Aaron Walker
Founder & CEO
Camel Back Ventures
Aaron is on a journey to live in the spirit of his baseball hero, Jackie Robinson, who said “a life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” With this ethos, Aaron taught ninth grade English in West Philadelphia, put together deals for companies large and small as a lawyer, and supported new ideas to improve education as a portfolio director for the NYC Fund for Public Schools. Aaron is humbled to say that he graduated from the University of Virginia and Penn Law School. He also knows that this doesn’t entitle him to anything and is ready to earn his keep.
https://www.camelbackventures.org/
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Founder & CEO
Camel Back Ventures
Adriana Abizadeh
Executive Director
Kensington Corridor Trust
Adriana Abizadeh is currently the Executive Director of the Kensington Corridor Trust (KCT) in Philadelphia. The mission, duty, and purpose of the KCT is to help the Kensington community reclaim control over a once-thriving commercial corridor by reactivating real estate, fostering local entrepreneurship, and reinvesting capital in the neighborhood.
With deep interests in public policy Adriana has taken every opportunity to utilize her privileged position as a nonprofit leader in order to speak out for what she believes in and to lift the voices of impacted community members. Immersed in policy initiatives, she has facilitated community collaboration to address the intersectionality between immigration status, housing, poverty, and race.
All of Adriana's professional working experience has been in the nonprofit sector and she is passionate about serving others. Adriana has a BA from Rutgers University in Political Science with a minor in Security Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism. She also has an MS in Public Policy from Drexel University.
She has committed herself to serve on several boards that reflect some of her deepest passions: immigration, racial and health equity, and youth development. When Adriana isn’t serving her community, she is at home with her husband, their two children and two dogs.
https://kensingtoncorridortrust.org/
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Executive Director
Kensington Corridor Trust
Alexis McCarthy
Founder & CEO
Springhead Social Impact
Alexis McCarthy is Founder & CEO of Springhead Social Impact a values based strategic advisory firm and intermediary that believes that everyone deserves to live a life fulfilled in a safe, healthy and just environment where our differences are elevated and celebrated and we strive to create strong sustainable communities through creative collaboration for future generations. The firm believes that strategic values based work is key to entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations attaining their best: increased growth, productivity and improvements for people, planet and profits.
Alexis has advised and partnered with numerous foundations, financial institutions, and policy organizations, including The Wallace Foundation, The Educational Foundation of America, Tara Health Foundation, The Grove Foundation, Boston Impact Initiative, Prime Coalition, Equileap, Natural Investments, Baldwin Brothers, Cornerstone Capital Group and Sonen Capital. In addition, Alexis ran the fourteen offices in the Americas for Christies, the leading global fine art firm. Alexis began her career in finance and most recently worked at Morgan Stanley Investment Management where she was the COO for the Tokyo office. Before that she was a currency and currency options trader at multiple money center banks. In addition to her commercial experience, Alexis has long standing Board and Advisory Board cultivation, creation and management experience and headed up nominating committees steeped in governance and leadership. Currently, she is an advisory council member for Felicia's Promise (a Brooklyn based grassroots non profit mentoring girls 12-18 from underrepresented communities), the Brown University Sports Foundation, is the co-chair of WISE PHL and a member of the Philadelphia Estate Planning Council (PEPC). She is deeply immersed in the ESG ecosystem with a particular focus on gender equity and environmental justice. Springhead Social Impact is part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation working to accelerate the global transition to a circular economy.
Her writing and interviews have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Conscious Company. Alexis lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband Paul, 2 dogs and 2 cats. She is a graduate of Brown University having double majored in Economics and International Relations and was a three sport athlete and captain.
https://www.springheadx.com/
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Founder & CEO
Springhead Social Impact
Allison Clark
Associate Director, Impact Investments
MacArthur Foundation
Allison has worked in affordable housing, economic development, and commercial real estate for over 25 years. She joined the Foundation in 2006 to oversee investments made through the Foundation’s $150 million Window of Opportunity affordable rental housing preservation initiative. Her work has expanded to include underwriting and monitoring investments made in Chicago. Allison serves as a core member of the Chicago Commitment team, where she leads impact investing efforts to advance both the Vital Communities and Culture, Equity, and the Arts programs.
Prior to joining the Foundation, she was a member of the Community Lending Group at Fannie Mae, where she underwrote and closed more than $150 million in debt and equity transactions for affordable housing developments throughout the US. She also spent eight years with Bank One (now JP Morgan Chase) as a commercial real estate lender. Before moving to Chicago, she participated in the Urban Fellows Program in New York City, where she worked for the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
Allison graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe College with a bachelor’s degree in Government and earned a Master of Management degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University with a concentration in Nonprofit Management and Real Estate.
Allison has served on a variety of public advisory committees, including the Micro Market Recovery Program and the City of Chicago’s most recent Five-Year Housing Plan. She also serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Foundation for Women, where she is a member of the Executive and Program Committees.
https://www.macfound.org/
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Associate Director, Impact Investments
MacArthur Foundation
Amelia Nickerson
CEO
First Step Staffing
Amelia Nickerson is the current CEO of First Step Staffing. First Step Staffing, the largest nonprofit employment agency in the country, was founded in Atlanta in 2007. It has since expanded to five other cities including Philadelphia, providing nearly 1,900 individuals with employment each week. As CEO, she leads efforts in all current markets as well as exploring new opportunities for growth. Amelia has more than a decade of experience as a fundraiser, volunteer, and board member for nonprofits across the Southeast.
https://firststepstaffing.com/
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CEO
First Step Staffing
Amy Cortese
Senior Editor
ImpactAlpha
Amy brings to ImpactAlpha deep journalistic experience as well as vital perspective on bottom-up, grassroots finance. She is the author of “Locavesting,” a pivotal book that identified the investment shift toward locally owned enterprises that can deliver enormous economic and social benefits. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz called it ‘an inspiring look at what local businesses can achieve.’ She is also cofounder of investibule.co, an aggregation platform for crowdfunded investments. Amy was an editor at Business Week covering technology and a longtime contributor to The New York Times. She has also covered food, wine and travel – at least two of which she continues to enjoy during the pandemic. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her partner Robert.
https://impactalpha.com/
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Senior Editor
ImpactAlpha
Andrew Rachlin
President
Spring Garden Lending
Andy Rachlin serves as Spring Garden Lending's President where he is responsible for new product and market development, and also helps oversee the firm's origination function. Prior to joining Spring Garden Lending, Andy was a Managing Director at Reinvestment Fund and Chief Investment Officer of its Registered Investment Advisor subsidiary. In these roles, Andy led the organization's originations, credit analysis and deal structuring teams during a period of substantial growth, and also raised more than $80 million in equity and debt capital from institutional investors for innovative impact investment funds focused on opportunities as diverse as bridge financing for performance-based social service contracts and clean energy project finance.
Prior to Reinvestment Fund, Andy served in a variety of public sector roles, including Interim Chief of Staff at the Philadelphia School District, Deputy Chief of Staff for Economic Development at the City of Philadelphia, and Chief of Staff to the Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. For the last several years, Andy has served as an adjunct faculty member for the University of Pennsylvania's City and Regional Planning program, teaching graduate courses in economic development policy and real estate finance.
Andy has also been active in a number of community organizations. He currently serves as a board member for the Philadelphia Green Capital Corporation, a non-profit spinoff of the municipal Philadelphia Energy Authority intended to find ways to use financing tools to support the clean energy transition in the City. He has also served on the boards of the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, the Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund, the Pan American Academy, the Fleisher Art Memorial, and The Bridge, a subsidiary of the Public Health Management Corporation.
Andy holds a masters from St. Andrews University in Scotland and a bachelor's from Princeton University.
http://www.springgardenlending.co/
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President
Spring Garden Lending
Anna Snider
Head of Due Diligence, CIO
Merrill Lynch
Anna is a Managing Director and Head of Due Diligence for the Chief Investment Office within Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), a division of Bank of America Corporation. In this role, she is responsible for manager research across all asset classes for the wealth management businesses. She also defines and executes investment strategies focusing on impact strategy research, thought leadership and investment implementation.
Prior to this role, Anna was part of the alternative investments group where she advised clients on hedge fund and private assets portfolio construction and became head of research for externally managed alternative investment fund of funds. She was also a senior analyst in the risk management division at U.S. Trust. Anna offers many years of investment and risk analysis experience, having held positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, JP Morgan and UBS focusing on market, credit and operational risk management. She graduated from Connecticut College. She holds the Chartered Alternative Investment AnalystSM (CAIASM) designation. Anna serves as chair of the board for High Water Women, a foundation based in NYC.
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Head of Due Diligence, CIO
Merrill Lynch
Bart Houlahan
Co-Founder
B Lab
Bart Houlahan, along with his partners, Jay Coen Gilbert and Andrew Kassoy, co-founded B Lab in 2006. B Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab drives systemic change through three interrelated initiatives: 1) Certified B Corporations: a corporate certification for sustainable businesses and social enterprises that meet higher standards of social and environmental performance and legal accountability; 2) GIIRS Ratings and Analytics: a ratings platform (analogous to Morningstar and Capital IQ) that drives capital to impact investments by assessing the social and environmental performance of companies and funds; and 3) Benefit Corporations: a new, legally-recognized corporate form that changes corporate fiduciary duty, permitting companies to create shareholder value and social value. Prior to B Lab, Bart was President of AND 1, a basketball footwear and apparel company. Over the course of 11 years, Bart helped to finance, operate and scale the business to $250 MM in brand revenues with distribution in 80 countries. AND 1 undertook a leveraged recapitalization in 1999 with TA Associates, and was sold in May, 2005, to American Sporting Goods out of Irvine, CA. Before AND 1, Bart was an investment banker with Stonebridge Associates, BNY Associates, and Prudential-Bache Securities. Bart is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and an Advisory Board Member of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at the Fuqua School of Business. A graduate of Stanford University, Bart now resides in Devon, PA, with his wife, Chrissy, and daughters, Molly and Carly.
https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/
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Co-Founder
B Lab
Basil Williams
Partner - CEO
MIO Partners, Inc.
Basil Williams has served as MIO Partners, Inc.’s (MIO) CEO-Partner since his appointment to the role in April 2021. Basil leads the firm’s global team of more than 200 colleagues who provide investment and advisory services for more than 2000 current and former McKinsey partners and manage pension plans for McKinsey’s employees. A 30+ year financial industry veteran, Basil brings deep general management experience as well as an impressive track-record as an investment professional in alternative strategies that includes more than 20 years trading a broad suite of relative value strategies.
Previously, Basil was CEO of Welton Investment Partners, a California and NYC-based, privately-owned alternative asset management firm where he oversaw investment products, operations, and expansion initiatives for the firm, including the launch of a sustainable investment strategy. Prior to joining Welton, Basil was the Head of Portfolio Management at PAAMCO, one of the largest alternative allocators and emerging market investors. His C-suite experience also includes building and leading hedge fund businesses at Mariner Investment Group and Concordia Advisors.
