{"id":2648,"date":"2025-07-06T05:19:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T05:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/?page_id=2648"},"modified":"2025-07-06T06:04:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T06:04:42","slug":"2020-conference","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/2020-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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This headline event, located in the finance capital of the world, provides a unique opportunity for attendees to tap into the vibrant ecosystem of capital for impact through the lens of philanthropy, impact investing, ESG, and social venture and business examples. Social impact leaders in business, government, nonprofit, and philanthropy will speak to how they are changing the way we think about how capital is sourced and used to generate sustainable solutions to global, systemic challenges. Attendees will hear from speakers about where opportunities exist to pursue future careers of impact on both the financing and implementation sides of social impact capital.<\/div>
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We\u2019re going digital! This year, our conference committee will bring our programming online, with keynote and breakout sessions spread out over the 2020-2021 academic year.
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Digital Event Series<\/h3>

The conference will bring together industry leaders, investors, philanthropists, professionals, faculty, students, and alumni to share best practices and engender new ideas surrounding the intersection of capital and society. The Digital Event Series will be divided into breakout sessions that will highlight thought leadership in our two session tracks, \u201cSources of Capital<\/span>\u201d and \u201cUses of Capital.<\/span>\u201d Speaker presentations will catalyze conversations of change and embolden a generation to take risks in order to create a world in which everyone, regardless of where they were born, has the equal opportunity to succeed in creating a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities. Participants will have the opportunity to network with speakers, faculty, students, and professionals through programming and our online event app.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Schedule<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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October 9, 2020<\/h4>

10:00-10:15<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks from Bruce Usher, Co-director of the Tamer Center and Elizabeth B. Strickler \u201886 and Mark T. Gallogly \u201886 Faculty Director and Professor of Professional Practice, CBS<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:15-11:15<\/p><\/td>

Impact Investing: Leveraging Capital Markets for Social Change<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:30-12:30<\/p><\/td>

Is the American Dream Still Attainable?<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

12:45-1:45<\/p><\/td>

Income Equality in the U.S.: Pathways to Economic Mobility for Marginalized Communities\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

October 30, 2020<\/h4>

9:45-10:00<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks from Sandra Navalli \u201803BUS, OAM, Managing Director of the Tamer Center and Assistant Adjunct Professor, CBS<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:00-10:50<\/p><\/td>

Capital for Justice: Using Impact Investing for Racial Equity\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:50-11:00<\/p><\/td>

Coffee Break<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:00-11:50<\/p><\/td>

The .06%: Founding and Fundraising as Women of Color\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:50-12:00<\/p><\/td>

Coffee Break<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

12:00-12:50<\/p><\/td>

Book Talk, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

12:50-1:00<\/p><\/td>

Closing Remarks from Bruce Usher<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

November 13, 2020<\/h4>

9:55-10:00<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks from Sandra Navalli \u201803BUS, OAM\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:00-10:50<\/p><\/td>

Solving Renewable Energy Intermittency: Can the U.S. Rely on 100% Renewables?\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:50-11:00<\/p><\/td>

Coffee Break<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:00-11:50<\/p><\/td>

Sustainability in the Fashion Industry: Is it Scalable?\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:50-12:00<\/p><\/td>

Closing Remarks from Bruce Usher\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

December 4, 2020<\/h4>

10:55-11:00<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:00-11:50<\/p><\/td>

News + Money\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:50-12:00<\/p><\/td>

Closing Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

January 22, 2021<\/h4>

9:55-10:00<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:00-11:00<\/p><\/td>

Institutional Investors Embracing Impact Investing\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:00-11:30<\/p><\/td>

Coffee Break\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:30-12:30<\/p><\/td>

Scaling Social Ventures\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

12:30<\/p><\/td>

Closing Remarks, Networking Lounge Opens\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

February 5, 2021<\/h4>

9:55-10:00<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:00-11:00<\/p><\/td>

ESG Investing: A Viable Investment Strategy for the Long-term?<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:00-11:30<\/p><\/td>

Coffee Break\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:30-12:30<\/p><\/td>

Creating a More Ethical and Sustainable Agricultural System\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

12:30<\/p><\/td>

Closing Remarks, Networking Lounge Opens\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

February 19, 2021<\/h4>

9:55-10:00<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:00-11:00<\/p><\/td>

Microfinance Done Right\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:00-11:30<\/p><\/td>

Coffee Break\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:30-12:30<\/p><\/td>

What We\u2019ve Learned: The Best Solutions to Come out of COVID-19<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

12:30<\/p><\/td>

Closing Remarks, Networking Lounge Opens\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

March 12, 2021<\/h4>

9:55-10:00<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:00-12:00<\/p><\/td>

BlackRock Impact Investing Workshop<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

12:00-12:10<\/p><\/td>

Closing Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

March 26, 2021<\/h4>

9:25-9:30<\/p><\/td>

Welcome Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

9:30-10:30<\/p><\/td>

Using Sustainable Investing to Transform the Status Quo at Scale and Create a Sustainable and Inclusive Economy\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

10:30-11:00<\/p><\/td>

Coffee Break\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

11:00-12:00<\/p><\/td>

Embedding Sustainability Into PepsiCo Beverages North America\u2019s Value Chain\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr>

12:00<\/p><\/td>

Closing Remarks\u00a0<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Impact Investing: Leveraging Capital Markets for Social Change<\/h3>

