustainability and employee engagement strategies and initiatives that deliver measureable results. Previously, Curtis served as senor advisor for policy & engagement for Ceres, a non-profit advocating for a sustainable economy through a network of investors and businesses. In this role, she collaborated with companies to engage with policymakers on energy and climate policy, and led the development of the first financial services sector statement on climate policy. Prior to Ceres, Cynthia served as vice president and chief sustainability officer at CA Technologies, where she successfully extended the scope of the company’s sustainability initiatives, increased employee engagement and established a governance structure inclusive of oversight by the Board of Directors. Curtis has also held executive level marketing and communications positions at Utimaco Safeware, EMC and Unisys. Cynthia is a founding advisor of CrowdComfort, a member of New England Women In Energy & the Environment, chair of the Wellesley Village Church Energy Committee, and co-founder of the Wellesley Interfaith Environmental Group. She lives in the Boston area in one of the region’s first gold LEED-certified residences.
Bio coming soon.
Prior to forming Stance Capital, LLC, Mr. Davis was co-founder and Managing Director of Empirical Asset Management, and Portfolio Manager on EAM Sustainable Equity, a strategy he launched in 2014. Prior to co-founding Empirical, he was the founder and CEO of Ze-gen, a venture and private equity backed renewable energy company. Mr. Davis received a B.A. from Connecticut College, and his career in business has included serving as CEO or founder of numerous companies including: Database Marketing Corporation in 1986, Holland Mark in 1997, and Cambridge Brand Analytics in 2003. He is Vice Chair of Impact Infrastructure, LLC, and serves on not-for- profit boards of Seven Hills Global Outreach and Commonwealth Corporation. He is a founding member of the President’s Council of Ceres. Mr. Davis has taught at Columbia University Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, and guest lectured at Harvard College, Harvard Business School, MIT, MIT/Sloan, and Boston University. Mr. Davis holds a Series 65.
Julie Dick is Head of ESG Research at Censible. Censible is an online investment advisor challenging the way people think about their money by simplifying and personalizing responsible investing. Julie has practiced environmental law for 9 years and spent more than 16 years working on environmental and sustainability issues. At the firm of Nijman Franzetti, LLP Julie advised large multi-national corporations on compliance with environmental laws, regulations, and permits. She has spent most of her career working on behalf of environmental organizations in litigation and as an advocate for sea level rise adaptation, carbon mitigation, restoration of the Everglades ecosystem and protections of the unique island and marine resources of the Florida Keys.
Stephanie Dodson became a Managing Director at Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation in September 2014. Draper Richards Kaplan believes that with early funding and rigorous support, exceptional social entrepreneurs, tackling some of the world’s most complex problems, can make the world a better place. Stephanie co-founded, and remains involved with, three social ventures: Strategic Grant Partners, Project Healthy Children, and The Maranyundo Initiative. In her role at DRK, she currently serves on the boards for and works closely with 8 DRK portfolio organizations: Catie’s Closet, City Health Works, Clean Energy Trust, Crisis Text Line, D-Rev, Lava Mae, Upstream, and Y2Y. She also serves on the boards of RefugePoint, Year Up-Boston, Project Healthy Children, the Partners In Health advisory board and Share Our Strength’s leadership council. . She holds a BA in English and Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and an MBA from Stanford University, completed the Harvard Advanced Fellowship Initiative and lives in Boston.
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Jeanne has over 25 years of community development, fundraising and lending experience, internationally and here at home. Her experience includes community organizing and developing affordable housing in Chicago, Illinois, raising operating and loan capital at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, and underwriting and managing loan compliance issues for Forward Community Investments, a CDFI in Madison, WI. Internationally, she spent two years organizing and securing funding for schools on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala in the early 1990s. She is eternally grateful for the staff at the 8th Day Center for Justice who demonstrated the many methods one can work to overcome systemic poverty. Jeanne joined WCCN in December 2009. She has three children and enjoys family activities, attending her children’s events, running and horseback riding.
Timothy P. Dunn, CFA – Founder, Managing Member, and Chief Investment Officer – Terra Alpha Investments LLC Terra Alpha Investments LLC is an Advocacy Investment firm established in 2014, which manages a multi-sector, global equities LP fund that invests on the premise that superior Environmental Productivity practices enhance business and investor risk-adjusted returns. Tim has over 25 years of experience as an investment professional. The bulk of his career was spent at Capital Research, which manages $1.3 Trillion in investment funds. At Capital, Tim was a Senior Vice President and one of the lead managers of Capital largest and most successful funds including Growth Fund of America, Capital World Growth and Income Fund, and EuroPacific Growth Fund. Prior to being a fund manager, Tim was an equity analyst covering a diverse range of global sectors from consumer products to electrical equipment. He also worked as an advisor to CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, on strategic planning and organizational effectiveness. He served as a Trustee of the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, which overall is the leading investor in natural capital. Additionally Tim has served on many non-profit boards including the Board of Visitors of The College of William & Mary. He holds a BA ‘83 in International Relations from The College of William & Mary and a MBA in Finance from Northeastern University.
Georges Dyer has been engaged in solutions-based, whole-system approaches to sustainability for over 15 years. He serves as Executive Director of the Crane Institute of Sustainability, and leads the Intentional Endowments Network, supporting senior leadership in higher education to advance sustainable investing strategies that enhance endowment performance while aligning investments with mission, values, and sustainability goals. From 2006-2013, Georges served in various roles, including Vice President, at Second Nature to develop the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) network – comprised of more than 670 institutions committed to climate neutrality and integrating climate and sustainability into education, research, and community engagement activities. Previously, Georges was the Head of Market Intelligence at LaBranche Financial Services, where he was an NASD Series 86/87 licensed analyst. He is a graduate of The Mountain School, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Dartmouth College. He holds an MSc in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability from the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden.
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Carrie manages directly more than $250 million in assets for individuals, families and foundations at Reynders McVeigh. She is an Investment Committee Member, and also directs the Firm’s social impact investment work, researching and recommending private placement impact investments to all interested clients at RMCM. Carrie brings over 15 years of experience as a researcher, teacher, and investment professional to our socially progressive investment work. Prior to joining RMCM, Carrie was a Principal and Executive Committee Member at Lowell, Blake & Associates where she conducted global stock and bond research and advised directly on client assets. Carrie has been a lecturer at Harvard University and was a teaching consultant at the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University. She started her career as a technology researcher at Forrester Research in Cambridge. Carrie graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College and earned a Ph.D. in Modern Latin American History from Harvard University.
Bio coming soon.
Responsible for Barefoot College International, Meagan Fallone is currently steering the
Cathleen Finn is the New England Manager for IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs. She is responsible for managing IBM discretionary grant making, employee volunteerism, strategic services engagements, and special community initiatives for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont. Cathleen managed a Smarter Cities Challenge engagement with the City of Providence focused on economic development. Cathleen’s second Smarter Cities Challenge engagement with the City of Boston focused on reducing traffic congestion and generating new ways to monitor levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to joining Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, Cathleen held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in the Information Systems department, and was a Senior Process Engineering Consultant where she completed internal management consulting assignments in Massachusetts and internationally. Cathleen's community affiliations include serving as a director for the Center for Collaborative Education, membership in the Greater Boston Corporate Volunteer Council and serving as a mediator for Community Dispute Settlement Center and Mediation Works Incorporated. Cathleen graduated with honors from Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Psychology and earned a Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution from the University of Massachusetts Boston, receiving an award for academic excellence.