Basil is a pioneer in ESG adoption and sustainable investment among mainstream asset managers and allocators. A sought-after speaker at industry conferences, Basil has authored articles on topics ranging from monetary policy and risk management to technology. He is a thought leader on corporate culture, fiduciary duty and the continuing evolution of the asset management industry.
Basil earned an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BA in Applied Mathematics (Summa Cum Laude) from Brown University. He has served as President of the Board of the Elisabeth Morrow School, as a Finance Committee member of the Dwight Englewood School, and as Trustee of the Portsmouth Abbey School.
https://www.miopartners.com/
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Partner - CEO
MIO Partners, Inc.
Brett Wayman
Senior Director
Envestnet, Inc.
Brett Wayman serves as Senior Director, Impact Investing and is responsible for developing Envestnet’s impact investing solutions and educating enterprise home offices and advisors on the impact investing tools and strategies available through the Envestnet platform. Prior to joining Envestnet, he spent 10 years in leadership roles with family offices in New York, Princeton, and Atlanta. Brett has a degree in economics from Emory University.
https://www.envestnet.com/
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Senior Director
Envestnet, Inc.
Carly Greenberg
Senior Relationship Manager
United States, Principles for Responsible Investment
Carly Greenberg is a Senior Relationship Manager for the United States, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Prior to joining PRI, Carly was the first professional hired by The Hershey Company, a Fortune 500 firm, to focus on environmental sustainability and established the company's environmental sustainability programs in line with the best available climate science and data. Before Hershey, Carly spent a decade in the ESG investment management field as the Manager of ESG Investing at Boston Trust Walden Company, a pioneer in ESG investing and shareholder engagement.
https://www.unpri.org/
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Senior Relationship Manager
United States, Principles for Responsible Investment
Carolina Jannicelli
Head of Community Impact
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Carolina is the head of Community Impact at JPMorgan Chase, leading a team that governs the firmwide strategy and implementation of the firm’s $30 billion racial equity commitment to help close the racial wealth gap. In this capacity, Carolina collaborates with all lines of business and corporate functions, including DEI and Corporate Responsibility, as well as local leadership teams, to bring together the best of business, philanthropy and policy efforts to drive inclusive economic growth.
She began her 25 year career at the firm in investment banking, followed by
executive positions in the Private Bank, leading teams that drive wealth creation.
The insights from those experiences and her personal journey as the daughter of Central American small business owners forced to emigrate and overcome economic obstacles, shaped her deep understanding of some of the challenges faced by minority communities in the United States.
Carolina serves on the Corporate Board of Advisors of UnidosUS, which is the nation’s largest Hispanic/Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. She is also a member of the Arts of the Americas Circle at the Americas Society / Council of the Americas.
In 2021, Carolina was a recipient of the Latina Trailblazer award by LatinoJustice, named among The Top 100 Most Influential Latinas by Latino Leaders magazine, and inducted into ALPFA's 50 Most Powerful Latinas Hall of Fame. In 2020 she was featured on Crain’s New York inaugural list of Notable Women in Financial Advice.
Carolina was born and raised in Central America, and is fluent in Spanish and
Portuguese. She obtained her Bachelor’s in Finance and Investments at Babson College and her Master's in the History of Art and Design at the Pratt Institute. She lives in New York City
https://www.jpmorganchase.com/impact
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Head of Community Impact
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Catherine Griffin
Founder & CEO
ImpactableX Analytics
As founder and CEO of ImpactableX Analytics, Catherine helps social entrepreneurs and their investors to leverage data that can drive impact at scale. Her cutting-edge approach to impact modeling democratizes impact data and analytics by delivering a seamless and dynamic UX and generating analytics that uniquely engage investors, driving capital to the innovations with the greatest potential for meaningful impact.
Prior to launching ImpactableX, Catherine served as Managing Director at an award-winning impact accelerator, GoodCompany Ventures, where she built multiple global and cross-sector social innovation consortiums designed to catalyze and accelerate the application of new technologies to address the world’s most pressing challenges. In 2014, she led the execution of FastFWD, a partnership between the City of Philadelphia, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Wharton Social Impact Initiative, designed to address the City’s public safety challenges.
Leveraging the success of this work, Catherine built a partnership with the Obama Administration’s Climate Data Initiative in 2017 called Climate Ventures 2.0. Focused on addressing threats to food and water systems from changes in climate, she focused the data, tech resources and expertise of organizations like NASA, the EPA, General Mills, Google, SAP and IBM, to accelerate and launch 10 tech companies with funding and pilot opportunities directly with cities around the US. Her work has been featured in Forbes and the New York Times, among others.
Catherine has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and is an Adjunct Professor at Temple University.
www.impactablex.com
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Founder & CEO
ImpactableX Analytics
Chintan Pinchal
Founder
RPCK Rastegar Panchal
Chintan is a Founding Partner at RPCK and head of the firm’s New York office where he focuses on corporate and finance transactions, with an emphasis on impact finance, private investment funds, and family offices.
As a corporate advisor, entrepreneur, and sustainability professional, Chintan brings a unique perspective to his practice, counseling private equity, foundation, family office, and growth company clients on corporate merger & acquisition, finance, and dispute resolution matters.
Under Chintan’s direction, RPCK has developed a dedicated impact investing practice, advising both mission-aligned investors and social enterprises. The firm works closely with clients to execute capital investments in both emerging and developed markets that generate social and environmental impact alongside market rate and risk-adjusted financial returns. Drawing upon deep commercial lending, private equity, and industry-specific experience, RPCK helps clients analyze opportunities and structure transactions that achieve long term, measurable results.
With a diversity of experience building impact-focused concepts into commercial transactions, Chintan has become a thought leader on how finance can be harnessed to address social and environmental targets. He has represented clients in many of the leading impact-focused private investment funds and advisors including Imprint Capital, Align Impact and Fresh Source Capital, and family offices such as the Blue Haven Initiative, Zoma Capital, and the Open Society Foundations.
In addition to his corporate practice, he has performed pro bono work representing displaced US workers denied retraining benefits under the Workforce Reinvestment Act, and also served as a member of the team representing 11 Yemeni detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Chintan has a law degree from Emory University and is a member of the bar in New York and the District of Columbia.
https://www.rpck.com/
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Founder
RPCK Rastegar Panchal
Chris Bentley
Founder
The De-Carceration Fund
Chris is the founder and Managing Principal of the Decarceration Fund. Chris has over 12 years of experience in impact investing. Most recently Chris was an Investment Manager at Serious Change Investments. Serious Change is an early-stage impact venture fund founded by Impact Investment pioneer Josh Mailman. While at Serious Change, Chris served as the lead investment professional for the investment in Pigeon.ly and served as Board Observer.
Prior to that, Chris was a Principal at SustainVC. Sustain VC was the General Partner of the Patient Capital Collaborative (PCC) family of impact investment funds. While with Sustain VC, Chris was the lead investment professional in Edovo and has served on the Board.
Chris is a Co-Founder of GoodCompany Ventures, an accelerator for entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to large unmet social needs. Chris began his impact investment career as an Associate with Murex Investments, a Community Development Venture Fund.
https://www.decarcerationfund.com
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Founder
The De-Carceration Fund
Cory Donovan
Executive Director
ImpactPHL
Cory Donovan is the Executive Director of ImpactPHL, a non-profit advocacy organization that encourages and helps individuals and organizations align their financial assets with their values in order to create a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient economy that works for all citizens of the Philadelphia region. Cory’s background in economic development and community building includes roles operating a tech startup incubator and as the Executive Director of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council. His prior corporate experience includes various positions with well-known tech firms Hughes, DIRECTV, and Aerotek. Cory has a degree from the University of Scranton and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. His personal interests include crowdfund investing, hip hop & old school rap, pickup basketball, home improvement, stand-up comedy, classic cars, and animal welfare.
https://www.impactphl.org/
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Executive Director
ImpactPHL
Della Clark
President
The Enterprise Center
Della Clark’s vision for minority entrepreneurship is not about counting the number of successful businesses but making businesses count. Since 1992, Clark has brought this vision to fruition as President of The Enterprise Center – an organization at the forefront of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, guided by the mission to cultivate and invest in minority entrepreneurs to inspire working together for economic growth in communities. The Enterprise Center accomplishes this by accelerating the capacity of minority business enterprises to compete in any marketplace through business education, access to capital, management support, and connections.
Motivated by her belief that businesses success is a team sport, Clark epitomizes the core values of collaboration and economic growth that drive the outcomes of The Enterprise Center. The organization operates an MBDA Business Center of Pennsylvania (MBC-PA), a DOT Small Business Transportation Resource Center, and a U.S. Small Business Administration Microloan Program. Under Clark’s leadership, businesses have obtained more than $631 million in contracts and $131 million in intermediary financing, while the MBC-PA has created more than 2,127 jobs in the last seven years. Additionally, minority- and women-owned businesses have secured over $13 million in loans to start, grow, and succeed through The Enterprise Center Capital Corporation.
In 2016, Clark received the Abe Venable Legacy Award for Lifetime Achievement for making a significant contribution to minority entrepreneurship from former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker. This award honors individuals with an integral role in the creative, technical, or professional progress of minority business development. Clark has received numerous recognitions, but her greatest pride is helping minority enterprises scale and create jobs.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjTis7ku-72AhUoheAKHeS3C_UQFnoECAwQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theenterprisecenter.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw12OiaX9GY3qQwde
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President
The Enterprise Center
Dominique Casimir
Vice President of Real Estate
Thomas Jefferson University
Dominique has been a rising force in the Philadelphia Commercial Real Estate industry for the past 15+ years. She is currently the Enterprise Vice President of Real Estate for Thomas Jefferson University & Jefferson Health, where she currently manages a portfolio estimated to be well worth over $6.5B and includes approximately 15 million SF. She oversees the lease portfolio as well as acquisitions/dispositions/space management of Real Estate. Her focus is to ensure the proper monetization of optimizing assets to the highest and best use.
Previously, she was the Deputy Commissioner of Real Estate Management Division overseeing and managing the real estate portfolio for the City of Philadelphia (the 5th largest City at the time). Prior to working at the City of Philadelphia, Dominique worked as a First Vice President of Transaction & Advisory services for the largest global real estate firm, CBRE, specializing and focusing mainly on retailers, landlords and developers in curating corridors in Center City, University City, Fairmount, N. Broad Street Corridor, Brewerytown, and Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. Prior to entering the commercial real estate industry, Dominique started her own consulting firm where she facilitated economic development opportunities for businesses and nonprofits.
She worked at Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board – writing policy and later went to work with Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation (now known as Philadelphia Works) as an Account Executive and Community Manager. However, her first entry into the professional workforce was with JP Morgan Private Bank on the Private Wealth Management where she worked with International Clients in the Middle East and European division and obtained her Series 7 and 63.