Can you do financially well by doing good? Amy Domini, founder and chair of Domini Impact Investments, would argue yes. A pioneer for socially responsible investing, Amy will share key insights on the field of impact investing and its growth over the past few decades. Now, more than ever, investor demand for corporations to be socially responsible and equitable is driving asset managers to rethink how they are evaluating potential investments. Where will the field go from here?<\/p>

Amy Domini<\/b>, Founder and Chair, Domini Impact Investments\u00a0<\/p>

Bruce Usher<\/b>, Professor of Professional Practice and the Elizabeth B. Strickler \u201886 and Mark T. Gallogly \u201886 Faculty Director of the Tamer Center, CBS<\/p>

Watch the recording \u2192<\/a><\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Amy Domini<\/strong> is founder and chair of Domini Impact Investments. She is widely recognized as the leading voice for socially responsible investing. In 2005, Time magazine named her to the Time 100 list of the world\u2019s most influential people. In 2006, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree from Northeastern University College of Law. Yale University\u2019s Berkeley Divinity School presented Ms. Domini with an honorary doctorate in 2007. In 2008, Ms. Domini was named to Directorship magazine\u2019s Directorship 100, the magazine\u2019s listing of the most influential people on corporate governance and in the boardroom.\u00a0Ms. Domini is a past board member of the Church Pension Fund of the Episcopal Church in America; the National Association of Community Development Loan Funds, an organization whose members work to create funds for grassroots economic development loans; and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, the major sponsor of shareholder actions. She is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society. She has been a frequent guest commentator on CNBC\u2019s Talking Stocks and various other radio and television shows.\u00a0Ms. Domini holds a BA in international and comparative studies from Boston University, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.<\/p>

Bruce Usher<\/strong> is a Professor of Professional Practice and the Elizabeth B. Strickler ’86 and Mark T. Gallogly ’86 Faculty Director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School. Professor Usher teaches on the intersection of finance, social and environmental issues, and is a recipient of the Singhvi Prize for Scholarship in the Classroom, the Lear Award, and the Dean\u2019s Award for Teaching Excellence.\u00a0Professor Usher has written numerous cases for use in business school courses, with a primary focus on climate change and business. In 2019, Usher published Renewable Energy: A Primer for the Twenty-First Century (Columbia University Press), the first in the Earth Institute\u2019s sustainability series of books.\u00a0Prior to his work at Columbia, Professor Usher was CEO of EcoSecurities Group plc, which developed greenhouse gas emission reduction projects in developing countries. EcoSecurities was acquired by JP Morgan in 2009. Professor Usher was previously the co-founder and CEO of TreasuryConnect LLC, which provided electronic trading solutions to banks and was acquired in 2001. Prior to that, he worked in financial services for twelve years in New York and Tokyo. Professor Usher is an active investor and advisor to entrepreneurial ventures focused on climate change and clean energy (UsherWorks.com). He is a board member of Community Energy, OptiRTC, and CapShift, and is Chair of the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures. Usher earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Is the American Dream Still Attainable?<\/h3>

In this keynote discussion, Debbie Wright will share her outlook on the U.S. job market and how the current pandemic and movement for social justice may affect economic mobility. She will discuss her own career path from the NYC Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development to the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as how to work with local communities to be an effective leader for both business and the nonprofit sector.<\/p>

Debbie Wright<\/b>, Board Member, Citigroup and Sloan Kettering<\/p>

Doug Bauer<\/b>, Executive Director and Professor, The Clark Foundation and CBS<\/p>

Watch the recording \u2192<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Debbie Wright <\/strong>is a board member of Citigroup and Memorial Sloan Kettering; Former Senior Vice President for US Jobs and Economic Opportunity at The Rockefeller Foundation; Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Carver Federal Savings Bank; Former Commissioner of Housing, Preservation and Development.<\/span><\/p>

The Clark Foundation focuses on helping people out of poverty and assisting individuals to lead independent and productive lives and supports nonprofits and programs in New York City and Cooperstown, NY. Doug Bauer<\/strong> is also executive director of The Scriven and Fernleigh Foundations and senior vice president with The Clark Estates, Inc. Prior to Clark, Doug was a senior vice president with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) from 2002 to 2009. Prior to joining RPA, Doug held management positions at Goldman, Sachs and Co., SmithKlineBeecham (now GlaxoSmithKline), and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Doug\u2019s opinions and ideas on philanthropy have been featured in the Associated Press, Bloomberg, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, City and State, The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Wall Street Journal<\/em>; and on CNBC, NPR, and PBS. Doug co-authored, with Steven Godeke, Philanthropy\u2019s New Passing Gear: Mission Related Investing, A Policy and Implementation Guide for Foundation Trustees<\/em>. Doug serves on boards for The Leatherstocking Corporation, The Melalucca Foundation, The National Council on Nonprofits, Partners for Health Foundation, and is a past chair of Philanthropy New York. He is also a member of the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community and is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia Business School where he teaches about philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.\u00a0Doug is a graduate of Michigan State University. He also has an MJ from Temple University and a MS from Penn.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Income Equality in the United States: Pathways to Economic Mobility for Marginalized Communities<\/h3>

A long-time philanthropist and social activist for women\u2019s rights and poverty alleviation, Abigail will discuss the current economic climate, pay equity reform, and the pursuit for economic mobility. She will discuss her view on the power imbalance in the current economy and the responsibilities of business leaders to take bold actions to provide increased economic opportunity.<\/p>

