The poetry of Impact Podcast

illuminating the unheard stories of today’s top leaders in impact

All EpISODEs

Jennifer McFarlane, a strategic CFO at both public and venture-backed companies and a finance and climate justice expert with decades of experience shares her path towards a blended finance perspective that incorporates values. Jennifer talks about her journey through the climate crisis and her recognition

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Elizabeth Funk is the co-founder and CEO of Dignity Moves, an organization tackling the issue of homelessness. In this episode, Elizabeth shares her experiences from the early days of the internet at Yahoo, her motivation to use her entrepreneurial spirit for philanthropy, and her current

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Hedda Pahlson-Moller is the founder and CEO of Tiime, an advocacy, advisory, and education provider focused on impact investing. In this episode, Hedda talks about her deep, personal connection to the forest, how she often feels that she is in conversation with it, and how

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Stef van Dongen is an innovator, an entrepreneur, and the founder of Pioneers of Our Time. While working with high-powered leaders and change-makers, he realized that they were making important decisions for the future of the world from a place of being disconnected from themselves,

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Sam Teicher is the co-founder and Chief Reef Officer of Coral Vita, a mission-driven company that is restoring damaged coral reefs in the Bahamas. Inspired by the strength and peace he found in nature, Sam was moved to dedicate his energy to the wondrous ecosystem

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Teal Brown Zimring is a partner at Galvanize Partners LLC and executive director of Lab to Land. Hari Balasubramanian is a managing partner at EcoAdvisors and co-founder of EcoInvestors Capital. In this episode, Teal & Hari come together to discuss the magnitude of the problems

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Karine Sarkissian is a founding partner at Tamar Capital, a single-family office based between the Middle East, the UK, and the US. She co-founded Le Studio as a part of Tamar capital to actively support portfolio companies and investors through design. In this episode, Karine

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Dr. Renee Lertzman is a pioneer and leader at the intersection of psychology, climate and environment.  Renee is a climate psychologist on a mission to infuse as much literacy about the complexity of the human psyche, particularly paired with our present-day challenges in climate. In

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Josef Abramowitz is the CEO of Gigawatt Global, a green energy impact platform building solar fields in some of the world’s poorest countries. He has been named one of the planet’s top Green Pioneers by CNN and nominated by 12 African countries for the Nobel

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Chintan Panchal is a Founding Partner of RPCK, a global boutique law firm that integrates the foundations of impact into its practice. In this episode, Chintan talks about a third-dimension of resources that extends beyond time and money – life energy.  He questions how we can

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Tom & Alden Stoner are a collaborative father & daughter team who together lead Nature Sacred, an organization that builds urban sanctuaries that reduce stress, improve health, and strengthen communities. Tom is the Co-Founder and Alden is the CEO of Nature Sacred. In this episode,

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Sam Adams

Sam Adams, CEO and co-founder of Vert Asset Management, shares the entanglement of his love for the natural world and his joint desire for efficiency and justice. Sam talks about writing his first book, raising a family, and finding deep purpose in his work in

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Jenna Nicholas, CEO of Impact Experience, has always had a strong connection with spirit and this connection has continued to be a through line in her life and in her work in race inequality. She talks about the importance of integrating individuals’ stories and the broader

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Aunnie Patton Power is the founder of Intelligent Impact. Aunnie is a reformed investment banker whose work is now solely focused on impact as academic, an author, an advisor and an angel investor. In this episode, Aunnie talks about transitioning to and building a life

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Aaron & Andrea Lee-Zucker are both deeply dedicated to self-work and helping others access their own regenerative energy. Aaron is the Founder & CEO of collab.health where he’s into biohacking & coaching. Andrea is a coach, artist, activist, and impact investor on a journey to

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Euler Bropleh, Founder of VestedWorld, brings us a story uniquely rooted in his home country in Africa and the direct experience of hardship during his upbringing in Liberia during its first civil war. If not for an intuitive decision by his mother, Euler’s life could