Dominique is a proud Temple Owl where she earned her bachelor’s degree and later became a Wildcat earning her Executive MBA at Villanova University. She is a proud mother of two young ladies Noelle and Nyla. She loves traveling (visiting over 35+ countries to date), competes in triathlons, golf, and has a strong interest in the “Arts”.
Her various roles in Real Estate marry both her love of commercial real estate with her community and economic development experience to create additional value to communities where impact is needed most.
https://www.jefferson.edu/
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Vice President of Real Estate
Thomas Jefferson University
Emile Washington
COO
10Seven
Emile Washington is the Chief Operating Officer at 10Seven where he leads their partnership and development efforts. In this capacity, he focuses on bridging the gap between community leaders, elected officials, and the communities they serve to ensure true public-private transformative relationships. He is also a Co-Founder of Artists & Athletes United for Social Change where they are connecting the brightest minds in politics with the biggest names in sports and entertainment to make tomorrow’s world a better place. His background in government, grassroots organizing, & the entertainment industry is a unique combination of experiences that enables him to connect key power players with the right causes. After leaving Capitol Hill, he worked as a Regional Field Director in Ohio for President Obama’s reelection team. He is also the founder of 360 Solutions, LLC., a strategic management consulting firm. Formerly he served as manager to Jon Batiste of the CBS Late Show, securing national commercial deals for Jon and elevating his platform with partnerships at Sing for Hope and ASCAP Foundation. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor for Woke Vote whose mission is to invest in the Activation, Long-term Engagement, Training, and Development of New Organizers, and mobilization of historically disengaged voters of color.
https://www.10seven.com/
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COO
10Seven
Eric Stephenson
Director of Operations
Align Impact
Eric Stephenson is Director of Operations & Client Service at Align Impact and a member of its investment committee. He works to advance the firm’s work helping investors and advisors create and implement impact investing strategies. Prior to Align, Eric was the Portfolio Director at the Cordes Foundation, tasked with mission-aligning 100% of the endowment across asset classes, and overseeing the Foundation’s philanthropic initiatives. He started his finance career on the fund investments team at Hamilton Lane and global leasing group at Xerox. Eric serves on the boards of the Cordes Foundation and Confluence Philanthropy, and advisory councils for Duke University's CASE i3 and The Investment Integration Project (TIIP). He earned his BBA from Temple University, MA from University of the Pacific and is an active CAIA charterholder.
https://www.alignimpact.com
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Director of Operations
Align Impact
Erika Seth-Davies
CEO
Rhia Ventures
Erika Seth Davies is the Chief Executive Officer of Rhia Ventures. Erika is also the Founder of The Racial Equity Asset Lab (The REAL), an organization working in partnership with Common Future that centers racial equity in impact investing and works to shift capital to close the systemic racial wealth gap.
Erika is a seasoned leader with more than 20 years of experience in development and fundraising, program design, collaboration and partnership management, and racial equity advocacy. She previously served as Vice President of External Affairs at ABFE (Association of Black Foundation Executives) where she designed the SMART Investing Initiative, the organization's first philanthropic effort to incorporate a racial equity lens in foundation endowment practice through increased access for minority- and women-owned investment management firms. Erika is a Social Entrepreneur in Residence with Common Future and a Fellow, Equitable Access to Capital Markets in the Fair Finance portfolio of the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University. She was a member of the inaugural class of the ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellowship program, a recipient of the NYU Wagner School of Public Service IGNITE Fellowship for Women of Color in the Social Sector, and a member of the class of 2017 for Executive Leadership Institute of CFLeads.
https://rhiaventures.org/
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CEO
Rhia Ventures
Evan Figueroa-Vargas
Employment Systems Program Analyst
Evan Figueroa-Vargas, a native of Puerto Rico, has lived in Philadelphia, since 1987. Evan works with people experiencing chronic homelessness as a program manager at Mental Health Partnerships and is a Certified Recovery Specialist and a National Certified Peer Specialist.
Evan shares his own experiences as a person in long-term recovery from a substance use disorder and mental health condition to support others seeking recovery. A passionate advocate dedicated to community service, Evan volunteers as a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Recovery Month Planning Partner, IBX Foundation’s Someone You Know Campaign, a Peer Culture Transformation Advisory Board member for the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities, a board member at Pathways to Housing, Pa, and as a past sub-committee member of the Mayor’s Opioid Task Force. Evan is a graduate of Community College of Philadelphia, Eastern University, and is a Social Work graduate student at Widener University.
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Employment Systems Program Analyst
Jackie Khor
Vice President
Social Finance
Jackie Khor is a Vice President at Social Finance, where she works with education systems, impact investors, governments, nonprofits, and philanthropies to leverage capital and innovate with financing structures that facilitate equitable economic opportunities and strengthen education outcomes for underserved populations.
Jackie’s pre-Social Finance professional background includes experiences in the financial, impact investing, and philanthropic spaces.
Just prior to joining the organization, she worked as Vice President for programs at the College Futures Foundation. In this role, she oversaw the foundation’s grantmaking and partnership efforts with objective of increasing B.A. completion among low-income students and other underrepresented learners in California. Before that, Jackie helped pioneer impact investing as a co-founder at the San Francisco-based firm Imprint Capital, where she advised private, corporate, and community foundations on how to most effectively channel capital toward investments that catalyzed social change and generated returns.
Jackie has also served as Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, Director of employment programs for the New York City Partnership, and Vice President within Lehman Brothers’ Public Finance Division.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley and her master’s degree in public and private Management from the Yale School of Management.
https://socialfinance.org/
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Vice President
Social Finance
James Johnson-Piett
Principal & CEO
Urbane Development
As founding Principal and CEO of Urbane Development, James Johnson-Piett is an evangelist for a new kind of community development that emphasizes community anchor businesses and institutions as agents of change – solving local problems and elevating the quality of life for underserved communities.
With over two decades of experience in various facets of economic and community development, James is responsible for the overall management of operations and strategic vision for Urbane. James has worked in 100+ communities across North America and the Caribbean, with over 1,500 small businesses, representing over 1.5 million SF of commercial and community facility space. James has helped raise over $75 million for small business and community development initiatives with the goal of promoting community wealth generation.
James spearheads Urbane’s place-based investment platform, which includes Flatbush Central, a $134M mixed-use development project featuring the redevelopment of the historic Flatbush Caton Market and 255 units of affordable housing in Brooklyn; and Arverne East, NYC’s first net-zero master plan development which will include 1350+ units of affordable housing and 275k SF of mixed-use space including a boutique hotel and brewery. In 2022, James led the establishment of the Urbane CARE Fund as part of the Boston Impact Initiative’s 11 city national fund-building cohort, which is a national network of emerging fund managers working to develop blended capital, place-based investment vehicles explicitly focused on racial and economic justice.
In addition, James catalyzed the creation of a neighborhood-based market intelligence practice – piloted in low- and moderate-income communities in Brooklyn - focused on Alternative Credit and Credit Proxies, Neighborhood Financial Health Impact Metrics, Micro-Entrepreneurship, and Criminal Justice Fines/Fees research and insights. James and his team have provided feasibility and market intelligence for light manufacturing-, arts/culture anchored-, and mixed- use real estate concepts for government, non-profit, for-profit economic development and real estate development clients in many locales including: New York City; Philadelphia, Hartford, Sonoma County, CA; Detroit; Honolulu; and Lincoln, NE.
James is an alumnus of Swarthmore College and MIT’s Center for Real Estate, Professional Development Institute.
https://thisisurbane.com/
About James Johnson-Piett
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Principal & CEO
Urbane Development
Jay Coen Gilbert
Co-Founder
B Lab
Jay Coen Gilbert is cofounder of B Lab, the nonprofit behind the global B Corporation movement. Its vision is to change the operating system, culture, and practice of business so that all companies compete to be best for the world, and as a result we all enjoy a more shared and durable prosperity. Along with his B Lab cofounders, Jay is the recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the McNulty Prize at the Aspen Institute, where he is as a Henry Crown Fellow. To build the broad coalition necessary for economic system change, Jay serves as executive co-chair of Imperative 21, a business-led cross-sector coalition that believes the imperative of the 21st century is to redesign our economic system so its purpose is to create value for all stakeholders. Founding coalition partners include: B Lab, The B Team, CECP (Chief Executive for Corporate Purpose), The Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, Conscious Capitalism, and JUST Capital. In addition to serving on several boards, for more than a decade Jay has co-taught a class about the role of business in society at Westtown School, a 200 year old Quaker school. Prior to co-founding B Lab, despite having no game, Jay co-founded and sold AND 1, a $250M basketball footwear and apparel company. Prior, Jay worked for McKinsey & Co and several organizations in NYC’s public and nonprofit sectors. Jay grew up in New York City and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in East Asian Studies. Between AND 1 and B Lab, Jay enjoyed a sabbatical Down Under and in Monteverde, Costa Rica with his yogini wife Randi and two children, Dex and Ria, now 22 and 20. Jay and Randi live in Berwyn, PA.
https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/
About Jay Coen Gilbert
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Co-Founder
B Lab
Jim Dever
President
Bank of America - PA
As President of Bank of America Greater Philadelphia, he gets to work with extraordinary leaders as they set their strategy to address social inequality and economic opportunities in communities throughout the five counties and South Jersey. He oversees the bank’s impactful work connecting individuals, families, and businesses to resources that make their financial lives better from Bucks County to Delaware County to the Jersey Shore. Jim is also charged with helping to strengthen economic opportunity and build strong communities through social responsibility efforts, which as we know are absolutely essential to the Philadelphia region at this time. These initiatives, like supporting workforce development and education efforts such as 1Philadelphia, and supporting small businesses with organizations like The Enterprise Center, allow everyone to come together as neighbors toward a better Greater Philadelphia.
https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/local/philadelphia
About Jim Dever
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President
Bank of America - PA
Jock Payten
Interim Managing Director
Ujima Fund
https://www.ujimaboston.com/
About Jock Payten
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Interim Managing Director
Ujima Fund
Jodi Anderson, Jr.
Co-Founder
PipeDreamers Technology
After spending 10 years in juvenile and adult prisons, Jodi turned to education and entrepreneurship because of his mentors Sam Nelson and Benay Rubenstein to change his life for the better. After attending Cornell and Stanford as an undergraduate, he received his Master's Degree from Stanford University's Graduate School of Education studying education technology. Jodi's dreams are to be a music fin-tech mogul that expands opportunities within the digital and creative economies.
https://www.pipedreamers.org/
About Jodi Anderson, Jr.
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Co-Founder
PipeDreamers Technology
Johanna Wolfson
General Parnter
Azolla Ventures
Johanna Wolfson is co-founder of Prime Impact Fund and General Partner at Azolla Ventures. Previously, she served as Director of Technology-to-Market in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE EERE). Her work at DOE involved launching entrepreneurs and new businesses out of universities and National Labs and supporting early-stage start-ups with funding, training, and technical resources through management of Small Business Innovation Research and other programs.