Randal Fischer has worked in t he oil, gas, chemicals and minin g industries since 1968, both in public and private sector executive c apacities. F ischer has participated or adv ised in financing, negotiation and valuation of in vestments in world wide extra ctive resou rces of over US$ 250 billion value in more than 50 nations.
Bio coming soon.
Dr. Pandwe Gibson is making going green cool, practical and profitable. After founding and scaling a network of highly successful schools, she dove into the business world where she started, led and scaled three successful companies. Currently, she is the CEO/Executive Director and Founder of EcoTech Visions, Miami’s first green maker space, co-working space and green business incubator. Through EcoTech Visions, she and her team are guiding entrepreneurs to grow green manufacturing in Miami. Dr. Gibson has a Bachelor of Arts from Scripps College, a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning from Claremont Graduate University, a Master in Leadership from Harvard Graduate School, and a PhD from Claremont Graduate University. She has lived, studied, taught and worked internationally at notable universities such as the University of Logon in Accra Ghana, and Oxford University in Oxford England. Originally from Earth, Pandwe enjoys water sports, extreme sports, and art. She lives in Miami and believes that she will witness an oxygen-surplus planet.
Bahar Gidwani has built and run large technology-based businesses for many years. Bahar holds a CFA, worked on Wall Street with Kidder, Peabody, and with McKinsey & Co. Bahar has consulted to a number of major companies and currently serves on the board of several software and Web companies. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy. Bahar was recently interviewed on Brian Lehrer TV. He plays bridge, races sailboats, and is based in New York City.
Dr. James Gifford leads TAU’s impact strategy, working with the investment team to deliver social and environmental improvements within TAU’s portfolio companies. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he teaches and researches impact investing within family offices, with a focus on the next generation of family members. Previously, Dr. Gifford was the founding Executive Director of the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, taking the initiative from inception in 2003 and building it, over 10 years, into the preeminent global initiative on responsible investment with 1200 signatories representing $30 trillion in assets. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on responsible investment. Dr. Gifford holds a PhD from the University of Sydney on the effectiveness of shareholder engagement in improving corporate environmental, social and governance performance, as well as degrees in Commerce and Law, and a Masters in Environment Management. He speaks Indonesian, and was recognized in 2010 by the World Economic Forum as one of 200 Young Global Leaders.
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Katie is co-founder of motive – a social impact consultancy that believes social and economic progress should not be mutually exclusive. motive works with organizations to help to prove, position and scale their social investment to deliver sustainable value. This takes many forms from strategic development and positioning to marketing and communication to revenue modeling, program development, partnership vetting and impact measurement. motive’s clients include Getty Images & iStock, Gap Inc, Old Navy, NYSE and Morgan Stanley’s Institute for Sustainable Investing. Prior to founding motive, Katie was Head of Strategy at creative agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in New York. Over the years she has led strategy for brands such as BBC Worldwide, Levi’s, Sony, Sony Ericsson UNICEF & Unilever around the world, having lived in London, Singapore and New York. Katie’s passion for using creativity to solve business challenges helps her create simple innovative ideas with a clear sense of purpose.
Maureen Hart is the Executive Director of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP), the world’s leading professional association of sustainability professionals. ISSP works to make sustainability standard practice through empowering professionals to advance sustainability in organizations and communities around the globe. ISSP improves the skills of sustainability practitioners through education, knowledge sharing and research and professional credentials for certified sustainability practitioners. With more than 20 years in the field of sustainability, Hart brings a wealth of experience to her position as ISSP’s Executive Director. She is an expert in sustainability indicators and author of the Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators. Prior to taking on the leadership of ISSP, she was founder and owner of Sustainable Measures where she assisted a wide variety of large and small for profit and not-for-profit organizations understand and develop more sustainable practices.
EVAN HARVEY is the Director of Corporate Responsibility for Nasdaq. He manages all corporate sustainability (environmental, social, and governance strategy), philanthropic, and volunteering efforts. This includes internal management of systems and disclosures as well as external engagement with issuers, investors, advocacy groups, and other stock exchanges. He chairs the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) Sustainability Working Group, sits on the U.S. Network Board of the United Nations Global Compact, and is an Advisory Board Member for the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Evan has worked at Nasdaq since 2004, holds a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Texas, and lives outside Washington DC.
In her role of Energy & Sustainability Innovations Director, Jackie oversees the environmental strategy of the Bank from Maine to Florida and across Canada by providing thought leadership to drive TD’s green building strategy higher and institutionalize the Bank’s green building practices to bring meaningful impact to the organization. This includes contributing her expertise in the design, construction and operation of branches and corporate spaces, implementing practices that reduce the organization’s environmental impact focusing on energy, water and waste, and overseeing the LEED certification process. Jackie also led the team that established the Bank’s IDEAS Program which is responsible for delivering continuous improvement and innovation for design, construction, and operations of retail and corporate facilities. Initiatives cover scope areas including: project management, energy and sustainability, and day to day facilities management. A comprehensive pilot program allows for new ideas to be tested and refined and then rolled out once optimized solutions have been found. Jackie has extensive experience in sustainability, innovation, real estate and business. Prior to joining TD Bank, she was the sustainability manager and senior project manager for Harvard University’s Allston Development Group, where she guided the sustainability aspects of the school’s Allston campus expansion. She was also previously a vice president at Colliers Meredith & Grew and a project manager at Turner Construction. Jackie earned a Bachelor of Science in architectural design, a Master of Architecture and a Master of Science in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a LEED Fellow and LEED AP BD+C, a founding board member of the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter, serves on the USGBC Programs Working Group and is on the Advisory Council for Zoo New England.
Mr. Henshaw founded CEI Ventures (CVI) in 1994, capitalized its first community development venture fund at $5.5 million in 1996, formed its second fund in 2001 ($20 million) and third fund in 2011 ($10.135 million). In 1993, he co-founded the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA) and serves as its corporate Secretary. CVI has invested over $24 million in 48 companies employing over 2,900 people. Prior to forming Coastal Ventures, Mr. Henshaw was a Loan and Investment Officer at Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), now a $100 million community development corporation headquartered in Wiscasset, Maine. During eight and a half years at CEI, Mr. Henshaw loaned and invested social investment capital in over 125 projects totaling over $6.0 million, including environmental clean-up, child care, electronic instrument, publishing, marine products, medical equipment and computer service industries. From May 1984 to June 1986, Mr. Henshaw was an Analyst and Assistant to the President of Chemical Venture Capital Corporation (now J.P. Morgan Partners). He also served as an Associate at Intersouth Partners, L.P. (Research Triangle Park, NC) and Kitty Hawk Capital, Ltd. (Charlotte, NC). Mr. Henshaw holds MBA (1988) and BA (1984) degrees from Duke University and a Certificate from the NASBIC Venture Capital Institute. Mr. Henshaw serves on the Boards of: Ektron, Inc. (managed web services); Pen Bay Solutions, LLC. (GIS software); Coast of Maine Organic Products, Inc. (compost); Gelato Fiasco (local food) Navigator Publishing (magazines); Taction (call center); Red Zone Wireless (Internet Services); and Smart Pak, LLC (equine pharmacy). He is also Past Commodore of the Harraseeket Yacht Club (where he represented the club in the Marion-Bermuda, Marblehead-Halifax, Yarmouth Cup and Monhegan ocean races) and a Trustee of Maine’s Episcopal Diocesan Funds. He is married to Michelle R. Henshaw and has two children Lyse (18) and Nicholas (22).
Bio coming soon.