Abigail Disney ’94GSAS ’87GSAS<\/b>, CEO and co-founder, Fork Films\u00a0<\/p>

Mona Sinha ’93BUS<\/b>, Board Chair, Women Moving Millions and the ERA Coalition Fund for Women\u2019s Equality<\/p>

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Abigail E. Disney<\/strong> is a filmmaker, philanthropist, activist, and the Emmy-winning director of The Armor of Light. As president and CEO of the documentary production company Fork Films, she produced the groundbreaking Pray the Devil Back to Hell and co-created the subsequent PBS series Women, War & Peace. She is also the Chair and Co-Founder of Level Forward, a new breed storytelling company focused on systemic change through creative excellence. The companies and stories that have most meaning for Abigail are the ones that foster human understanding. She has executive produced and supported over 100 projects through Fork Films\u2019 funding program and created the nonprofit Peace is Loud, which uses storytelling to advance social movements, focusing on women\u2019s rights and gender justice.<\/span><\/p>

S. Mona Sinha<\/strong> is an advocate for gender equality in business and society. She has parlayed a career in finance (Morgan Stanley), marketing (Unilever), and restructuring (Elizabeth Arden\/Unilever) to work at the intersection of social justice and women\u2019s leadership. Mona uses business tools to build organizational capacities for sustainability that unlock the economic potential of women\/girls across different sectors. She has been described as having a muscle for finance and a passion for justice.\u00a0She is co-founder of Raising Change to address the funding gap in mission-driven organizations for social change. She also founded the Asian Women’s Leadership University, to bring liberal arts pedagogy to train future women leaders.\u00a0She is currently the board chair of Women Moving Millions, a community of women who fund big and bold ($1 million+) to create a gender equal world. She is also the board chair of the ERA Coalition Fund for Women\u2019s Equality, which seeks to codify the 28th constitutional amendment of equal rights on the basis of sex. She is an executive producer of Disclosure, a documentary film on the representation of trans peoples, which premiered at Sundance in January 2020 and was released on Netflix during Pride month in June 2020.\u00a0Mona serves on several nonprofit boards including Breakthrough USA, which uses media and popular culture to shift prevalent norms of violence against women, and the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. She is on the advisory boards of Apne Aap International to end sex trafficking; the Museum of Natural History, which, among many educational efforts, sponsors science education for inner city girls; and Columbia Business School\u2019s Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, which pioneered the concept of connecting business leaders to purpose beyond profits. She also works with Women Creating Change at Columbia University, supporting the dissemination of diverse voices in teaching and pedagogy; and the Columbia Global Mental Health program, which aims to destigmatize mental health through research and global collaboration. She is a trustee emerita of Smith College, where she was vice chair of the board of trustees and co-led the $486 million Women for the World capital campaign, the largest to-date for women\u2019s education.\u00a0Mona is a financial investor in women-led businesses and mentors several hundred young people. She has a BA in economics and art history (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Smith College and an MBA in finance and marketing (beta gamma sigma) from Columbia Business School. She is a published contributor to What I Told my Daughter – Lessons from Leaders on Raising the Next Generation of Empowered Women, edited by Nina Tassler and Cynthia Middleton. Her story is featured in She is Me, by Lori Sokol.\u00a0In April 2021, Columbia Business School will recognize Mona with the Horton Award for Excellence in Social Enterprise. Women’s eNews is naming her one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. In 2019, Breakthrough honored Mona with a lifetime inspiration award. She received the 2018 Exemplary Leadership in Development award from Smith College. In 2017, Mona was awarded The Last Girl Champion award by Gloria Steinem on behalf of Apne Aap. In 2015, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is presented annually to US citizens whose accomplishments in their field and service to the world are cause for celebration.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Capital for Justice: Using Impact Investing for Racial Equity<\/h3>

Only three percent of all venture funding goes to Black and Latinx founders as venture capital investments have quadrupled and the growth of diverse businesses has skyrocketed. The disparities of who is receiving and cutting the checks have long been known in the space. However, the murder of George Floyd and the impacts of a global pandemic on marginalized communities have brought to the forefront the persistent problems of racial and economic inequities that exist across America and many countries.<\/p>

How can the flow of social impact capital from asset holders to Black and underrepresented founders and entrepreneurs be accelerated to generate systemic solutions to create diverse, equitable, and inclusive economies? Can impact investing be more effectively used as a tool to generate economic opportunity and mobility for Black and marginalized communities?<\/p>

Melissa Bradley<\/b>, <\/b>Founder and Co-founder, 1863 Ventures and Ureeka<\/p>

Kesha Cash ’10BUS<\/b>,<\/b> Founder and General Partner, Impact America Fund\u00a0<\/p>