Prior to DOE, Johanna led Fraunhofer’s TechBridge program, where she worked with early-stage companies to de-risk their new technologies via industry-focused validation and demonstration projects. She serves as a board member for Prime Impact Fund portfolio companies C-Motive Technologies, Verdox, and Sublime Systems, as well as on the Investor Advisory Board for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Leadership Council for Innovation Crossroads at Oak Ridge National Lab. Johanna holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from MIT, where she conducted research on optics and solid-state physics.
https://www.azollaventures.com/
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General Parnter
Azolla Ventures
John Moore
Executive Chair
ImpactPHL
John Moore is the Executive Chair of ImpactPHL, an alliance to promote and grow the impact investing ecosystem in the greater Philadelphia region. He
is a successful angel investor with over 50 early-stage company private equity venture investments, many with significant positive social impact outcomes.
impactphl.org
About John Moore
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Executive Chair
ImpactPHL
John Morris
Founding Partner & CEO
17 Asset Management
John is the Founding Partner and CEO at 17 Asset Management, where he manages the firm’s overarching strategy. John’s career began with 23 years at Merrill Lynch, 15 years working in London and Dubai, then New York where he was Chairman of Latin America and Head of International Product and Marketing. Following Merrill Lynch, John co-founded Clearbrook Global Advisors, an institutional asset management advisory firm that grew assets to over $20 billion in AUAs. Following Clearbrook John co-founded Snowden Lane Advisors, a wealth management firm currently with $6 billion in AUM. In addition to managing 17 Asset Management, John also serves as Managing Partner of SOCAP Global where he designed the Total Impact Portfolio Challenge, an annual competition to equip students with the ability to design and execute investment portfolios that maximize impact across asset classes. John and his wife live in Princeton, New Jersey, and are most often chasing one of their four daughters or two granddaughters.
https://www.17assetmanagement.com/
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Founding Partner & CEO
17 Asset Management
Kenyatta James
PAGE Director
Economy League
Kenyatta James is the PAGE Director for the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia. Mr. James works to increase the opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in the Philadelphia area. Kenyatta’s primary role as the Business Engagement Manager is the development of PAGE Prep, which is PAGE’s curated boutique consultancy services for Black & Brown businesses. He is an entrepreneur and community organizer who brings Human-Centered Design experience to the Economy League. He began his career studying Human-Centered Design as a participant in Project Breaker, an immersive design apprenticeship pioneered by TED Fellow Juliette LaMontagne, where he learned design thinking from experts at IDEO, Frog Design, Google Creative Labs, AOL Ventures, and Viacom's MTV Scratch unit. After that experience, Kenyatta brought his design thinking skills to the social impact world as a community organizer revitalizing a city park and coordinating nationwide volunteer programs for the American Friends Service Committee.
His organizing work brought him into diverse political arenas including taking part in United Nations events on behalf of religious communities and lobbying in Harrisburg and Washington, DC. Kenyatta then started JamesGrant Design, a messaging strategy company, where he used his design experience to help organizations build better relationships with their constituents. Under his leadership, JamesGrant Design helped the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia build the world's largest video library of anti-inflammatory recipes and worked with Oral Health America to expand youth participation in school-based dentistry programs.
https://economyleague.org/
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PAGE Director
Economy League
Kerry O’Neill
CEO
Inclusive Prosperity Capital Inc.
Kerry E. O’Neill is the Chief Executive Officer of Inclusive Prosperity Capital, Inc., a not-for-profit investment fund that was spun out of the Connecticut Green Bank in 2018 to scale up impact for underserved communities and underinvested markets across the country. Inclusive Prosperity Capital operates at the intersection of community development, clean energy finance, and climate impact using a collection of products and strategies and an ecosystem approach to matching capital supply with project demand through mission-aligned partners on the ground. Prior to joining IPC, Ms. O’Neill led the residential energy financing programs and low-income initiatives at the Connecticut Green Bank, a state entity that works with private-sector investors to create low-cost, long-term sustainable financing for clean energy to maximize the use of public funds. Her work at IPC and the Connecticut Green Bank has given her keen insight into the institutional challenges – and opportunities – associated with clean energy investing for underserved communities. Prior to joining the Green Bank, Ms. O’Neill held executive management roles in strategy, operations, and marketing in diverse sectors including financial services, energy efficiency, e-commerce, and direct marketing. She earned a B.S. in computer science and engineering from MIT and an M.S. from NYU Tisch School of the Art’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.
https://www.inclusiveprosperitycapital.org
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CEO
Inclusive Prosperity Capital Inc.
Kim Folsom
Founder & CEO
Founders First Capital Partners
Kim Folsom cofounded Founders First Capital Partners in San Diego in 2015 to provide a virtual small-business growth accelerator and revenue-based venture fund focused on helping underserved, small businesses achieve exponential growth. Driven to help micro-businesses succeed, Kim also founded LIFT Development Enterprises, Inc., a nonprofit community-development organization, to help underserved and underrepresented small business owners overcome the challenges they face due to lack of access to capital. Both organizations represent a new, innovative breed of programs that address the gap in funding companies led by underserved and diverse founders.
Prior to launching LIFT and Founders First, Folsom was a high-tech executive and serial entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience growing innovative technology companies. She has experience founding, leading, and building startups for which she has raised $30 million in institutional venture financing. Folsom has leveraged her unique entrepreneurial experience to launch six companies, successfully exit three, and launch her seventh firm with a revenue-based venture fund of $100 million in committed capital. Folsom successfully carries out the mission of Founders First by leveraging her years of entrepreneurial experience to help hundreds of other underrepresented founders get funding for growing their companies.
https://foundersfirstcapitalpartners.com/
About Kim Folsom
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Founder & CEO
Founders First Capital Partners
Kristina Wahl
President
Barra Foundation
Kristina (Tina) joined The Barra Foundation as a Program Officer in 2010 and became President in 2013. Prior to joining Barra, she worked at The Pew Charitable Trusts as a Senior Associate and then as a Program Officer. She also served as Managing Director of Marketing and Development at the Transitional Work Corporation, which at one time was the largest urban transitional jobs program in the country. After graduating from La Salle University, Tina joined the Vincentian Service Corps and served as a volunteer at Covenant House in New York City. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Currently, Tina serves on the Boards of Philanthropy Network of Greater Philadelphia and the Center for Health Care Strategies. She also is a member of PIDC’s Capitalization Committee. She has served on the Board of Trustees at La Salle University, Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School and La Salle Academy, an elementary school for at-risk youth located in North Philadelphia. She has been a member of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Campaign Cabinet and Villanova University’s Department of Public Administration Advisory Board. Kristina grew up in Ambler, PA and feels a strong allegiance to the Greater Philadelphia region.
https://www.barrafoundation.org/
About Kristina Wahl
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President
Barra Foundation
Dr. Leon Caldwell
Founder
Ujima Developers
Dr. Leon D. Caldwell is an award-winning community-based-researcher, social entrepreneur and transformational leader. Ujima Developers was founded on the premise that communities can be transformed with intentional investments to improve the life outcomes of residents. Leon has been involved in real estate as a developer, builder, investor, and property manager since 1999.
A West Philadelphia native, Leon graduated from Our Mother of Sorrows, the William Penn Charter School, then received a BA in Economics and M.Ed. in School Counseling from Lehigh University and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Penn State. Following earning his doctorate, he was a staff psychologist at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He has held rank and tenure as an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; the University of Memphis and directed a community research center at Rhodes College. After a successful career as an Associate Professor, award-winning community-based researcher, national thought leader on Black men and boys health, social entrepreneur and Senior Leader in the Philanthropic sector and author with over 50 national and international publications, he established Ujima Developers, LLC as a public health intervention for blighted neighborhoods. His recent work has been published by SAMHSA, the National League of Cities and the Association of Black Foundation Executives.
Excited to return to his home, Philadelphia, Leon seeks to contribute his unique approach to holistic equitable development in re-designing neighborhoods for the optimal wellbeing of residents.
Housing is health! Leon understands the influence of real estate developers on the health and economic mobility of a zip code. Ujima Developers’ approach to social innovation is re-designing neighborhoods for the optimal health of residents.
https://ujimadevelopers.com
About Dr. Leon Caldwell
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Founder
Ujima Developers
Libby Bernick
CEO
Impact Cubed
Libby Bernick is the CEO of Impact Cubed, a UK based company that creates data, analytics, and investment solutions for building portfolios with greater impact. Libby has over 25 years of experience developing ESG and impact solutions in public and private markets. Prior to joining Impact Cubed, Ms. Bernick was head of sustainability at Morningstar, responsible for integrating ESG across all its business lines. Previously, she was managing director at S&P Global, responsible for one of its global ESG business lines where she led the development of climate solutions and impact solutions aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to that, she held various executive roles working with businesses to understand and manage environmental and social considerations in their investment and operational decision making. She has a B.A and M.A.S. from the University of Delaware and resides in Wayne, PA.
https://www.impact-cubed.com/
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CEO
Impact Cubed
Lindsay Smalling
Head of Sales
60 Decibels
Lindsay is the Head of Sales based in 60 Decibels' San Francisco office. Prior to 60 Decibels, she was CEO of SOCAP, convening social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and cross-sector leaders through world-renowned events at the intersection of money and meaning. Lindsay was previously Strategic Initiatives Officer at ImpactAssets, consulted on corporate social responsibility programs at Entrepreneurs Foundation, and started her career in financial services at Wellington Management and Lord Abbett. Lindsay graduated from Pomona College, where she was a Division III National Champion in water polo, and has an MBA from Columbia Business School. Lindsay by the numbers - changemakers convened: 20,000+, apartments lived in: 13, kids: 2 (identical twins!), sum of balls found in nearly every room of San Francisco apartment: 40+.
https://60decibels.com
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Head of Sales
60 Decibels
Lisa Hayles
Director of International Shareholder Advocacy
Trillium Asset Management
Lisa Hayles is Director of International Shareholder Advocacy at Trillium Asset Management, responsible for engaging Trillium’s international holdings and global policy makers on environmental, social and governance topics. She joined Trillium in the summer of 2020 and has more than 20 years’ experience advising institutional and individual investors on sustainable investing approaches in North America and Europe. A frequent speaker on gender equality and racial justice, she is co-founder of the Racial justice Investing Coalition and sits on the boards of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and the Boston Impact Initiative.
Lisa received her B.A.in Political Science and History from the University of Toronto and a M.Sc. in International Development from the University of Guelph. She also holds a French language Certificate for the University of Toulouse in France.??