Jeff Hilton is partner and co-founder of BrandHive, a prominent healthy-lifestyle branding agency celebrating 20 years working with dietary supplement, functional food and beverage, and health and beauty brands. Jeff brings 35 years of advanced business and marketing insight to his clients, and has been recognized by Advertising Age magazine as one of the nation’s Top 100 Marketers. Jeff is also a recipient of Nutrition Business Journal’s Personal Service Award.
Paul Hilton is a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Trillium. Prior to joining the firm, he was Vice President, Sustainable Investment Business Strategy at Calvert Investments. Paul also previously held senior positions within Calvert’s Equities and Marketing Departments. He has also served as Portfolio Manager for Socially Responsible Investing at The Dreyfus Corporation, then a division of Mellon Bank, and as Research Analyst in the Social Awareness Investment (SAI) program at Smith Barney Asset Management, then a division of Citigroup. Paul started his career in the field of SRI as an analyst with the Council on Economic Priorities, a non-profit known for an influential consumer guidebook called “Shopping for a Better World.” Paul serves as Chair of the Board of US SIF, the U.S. membership association for professionals, firms, institutions and organizations engaged in socially responsible and sustainable investing. A Chartered Financial Analyst, he holds Master’s degrees in Anthropology from New York University and Education from Roberts Wesleyan.
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Jason Jay is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Director of the Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan. He teaches courses on leadership, strategy, and innovation for sustainable business. Jason engages students and alumni in hands-on projects with leading companies and organizations. These efforts help build a community of innovators for sustainability that includes MIT students and alumni, faculty and researchers, with partners in business, government, NGOs, and hybrid organizations. Jason’s own research focuses on how people navigate the tensions inherent in the quest for sustainability, as they simultaneously pursue their own self-interest and the flourishing of human and other life. This investigation includes deep case studies of cross-sectoral collaboration and hybrid organizations that combine social and business goals. It also includes action research efforts that help people cultivate authentic, effective conversations about sustainability and escape common pitfalls of excessive moral and intellectual certainty. Energy efficiency has proven a useful context to explore these questions; Jay has conducted an ethnographic study of the Cambridge Energy Alliance, and serves as a research partner and facilitator for the EDF Climate Corps program and its network of companies. Alongside these efforts, Jason is an active leader of sustainability efforts across MIT. Through the MIT Sustainable Societies Research Group, he brings together scholars from across the Institute to examine the invention, implementation, and transformation required for a sustainable society. He has helped improve the energy and environmental footprint of the MIT campus by founding the MIT Generator and the ‘Greening MIT’ community engagement campaign, and serves as founding member of the Campus Energy “Walk the Talk” Task Force. Prior to MIT, Jay ran an Internet startup, traveled around the world, taught kindergarten in a progressive preschool, and worked as a consultant with Dialogos International, where he consulted on leadership development and organizational change for major international corporations and NGO’s including BP, the World Bank, and the Instituto Libertad y Democracia. Jay holds an AB in psychology and a Master’s in education from Harvard University, and a PhD in Organization Studies from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
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Christophe Jospe is a policy wonk who likes to connect the dots and throughout his career has restlessly tackled some of the most challenging social and environmental issues. After graduating from Colgate University in 2008 with a degree in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies, he moved to Cairo, Egypt, where for two years he was an English teacher, an Arabic student, and working at a human rights organization. Christophe left Egypt in 2010 for New York City where he took a role as a community organizer at the Arab American Association of New York. There, he built up a youth leadership program and then transitioned into the role of Associate Director where he more than doubled the organizational budget. During that time, he was taking night classes at New York University, one of which was entitled “Global Climate Change.” The class left him horribly depressed, and compelled him to go back to school to bridge the finance, science, policy, and engineering needed to solve climate change. He enrolled in the Environmental Science and Policy Masters of Public Administration program at Columbia University. While at Columbia, he was working at the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy (LCSE) and found himself on a ridiculously fast learning curve related to technologies that can capture, use and sequester carbon dioxide. In August 2014, he moved with LCSE director Klaus Lackner as Chief Strategist to found the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions at Arizona State University. While there, he established the air capture technology consortium, and played a key role in securing funding and raising awareness around technologies that can extract carbon dioxide from ambient air. In June 2016, he left the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions to throw his entrepreneurial hat into the ring to incubate a company through the Founder Institute, the Carbon A List. His aim is to build a technology agnostic company that amplifies attention and unleashes capital for the most promising approaches available to manage carbon dioxide.
Bruce has over 26 years of experience in environmental and investment research and management. Currently, Bruce is the Portfolio Manager at Sustainable Insight Capital Management. Previously, Bruce was a Director in Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division where he acted as an investment strategist conducting high-level analytical research on sustainable investing including clean tech, water and agricultural-based investment strategies as well as ESG/SRI strategies. Prior to that, he managed assets at Smith Barney’s Private Wealth Management Group in sustainable investments including agri-business and clean tech for Foundation/Endowment, HNWI and Institutional clients. Bruce currently serves as a Trustee and Chair of the Finance Committee of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation, serves on the Finance committee of the Christopher Reynolds Foundation and previously served as Trustee of the Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation. He also serves as a member of the Board of Visitors for the Gaylord Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is on the Technical Review Panel of National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Recently Bruce has joined the Advisory Council of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and serves on the Advisory Panel of Mercer Investment Consulting and Management’s Sustainable Opportunities Fund. Bruce is a recipient of both a J. William Fulbright Scholarship and a National Science Foundation Fellowship in ecological economics and served in the United States Peace Corps in the Republic of Cameroon, (1989-1993). Bruce holds a BA in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut; MS in Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures from Auburn University; PhD in Land Resources from University of Wisconsin, Madison. Bruce currently is a Lecturer at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in the Sustainability Management Program.
André graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Economics in 1981. André joined Dana Investment Advisors in February 1991 and is currently an Executive Vice President, and is a Principal in the firm. He is responsible for marketing and client support with key clients nationwide. André is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMATM) and is a charter member of the investment Management Consulting Association (IMCA).
Erika Karp is Founder, CEO and Chair of the Board at Cornerstone Capital Inc. The mission of the firm is to apply the principles of sustainable finance across the capital markets enhancing investment processes through transparency and collaboration. In seeking positive societal impact at scale, Cornerstone offers wealth and investment advising, research and strategic consulting, and investment banking services. Working with investors, corporations and financial institutions, the firm drives the systematic analysis of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors throughout the global capital markets. Prior to launching Cornerstone, Erika was Managing Director and Head of Global Sector Research at UBS Investment Bank where she Chaired the UBS Global Investment Review Committee and managed a global team of analysts and strategists. Erika served on the UBS Securities Research Executive Committee and the Environmental and Human Rights Committee of the UBS Group Executive Board. While at UBS, Erika created and drove key branded global investment research products including the UBS Q-Series®, the Global I/O®, Global Signals™ and the weekly “UBS Global Portfolio Manager’s Spotlight.” Erika is a founding Board member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Agenda Council on Financing and Capital, and serves as an Advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Market-Based Approaches Track initiative. She sits on the Program Design Advisory Council for Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program on Innovating for Sustainability, and serves as an Ambassador for the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). Erika speaks at events including those of the OECD, the UN Global Compact and PRI, Oxford University, The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing, Ceres, The Aspen Institute, and the White House. She holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School. Erika presents and writes extensively on topics including: sustainable investing and finance, corporate strategy and business models, transparency and excellence in the areas of Environmental, Social and Governance performance, and employee engagement/diversity in the workplace. Her work has been featured by Bloomberg Businessweek, Euromoney, the Financial Times, Investor Relations Magazine, The Guardian, and Forbes. For driving collaboration across the capital markets, she has been named among the nation’s “Top 50 Women in Wealth” by AdvisorOne and one of the “Purpose Economy 100,” the “Good 100” and one of 50 “Conscious Capitalists” who are “Transforming Wall Street.”