Jenny Tolan ’14BUS<\/b>, Co-founder, Level<\/p>

Watch the recording \u2192<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Melissa L. Bradley<\/strong> is a co-founder of venture-backed Ureeka, a community where small businesses gain unprecedented access to the expertise needed to grow their business. The Ureeka mission is to democratize economic opportunity by enabling community and by reducing the cost and risk associated with growing a small to medium business (SMB). She is also founder and managing partner of 1863 Ventures, a business development program that accelerates New Majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth. In this role, she created a community of over 10,000 New Majority entrepreneurs in three years. Melissa is a venture partner at NextGen Ventures and serves as an advisor to the New Voices Foundation and New Voices Fund, as well as the Halcyon Fund. She is also a member of the Square & Forbes Small Business Advisory Team, as well as the Target Accelerators Entrepreneurs Advisory Council. Melissa is the former co-chair of the National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and was recently named one of The Most Entrepreneurial Women Investors in 2018.\u00a0Melissa is a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, where she teaches impact investing, social entrepreneurship, P2P economies, and innovation. She recently received The Ideas Worth Teaching Award, which celebrates exceptional courses that are preparing future business leaders to tackle society\u2019s largest challenges and create a more inclusive, just, and sustainable version of capitalism. She is also a co-founder and managing partner of Sidecar Social Finance, a social impact agency that provides impact investing advisory and capital services to individuals, institutions, and social enterprises.\u00a0Melissa currently serves as board chair for My Way to Credit (MWTC) and board member for AEO. She is a founding advisor to the Dell Center for Entrepreneurs as well as a Senator with the Board of Governors at Georgetown University.\u00a0Melissa’s educational background includes graduation from Georgetown University in 1989 with a bachelor of science degree in finance from the business school and a master\u2019s degree in business administration in marketing from American University in 1993.<\/p>

Kesha Cash<\/strong> is the general partner of Impact America Fund, a $65M venture capital firm investing in tech-enabled companies that create economic opportunities for low- to moderate-income communities of color in America. The firm puts a premium on founders who have personal experience in the systems their startups want to disrupt, from black hair care to small business loans.\u00a0She has a decade of experience in impact investing, previously at Jalia Ventures, a fund that she co-founded with Josh Mailman to invest in mission-driven entrepreneurs of color, and as an investment associate at Bridges Ventures in the UK. Kesha has also worked as an operational consultant to small businesses in inner-city Los Angeles and as a mergers and acquisitions analyst at Merrill Lynch.\u00a0Kesha currently serves on the board of directors of Eileen Fisher, Inc. and is an elected member of the SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. She received her MBA from Columbia Business School and her BA in applied mathematics from UC Berkeley.<\/p>

Jenny Tolan<\/strong> is the co-founder of Level, a multiracial professional women\u2019s network focused on investing in Black women entrepreneurs. Jenny has devoted her career to working across education and social justice, most recently as deputy director of exalt youth, a criminal justice organization. Prior to exalt, Jenny spent five years as the product marketing lead for the Google for Education team worldwide. Before Google, Jenny worked in education and global development, including at the Global Fund for Children in DC and India, as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica, and as a 5th grade math teacher at a KIPP charter school in Brooklyn through Teach for America. Jenny has a BA in international relations and Spanish from Stanford and an MBA from Columbia Business School.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The .06%: Founding and Fundraising as Women of Color<\/h3>

According to ProjectDiane 2018, less than .06 percent of the $424.7 billion in venture funding since 2009 went to Black women. In light of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Black and brown communities and the renewed focus on the Movement for Black Lives, how has the founding and fundraising environment for Black, Indigenous, Women of Color (BIWOC) CEOs changed? What challenges do BIWOC founders face and how has this changed due to the pandemic and recent social unrest?<\/p>

Kiara Butler<\/b>,<\/b> CEO and Founder, Diversity Talks\u00a0<\/p>

Amanda DoAmaral<\/b>, CEO and Founder, Fiveable\u00a0<\/p>

Shani Dowell<\/b>, CEO and Founder, Possip<\/p>

Beverly Leon ’20BUS ’14CC<\/b>, CEO and Founder, Local Civics\u00a0<\/p>

Aaron T. Walker<\/b>, CEO and Founder, Camelback Ventures\u00a0<\/p>

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Kiara Butler<\/strong> is the CEO and founder of Diversity Talks, a Rhode Island-based training company that specializes in providing student-led professional development grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion.\u00a0Butler is a strong advocate for student voice and in her current work, she focuses on bringing the voices of marginalized groups to the forefront. Because of her advocacy, she has been recognized for her work in various capacities such as Forbes 30 Under 30 and TEDxProvidence.\u00a0Originally from Mississippi \u2014 a state known for biases, bigotry, and racism \u2014 Butler is a graduate of the state\u2019s K12 public education system. When a K12 student in Mississippi, she did not believe educators were aware that the lack of inclusivity of all races, religions, and cultures had a connection between students feeling marginalized and low student performance. Today, her experiences as a student remain the driving force behind her commitment as a change agent transforming K12 public education.\u00a0Butler has obtained a BA in interdisciplinary career-oriented humanities with an emphasis in African American studies from the prestigious Tougaloo College and became a member of the Gamma Psi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Butler also holds a master’s in public administration from Belhaven University. In 2021, Butler will have obtained a doctorate in educational leadership from Johnson & Wales University.<\/p>

Amanda DoAmaral<\/strong> is an educator, activist, and the founder of Fiveable, a social learning network for students. She spent half of a decade teaching high school history in Oakland, CA, where her passion for creating equitable educational opportunities was ignited. Amanda has been a vocal advocate for inclusive history curriculum and is active within the Milwaukee tech community.<\/span><\/p>