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Rehana Nathoo, Founder & CEO of Spectrum Impact, takes us all over the globe, from her whimsical move to New Orleans, her family’s roots in Africa & immigration to Canada and to Bolivia, where she experienced the true impact of grassroots efforts. Rehana sees circumstance

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Rachel Robasciotti, Founder & CEO of Adasina, takes us through her experiences as a Black woman in America.  She shares stories of tragedy and segregation in her youth as well as her personal successes in overcoming multiple-systems failure to graduate at 15 and go to

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Bec & Adam Milgrom, Co-Founders of Tripple Ventures, talk all about sibling dynamics in the workspace and how their shared goals in impact amplify their familial relationships. Adam & Bec tell us about the immense feelings of responsibility, urgency, uncomfortableness and simultaneous joy in their

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James Sternlicht, CEO & Founder of The Peace Department, shares what it’s like to grow up with privilege and how he uses his circumstances to bring about positive change for others and the planet. James has a unique way of looking at the world as

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Reetu & Suraj Gupta, brother and sister duo, run the Easton’s Group of Hotels, Canada’s largest private hotel development firm and an early stage venture fund: Rogue Insight.  The two share stories of growing up Indian in Canada with their successful entrepreneurial parents. They talk

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Oliver Libby, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of H/L Ventures, takes us on a tour of his optimistically skeptical mind, stringing together his family’s history in medicine and science, tales of late antiquity and modern-day stories of human connection.  Not only does Oliver have a brilliant

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Jill Soffer, Co-Founder of Banking for Climate, offers up deep reflections on how her upbringing amidst a unique family structure, the loss of her mother in her teenage years and her experiences in nature have informed her path over the years, leading to the co-creation

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Will Weisman, Founder of KittyHawk Ventures, talks about his hunger for success early in his career and how this hunger has transformed through self-work over the last decade. He shares his journey to find contentment, neutrality and a sense of enoughness while still remaining highly

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Milo Runkle, Founder of Mercy for Animals, takes us on a journey through the many pivotal moments that have shaped his present thinking. From finding his voice in animal activism and the passing of his mother to transformation through plant medicine and stepping down from the

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Winston Ibrahim, Founder and CEO of Hydros, shares his perspectives on how innovations in health and wellness have the power to positively impact human potential. Winston talks about his relationship with water and single-use plastics and opens up about his deep desire to pursue his

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Marcus Whitney, Founding Partner of Jumpstart Health Investors, synthesizes his life experiences from raising his two children, practicing martial arts, being Black in America and establishing himself as an innovator in healthcare venture capital. Marcus shares the many transitions that have led him to more

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Jochen Wermuth, co-founder of Wermuth Asset Management, brings a level of depth and honesty on how environmental policy directly affects individuals. He shares the stories of growing up with Chernobyl and later his experiences in Northern Russia amidst an oil spill. Jochen shares his pain-points

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Sheri Sobrato, a member of the Sobrato Family Foundation, and her husband, Eric Brisson, share how their early experiences in life have shaped their goals in impact. Sheri details her life as a young adult, regularly in and out of hospitals, as she was diagnosed

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Ron & Marty Cordes, Founders of The Cordes Foundation, share their journey of transforming their conventional portfolio to 100% impact investing and philanthropy. Both Ron and Marty detail the origins of their desire to extend the use of their traditional finance skills to directly help

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Brent Kessel, co-founder and CEO of Abacus Wealth Partners, explores his motivation for excess and his quest for the origins of the desire for more. Brent details his personal, never-ending journey towards enough – enough capital, enough time, enough work, enough energy. He openly shares

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Jennifer Kenning, CEO & co-founder of Align Impact, openly shares her experiences with loss and how these painful experiences have transformed her day-to-day work. With a recognition of the finitude of time, she delves into what is truly worthy of her time and energy. Jennifer

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Matthew Weatherley-White, Co-Founder of Caprock Group, details his early disillusionment with traditional investment firms that operated solely for financial profit. It’s evident that Matthew’s path is well-guided by a deep self-awareness. Matthew ponders the existential liberation of always wanting more, deep-rooted emotional responses to money,

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Amy Novogratz is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Aqua Spark, a global investment fund focus on improving the aquaculture industry. Amy brings almost two decades of experience in fostering collaborative solutions to some of the world’s big challenges. 