Mr. Kelly-Detwiler is an independent consultant with 27 years of experience in electricity markets. As a Principal at NorthBridge Energy partners, Mr. Kelly-Detwiler currently provides strategic consulting to a variety of companies, with a focus on integrating new technologies into the evolving electric power grid. Recent clients have ranged from start-ups to established multinational energy holding companies. Mr. Kelly-Detwiler is a frequent keynote speaker, workshop presenter and panel moderator at various energy conferences. He is also a frequent contributor to Forbes.com and other publications, having written over 200 energy-related pieces in the past three years. Over the length of his career, Mr. Kelly-Detwiler has held a series of executive positions, including SVP of Constellation Energy’s Demand Response unit, overseeing a business that ultimately grew to 1,700 MW of dispatchable load, with annual revenues exceeding $80 million. He also ran Constellation Energy’s New England Operations unit, taking that retail energy business unit from zero to over one billion dollars in annual revenues. He holds granted or pending patents related to Smart Grid demand response applications. He is also currently working on a book addressing the topic of innovation and disruption in the electric power industry.
Peter Kellner, who co-founded Endeavor in 1997, is Founder and Managing Partner of Richmond Global, a venture capital firm targeting early stage investments in the U.S. and Europe, and growth stage investments in emerging markets. Richmond works with Endeavor’s network of companies globally to source and scale leading edge businesses transforming their markets and regions. Mr. Kellner is also Founder and Managing Partner of Richmond Global Values Fund, a multi-strategy fund that integrates sustainability across assets classes and the world. Mr. Kellner is a board member of Rubicon Global, Inc. and on the non-profit boards of Endeavor Global, Endeavor Miami, and Endeavor Louisville; BizCorps (an emerging markets business developer founded by former OPIC President, Rob Mosbacher), and Ashoka Youth Venture. He is a Trustee of the Allen-Stevenson School in New York. He is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations; Crown Fellow, The Aspen Institute; and Member, Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP). In 2009, he was selected as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and was a Fulbright Scholar to Hungary after college. There, he co-founded Hungary’s Environmental Management & Law Association (EMLA), a leading organization today in Central Europe shaping environmental law & policy. Subsequently, he received a J.D. from Yale Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He lectured in Princeton’s Engineering Department for 13 years and provided the funding to establish Princeton University’s E-Lab for student startups
Originally from Mexico, Irene moved to the United States to pursue a degree in Finance and Entrepreneurship at the University of Utah. As a student, she worked for a microfinance organization in Kathmandu Nepal and decided to start her own social business “Spread the love Inc.”, to provide market means for artisans living in poverty to sell their products. Upon graduation, she joined the policy arm of the Utah-based “Sorenson Global Impact Investing Center” focusing on international outreach and development. This position enabled her to understand the challenges of international development and the need for sustainability and accountability to truly help the poor. Driven by the desire to work with and learn from the extreme poor, she joined the economic development arm of “CHOICE Humanitarian”, an NGO operating in seven countries whose mission is to eliminate extreme poverty. As CHOICE’s Impact Fund Manager she develops and oversees impact investment projects designed to connect entrepreneurs in impoverished villages with financial resources and mentorship to bring them out of poverty. She promotes data driven decisions to provide structure and discipline to the process. Apart from CHOICE, she works as an advisor for small businesses in sectors like agriculture, production and impact measurement.
Bio coming soon.
Karl is a founder of Arborview Capital, co-heads the investment team and co-manages the operations of the firm. He serves on the boards of directors of Rachio, Vital Farms, LRI Energy Solutions, and Drexel Metals on behalf of Arborview. Prior to co-founding Arborview Capital, Karl was a partner at Columbia Capital, a sector-focused venture capital firm with over $2 billion under management. Prior to Columbia Capital, Karl worked at J.P. Morgan & Co. in New York and San Francisco where he specialized in corporate finance and capital markets for technology and communications clients. He also currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Levine Music, a leading independent music school based in Washington, DC. Karl received a BS in Finance from Lehigh University.
Maureen Kline is Director of Public Affairs and Sustainability for Pirelli Tire North America, responsible for the US, Canada and Mexico. She writes a weekly column on sustainability for www.Inc.com. She is based in New York. Maureen sits on the board of the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada, and the advisory board of the Corporate Responsibility Association, where she co-chairs a Thought Leadership Council on Brand and Reputation Management. Maureen lived in Italy for 23 years, and was a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal Europe and Business Week, among others. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Bio coming soon.
Krut was named Praxair’s Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer in December 2012. She leads the Company’s integration of sustainable development into the overall corporate strategy and leads the development of corporate-wide metrics as well as targets and performance management. Krut is responsible for maintaining Praxair’s external reputation for sustainability excellence in addition to identifying and engaging with relevant stakeholder groups. She also leads Praxair’s community engagement program. Krut has 25 years of experience as a sustainability and environmental management consultant to several leading multi-national companies. She joined Praxair in February 2008 as executive director, sustainable development. Before joining Praxair, she was a consultant on environment and sustainable development, delivering projects for Toyota North America, Avon Products, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority Department of Capital Projects, and the American Chemistry Council; and research for UNCTAD, UNRISD, US EPA and US AID. Krut holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of London, U.K., and a bachelor’s degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.She serves on the Board of Green Seal, Inc., a Washington D.C.-based product environmental standard-setting organization, and as Chair of the Amsterdam-based Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC), that has responsibility to ensure that the standard-setting activities of the GSSB are conducted in accordance with its due process. Praxair, Inc., a Fortune 300 company with 2015 sales of $11 billion, is a leading industrial gas company in North and South America and one of the largest worldwide. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric, process and specialty gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technologies are making our planet more productive by bringing efficiency and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, primary metals and many others.
Bio coming soon.
Sky is Founder and Managing Principal of SustainVC, LLC, the General Partner of the Patient Capital Collaborative Series of funds that invest in for-profit early-stage companies that are looking to provide meaningful social and/or environmental benefit to the world. Deal flow for the PCC funds come primarily through Investors’ Circle, the oldest national impact investment angel network in the U.S. Five Patient Capital Collaborative have been raised since 2007, through which investments in over 25 impact companies have been made. Sky began his career in 1983 with the Bank of Boston in its High Technology Division, making equity-oriented loans and direct equity investments in early-stage high tech companies. In 1989, he joined the investment staff of Pacific Life Insurance Company and made direct investments in private debt and equity, as well as in investment limited partnerships (LBO, Mezzanine and Venture funds), both on a primary and secondary basis. In 1990, Sky co-founded the private equity firm today known as Windjammer Capital Investors with over $2 billion under management. Sky founded SustainVC in 2007, and since then has devoted his time entirely to investing for-profit dollars into companies that are making a positive difference. Sky has served on over a dozen company boards, is a regular speaker on the topic of Impact Investing, and is a consultant to other social investment venture funds. Contact Information: Sky@SustainVC.com Office Direct: 978-369-5043
Laurie Lane-Zucker is Founder and CEO of the Impact Entrepreneur Center for Social and Environmental Innovation and the Impact Entrepreneur Network, which has 11,700+ members in over 200 countries. For over 25 years, Laurie has been a “pioneer”(Forbes) and recognized leader in sustainability, education and social enterprise. Laurie was the founding Executive Director of the international environmental organization and thought leading magazine, Orion, as well as founder of a global environmental citizenship think-tank, Triad Institute, and founder of Hotfrog, one of the first B Corporations and the first company ever to complete a transaction on an impact investing exchange (Mission Markets). Laurie is a systems-thinker and movement builder, having co-founded the place-based education movement as well as the first network of environmental and social justice organizations in the United States. Laurie is also the publisher, editor and introduction-writer of a number of bestselling and award-winning books as well as the author of numerous articles on sustainability, social change, entrepreneurship and impact investing, and has spoken at a wide range of leading educational institutions and conferences. He did his undergraduate studies at Middlebury College and the University of Edinburgh, and his graduate work at Columbia University and the Bread Loaf School of English.