Matt currently serves on the board of TONIIC and has previously served on the Boards of Environmental League of Massachusetts, Shared Interest, Pro Mujer, US SIF, and Root Capital. He is also a member of the Social Venture Circle (SVC) and is a member of the CFA Society Boston and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.
https://www.trilliuminvest.com/
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Director of International Shareholder Advocacy
Trillium Asset Management
Lolita Jackson
Executive Director
Sustainable Development Capital, LLP
Lolita Jackson MBE is the Executive Director of Communications & Sustainable Cities and is the link to governments around the world, also working on media relations, COP, UN and climate and business network engagement. Lolita previously worked for the NYC Mayor’s Office for 15 years in a variety of roles. She last served as the Special Advisor for Climate Policy & Programs, where she was the climate diplomat for NYC and lead for the administration regarding global work on divestment and climate finance. Prior to her appointment to that role, she was Deputy Director of External Affairs for the NYC Housing Recovery Office, Director of Outreach for the NYC Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency [the post-Hurricane Sandy resilience team], lead for operational city agencies for the Second Avenue Subway and Barclays Center construction projects, and Manhattan Director of Community Affairs. Prior to her tenure in the NYC Mayor’s Office, Lolita worked for Morgan Stanley Investment Management for 12 years as a Vice President and helped manage a $10 billion product line. Lolita is a Visiting Fellow at Penn Perry World House, a global think tank, in the areas of climate diplomacy and climate finance, and is an inaugural member of the Perry World House Policy Advisory Board. Lolita is the Chair of the British American Project U.S. Advisory Board, a fellow of the US-Japan Leadership Program, a Trustee and Executive Committee Member of the Jazz Museum in Harlem, Trustee Emerita of Children’s Aid, a member of the Saint Andrew’s Society of NY, President of the Penn Alumni Class of 1989, and immediate past U.S. Chair of the Royal Society of Arts. She is also a professional singer, appearing on four continents and at Carnegie Hall. She is an alumna of the Penn School of Engineering, majoring in Applied Science with a concentration in Chemical Engineering.
https://www.sdclgroup.com/
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Executive Director
Sustainable Development Capital, LLP
Marc Rand
Founder / Managing Partner
Community Capital Advisors
Marc Rand is the Founder and Managing Partner of Community Capital Advisors, a national consultancy focused on community investment. He leads an amazing team to support foundations (community, private, and corporate) investing in nonprofits and social impact companies. He also manages several nonprofit loan funds, including American Nonprofits and the Nonprofit Insurance Alliance of California's member loan fund.
Marc is the former Program Director for Loans and Affordable Housing at Marin Community Foundation (MCF). While at MCF Marc invested more than $50 million in Marin-based nonprofits during a 12 year period with a 0% default rate.
Marc also developed one of the nation’s first donor development strategies connected to impact investing while at MCF and was able to increase loan capital five-fold from $5 million to $25 million. Prior to MCF, Marc served in the Peace Corps (Romania) where he led the development of 5 credit unions. Marc started his career in international banking.
Marc served six years as a Board Member, two as Board Chair, for Opportunity Fund, a small business CDFI micro-loan fund with assets over $75 million.
https://www.communitycapitaladvisors.us/
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Founder / Managing Partner
Community Capital Advisors
Marcus Glover
Co-Founder
Lockstep Ventures
Marcus Glover is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Lockstep Ventures, a venture capital firm that seeks to address issues that perpetuate racial inequality in the U.S.
Marcus has a mission to reimagine equity for Black America and is dedicated to investing and advising Black and women-led companies that are often overlooked, underfunded and underserved. As a leader of Lockstep Ventures, he has turned his passion into meaningful change while also inspiring and empowering a systematic shift in tandem with delivering investor returns.
In addition to his work with Lockstep Ventures, Marcus serves on the National Board of Directors of Defy Ventures, which advocates for criminal justice reform and lowering recidivism by building on incarcerated men and women’s natural talents through entrepreneurship and business ownership. Marcus also serves on the Time@100 Advisory Board.
Previously, Marcus was the Founding Partner of private equity firm M. Glover Capital. He has also served as a Global Creative Director and Chief Marketing Officer, producing some of the most memorable advertising campaigns within pop culture, urban lifestyle, music, sports and entertainment, including the number three most popular Super Bowl commercial in history. Marcus has also created successful ventures with some of the world’s most beloved celebrities and athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Lil Wayne and will.i.am. This has led to his being an advisor for early-stage ventures, leading workshops on brand and personal storytelling for founders and leaders.
Outside of his VC and marketing work, Marcus has a passion for teaching youth and is a leader of yoga and meditation juvenile programs at prisons and jails in New York State as a board director for the organization Liberation Prison Yoga. He also served as an executive producer for films, A Beautiful Game and Bilal: A New Breed of Hero, and on the board for the Harlem Arts Festival.
https://www.lockstepventures.com/
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Co-Founder
Lockstep Ventures
Margaret Berger Bradley
VP, Strategic Initiatives
Ben Franklin Tech Partners
Margaret Berger Bradley is an ImpactPHL Board Member and the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania. She joined Ben Franklin to lead the development and implementation of strategies and projects focused on creating partnerships that expand Ben Franklin’s access to capital and further the overall mission, with a particular focus on emerging impact investment strategies.
She has spent more than 25 years focusing on community and economic development, building organizational capacity and managing philanthropic investments, and has had a particular focus on communications, strategic planning and implementation and organizational systems and growth. As Executive Director of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative – Greater Philadelphia, she worked with partners across the region and a top-notch team at the Community College of Philadelphia to provide small business owners poised for growth with an experience many have called ‘transformational.’ She was until 2012 Chief Operating Officer at TRF, a national leader in neighborhood revitalization, which has invested over $1.5 billion in homes, schools, supermarkets, and other community resources, in pursuit of its mission of creating opportunities for low-wealth people and places. Prior to TRF, Ms. Bradley was a member of The Conservation Company (now TCC Group), where she provided management consulting and organizational development and planning services to corporate and private grantmakers and nonprofit organizations across the United States. Her six years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency included developing enforcement training for implementation in Eastern and Central Europe, managing a major recruitment campaign and consulting on organizational changes. Ms. Bradley holds an M.B.A. from Yale University and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.
https://www.sep.benfranklin.org/
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VP, Strategic Initiatives
Ben Franklin Tech Partners
Margot Kane
Chief Investment Officer
Spring Point Partners
Margot is the Chief Investment Officer at Philadelphia-based Spring Point Partners, a social impact organization that funds transformative leaders, networks and solutions that power community change and justice. She also serves on the investment advisory committees of Circulate Capital (Singapore) and Builders Initiative, and is a member of the Environmental Finance Advisory Board to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Previously, Margot served as CFO/CIO at Closed Loop Partners, a fund manager focused on circular economy solutions, and as Vice President of Strategy at Calvert Impact Capital. Before entering the investment world, she worked in international development and reproductive health programs in the U.S. and internationally. She earned her M.B.A. from University of California-Berkeley and a B.A. from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
https://www.thespringpoint.com/
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Chief Investment Officer
Spring Point Partners
Mark Hays
Director of Impact Investing
Glenmede
Mark Hays is Director of Sustainable & Impact Investing. In this role, he provides strategic leadership of Glenmede’s sustainable and impact investing efforts. Mark and his team are responsible for the development of new investment capabilities, the creation and delivery of innovative thought leadership, and the deepening of relationships with clients and industry partners.
Previously, Mr. Hays served as Vice President of Sustainable Investing for J.P. Morgan Asset Management. In this role, he developed an enhanced ESG integration framework and led its implementation for more than 25 investment teams, while helping to create and launch three sustainable investment strategies. Before this role, he served as Vice President of Impact Investments for Flat World Partners, where he oversaw a team responsible for sourcing, investment due diligence, impact analysis, and recommendation of opportunities for sustainable thematic portfolios representing over $1 billion in institutional capital. Mark started his career at Cambridge Associates.
Mr. Hays earned a Master of Business Administration from the London Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree in business from Wake Forest University. He is on the Board of Believe in Students and is a Sustainable Investing Leadership Committee Member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia.
https://www.glenmede.com
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Director of Impact Investing
Glenmede
Mark Pinsky
Founding Partner
CDFI Friendly America
Mark Pinsky is a leading voice in public conversations about public purpose finance. He is co-author of Organized Money: How Progressives Can Leverage the Financial System to Work For Them, Not Against Them (The New Press, October 2019). He is the President of FiveFour Advisors, a strategic advisory firm, and the Founding Partner of CDFI Friendly America. From 1995 to 2016, he was President & CEO of OFN and played a central policy role in the creation of the CDFI Fund in the Department of the U.S. Treasury.
https://www.cdfifriendlyamerica.com/
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Founding Partner
CDFI Friendly America
Marvin Owens
Chief Engagement Officer
Impact Shares
Marvin J. Owens, Jr. currently serves as Chief Engagement Officer for Impact Shares. In this role, Marvin has engagement responsibility for both fund managers and corporations, as well as cultivating and maintaining relationships with financial intermediaries with the goal of AUM growth. Marvin is also responsible for strategic relationships with our social advocacy partners and leads the firm in broader Social Impact and advocacy conversations. Prior to joining Impact Shares, Marvin served as Senior Director of Economic Programs for the NAACP. In this role, Mr. Owens was responsible for the NAACP’s national Economic Inclusion agenda which includes Asset and Wealth Creation programs with efforts that support financial education, homeownership, minority business development, franchising, workforce development, and diversity; Advocacy and Sustainability with efforts around economic justice and social impact investing; and Research with ongoing efforts to track and report economic conditions, as well as recommended public policy changes.
Prior to joining the NAACP, Mr. Owens served as a consultant, lecturer, and technical assistance provider in the areas of Community and Economic Development, Small Business Development, and Community Organizing. Mr. Owens serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Stonehenge Capital NMTC fund, where he advises, recommends, and monitors fund investments for economic impact. Guest lecturer credits include Oxford University’s Saïd School of Business on the subjects “Responsible Leadership,” and “Economic Development in the Black Church.”
Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Mr. Owens served as Vice President for Economic Empowerment at the National Urban League (NUL) where he managed all aspects of NUL’s corporate, foundation, and government relationships with a specific focus on affiliate economic development activities, small business development, and finance. Mr. Owens was responsible for implementing business and economic development efforts in more than 20 US cities. Mr. Owens oversaw the implementation of the National Urban League’s Empowerment Fund and was the lead staff in creating NUL’s current model of economic empowerment centers.
https://impactetfs.org/
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Chief Engagement Officer
Impact Shares
Maryam Khosharay
Deputy Vice President
U.S. International DFC
Maryam Khosharay has over 15 years of global finance experience. She is a seasoned transactional attorney, management professional, and professor. Her experience includes debt finance, project finance, corporate finance, social impact funds, and credit guarantees. Maryam is skilled at structuring debt financing of projects, managing due diligence, and preparing and negotiating a myriad of complex transaction and project documents. Expertise includes development finance, infrastructure, and renewable energy with a proven track record of implementing strategies that yield positive financial and development outcomes.