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Ruth Shaber is the founder and president of the Tara Health Foundation, promoting health, well-being and opportunity for women and girls through innovative evidence-informed programs. Ruth shares the evolution of her career, working from within the healthcare system as a physician to later linking her

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Tim Ring is Co-Founder & Chairman of TeamFund, an organization bringing necessary medical technologies to low-resource geographies such as India and sub-Saharan Africa. In this episode, Tim talks about his transition from CEO of a large medical technology company to co-founding TeamFund, catalyzed by an

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Nicole Systrom, a climate-change advocate and founder of Sutro Energy Group – an authority on climate investing and innovation. In this episode, Nicole details her advocacy efforts to tackle climate issues. Influenced by childhood visits to Yosemite National Park, she has become a messenger and advocate

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Natasha Lamb is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Arjuna Capital. Alex Lamb is Co-Founder and Partner at New Summit Investments. Together, this couple works to bring forward sustainable investment opportunities that reshape what’s not working, sustain what is, and create what’s needed. In this episode, they each

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Eva sends us down the rabbit hole, exploring the inextricable entanglement of service, creativity, inspiration and expression with her work in impact investing. She taps into ever-present abundance and talks about what it feels like – somatically – to contribute beyond oneself. Eva encourages us all to explore our inner worlds, liberate our authentic selves, and tune into what really makes us feel alive.

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Lisa Renstrom is the Co-Founder of ValuesAdvisor an organization that connects investors with values-aligned financial expertise. Serving on the Board of Freshfarm, ecoAmerica, Confluence Philanthropy, and Divest Invest Individual, Lisa is a Toniic member and RSF Social Finance ambassador. She is most passionate about accelerating the transition

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Scott Saslow is Founder & CEO of ONE WORLD Training, providing organizations training and capital to profitably increase their social impact. In this episode, Scott shares his vision for widening the impact ecosystem by weaving social impact education and development throughout organizations, small and large.  He confirms

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Liesbet Peeters is the Founder and Managing Partner of Volta Impact, a boutique impact investing intermediary focused on tailor-made financial instruments designed with impact and purpose. Liesbet has a long-standing track record of engaging with senior leadership across public sector, private sector and civil society across Sub

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Nick Green is the co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market, an online market on a mission to make healthy living easy and accessible for every budget, lifestyle, and geography. He has a passion for combining technology and business to solve big social problems, beginning his entrepreneurial

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Bruce Campbell is Founder and “Chief Happiness Officer” of Blue Dot Law, a law firm representing entrepreneurs, NGOs, and investors solely in impact transactions. He is a member of Toniic and is committed to investing 100% of his assets in sustainable business practices. In this episode, Bruce

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Paolo Fresia, Founder of 100% Sustainability, is an inspirational impact investor focused on mitigating climate change, promoting sustainable production and consumption, and reducing gender and LGBTQI+ inequalities. He is part of the 100% Network and board member of Toniic, and a founding donor to the

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Tripp Baird is the co-founder and managing partner of The Builders Fund.  He is a member of Toniic and serves on the board of Urban Remedy, Posigen Inc., MPOWERD, MIXT, and Traditional Medicinals.  Tripp’s impact focus is on helping to solve social & environmental challenges through

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Geeta Aiyer shares over three decades of experience and insight in finance, enlivened by her passion for environmental and social justice. Geeta is the President & Founder of Boston Common Asset Management. She has dedicated her time and energy towards meaningfully improving policies and practices of

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Jesse Fink is a venture philanthropist who has dedicated the past two decades to working on solutions to climate change and other environmental issues. He co-created and became founding Chief Operating Officer of Priceline. Upon leaving Priceline in 1999, Jesse and his wife, Betsy, who