Mike Lapham is Director of the Responsible Wealth project at United for a Fair Economy in Boston. Responsible Wealth is a network of business owners and investors in the top 5% of wealth and/or income in the US who believe the economic rules are too tilted towards the rich at the expense of everyone else. RW members use their unexpected voice to advocate – in Congress, in the media, and in corporate boardrooms – for progressive taxes, living wages and corporate accountability. Responsible Wealth is a project of United for a Fair Economy, a national non-profit organization that challenges the concentration of wealth and power that corrupts democracy, deepens the racial divide and tears communities apart.
Prior to founding the Responsible Wealth project 18 years ago, Mike was AIDS Housing Project Director for the City of Boston and Housing Specialist for the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo. He is a member of the Social Venture Network. Mike is an avid squash player, bikes to work year round, and has three young children.
Bio coming soon.
Lise Laurin, CEO of EarthShift Global, has been working since 2000 to support enterprises in their endeavor to reduce social and environmental impacts. With EarthShift Global, she has focused on Sustainability Return on Investment (S-ROI) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as tools for measuring sustainability. She is currently the driving force behind the LCA Capability Roadmap. She is a pioneer in S-ROI, having broadened the scope from the original Total Cost Assessment methodology to include benefits and impacts to society, and in particular how a decision can be adapted to be a win-win-win solution for all stakeholders. Her focus is on building capacity in industry and government, providing software tools, training, and consulting. She is the Vice President of the Sustainability Conoscente Network, a member of the SETAC North American LCA Advisory Group Steering Committee, a member of the board of advisors of the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment and a member of the US ISO TAG on LCA and. She brings to this effort over 20 years in industry and holds a BS in Physics from Yale University.
Brendan has more than 20 years of experience working with global public and private companies to provide financial and non-financial advisory, reporting and assurance services. He is a subject matter professional on corporate social responsibility metrics, reporting and assurance and led the first full sustainability assurance engagement in the US. Brendan brings extensive experience in implementing sustainability initiatives into internal balanced scorecards utilized to drive executive compensation. He also brings significant experience leading and coordinating several sustainability risk assessments, conflict minerals engagements and sustainable sourcing reviews, including working with some of the leading manufacturers on sustainable sourcing programs, values-led sourcing programs and numerous third-party certification schemes. Brendan serves as EY’s representative on the: Prior to joining EY, he was the founder and CEO of LeBlanc & Associates, a niche CPA firm focused on corporate social responsibility reporting and assurance services and issued the first reasonable assurance opinion on a sustainability report in the US in 2008. Brendan has a BA in Accounting from Gordon College and a graduate certificate in Sustainable Business from University of Vermont. He is a certified public accountant in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as well as a Certified Internal Auditor.
Leland Lehrman is Free Spirit at Fund Balance. He connects vision with action where a focus on cultural sustainability emphasizes the spiritual and emotional life. His clients are aligned with these values, and work in food, fiber, healthcare, education, arts and community development. He is thrilled to be part of Sustainatopia and looks forward to carrying the vision of a touring sustainable and healing celebration into ever deepening and broadening global capacity. He has recently completed the three year Alkion teacher training course in the Waldorf School tradition and is a member of the Anthroposophical Society, a cosmic wisdom community. His book, The VitEmerald, is an expression of the work done by Black Elk, the Lakota medicine tradition, and other indigenous traditions to emphasize the necessity of living one’s vision. He lives with his wife, Vera – a transpersonal psychology and holotropic breathwork artist – and four beloved children at the Hawthorne Valley Association community in the Dove Shire of New York. He enjoys singing, playing guitar and piano, and theater. To learn more about his work or contact him, please visit fund-balance.com .
Jillian Lennartz is a Millenial to watch. As a nationally recognized professional on the inaugural GreenBiz 30 Under 30 sustainability professionals list, she is already making her mark on the industry. Holding a BS in Chemistry and an MS in Earth Science – Geochemical Systems, along with having performed NASA and USGS funded research during her graduate work, she brings a firm grasp of climate change and carbon accounting to her work. Being an avid technophile as well, Jillian combines her skills and interests as a Principal in the Corporate Social Responsibility team at CA Technologies. She frequently represents CA with external organizations, and is active in UN Global Compact affairs.
Mr. Lyman is a seasoned executive and serial entrepreneur with more than twenty years in Asia Pacific. Having managed numerous MNC organizations in the region ranging from Hospitality, Manufacturing to Consultative Services He has a broad back ground and experience managing the issues unique to the region. He has launched numerous companies in China during the past decade with an emphasis leveraging technology in an emerging market. In 2013 Mr. Lyman with a group of Social Investors began to build solutions leveraging mobility to improve livelihood for the burgeoning front line work force in China, launching MicroBenefits as a result.
Kevin D. Mahn is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Hennion & Walsh Asset Management. Mr. Mahn is responsible for all of the Wealth and Asset Management products and services offered at the Firm including the SmartTrust® series of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). One such UIT that Mr. Mahn designed, in conjunction with both IW Financial and Argus Research, was the SmartTrust®, Sustainable Impact Investing Trust. Mr. Mahn also was the Portfolio Manager of the family of SmartGrowth® Mutual Funds. These mutual funds were target-risk oriented “mutual funds of ETFs” designed to track the Lipper Optimal Indices. Prior to Hennion & Walsh, Mr. Mahn was a Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers where he held several senior management positions, including CAO of the High Net Worth Product and Services group within Lehman’s Wealth and Asset Management division as well as COO of Lehman Brothers Bank, during his eleven year tenure with the Firm. Mr. Mahn is the author of the quarterly “ETF and CEF Insights” and “Market Outlook” newsletters as well as a co-author of the book, Exchange Traded Funds: Conceptual and Practical Investment Approaches, © 2009 Riskbooks. Mr. Mahn is a member of the Forbes Investor team and a frequent contributor to the Forbes Intelligent Investing blog and the Seeking Alpha website. Mr. Mahn currently serves as Co-Chair of the NICSA UIT Industry Committee and won the 2014 NICSA MVP Award for his accomplishments in this role as well as the Rising Stars of Mutual Funds Award from Institutional Investor in 2009. Interviews with, as well as byline articles and insights from, Mr. Mahn have appeared in/on CBS News, Fox News, CNBC, Fox Business News, Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Fortune, Forbes, New York Times, Financial Times, USA Today, Bloomberg, and Yahoo! Finance.
Bio coming soon.
Mac McCabe has been a consultant and entrepreneur since 1989 working exclusively with small businesses whose missions prioritize sustainability and social responsibility. He specializes in profit-driven, hands-on advising to early-stage and expanding entrepreneurs, many affiliated with Social Venture Network. Mac has served as the interim CEO of several well-known socially responsible businesses, including Northeast Cooperatives (the original regional natural products wholesale grocer), clothing manufacturer Eileen Fisher, and the Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, which produces the brownies for Ben and Jerry’s. Mac was also the co-founder (with Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm) and CEO of O’Naturals, the first organic and natural quick service restaurant chain in the country. Mac moved to Maine in 1975 to be the Merchandise Manager of L. L. Bean and has had other management positions, including Director of the businesses at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He earned an MBA at Harvard University. He continues to live in Maine with his wife, a university professor, and works with clients throughout the country.