Maryam teaches finance law at Georgetown Law and is a frequent speaker and contributor on business matters, including the use of equity and debt in development finance structures, coordination of technical assistance, and advising on commercial issues.
She is currently leading the Mission Transaction Unit (formerly the Development Credit Authority at USAID) at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Prior to this, Maryam was a finance associate at two international law firms and most recently she served as Deputy Assistant General Counsel at USAID for seven years covering credit programs. She also serves on the WIFIA Credit Council of the EPA to review and approve qualifying and viable projects under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act.
Maryam is the 2017 recipient of the Arnold Harberger Award for Economic Excellence, which is awarded by the USAID Administrator to one individual who has demonstrated innovative and far-reaching economic analysis and expertise.
https://www.dfc.gov/
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Deputy Vice President
U.S. International DFC
Maryrose Myrtetus
Executive Director
Philadelphia Green Capital Corp.
Maryrose Myrtetus is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Green Capital Corp. (PGCC), the recently-formed “green bank” affiliate of the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA). She works to connect projects to capital to drive a robust, equitable, clean energy market in Philadelphia, support PEA, and respond to the local challenges of climate change.
https://phillygreencapital.org/
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Executive Director
Philadelphia Green Capital Corp.
Matt Brinker
Partner
RCCB Law
Matt Brinker is a Partner in the Corporate & Business Group at RCCB. As a corporate lawyer, Matt advises businesses, investors, non-profits and individuals on a variety of corporate and transactional matters, from the beginning to the end of the business or transaction lifecycle. In addition to serving as deal counsel in various M&A, private equity and venture capital transactions, Matt regularly serves as “outside general counsel” to privately-held businesses and their investors on governance, compliance, commercial and other matters. Since his first summer associate research assignment on benefit corporation legislation over a decade ago, Matt has been a promoter of the benefit corporation/benefit company legal form for mission-driven enterprises and enjoys speaking, writing and counseling clients on the benefits of being for-good and for-profit.
https://www.rccblaw.com/
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Partner
RCCB Law
Melanie Audette
Senior Vice President
Mission Investors Exchange
Melanie Audette is Senior Vice President at Mission Investors Exchange (MIE), a national network of foundations deploying more of their assets for impact. She serves on the board of Energy Foundation, is a founder of Invest for Better, and she is based in Seattle.
https://missioninvestors.org/
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Senior Vice President
Mission Investors Exchange
Michael Cosack
Principal
ImpactWise LLC
Michael Cosack has spent most of his professional career advising the trustees on the investment and fiduciary responsibilities regarding their institutional funds. As an entrepreneur, he has built several organizations, including one of the largest independent investment consulting firms in the Greater Philadelphia region, stewarding over $3.5 billion of combined assets. The firm was eventually purchased by a national independent financial advisory firm.
Mr. Cosack has a deep passion and commitment to raising the awareness and impact of sustainable investing. He is a Principal of ImpactWise LLC, Research Liaison of Sustainable Research & Analysis LLC, Chair of the CFA Society of Philadelphia’s Sustainable Investing Thought Leadership Group, and Board Member of ImpactPHL.
Mr. Cosack holds an undergraduate degree in business from The College of New Jersey and has achieved multiple educational designations, including the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing and the USGBC LEED Green Associate Credential. He has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels School and is a frequent contributor at industry conferences.
https://impactwise.us
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Principal
ImpactWise LLC
Michael Young
Manager
US SIF
Michael is responsible for our three courses (our free online course for individual investors, our Fundamentals live and online course for financial professionals, and the CSRIC designation with the College for Financial Planning), creating educational materials out of the existing content of the US SIF Foundation, and continuing to create new materials that will help advance our field.
Before joining US SIF, Michael spent 16 years working in mutual funds, separately managed accounts, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds. Michael served as Director of Business Development for AdvisorShares, an actively managed ETF provider, where his clients ranged from registered investment advisors and financial planning firms to broker-dealer firms, registered investment companies, and hedge funds. His responsibilities included product development, relationship management with sub-advisory asset management firms, institutional sales, portfolio construction consulting, national accounts management, and advisor education. During his time at AdvisorShares, Michael helped launch the first actively managed fossil fuel free ETF, and served as host of the weekly AdvisorShares Alpha Call – a show focused on ETF investing with guests from all corners of the financial services industry. Prior to joining AdvisorShares, his time in financial services was spent during nine years with ING Investment Management and, before that, the Private Client Group at Merrill Lynch. Michael earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Davis.
https://www.ussif.org/
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Manager
US SIF
Mike Banks
The Promise Exec. Director
United Way
Michael serves as Executive Director of The Promise. In his role, Michael oversees strategic, fundraising, and operational activities in support of The Promise's mission of reducing poverty in Philadelphia.
Serving as an advisor for the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (UWGPSNJ) career pathways pillar, Michael provides counsel and insight to the team to advance equitable access for career opportunities in our region’s job and labor markets.
Prior to joining UWGPSNJ, Michael was the President & CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, a financial controller for a Philadelphia startup, and Vice President for Citibank in their Derivatives Markets division.
https://unitedforimpact.org/
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The Promise Exec. Director
United Way
Monique Aiken
Managing Director
The Investment Integration Project
Monique Aiken, The Investment Integration Project (TIIP) Managing Director, also serves as a Contributing Editor at ImpactAlpha, a digital news magazine for the impact investing sector. Monique is passionate about social change and positive impact after spending 15 years in investment banking, where she developed her understanding of the capital markets. She previously served as VP of Programs at Mission Investors Exchange, a network organization for +250 members seeking to deepen their practice of impact investing through peer-learning.
Prior to joining Mission Investors Exchange, Monique was a Director at Tideline, a boutique impact investing strategy consulting firm, where her energies were centered on client and project management and business development. She served as Project Manager at the Clinton Foundation for No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project, a women’s empowerment initiative led by Secretary Clinton, and business development manager for the Clinton Global Initiative.
Earlier, as a VP in Deutsche Bank’s Commodity Derivatives Sales group, she managed client relationships with Oil and Gas (E&P), Utility, and Consumer Products companies in the United States and Latin America. Earlier in her career, she worked for Citigroup in the Debt Capital Markets group in both New York and London, and as an analyst at Bank of America in the Credit Products group. Monique holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, where she majored in Financial Instruments and Markets and a B.Sc. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
https://tiiproject.com/
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Managing Director
The Investment Integration Project
Morgan Simon
Founding Partner
Candide Group
Among other professional milestones, she founded and served as C.E.O. of Toniic, which united 200 investors and $4.5 billion devoted to social and environmental enterprises. Toniic arguably led the trend for global social angel investing. She is also a co-founder and chair of Transform Finance. The non-profit lives up to its name by “building a bridge between finance and social justice by using the tools of finance.”
Notably, less than 1.1% of assets globally are managed by firms owned by a woman or person of color. Once again smashing stereotypes, Morgan co-founded and co-leads Candide Group, an Oakland-based Registered Investment Advisor that helps families, foundations, athletes and influencers who want their money working for justice. Its clients include members of the Pritzker family, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, former NFL Player Derrick Morgan, and more.
Culled from a Voltaire novel, the name Candide sums up her ethos.
“As the last line of Candide states, We all need to plant our gardens,” she continues. “It’s an allusion towards action. We’re taking action in the world of finance.”
Morgan also serves as an adjunct professor at Middlebury College's graduate school program. She calls Oakland home.
http://morgansimon.com/
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Founding Partner
Candide Group
Nia Evans
Executive Director
Boston Ujima Project
Nia K. Evans is the Executive Director of the Boston Ujima Project. Nia joined Ujima's executive leadership in 2017 after serving as a co-founder and Steering Committee member since 2015. Evans is the former Executive Director of the Boston NAACP, where she helped grow the membership and advance the Chapter's Education and Economic Development strategies.
Prior to serving with the NAACP, Nia was an accomplished policy analyst and researcher, with expertise in the fields of education and community development. Nia is contributing researcher for widely cited education policy briefs, and is co-creator of Frames Debate Project, a multimedia policy debate project that explores the intersections of drug policy, mental health services and incarceration in Massachusetts. Nia was also a school teacher and arts program founder in Inglewood, CA and served as an administrator at The Harlem School of the Arts. Nia has a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and a Master of Arts in Education Leadership from the Teachers College at Columbia University.
https://www.ujimaboston.com
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Executive Director
Boston Ujima Project
Nyra Jordan
Impact Investment Dir.
American Family Insurance
Nyra Jordan is one of the founding directors of the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, a Madison, Wisconsin-based innovation hub that leverages venture capital investment and transformative public and private partnerships to address major challenges facing the US. These challenges include diminished family economic security, an uncertain national economy, educational disparities, mass incarceration, climate change, systemic racism and other social determinants of health, along with and the void in effective leadership around these issues. As social impact investment director, Jordan's goal is to engage with innovative initiatives, investments and partnerships that allow more families to gain wealth and enjoy their American Dream.
In addition to leading and implementing initiatives to assess whether internal operations and practices are consistent with social justice values, Jordan amplifies community experts and founders focused on people-centered technology solutions for those impacted by the justice system. She believes that tech can create opportunities and help reduce inequities in the criminal and civil justice system -- but only if it is designed by, with and for people with direct experience in the system or those who have dedicated their lives to criminal and civil justice change. She is also co-creating a coalition to bring funding to underrepresented founders by convening entrepreneurs and investors within the justice tech sector.
Jordan launched her career in the nonprofit space and currently serves on several boards and task forces that include community members, elected officials and law enforcement to drive systemic change. She is committed to transformation that will bring equality to America by increasing access to opportunity and establishing social equity.
https://www.amfam.com
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Impact Investment Dir.
American Family Insurance
Octavio Sandoval
Director of Investments
Illumen Capital
Octavio Sandoval, CFA, CAIA, genuinely seeks innovative solutions to address social and economic injustice facing historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. He believes structural problems require structural solutions.
Prior to Illumen Capital, Octavio was a leader at MassMutual Life Insurance Company in building the emerging fund manager program, which allocated $50 million to a wide variety of BIPOC-led funds that invest in BIPOC-led startups. At MassMutual, Octavio also deployed over $500 million in allocations to various alternative investment strategies including private equity and private credit. Prior to MassMutual, Octavio held positions throughout traditional finance, including roles within investment banking, private wealth management, and capital markets.