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Linda Solomon Wood is an innovator, entrepreneur, and award-winning journalist. As CEO of Observer Media Group and founder and editor-in-chief of Canada’s National Observer, she works to strengthen and support public service journalism that investigates corruption, celebrates innovation, and illuminates and helps to make sense

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Denise Hearn is an advisor, author, and speaker who works with organizations, asset managers, and companies who want to use their resources to support a more equitable future. She is co-author of The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition — named one of the Financial

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Luni Libes is a 25+ year serial entrepreneur, (co)founder of seven companies.His latest startups are Fledge, a global network of accelerators, where he helps new mission-driven for-profit entrepreneurs from around the world navigate the complexities between idea and customer revenues; Africa Eats, a spin-off holding

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Ariel Nessel & Birju Pandya are part of the team behind Mobius, a capital allocation office using an integrated capital approach to develop multiple forms of wealth focused on redeveloping habitable spaces, abating suffering, and inclining well-being.  Ariel is the co-founder of 50by40.org, an NGO which

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Damon Gameau is an award-winning writer, director, author and activist. In 2015, he released his debut feature documentary THAT SUGAR FILM, which broke Australian box office records, was released in 25 territories and picked up a host of awards around the world. He also authored

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Matthew Moore is a multimedia artist and entrepreneur based in Phoenix, Arizona. His art practice explores the broad issue of placemaking by creating large-scale installations to achieve a state of wonderment and contemplation as an invitation to change. He uses these tools in his entrepreneurial

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Berry Liberman, Co-Founder & Creative Director of Small Giants and publisher of Dumbo Feather, illumines the bright side of hardship by sharing her personal experiences as citizen of Australia through the recent devastating wildfires into the COVID crisis. Berry sees these catastrophes as a way

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Ron Gonen is the CEO of Closed Loop Partners, an investment firm focused on building the circular economy. Before Closed Loop Partners, Ron was the Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation in New York City in the Bloomberg Administration and oversaw the collection and processing of New

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Morgan Simon has two decades of making finance a tool for social justice have influenced over $150 billion in that time. She is the author of Real Impact, The New Economics of Social Change, featured by Harvard Business School and The United Nations. Morgan is

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Bettina von Hagen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ecotrust Forestry Management, also known as EFM, which makes investments and conducts climate-smart forest management focused on natural climate solutions in the Americas. Born and raised in Peru, Bettina now resides in Oregon. She has over

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Aaron Holm launched Blokable in 2016, a real estate development company that’s unlocking the efficiencies of technological and financial system advances. Previously, Aaron spearheaded Amazon’s first two physical retail businesses, Amazon Go and Amazon Books. Gino Borges: I’m here with Aaron Holm today, whose background

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Ibrahim Husseini is the Founder and CEO of FullCycle, an investment firm focused on solving the climate crisis by backing companies with climate-restoring technologies, accelerating their growth. Raised in Saudi Arabia by Palestinian refugee parents, Ibrahim moved to the US for college in the early

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Laura Callanan is the Founder of Upstart Co-Lab. Upstart Co-Lab connects impact investing to the creative economy, creating opportunities for artists to innovate and to deliver social impact at scale. Laura chairs the Global Giving Foundation, advises Shift Capital, and is a member of the British Creative Industries International…

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Cory Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Wisdom Labs. Wisdom Labs delivers science-based solutions for mental, emotional, and social wellbeing to companies such as LinkedIn, Healthline, GoPro, Kauffman Foundation, Merck, and Salesforce. Previously, Cory was CEO of Impact Hub in the Bay Area and

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Jonathan Rose is the Founder of Jonathan Rose Companies, a multidisciplinary real-estate development planning, consulting, and investment firm. Jonathan’s firm has completed $2.3 billion of transformational work in close collaboration with numerous cities and nonprofits. Jonathan also wrote a book on how to create resilient communities,