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Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Edvaldo Morata is an entrepreneur and private equity partner with over 30 years of experience in international banking and asset management. Edvaldo is co-founder of Eneas Alternative Investments, a private equity firm focused on unlocking value in firms located in the Iberian Peninsula, and heading their international operations located in the US. He is involved in investment relations with responsibility over the Americas and direct involvement in the strategic, management and investment processes. Edvaldo was recently appointed the president of Lug Healthcare Technology, an Eneas portfolio company that develops solutions to guarantee safety, efficiency and quality for hospital pharmacies. He is also the Managing Director of the Perlmutter Institute for Global Business Leadership, associated with the International Business School of Brandeis University. Edvaldo has more than 30 years of experience in corporate and investment banking, brokerage and asset management. He started his career at Citicorp Investment Bank in São Paulo, Brazil, and subsequently worked for ING Bank in São Paulo and the UK, Banco S.R.L. (later American Express Bank S.A.) in São Paulo, and Santander in São Paulo, Hong Kong and the US. Throughout his career he has conducted business with financial, institutional and corporate clients. Among his most notable achievements is the management of the Brazilian operations of Santander Asset Management, as well as the corporate banking operations of Banco Santander in the USA, where, in both cases, he generated significant improvement in operational and financial results. Edvaldo has a Master of International Economic Relations Law degree from the Catholic University of São Paulo, and executive education from the University of São Paulo, Harvard, IESE and INSEAD. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English.
Matt Moscardi currently serves as a Head of Financial Sector Research and Head of Thematic Research for MSCI ESG Research. He leads a team of five analysts across Europe and Asia dedicated to the financial sector, and Matt is responsible for ESG ratings methodology and trends analysis across the sector for MSCI’s core ESG products. Prior to that, Matt worked directly on ESG ratings in the financial sector and served as Chair of the ESG Editorial Board. Prior to joining MSCI, Matt developed low-carbon investment programs and engaged directly with US pension funds and asset managers managing over USD 10 trillion in assets as a Manager at Ceres, a Boston-based non-profit. Matt also founded a hedge fund with a sustainability and resource scarcity theme, managing less the USD 1 million, before joining Ceres. He is a graduate of Brown University with a concentration in Computers and Music.
A leader in impact investing, Tammy E. Newmark has over thirty years of experience in the field. She serves as Managing Partner & CEO, EcoEnterprises Fund (ecoenterprisesfund.com) which invests growth capital in compelling small ventures which sustainable use natural resources, preserve biodiversity, mitigate climate risks and generate social gains. To date, the Fund invested in 33 companies in 11 countries; EcoEnterprises Fund 3 will be launched in 2017. Newmark is co-author of Portfolio for the Planet: Lessons from 10 years of impact investing (Earthscan/Routledge Press, 2011). She began her investment career at the International Finance Corporation and JPMorgan Chase.
Anoosheh Oskouian is President and CEO of Ship & Shore Environmental, Inc., a Long Beach, Calif.-based woman-owned, certified business specializing in air pollution capture and control systems for industrial applications. As its only female CEO, Oskouian is unique within the environmental industry. She has more than seventeen years’ experience in industrial and commercial project construction of a wide range of air design and fabricating combustion equipment including thermal oxidizers, catalytic oxidizers, boilers, burners, carbon and zeolite absorption mechanisms. During her impressive career, Oskouian has mastered air pollution abatement, waste heat recovery, energy consumption reduction and fabrication of integrated green solutions. Oskouian’s in-depth process knowledge and expertise provide the foundation for designing superior, innovative and efficient equipment, along with reliable technologies that help clients collect and reduce and/or eliminate air pollution emissions within environmentally acceptable guidelines.
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Jens Peers is CIO Sustainable Equities and Fixed Income of Mirova, a subsidiary of Natixis Asset Management engaged in responsible investing. He joined Mirova in 2013. Prior to Natixis, Mr. Peers was head of portfolio management – environmental strategies for water, agribusiness and cleantech (renewable energy, energy eff ciency and waste management) at Kleinwort Benson Investors, Dublin. He also was a financial analyst at BC Asset Management and a financial advisor at KBC Bank, Brussels. Mr. Peers began his career in 1998. Mr. Peers holds a master’s degree in applied economics from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He also is a CFA® Charterholder and is a certif ed CEFA (Certif ed European Financial analyst of the BVFA-ABAF – Belgian Association of Financial Analysts).
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Tom Raffa is the founder and president of Raffa, P.C. a national Top 100, B-Corp certified, professional services firm with one primary objective – to be a catalyst for positive systemic change in the community. A social entrepreneur himself, Tom has coached thousands of nonprofit leaders for more than 30 years. A graduate of Georgetown University with a CPA certificate from the District of Columbia, Tom is an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Georgetown University Alumni Admissions Program and serves as a mentor at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. He currently serves on six nonprofit boards and is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2016 Georgetown University Alumni – Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Nonprofit Village – Individual of the Year Award.
Michael Rand is co-founder and Managing Director of WindSail Capital Group. Michael has over 20 years of experience in private equity investing, structured finance and corporate finance. Prior to founding WindSail, Michael spent 11 years as a private equity professional, most recently as a Managing Director of GB Merchant Partners, a division of Gordon Brothers Group. Previously, Michael served as a Principal at Palladin Capital Group, a New York based middle market private equity firm. Prior to joining Palladin, Michael was a member of the Leveraged Finance/Merchant Banking Division of CIBC World Markets. Michael received a B.S. from Georgetown University and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He currently sits on the board of Coaching4Change and lives in Wellesley, MA with his wife and three children.
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Josh serves as a Senior Analyst within Third Sector’s Boston office, focusing on the feasibility assessments and constructions of Pay for Success projects. He joined Third Sector in May 2016 after working within Deloitte’s Strategy and Operations practice for over two years. Josh’s client engagements at Deloitte included projects in innovative financing, customer and market analysis and business and systems transformation. On top of client work, Josh also provided pro bono consulting services to workforce development and education nonprofits in Washington, D.C. Josh graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University, with a B.A. in Political Science.
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Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
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John A. Simon is a Founder and Managing Partner of Total Impact Capital, a merchant bank for the impact investment sector. Prior to starting Total Impact Advisors, Ambassador Simon was a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he co-authored More than Money, a report on impact investing as a development tool. Previously, Ambassador Simon held a variety of posts in the US government, including as the United States Ambassador to the African Union and the Executive Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Ambassador Simon also served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Relief, Stabilization, and Development for the National Security Council at the White House and as Deputy Assistant Administrator at the United States Agency for International Development. Ambassador Simon received an AB from Princeton University and an MPP from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
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Bio coming soon.
Beacon Pointe Wealth Advisors is a wealth management consulting firm that takes a holistic approach to helping our clients meet their financial goals. We focus on full service financial planning and research driven investments. We partner with our clients to help them make the most informed decisions possible on any issues related to their wealth.
Megan Starr is within Goldman Sachs Asset Management working on the development of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Impact Investing Platform within the Goldman Sachs Investment Management Division. Previously, Ms. Starr was the Chief of Staff of The JPB Foundation, a $3.8B private family foundation based in New York City. Ms. Starr earned an A.B. from Harvard College in Environmental Science and Public Policy, magna cum laude with highest honors in field of concentration, and was awarded summa cum laude for her thesis on biological carbon offsets. Ms. Starr earned an M.B.A. and a Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arbuckle Leadership Fellow.