Shani Dowell<\/strong> is the founder and CEO of Possip. A product of Houston public schools and a public school teacher and parent, Shani loves supporting the work of schools. She started her career as a consultant at Bain & Co. and helped launch the Boston office of the Posse Foundation, a nonprofit that works to increase student retention and engagement on college campuses. She has also worked for Houston Independent School District, KIPP Foundation (a national network of charter schools), Teach For America, Bridgespan Group, and Relay Graduate School of Education. Shani earned her BA at Howard University in Washington, DC, and her MBA at Stanford University. In the last year, her company, Possip, has made over 7,000 recommendations for action for school leaders while conducting and analyzing pulse checks from over 300,000 parents in 100+ languages for 600 schools across more than 20 states.<\/span><\/p>

Beverly Leon<\/strong> is a recent graduate of Columbia Business School, where she focused on social entrepreneurship and worked to launch Local Civics, an edtech company transforming civics education. As the founder and CEO of Local Civics, she supports students and educators in building their civic engagement and community leadership skills through game-based learning. They have worked with 1,500+ middle and high school students in New York City and are working to expand this impact to reach more students. Beverly started her professional career in equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley in New York City and left to pursue professional soccer overseas in Europe. She signed her first professional contract in Iceland, for Champions League team, Stjarnan Kvk. From there, she went on to play for AC ChievoVerona in Italy and signed with Sunderland Ladies AFC in the English Premier League for her final season. Beverly has over 10 years of experience as a youth educator and coach, serving as a program coordinator for Level the Field NYC and a teaching fellow for Columbia University\u2019s \u2018Freedom and Citizenship\u2019 Civics Education Program, two nonprofits working to provide equitable access to higher education for students from underserved communities. She serves as an advisor to Coaches Across Continents, a global nonprofit that uses sport for social impact, and is an instructor for Columbia University’s Entrepreneurial Design Thinking Program, serving the broader New York City community. She received her BA in history from Columbia University and an MSc in social policy from the University of Oxford.<\/p>

Aaron T. Walker<\/strong><\/span> is on a journey to live in the spirit of his baseball hero, Jackie Robinson, who said \u201ca life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.\u201d 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\u2019t entitle him to anything and is ready to earn his keep.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Book Talk, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope<\/h3>

Join this session for a live virtual conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sheryl WuDunn, who will discuss a new book and film, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope, <\/i>which explores solutions for the systemic inequality facing America\u2019s hometowns.<\/p>

With stark poignancy and political dispassion, Tightrope<\/i> addresses the crisis in working-class America while focusing on solutions to mend a half-century of governmental failure. Drawing us deep into an \u201cother America,\u201d the authors tell this story, in part, through the lives of some of the people with whom Kristof grew up, in rural Yamhill, Oregon. It\u2019s an area that prospered for much of the 20th century but has been devastated in the last few decades as blue-collar jobs disappeared. About a quarter of the children on Kristof\u2019s old school bus died in adulthood from drugs, alcohol, suicide, or reckless accidents. While these particular stories unfolded in one corner of the country, they are representative of many places the authors write about, ranging from the Dakotas and Oklahoma to New York and Virginia. With their superb, nuanced reportage, Kristof and WuDunn have given us a book that is both riveting and impossible to ignore.<\/p>

Sheryl WuDunn<\/b>, Author and Journalist\u00a0<\/p>

Bruce Usher<\/b>, Professor of Professional Practice and the Elizabeth B. Strickler \u201886 and Mark T. Gallogly \u201886 Faculty Director of the Tamer Center, CBS<\/p>

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Sheryl WuDunn<\/strong>, the first Asian-American reporter to win a Pulitzer Prize, is a business executive and best-selling author. She co-founded FullSky Partners, a consulting firm focusing on double-bottom line ventures in technology and healthcare services. She is also a principal in Praesens Partners USA, a firm focused on diagnostics.\u00a0Previously, WuDunn has been vice president in the investment management division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and a commercial loan officer at Bankers Trust. She also is one of a small handful of people who have worked at The New York Times<\/em> both as an executive and journalist: in management roles in both the Strategic Planning and Circulation Sales departments at The Times<\/em>; as editor for international markets, energy, and industry; as The Times\u2019s<\/em> first anchor of an evening news headlines program for a digital cable TV channel, the Discovery-Times; and as a foreign correspondent for The Times<\/em> in Tokyo and Beijing, where she wrote about economic, financial, political, and social issues. She has been a Hauser Visiting Leader at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she has lectured and taught seminars to graduate students. She has also co-taught at Yale University and guest lectured at many universities.\u00a0With her husband, Nicholas D. Kristof, she is co-author of five best-selling books. These include Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope<\/em> (2020), which will air as a PBS documentary in October; A Path Appears<\/em>, about how to bring about change in our society using evidence-based strategies; Half the Sky<\/em>, a number one New York Times<\/em> best-selling book about the challenges facing women around the globe; Thunder from the East about Asia<\/em>, and China Wakes<\/em>, about China\u2019s challenges.\u00a0Ms. WuDunn won a Pulitzer Prize with her husband for covering China, along with the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement. She has also won other journalism prizes, including the George Polk Award and Overseas Press Club award. WuDunn has also won a White House Project EPIC award, and she has been a judge for the State Department \u201cSecretary\u2019s Innovation Award for Women\u2019s and Girls\u2019 Empowerment.\u201d She has won other awards, including the Asia Women in Business Corporate Leadership Award, the Pearl S. Buck Woman of the Year Award, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize, among numerous others.\u00a0In 2011, Newsweek cited WuDunn as one of the \u201c150 Women Who Shake the World.\u201d In 2012, WuDunn was selected as one of 60 notable members of the League of Extraordinary Women by Fast Company<\/em> magazine. In 2013, she was included as one of the \u201cleading women who make America\u201d in the PBS documentary, The Makers<\/em>. She was also featured in a 2013 Harvard Business School film about prominent women who graduated from HBS. In August 2015, Business Insider<\/em> named her one of the 31 most successful graduates of the Harvard Business School.\u00a0She graduated from Cornell University, earned an MPA from Princeton University\u2019s Woodrow Wilson School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She has served on the board of trustees at Cornell University and Princeton University.\u00a0Ms. WuDunn received honorary doctorates from the University of Pennsylvania and Middlebury College. Ms. WuDunn lectures on economic, political, and social topics related to women in the developing world, the global economy, China, and the emerging markets, and has been asked to address a wide range of audiences including former Vice President Al Gore, the IMF, and World Bank. Ms. WuDunn has discussed China, economic issues, and her books on television and radio programs, with hosts such as Oprah Winfrey and Stephen Colbert, and on other news programs such as Meet the Press, Fox Business News, Bloomberg TV, and NPR.<\/p>