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Alexandra Korijn is serving on the Board of Directors of Toniic. She’s also on the management board of Soil Heroes Foundation. Josephine Korijn serves on the private wealth management advisory board of Triodos Bank, one of the world’s leading sustainable banks. She’s also is involved

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Rachel Gerrol is a catalyst-at-large working at the intersection of social entrepreneurship, community building, and philanthropy. She is Co-founder and CEO of NEXUS, the leading international network of next-gen philanthropists and impact investors with over 6,000 members from over 70 countries, representing families with a

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Howard Fischer and Eric Jacobsen, together, founded Gratitude Railroad, a community of investors committed to helping solve environmental and social problems. Eric and Howard met each other at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Eric is the Co-founder of Dolphin Capital, a private equity firm investing in high

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Annie Chen is Principal and Chair of RS Group Asia, a Hong Kong-based family office dedicated to 100% impact. Inspired by Jed Emerson’s Blended Value concept, she recently launched SFI which stands for Sustainable Finance Initiative to educate and connect investors and entrepreneurs in the

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Kristin Hull founded Nia Community Investments in 2010, a 100% mission-aligned investment fund focused on social justice and environmental sustainability. She launched Nia Global Solutions in 2013 to bring activism and impact investing into public markets weaving a gender-lens throughout. Prior to Nia, Kristin served

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Lisa Curtis is a social entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Kuli Kuli Foods. Kuli Kuli is a B-corp and includes a team of entrepreneurs, product developers, and change makers who are improving lives through sustainable nutrition and livelihood for women and farmers using the moringa

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Sasha Dichter is the co-founder of 60 decibels, an end-to-end impact measurement company that makes it easy to listen to the people who matter most. Clients include Acumen, the CDC, the UK Department for International Development, and many more. Prior to 60 decibels, Sasha was Chief

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Stuart Williams is Founder and Chairman of In Place Impact, a place-based focused company that seeks to eradicate poverty by giving every community stakeholder a seat at the table. He’s also been a catalyst for the College of Charleston in becoming one of the nation’s leading

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Joe Sanberg is a progressive entrepreneur and investor who is working through both the public and private sectors to change people’s lives for the better. On the public side, he’s the Founder of CalEITC4me, a statewide outreach program in California that helps low-income families claim

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Liesel Pritzker Simmons is the Co-Founder of the Blue Haven Initiative, one of the first family offices created with impact investing as its focus. She’s also the Co-Founder of the IBP Foundation, a private Chicago-based foundation focused on achieving universal primary education. She attended Columbia

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Erika Karp is the Founder and CEO of Cornerstone Capital. Before Cornerstone Capital, she was Managing Director and Head of Global Security Research at UBS Investment Bank. She is also as a founding member of Sustainability Accounting, a standards-based board. She is noted as one of

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Steve Glickman is the founder and CEO of Develop LLC, an advisory firm focused on building and supporting opportunity funds and broader opportunity zone marketplace. He was the founder cofounder and former CEO of the Economic Innovation

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Joel Solomon is the Founder of Renewal Funds, Canada’s largest mission venture capital firm and early B Corp with $98 million under management in organics and environmental tech. Joel co-authored the book, The Clean Money Revolution: Reinventing Power Purpose and Capitalism, a personal memoir on

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John Fullerton started his financial career at JP Morgan on Wall Street. John is the founder and president of the Capital Institute, which is a nonpartisan collaborative focused on a regenerative economy. He’s also the author of Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Patterns Will

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The inspiration for inviting Danny Almagor is his work with Small Giants and, in particular, the special focus and mission-oriented direction that Danny, his wife team and family members have taken with what the universe has blessed them

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Lorrie Meyercord is coming to us as a good friend in the impact investing space. She’s been featured in The New York Times on a couple occasions back in 2016 and 2018.  These featured articles are centered around utilizing impact investing to support artistic & aesthetic

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Jed Emerson has extensive experience leading, staffing and advising funds, firms, social ventures and foundations pursuing financial performance with social/environmental impact. In addition to his writing, Jed currently focuses on working with families exploring how to ensure a long term legacy by managing their full net

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