Peter Stein joined Lyme in 1990 and leads the Company’s conservation strategies. Prior to joining Lyme, Peter was Senior Vice President of the Trust for Public Land (TPL) where he directed TPL’s conservation real estate acquisitions in the Northeast and Midwest. Peter lectures extensively at graduate schools and professional conferences on conservation investment schemes and strategies. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Forest History Society and the National Alliance of Forestland Owners. In addition, he is a former Board Chair of the Land Trust Alliance, served as a founding Commissioner of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Rose Smart Growth Real Estate Fund No. 1. Peter earned a B.A. with Highest Honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1975 and was a Loeb Fellow and received a Certificate in Advanced Environmental Studies from Harvard University in 1981. In 2012/2013, he was awarded the Kingsbury Browne Fellowship from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, as well as the Kingsbury Browne Award from the Land Trust Alliance.
David Steingard is the co-founder and CEO of Laughing Man Coffee and Director of the Laughing Man Foundation. He left his work as a criminal prosecutor in Brooklyn to start Laughing Man Coffee with actor Hugh Jackman. They share the vision that business can be a vehicle for positive change and Laughing Man Coffee is a model. David was CEO of Creative Exposure, a small business marketing firm, and CEO of CompuTech Edge,a technology company for public schools. He hopes this film and the story of Dukale will inspire others.
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Ben serves as managing director and general counsel of MCE Social Capital, an impact investing firm that uses an innovative loan guarantee model to support companies helping entrepreneurs in more than 30 countries in the developing world build businesses and earn a steady income. In 2004, Ben began his career as a corporate litigator Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where he helped manage representations of international banks, energy companies, and individuals in business disputes and government investigations. In 2008, Ben started and led Indego Africa, an award-winning social enterprise and lifestyle brand providing more than 1,000 female artisan entrepreneurs in Rwanda and Ghana with access to global markets and business education. Ben has also served as a director at American Express where he designed initiatives helping small businesses and start ups grow their ventures. Ben is a term member on the Council on Foreign Relations and a regular public speaker on leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, impact investing, marketing, careers, law, and international affairs. Ben earned a B.A. in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis, a J.D. from New York University School of Law, and completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship.
Ms. Strauss is Special Advisor for Socially Responsible Investment Finance at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U. S. government corporation charged with mobilizing and facilitating US private investment and skills transfer in developing countries throughout the world. She is responsible for and impact investing including policy and origination of innovative financing products and structures designed specifically to leverage socially responsible investment to achieve sustainable projects in emerging markets. She collaborates with other U.S. private sector, government and international government entities to assist in coordinating private and public funding to efficiently support projects with socially responsible or impact investment elements for the corporation including micro finance and SME businesses. Formerly the Director of Credit Policy for the corporation, and as a former private sector banker, she held various positions in finance and banking. Ms. Strauss has an MBA from the University of Connecticut and a BA from Lake Forest College.
Bryan Stubbs is the Executive Director of the Cleveland Water Alliance (CWA), a program that coordinates, facilitates, and fosters economic development through a water innovation cluster while elevating the conversation about the value of water to the great lakes region. CWA’s innovative efforts are building the foundation for a sustainable water-centric economy in Northeast Ohio and setting the standard for a national audience. Stubbs is recognized for his management and actions in building/implementing stronger, impactful and more sustainable economies through more than fifteen years of experience leading economic development projects including as Managing Director of the Oberlin Project, where he worked to implement an internationally recognized pilot model to grow a local economy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions (partnership of Oberlin College, City of Oberlin, U.S. Green Building Council, Bloomberg C40, and the Clinton Climate Initiative). Stubbs holds a MBA from University of Illinois (Beta Gamma Sigma), BA from the University of Kansas, and completed the Executive MBA program from the Presidio School of Sustainable Management in San Francisco.
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Rich Tafel is the Managing Director of Raffa Social Capital Advisors and also leads Public Squared, a public policy training and strategic consulting firm for nonprofits and social entrepreneurs. He launched the nation’s first statewide social entrepreneur competition in the nation in 2013 and has personally coached more than 600 social entrepreneurs. For the last decade, Rich has provided strategic policy advice to nonprofits on a variety of causes, including AIDS programs for Africa, civil rights programs Latin America, and education and health care reform in the United States. Rich is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and served as Assistant Minister at the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He then went on to serve as Adolescent health Director as an appointee for Gov. William Weld. He has been a guest lecturer in Urban Health and Advocacy at Johns Hopkins University and is a regular contributor to Stanford Social Innovation Review. Rich also founded the Log Cabin Republicans in 1993.
Paul J. Thanos is the Director for Finance and Insurance Industries at the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration. He is responsible for developing and executing policy, analysis, and promotion initiatives pertaining to finance and insurance industries, trade and project finance, impact investing, and access to finance. His program of work includes expansion of finance and insurance exports, attracting foreign direct investment to the United States, and developing cooperative programs with international partners. His team has direct participation in both the financial services and small and medium size enterprise (SME) chapters of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements such as the U.S.-EU Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He leads the U.S. delegation to the OECD Insurance and Private Pensions Committee and is directly engaged in a series of international insurance market access issues in China, India, Indonesia, and Latin America. In 2014 he secured an unprecedented agreement with the Government of Brazil to promote impact investing through a suite of bilateral initiatives. His team closely collaborates with several USG agencies and organizations including the Department of Treasury, USTR, Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Federal Reserve. He is a regular guest lecturer at the George Washington University Business and Public Policy schools on topics ranging from trade policy, SME access to finance, and stakeholder capitalism. Prior to taking this position Paul served as a legislative aide to Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) with responsibility for trade, foreign policy, and defense issues. Paul also has ten years of experience covering Middle East issues and previously served as Deputy Director for the Commerce Department’s Office of the Middle East. He worked directly on the Middle East peace process in the 1990s and has traveled throughout the Middle East, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia. Paul received a Masters of Public Administration from American University’s School of Public Affairs and a BA in Government from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.
Awarded with the 2015 Young Hispanic Corporate Achiever, Dr. Ugarte is accountable for MillerCoors Sustainability Report and orchestrating its underlying 2020 Goals. He serves as the main point of contact for strategic partnerships between MillerCoors and The Nature Conservancy, the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable, the United Nations Global Compact, and The Sustainability Consortium. Currently serving at the Board of Directors of the APICS Supply Chain Council, Dr. Ugarte is a certified supply chain instructor and speaker at forums such as The White House Council on Environmental Quality, The Association of Climate Change Officers, Thunderbird School of Global Management, and The Logistics & Supply Chain Forum. Formerly, Dr. Ugarte was responsible for the expansion of The Sustainability Consortium into Latin America, while conducting research in supply chain carbon footprint modeling for lean logistics and retailing systems in the consumer goods industry. As entrepreneur, has received awards from MIT, ASU, Walmart, and NASDAQ to launch technology-based innovation ventures addressing sustainability challenges. Marco holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability from Arizona State University; and Masters and College degrees from Tec de Monterrey, Mexico. From a professional standpoint, Dr. Ugarte holds several certifications from APICS, The Associaton for Operations Management and ASQ, formerly, the American Society for Quality.
Ms. Vanni is a portfolio manager at Walden Asset Management, a leader in sustainable and responsible investing. For the past 40 years, Walden has been helping clients achieve positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact while delivering competitive financial returns. Ms. Vanni works with institutional clients and families, including those seeking to implement a fossil fuel free (FFF) approach. She is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and ESG Research & Engagement Committee. Ms. Vanni holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute. She earned a BS, cum laude, from Boston University and an MBA with honors from Boston College.