Mr. Sandoval earned a B.S. in Applied Economic & Management at Cornell University and holds an M.B.A from MIT Sloan School of Management. Mr. Sandoval formerly served on the alumni advisory council of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP).
https://www.illumencapital.com
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Director of Investments
Illumen Capital
Patience Marime-Ball
Founder and CEO
Women of the World Endowment
Patience Marime-Ball has more than two and a half decades of investment experience across capital markets and is widely recognized for using the levers of finance to innovate pathways for creating a more equal world. Patience has led many “firsts” in the investing space; she developed the Banking on Women platform at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and was responsible for co- designing IFC’s Global Trade Liquidity Program, as well as the first-ever gender bond issued on the Uridashi market. As the founder and CEO of Women of the World Endowment, an investment nonprofit focused on gender intersectional investing, and most recently, the co-author of her new book The XX Edge: Unlocking Higher Returns and Lower Risk, Patience actively drives forward a capital system that is more inclusive. Patience is a non-executive Board member for MIO Partners and Intelligent Medicine Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq: IQMD). She serves as a member of multiple advisory boards including Emerging Sun LLC, a company she co-founded in 2005.
https://wowendowment.org/
About Patience Marime-Ball
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Founder and CEO
Women of the World Endowment
Rahima Jamal
Associate, Client Advisory
Align Impact
Rahima is a member of the Client Advisory team at Align.
Prior to joining Align, Rahima served as an Associate within the Real Estate Legal & Compliance team at Blackstone where she led investment compliance operations globally. During her time at Blackstone, Rahima served as a mentor for the Future Women's Leadership Program as well as a representative to the Real Estate group's Diversity & Inclusion task force, where she spearheaded a series of conversations on unconscious bias and race in the workplace. While at Blackstone, Rahima learned first-hand the power of private capital in making change and is excited to work closely with Align Impact's clients to ensure their impact and financial goals are achieved.
Rahima volunteers as a middle-school math tutor and serves as the Associate Board Vice President of Common Denominator, a nonprofit in New York City that provides free, supplemental math tutoring to low-income public school students. Rahima graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Philosophy, Politics & Economics and minors in Marketing and Consumer Psychology.
https://www.alignimpact.com/
About Rahima Jamal
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Associate, Client Advisory
Align Impact
Richard C. Clark
Senior Vice President
Pillar Wealth Advisors
Rick is a principal and co-founder of Pillar Wealth Advisors, LLC. Entering the financial planning business in 2005 as a career change, Rick sought to utilize the deep finance, accounting, taxation and analysis experience gained during ten years as a CPA with Deloitte & Touche LLP and a diverse ten years spent in corporate finance and accounting roles. Rick's primary practice focus is leading the development of integrated and insightful financial plans for successful individuals and business-owners, believing that the "context" provided by a clear Wealth Plan is critical to an effective investment plan, insurance plan, estate plan and business succession plan. Rick also serves on the Pillar Wealth Advisors Investment Committee.
Rick is a graduate (Cum Laude) of University of Delaware, and is very active in local philanthropic organizations throughout Chester County, PA. He and his wife, Debbie, live in West Chester, PA with their three children. Rick enjoys golf, the Jersey Shore, great wine, and playing/learning the acoustic guitar (not well!).
https://www.pillarwealthadvisors.com/
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Senior Vice President
Pillar Wealth Advisors
Richard Henriques
Senior Fellow
Center for High Impact Philanthropy at Penn
Richard ‘Dick’ Henriques is a Senior Fellow at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy and Wharton Social Impact Initiative. In that role, he leads the Center’s work to develop practical guidance on how to deploy capital, alongside grants, to achieve philanthropic goals. He was the lead author of the Center’s paper, Program-Related Investments: Is There a Bigger Opportunity for Mission Investing By Private Foundations? and served on the research advisory board for Aligning Equity (working title), the Center’s joint initiative with Tara Health Foundation and Wharton Social Impact Initiative examining current gender lens investing opportunities in public equity.
Prior to his appointment at Penn, Dick served as the CFO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. While at the foundation, he grew the portfolio of Program Related Investments (PRIs) from $50 to $700 million by leveraging the foundation’s balance sheet to make debt and equity investments and issue guarantees to further the foundations priorities in global health, global development, and U.S. education. In addition, as a member of the foundation’s leadership team, he oversaw the transformation of the foundation’s grants, contracts, strategy review, program measurement and evaluation processes to focus more consistently on measurable outcomes. Before serving as the CFO at the Gates Foundation, Dick served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller at Merck & Co. He currently serves on several nonprofit and for-profit boards.
Dick received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and also received his B.A. from Penn.
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Senior Fellow
Center for High Impact Philanthropy at Penn
Dr. Sandra Brooks
Exec. VP & Chief Community Health Equity Officer
Thomas Jefferson Univ. Hospitals
Trained in OB Gyn at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Gynecologic Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Dr. Brooks also served as Professor and Director of the Division of Gynecology Oncology at the University of Maryland for 10 years where in addition to clinical practice, teaching, and mentoring trainees, her research focused on health services and cancer disparities. Dr. Brooks received her MBA in Medical Services Management at Johns Hopkins University prior to transitioning to a physician executive role in Louisville where she developed a multi-modal prevention service line. Dr. Brooks has had an enduring programmatic and research interest in reducing health services and promotion of health equity as exemplified in her role as principal investigator of one of 21 National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Center Programs focused on promoting health equity, quality, clinical trials and survivorship.
Prior to her return to Philadelphia, Dr. Brooks was Chief Medical Officer of St. Joseph’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital, BayCare, Health System in Tampa, Florida, where she accomplished major initiatives focused on patient safety and quality. Dr. Brooks’ national work includes serving on boards of the American Public Health Association and Co- Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists.
Joining the Jefferson Health System just prior to the pandemic, Dr. Brooks quickly became integral to the Center City Division pandemic response as the Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Brooks is deeply engaged in quality and safety initiatives, and led Jefferson’s REAL TALK vaccine promotion campaign. In March 2021, Dr. Brooks was named to the role of Executive Vice President, Chief Community Health Equity Officer, TJU, leading the Philadelphia Collaborative for Health Equity, while continuing to lead as Chief Medical Officer of TJUH, Inc.
https://www.jefferson.edu/
About Dr. Sandra Brooks
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Exec. VP & Chief Community Health Equity Officer
Thomas Jefferson Univ. Hospitals
Sandra Dungee Glenn
Founder
The Collective
As the founder and convenor of The Collective, Sandra has served in executive-level positions in community development, education, public policy, and electoral politics for over 40 years. She is an experienced convener who brings diverse stakeholders together to attack multi-faceted, interdisciplinary urban issues.
https://www.thecollectivephl.com/
About Sandra Dungee Glenn
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Founder
The Collective
Scott Nissenbaum
President & CEO
Ben Franklin Tech Partners
Scott Nissenbaum is President, Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Board of Directors at Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania. He believes that technology can make the world a better place and has dedicated his career to that ideal.
Prior to becoming President and CEO at Ben Franklin, Scott served as its Chief Operating Officer through 2020, and previously served as its Chief Investment Officer and Executive Vice President, where he led the organization’s investment group, a team of 10 investment professionals making seed and early-stage investments across IT, Digital Health, Life Sciences, and Advanced Manufacturing. Under Scott’s leadership, Ben Franklin completed more than 200 early-stage investments, launched Ben Franklin’s first for profit fund – the GO Philly Fund, and grew the AUM by 100%+.
Scott has raised capital for six different funds, served as a board member for 14 private and public companies, and was the Chairman of Philadelphia Game Labs. He has been recognized as a leader by Philly Tech’s “Thirty under 30” Award, Philadelphia Business Journal’s “40 under 40” Award, American Carbon Registry Innovator Award, and the Eastern Technology Council. In addition, he has served as a speaker, judge, and mentor for countless organizations and events. In 2007, Scott taught the graduate course in venture capital at The Universities of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Scott has a Bachelor of Science in finance from Penn State and a MBA in finance from Saint Joe’s University. Scott has three kids and is enthusiastic about lacrosse, racquetball, Philadelphia sports, and all things Penn State.
https://www.sep.benfranklin.org/
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President & CEO
Ben Franklin Tech Partners
Shivam Desai
Associate
BlueMark
Shivam Desai is an Associate at BlueMark focused on impact assurance and verification. Shivam joined BlueMark in February 2020.
Shivam has been heavily involved with and has worked on several impact assurance and verification projects for the BlueMark line of business and projects spanning IMM system design for Tideline’s consulting arm. Prior to BlueMark, Shivam worked as a Private Wealth Associate at Snowden Lane Partners while in business school. In his role at Snowden Lane Partners, Shivam focused on investment analysis, business development, client service, and support, and Shivam spearheaded a financial advisor’s ESG offerings, research, and integration. Shivam was born and raised in the Republic of Zambia, where his proclivity for market-based solutions to critical global problems stems.
Shivam holds a Master of Science in Global Finance from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University and double majored in Finance and Business Management at the University of Kentucky.
https://bluemarktideline.com
About Shivam Desai
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Associate
BlueMark
Dr. Sidney S. Williams, Jr.
President & CEO
Crossing Capital Group
Rev. Dr. Sidney S. Williams, Jr. is a visionary and a transformational leader with more than 30+ years of experience in corporate and community development. He is well-versed in corporate social responsibility (ESG) and he advised c-suite level executives of Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries while employed on Wall Street. Dr. Williams currently serves as an independent director for a publicly traded bank as well as advises non-profit organizations, privately held middle-market companies and start-up ventures primarily in the technology sector.
Dr. Williams’ scholarship is focused primarily on an interdisciplinary approach to learning how theological and marketplace frameworks interact — and more significantly, how they should interact. He has published dozens of articles and two books - Morning Meditations: 100 Days to Believing You’re Successful and Fishing Differently: Ministry Formation in the Marketplace. Dr. Williams has equipped pastors and church planters on three continents as well as pastored two churches in Cape Town, South Africa. He is currently pastoring a congregation in Morristown, New Jersey.
https://crossingcapitalgroup.com/
About Dr. Sidney S. Williams, Jr.
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President & CEO
Crossing Capital Group
Stephanie Humphrey | Master of Ceremonies
Media Personality
ABC News
Technology and Lifestyle Expert Stephanie Humphrey’s mission in life is to show people how technology can make their lives easier. Stephanie spent two years as the technology contributor to the nationally-syndicated talk show The Harry Show, hosted by Harry Connick, Jr. and she is currently a contributor to Good Morning America and Strahan & Sara. She is the regular on-air tech contributor to Fox 29’s Good Day Philadelphia where she’s delivered tech news since 2012. Stephanie spent three years as the technology writer for EBONY.com and a contributor to EBONY magazine and spent two years as the spokesperson for HP, Inc. on the QVC shopping channel. And Stephanie uses social media to help people understand tech basics with her weekly 60-Second Tech Break on Instagram & Twitter.
‘Til Death Do You Tweet is a seminar for students, parents, or professionals that helps them understand the potential negative consequences of online behavior - especially through social media - and gives helpful advice on how people can maintain a positive reputation in cyberspace. Stephanie is a former engineer for Lockheed Martin with engineering degrees from Florida A&M University and the University of Pennsylvania.
https://www.tildeathdoyoutweet.com/
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Media Personality
ABC News
Stephan Nicoleau
Managing Director
FullCycle
Stephan Nicoleau is a Managing Director at FullCycle and leads the firm’s capital formation and partnerships. He brings more than a decade of investing and investment advisory experience to FullCycle.