Bruce Usher<\/strong> is a Professor of Professional Practice and the Elizabeth B. Strickler ’86 and Mark T. Gallogly ’86 Faculty Director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School. Professor Usher teaches on the intersection of finance, social and environmental issues, and is a recipient of the Singhvi Prize for Scholarship in the Classroom, the Lear Award, and the Dean\u2019s Award for Teaching Excellence.\u00a0Professor Usher has written numerous cases for use in business school courses, with a primary focus on climate change and business. In 2019, Usher published Renewable Energy: A Primer for the Twenty-First Century (Columbia University Press), the first in the Earth Institute\u2019s sustainability series of books.\u00a0Prior to his work at Columbia, Professor Usher was CEO of EcoSecurities Group plc, which developed greenhouse gas emission reduction projects in developing countries. EcoSecurities was acquired by JP Morgan in 2009. Professor Usher was previously the co-founder and CEO of TreasuryConnect LLC, which provided electronic trading solutions to banks and was acquired in 2001. Prior to that, he worked in financial services for twelve years in New York and Tokyo. Professor Usher is an active investor and advisor to entrepreneurial ventures focused on climate change and clean energy (UsherWorks.com). He is a board member of Community Energy, OptiRTC, and CapShift, and is Chair of the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures. Usher earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Solving Renewable Energy Intermittency: Can the U.S. Rely on 100% Renewables?<\/h3>

While wind and solar have become cheaper forms of energy to build in most places, the intermittency of renewable energy remains a challenge to converting to 100% renewable energy usage. The intermittent nature of renewable energy causes challenges for the energy grid to meet supply and demand. What will the grid look like in the future? If we were to design the grid tomorrow, how would we build it to take advantage of renewable energy? This panel will discuss the challenges of converting our energy usage to 100% renewables, as well as possible solutions to the energy grid that can be implemented to convert to 100% renewable energy.<\/p>

Steven Cohen<\/b>, Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at SIPA, Director of the Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management, Director of the MPA Program in Environmental Science and Policy, Columbia University, The Earth Institute<\/p>

Chelle Izzi ’04BUS<\/b>, Executive Director of Distributed Generation, NextEra Energy Resources<\/p>

Donna Sanders ’17BUS<\/b>, Founder and CEO, Virimodo<\/p>

David Snydacker<\/b>,<\/b> CEO, Lilac Solutions\u00a0<\/p>

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Steven Cohen<\/strong> is a 1970 graduate of James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York. Cohen received his BA in political science from Franklin College of Indiana (1974), and his MA and PhD in political science from the State University of New York in Buffalo (1977; 1979). From 1976 to 1977, Cohen was a Ford Foundation Fellow in urban environmental policy; from 1978 1979, he was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in public and environmental policy and implementation.\u00a0Dr. Cohen is the former executive director of Columbia University\u2019s Earth Institute, and now serves as a senior advisor for the institute. He is a former policy analyst and consultant to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Cohen has served on numerous boards and committees, including the board of the Pew Faculty Fellowship in international affairs, the executive committee and Committee on Accreditation and Peer Review of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, and the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology. He currently serves on the board of directors of Homes for the Homeless, board of directors of the Willdan Group, Inc., advisory board of the University of Minnesota\u2019s Institute on the Environment, and steering committee for the Porter School of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University. Dr. Cohen also serves on the judging committee for the Yidan Prize Foundation and is the chair of the Lotos Club\u2019s science and technology committee.\u00a0Dr. Cohen is the author of The Sustainable City<\/em> (2017, 2020), Understanding Environmental Policy<\/em> (2006, 2014), Sustainability Management<\/em> (2011), The Effective Public Manager<\/em> (1988, now co-authored in its fifth edition), and the co-author of Management Fundamentals<\/em> (2020), Sustainability Policy: Hastening the Transition to a Cleaner Economy<\/em> (2015), The Responsible Contact Manager<\/em> (2008), Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation<\/em> (2005), Tools for Innovators: Creative Strategies for Managing Public Sector Organizations<\/em> (1998), and Total Quality Management in Government<\/em> (1993). He has written numerous articles on public management, sustainability management, and environmental policy. Dr. Cohen also writes a weekly blog for the Earth Institute\u2019s State of the Planet website.<\/p>