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Bio coming soon.
Ms. Waber joined Incapital’s Capital Markets and Syndicate team in April 2012. She has over fifteen years of experience in the financial services industry with a focus on fixed income. At Incapital, she is responsible for managing the firm’s issuer client relationships and the placement of debt and preferred equity for those clients. She is an officer of the firm’s Debt Capital Markets New Business Committee, a committee that reviews and approves all underwriting, sales agency and investment banking engagements. Incapital has distributed over $400 billion of new issue fixed income products across a number of different asset classes since its founding in 1999. Ms. Waber co-led the creation of Legacy™ in 2014, Incapital’s Values-Based Investment Platform. Her work within Capital Markets includes promoting the expansion of Legacy™ through market activities involving issuers, advisors and investors. Prior to joining Incapital, Ms. Waber was the Head of Private Equity Business Development for a family office and a U.S. Agency bond trader for LaSalle/ABN AMRO. She earned a BA from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Miami.
Bio coming soon.
Chris Warren has over twenty-five years of experience in the financial industry. Driven by his passion for the environment and the well-being of our planet, Chris founded a company in 2006 that became an industry leader in energy efficiency and renewable energy development. During that time he identified a major hurdle that was suppressing the development of renewable energy projects, funding. Chris and his team found a way to solve that problem by aggregating smaller projects to attract the attention of institutional investors. To date they have facilitated the development of over US $850 million in renewable energy assets. In late 2013, Chris led the spin-off of Clean Energy Advisors from its parent company in preparation for creating investment opportunities that provide a larger number of investors access to the tax efficient cash flows generated by renewable energy projects.
Shaping The CAPROCK Group’s initiative in Impact Investing, Matthew is a sought-after speaker and thought leader in the discipline. In addition to keynoting the 2013 European Commission’s Annual Award for Social Innovation, Matthew has guest-lectured on sustainable business management and non-financial value creation at Harvard, Tuck, Kellogg, Booth and the American University in Paris business schools, has presented at conferences throughout the US and Europe, serves as a strategic advisor to several Impact Investing funds, and has been quoted in Barron’s, International Business Daily, Bloomberg Business Week, Forbes and The New York Times. More recently, he successfully shepherded two pieces of legislation through the Idaho Statehouse, the first authorizing Pay For Success Contracting and the second awarding legal status to businesses structured as Benefit Corporations. Prior to co-founding The CAPROCK Group, Matthew was a partner in The Owyhee Group, a boutique advisory team within Smith Barney. During his fourteen years with the company, he was a member of Citigroup’s elite Leadership Development Program and helped craft the firm’s Private Wealth Management platform. Matthew graduated from Dartmouth College, has competed internationally in five different sports and continues to serve as a Director for the Lee Pesky Learning Center, an organization he helped launch nearly 20 years ago. When not working, Matthew can usually be found outside, running, skiing, mountaineering, cycling… and generally encouraging his daughter to enjoy wilderness with the same irrational exuberance as her father.
Jason Whittet is a Director with GE’s Intelligent Cities team. He is passionate about the intersection of government and technology. His previous roles include the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, IDC Research, Comcast and the Allston-Brighton CDC.
Mr. Wolf is responsible for assuring the sustainable design of products at Seventh Generation, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of ecological household and personal care products. He is also responsible for designing and implementing a sustainable business model, and creating a more sustainable system of commerce. Mr. Wolf brings over 40 years of experience in industrial and environmental chemistry to his work, starting with environmental fate and metabolism studies for agricultural chemicals, followed by studies of the occurrence of hazardous chemicals in the environment, conducting life cycle studies of product systems, and designing more sustainable household cleaning products. Working at Seventh Generation, Mr. Wolf has developed frameworks for environmental product design, helped educate his coworkers, customers, and consumers about the environmental impacts of consumer products and the industries that produce them, successfully lobbied for passage of phosphate bans in a number of states, helped develop standards for voluntary ingredient disclosure, and brought change to the cleaning products industry through more sustainable product designs. In addition to his work for Seventh Generation, Mr. Wolf has served as the Vice Chair and Chair of the Sustainability Committee (2010-2015), and as the Vice Chair and Chair of the Strategic Advisory Committee (2007-2011) of the American Cleaning Institute (formerly the Soap & Detergent Association). Mr. Wolf was appointed a Fellow of the Aspen Institute, Environmental Forum in 2006, and received an EPA Region 1 Environmental Merit Award in 2011. In 2013 Mr. Wolf was appointed by the National Academy of Science to the Committee on Design and Evaluation of Safer Chemical Substitutions, and in 2015 he won the Elva Walker Spillane Distinguished Service Award of the American Cleaning Institute. Mr. Wolf holds an M.A. in Chemistry from Yeshiva University (New York) and a B.S. in Chemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts).
Kim, a Managing Partner at Tideline, a boutique impact investing consulting firm, is a leader in strategic philanthropy and impact investing. Formerly CEO of Schwab Charitable, she oversaw the organization’s growth from a startup to $5 billion in contributed assets. Under Kim’s leadership, Schwab launched a pioneering impact investing program that allowed donors to guarantee microfinance loans. Schwab was also a pioneer in permitting independent investment advisors to manage investments in client accounts, and in developing the corresponding risk and performance monitoring systems necessary to oversee these investments. A recognized influential voice in the industry, she is widely published and quoted, including in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, CNBC, Bloomberg, Investment News, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Chronicle of Philanthropy and Trusts & Estates Magazine. Kim helped direct an effort among a consortium of national donor-advised funds to inform regulation defining and governing DAFs, including providing advice on the related provisions of the Pension Protection Act. Kim has taught and lectured on impact investing and strategic philanthropy at Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley and guest lectures on governance at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 2009, Wealth Management magazine named Kim one of the 50 most influential women in the US in wealth management, currently serves on the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, and the Center of Social Sector Leadership at Haas Business School, University of California at Berkeley. Kim earned a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University. She also completed the executive MBA-SEP program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, post-graduate work at the Mass Media Institute at Stanford, as well as coursework in governance at Harvard Business School.
Glen K. Yelton – Head of Impact Research, SNW Asset Management: Glen K. Yelton joined SNW Asset Management in 2015 as the Head of Impact Research. Over the past decade and a half Glen has been heavily involved in the ESG/Impact investing industry, spending the last 10 years managing the ESG research program at IW Financial. Prior to that experience, Glen oversaw the development and operation of a registered investment advisor’s research program focusing on ESG data collection. Glen has provided competitive intelligence research for a variety of Fortune 100 clients in a wide range of industries including consumer products, automotive and technology. He also served as an interrogator in the United States Army and as a key participant in the development of several business intelligence and corporate information database-driven software products. Mr. Yelton received his B.S. degree from East Tennessee State University.
Ian Zurzolo serves as the Digital Health & Innovation Fellow at the Clinton Foundation’s Health Matters Initiative (CHMI), which leverages “partnerships for purpose” across sectors to create collaborative solutions to chronic disease across the country. Ian manages CHMI’s Digital Health and Innovation portfolio, which includes the Health Tech Pilot Program that connects digital health technology companies with local non-profits and government agencies in communities suffering disproportionately from preventable diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Ian also organizes Clinton Foundation’s Codeathons that challenge student and professional programmers to build apps and other digital solutions for women’s most pressing health issues. The women’s health Codeathon series also encourages female coders to participate in significantly greater numbers than often seen in traditional hackathons. In addition to his Digital Health & Innovation work at CHMI, Ian is also a social enterprise advocate, an impact metrics nerd, and a design thinking practitioner.
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