Stephan began his career as a member of the founding team of Coalition Ltd., a boutique strategy consultancy. That team grew the company to $50 million in revenue in just four years, growing its staff from eight to ~400 in that same time period. In that role, Stephan closely worked with the senior leadership of a number of sell-side investment banks. He was part of the seconded team which restructured the Global Currencies and Commodities division at JP Morgan, building it to be a globally nimble business that doubled trading revenue while mitigating macroeconomic risk. While managing the development of the new Global Markets division at Credit Suisse, Mr. Nicoleau played an integral role in consolidating and realigning key business units, with the achieved goal of building a globally positioned investment bank. In the most eventful days of the financial crisis, Stephan and his team advised Barclays Capital in its acquisition of assets and businesses, navigating difficult markets and regulations to markedly increase the size and reach of that financial institution. While at Coalition, Stephan also built and led the firm’s most successful analytics business for buy-side managers and family offices, which he grew until the firm’s eventual sale to S&P.
In founding Critical Value Advisors, Stephan advised more than $50 billion in private wealth and successfully structured and co-invested in transactions in technology, infrastructure, and impact. Critical Value took a principal position as a co-investor in several transactions, allowing the firm to identify, and invest in, opportunities for environmental and social impact. Mr. Nicoleau also founded LaGuardia Development Partners, a minority-owned infrastructure development firm focused on the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport. In his work as an infrastructure investor, he successfully structured the effort to bring local MWBE equity capital and participation to the $5 billion public-private partnership to redevelop the airport, a first of its kind in the nation.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Stephan resides in New York City, a hub for FullCycle and its network of partners, platform companies, and employees.
https://www.fullcycle.com
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Managing Director
FullCycle
Steven Russell
Co-Manager
Emerald Mutual Funds
Mr. Russell is a Co-Manager of the Emerald Finance & Banking Innovation Fund. Prior to joining Emerald in 2005, Mr. Russell founded Greenwood Advisers, LLC, a registered investment adviser. Previously, he served as Managing Director of iNetworks, LLC a private equity firm located in Western Pennsylvania. Prior to joining iNetworks, LLC, Mr. Russell served as Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager of Emerald Advisers, where he served as Manager of the Emerald Technology Fund and co-manager of the Emerald Select Banking Fund. He was also a Principal and Founding Partner of Emerald Venture Capital. Mr. Russell served as Senior Private Equity Analyst for the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), where he administered PSERS’ $1.2 billion commitment of private investments, including leveraged buyouts, distressed investments, mezzanine and growth equities. From 1996 to 1997, he administered PSERS’ $400 million Developmental Fund and $100 million Absolute Return Program. Mr. Russell serves on the Board of Arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg Television and other investment oriented programs. He has been quoted in various international media, including The Wall Street Journal, Smart Money Magazine, Bloomberg Business News, Dow Jones News Service and Market Watch. Mr. Russell received both his JD and MBA degrees from Temple University and a BA degree in Banking and Finance from Morehouse College. Mr. Russell is licensed to practice law in the State of New Jersey and has passed the NASD Series 63 exam.
https://www.teamemerald.com/
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Co-Manager
Emerald Mutual Funds
Sylvester Mobley
Managing Partner
Plain Sight Capital
A native of Philadelphia, Sylvester Mobley has earned the attention and recognition of his peers after launching and building Coded by Kids - a youth tech education non-profit that grew from serving one child in a Philly rec center to serving hundreds of students in the region. Sylvester focuses his work on preparing underrepresented people for leadership roles in the tech and innovation space.
Under Sylvester’s leadership, CBK has significantly increased the scope of its impact and launched citywide initiatives, like 1Philadelphia, to ensure all underrepresented Philadelphia residents have access to opportunities in tech and innovation. Within six years, the organization has grown from serving fewer than 15 students in one recreation center to teaching hundreds of students each week in locations across the region. Sylvester’s other major initiatives include launching the early-stage venture capital firm, startup incubator, and startup accelerator, Plain Sight Capital (PSC). Sylvester is also an Entrepreneur in Residence with Osage Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm.
Some of Sylvester’s awards and honors include: For(bes) the Culture 50 Champions honoree, the 2018 Philadelphia Award, the University City Science Center Nucleus Cultivator Award, the Please Touch Museum Portia and Otto Sperr Legacy Award and the Philadelphia 76ers Game Changer Award. He is also a veteran of the war in Iraq, serving in three branches of the United States military (Marines, Air Force, and Army) over 12 years.
https://www.sylvestermobley.com/
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Managing Partner
Plain Sight Capital
Timothy Stiles
CEO
KPMG Spark
Timothy (“Tim”) Stiles currently serves as the CEO for KPMG Spark. He also has served as the Global Chair of KPMG’s International Development Assistance Services (IDAS) Practice and had responsibility for the global delivery of KPMG’s services to organizations operating in the development sector. In addition to his IDAS responsibilities, he also served as the National Practice Leader of KPMG’s Development and Exempt Organizations (DEO) practice, the chair of the KPMG Global Public Sector Tax steering committee, and the Global Executive Partner for the United Nations and the World Bank.
Tim has over thirty years of experience providing services to development, tax exempt, and commercial organizations. His clients have included social service organizations, institutions of higher education, hospitals, governmental entities, museums, foundations, bi- and multi-lateral organizations and other entities with local, national, and multi-national operations.
From 1995 to 2019, he focused exclusively on serving not-for-profit organizations, development agencies, universities, family foundations, corporate foundations, and private foundations, and other grant-making organizations. As the head of KPMG’s Development and Exempt Organizations practice, Tim assisted organizations making grants and funding projects for a variety of charitable purposes in over 145 countries on six continents. His program has participated in more than 4,000 grants and projects valued at more than US $6 billion.
Tim also served as the Chair for the firm's Global Public Sector Tax Steering Committee, as well as a variety of strategy initiatives, including as a key architect of KPMG Impact.
Tim also was instrumental in founding KPMG’s Global Grants Practice in 1999 as well as KPMG’s national EXOTAX practice in 1995. He has served in the exempt division of the firm’s Washington National Tax Practice.
Tim proudly served as one of the twelve founding partners of KPMG's Diversity Advisory board in 2001.
https://www.kpmgspark.com/
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CEO
KPMG Spark
Todd Leverette
Founding Partner
Apis & Heritage Capital Partners
Todd Leverette is the Founding Partner of Apis & Heritage Capital Partners and the Program Manager of Democracy At Work Institute’s Legacy Business Initiatives. In both roles, he works with businesses, investors, and communities to expand the opportunity of employee ownership for workers of color.
Todd is a former Wall Streeter and co-founder of the start-up Your Financial Lane. He received his JD/MBA from Columbia University and his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College. Todd also has experience in residential real estate and enjoys writing sketch comedy.
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Founding Partner
Apis & Heritage Capital Partners
Tolu Lawrence
Managing Director, Programs & Partnerships
JUST Capital
Tolu Lawrence is the Managing Director of Programs and Partnerships at JUST Capital. She leads the creation and management of partnerships across sectors to influence markets and workplaces by directly engaging business leaders and stakeholders on key issues the American public identifies as most important when it comes to just business behavior. Tolu has over a decade of experience bringing together leading nonprofits, foundations, social enterprises, and brands to develop and support mission-driven initiatives that further social good and help shift public narratives.
Prior to joining JUST Capital, Tolu led the expansion of the Workplace Advisors program at Promundo where she served on the Steering Group of the Parental Leave Corporate Task Force, and orchestrated social impact partnerships with Archewell Foundation, Cummins, Hello Sunshine, L’Oreal, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, etc. She also led Strategic Partnerships at The Representation Project, developing gender equality campaigns and initiatives with socially conscious brands and media companies, including AT&T, Harry’s, Lucasfilm, Spotify, and Viacom.
Tolu serves as an advisor to Feminist.com and formerly served on Spotify’s Culture Change Collective. She also sits on the boards of PL+US (Paid Leave for the US) and Partnership for Male Youth. Tolu holds a Juris Doctor degree from American University Washington College of Law and is a member of the California Bar.
https://justcapital.com/
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Managing Director, Programs & Partnerships
JUST Capital
Trenton Allen
Managing Director & CEO
Sustainable Capital Advisors
Mr. Allen is an experienced energy and banking professional with nearly 20 years and $18 Billion in transaction experience. Mr. Allen has financed a wide range of infrastructure projects including, water, wastewater, energy efficiency, fossil and renewable energy for utility, business and governmental clients. Mr. Allen is a frequent speaker at major energy conferences and is widely regarded as a thought leader in the financing of clean energy projects. Mr. Allen is passionate about energy security and creating solutions that provide energy access to underserved communities around the world.
http://www.sustainablecap.com
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Managing Director & CEO
Sustainable Capital Advisors
Valerie Martin
CFO
Connelly Foundation
Valerie Martin, a native of both the Bryn Mawr and Berwyn-Paoli areas, is the Chief Financial Officer of the Connelly Foundation. Mrs. Martin received her degree in Accounting (BSAC) from the University of Delaware and is a Certified Public Accountant in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Married with two children, her interests include travel, softball, skiing, and spending time with her family.
https://connellyfdn.org/
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CFO
Connelly Foundation
Vanessa Briggs
President/CEO
Alliance for Health Equity
As President and CEO of The Alliance for Health Equity, Ms. Briggs is responsible for guiding the overall organizational vision, strategic direction, operating and fiscal policies to ensure successful fulfillment of The Alliance for Health Equity’s mission with governance from the Board, and input from the staff. She is committed to strengthening the organization’s well-established reputation through increased visibility and by further building, maintaining, and nurturing our network of donors, grantees, and community partners so critical to the mission of the foundation and our work in the greater Coatesville area. Vanessa Briggs is an experienced leader in the field of public health with roots in the Philadelphia area. She has devoted her entire career to advancing health equity and empowering vulnerable families and youth to live healthier lives. Ms. Briggs is highly skilled in working with communities to solve complex problems through multi-sectoral strategic partnerships, community engagement, health promotion and education, and disease management interventions. Ms. Briggs is a Registered Dietitian and holds a Master’s in Business Administration, with a concentration in Health Administration, from Eastern University in Saint Davids, Pennsylvania. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Dietetics from Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey.
https://alliancehealthequity.org/
About Vanessa Briggs
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President/CEO
Alliance for Health Equity
Yusuf George
Managing Director
Engine No.1
Yusuf manages Engine No. 1’s active ownership and proxy-voting strategies for the firm’s fund portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Engine No. 1, Yusuf worked at JUST Capital, where he developed and led the firm’s corporate engagement strategy, oversaw the racial equity portfolio, and assisted with investor-related engagement. He began his career in the global capital markets division at Barclays Capital.
Yusuf received a BS in Computer Science from Trinity College.
https://engine1.com/
About Yusuf George
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Managing Director
Engine No.1