Chelle Izzi<\/strong> leads new business and product development for NextEra Energy Resources\u2019s distributed energy business. Chelle and her team drive growth and innovation through product development, commercializing new technologies, designing integrated solutions, building strategic partnerships, and pursuing acquisitions.\u00a0Specific focus areas include residential energy optimization, electric vehicle infrastructure, microgrids, monetizing distributed energy resources (DERs), and public-private partnerships for energy infrastructure.\u00a0Chelle has more than 25 years of experience commercializing, launching, and managing new products and services across multiple industries in the United States., Europe, Africa, and Asia. She helped launch the storage business at NextEra, build CPower, one of the original demand response (DR) firms, commercialize a waste-to-energy solution, and manage a product that integrated energy efficiency and retail energy.\u00a0Outside the energy industry, she has developed and distributed consumer products in Asia, helped convert a captive UN service bureau (UNOPS) into a competitive professional services firm, and co-founded the South African \u2013 American Business Association in Atlanta.\u00a0Chelle holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor\u2019s degree from Georgetown University\u2019s School of Foreign Service. She\u2019s also a proud Ohioan who still roots for every Cleveland sports team.<\/p>

Donna<\/strong> Sanders<\/strong><\/span> is a military veteran and a 2017 graduate of Columbia, Hong Kong, and London business schools. She is a certified energy auditor with the Association of Energy Engineers and a 2016 Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corp Fellow. Donna co-founded Virimodo, a NYC-based carbon reduction intelligence company committed to reducing greenhouse gases in cities globally. Virimodo partners with utilities, utilizing real-time data to measure and monitor customers’ carbon impact economically, socially, and environmentally.\u00a0An avid outdoorswoman, rower, and master naturalist, she (and three friends) went off the grid for 20 straight days to sea kayak all 235 miles of Alaska\u2019s Glacier Bay\u2019s National Park.<\/p>

David Snydacker<\/strong> is the founder and CEO of Lilac Solutions, a lithium extraction company based in Oakland and backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. He holds a PhD in materials engineering from Northwestern University and has authored seven patents in lithium batteries and hydrometallurgy. While at Northwestern, Dave led seminars on energy technologies and coal divestment. He holds a BA in biochemistry from Wesleyan University.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Sustainability in the Fashion Industry: Is It Scalable?<\/h3>

Fast fashion is one of the biggest challenges to sustainable garments and an equitable supply chain within the fashion industry. With the demand for sustainable fashion rising, many fashion retailers are cleaning up their supply chain and improving their working conditions and hiring practices. But what does it mean to be truly sustainable in the fashion industry? How has the pandemic affected the industry and movement towards a more sustainable supply chain? Leveraging industry knowledge from financing through end-stage production, this panel will explore multi-layered approaches to mitigating the impacts of garment and footwear supply chains on people and the environment.<\/p>

Rachel Cernasky ’08JRN<\/b>, Sustainability Editor and Freelance Journalist, Vogue Business\u00a0<\/p>

Ashia Sheikh Dearwester<\/b>, Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer, Nest\u00a0<\/p>

Mallory McConnell<\/b>, Senior Director of Supplier Sustainability and Partnerships, PVH Corp<\/p>

Anushka Salinas ’10BUS<\/b>, President and Chief Operating Officer, Rent The Runway<\/p>

Jessica Schreiber ’11GSAS<\/b>, Founder and CEO, FABSCRAP<\/p>

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Rachel Cernansky<\/strong> is the sustainability editor at Vogue Business. She’s covered toxic chemicals in apparel manufacturing, circular business models, fashion’s role in global biodiversity loss, and more. She’s based in Colorado and has a background in health, science, and environmental reporting.<\/span><\/p>

Ashia Dearwester<\/strong> is the chief strategy and partnerships Officer for Nest, a nonprofit building human-centric value chains that connect handworkers, brands, and consumers through transparency and sector-wide solutions.\u00a0Ashia leads Nest\u2019s strategic partnerships and mobilizes industry efforts to advance sustainability initiatives impacting workers outside of traditional factories. Ashia played an integral role in the launch of Nest\u2019s Seal of Ethical Handcraft, an industry-wide initiative to bring transparency to the informal sector. She serves as a trusted advisor to major brands and philanthropic foundations seeking guidance on improving supply chains.\u00a0Ashia is deeply committed to equity, inclusion, and cultural\/environmental preservation. Prior to Nest, Ashia spent nearly seven years working with the National Audubon Society, building and scaling its Women in Conservation Program. There she served on Audubon\u2019s diversity committee, ensuring programs were reaching diverse communities and constituents.<\/p>

Mallory <\/strong>McConnell<\/strong><\/span> is a senior director of supplier sustainability and partnerships at PVH Corp., one of the largest global apparel companies with a portfolio of iconic lifestyle brands including Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. Mallory is responsible for leading, managing, and driving progress against all forward fashion supply chain targets and programs. This work includes developing strategic plans and executing all human rights and environmental sustainability supply chain programs, global data roll-ups, and developing materials to communicate key developments to key stakeholders. Mallory develops and drives key corporate responsibility strategies and initiatives across PVH and helps ensure the global corporate responsibility team is building future capabilities to remain a best-in-class organization focused on flawless execution and forward-thinking.\u00a0Mallory has lived and worked in Bangalore, India, and Hong Kong S.A.R, managing global and diverse teams. Outside of work, Mallory is interested in fine art and design, hiking, and baking.<\/p>

Anushka\u00a0Salinas<\/span><\/strong> serves as president and chief operating officer at Rent the Runway, where she leads a team of tech, product, and analytics in achieving the long-term vision of disrupting the $2.4 trillion fashion industry by pioneering dynamic ownership and powering women to feel their best every day. Prior to RTR, she joined Lawrence Lenihan, former founder of First Mark Capital, and Joseph Ferrara, as an early leader at Resonance, a venture operating company that invests in and operates early-stage fashion brands. Resonance aims to change the fashion industry through its just-in-time manufacturing process, efficient operating platform, and innovative technology products. Anushka previously managed the dual-country e-commerce merchandising and planning organizations at Hudson\u2019s Bay Company.\u00a0Prior to her role at HBC, she was a founding member of the Rent the Runway executive team. During her time at RTR from 2009 to 2013, she oversaw merchandising, planning, and customer service. This role was a natural fit after a career that started with buying dresses at Lord & Taylor. Anushka earned a BA in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School.<\/p>

Jessica Schreiber<\/strong> is the founder and CEO of FABSCRAP, which provides convenient pickup and recycling of fabric scraps from businesses in New York City and creates opportunities for reuse. Prior to launching FABSCRAP, she worked in the Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability at the NYC Department of Sanitation. She has a master’s degree in climate and society from the Earth Institute at Columbia University and has been featured in Forbes<\/em>, CNN, Waste360, and Apparel Magazine<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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News + Money<\/h3>

The news and journalism industry has undergone massive changes to its business model over the last several decades. This panel will compare and contrast various approaches to funding news organizations (reader revenue\/subscriptions, venture-backed, philanthropic giving, etc.) and provide insight into building sustainable news organizations. It will also consider questions such as the following: In a future more heavily reliant on reader revenue and philanthropic giving, how can we be sure news organizations do not just tell the stories that readers or donors want to hear? And how do we make sure that news is still available to those who cannot pay for it? This panel will seek to answer these questions from organization leaders from a variety of backgrounds, including nonprofit and VC-backed for-profit models, both nationally and at the local level.\u00a0<\/p>

Josh Benson<\/b>, Partner, Old Town Media<\/p>

Kaizar Campwala<\/b>, Vice President of News, Disney\u00a0<\/p>

Nick Chen<\/b>, Co-founder and CEO, Pico<\/p>

Sherrell Dorsey ’18JRN<\/b>, Founder and CEO, The Plug<\/p>

Elizabeth Green<\/b>, CEO and co-founder, Chalkbeat<\/p>

Sibel Lowin<\/b>,<\/b> Global Partnerships Solutions Lead, Google<\/p>

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Josh Benson<\/strong> is a partner at Old Town Media, a group of journalist founders who help established publishers and news startups achieve sustainability and growth. He previously co-founded and co-edited Capital New York and, later, led Politico\u2019s expansion into state and local news.\u00a0At Old Town, he helped launch and continues to advise a number of award-winning, journalist-owned publications, including The Colorado Sun<\/em>, Block Club Chicago,<\/em> and Documented<\/em>.\u00a0Josh learned to report the news under the guidance of his brilliant editors and senior colleagues at the Peter Kaplan-era New York Observer<\/em> and The New York Times<\/em>, and subsequently got to edit lots of reporters who are much more talented than he ever was. He’s still proud to have won the New York Press Club’s cub reporter of the year award. He lives in Queens.\u00a0<\/p>

Kaizar Campwala<\/strong> serves as vice president of news, at Disney\u2019s Direct-to-Consumer group. In this role, he oversees the streaming and digital businesses at Good Morning America, ABC News, and FiveThirtyEight.\u00a0Over the course of his career, Kaizar has helped great journalism and media organizations thrive. He co-founded and served as president of CALmatters, a statehouse reporting organization in Sacramento, led Stitcher\u2019s business development team during the podcast company\u2019s formative years, and was entrepreneur-in-residence at Al Jazeera. Kaizar holds a bachelor\u2019s from Brown University and MBA from UCLA. He is a father of two and normally resides in New York City.<\/p>

Nick Chen<\/strong> is a product designer and the co-founder and CEO of Pico, a business platform empowering experts to sell information and ideas online. He started the company with childhood friend and Stanford classmate Jason Bade, primarily out of a deep concern for the sustainability of the Fourth Estate, a core pillar of our democracy that is dependent on journalists like Nick’s sister, CNN national correspondent Natasha Chen. Outside of working on Pico, Nick sings in the NYC a cappella group The Workshop.<\/span><\/p>

Sherrell Dorsey<\/strong> is the founder and CEO of The Plug, a digital news and insights platform covering the Black innovation economy. Her work has been featured in VICE<\/em>, The Washington Post<\/em>, Seattle Times<\/em>, The Information<\/em>, and more. Sherrell has been a contributing writer for notable publications like Columbia Journalism Review<\/em>, Fast Company<\/em>, Black Enterprise<\/em>, and others. In 2018, she was named an inspiring woman in tech by CNet.\u00a0Prior to launching The Plug, Dorsey served as a marketing manager for companies like Uber and Google Fiber. She holds a master’s degree in data journalism from Columbia University.<\/p>

Elizabeth Green<\/strong> is the CEO and co-founder of Chalkbeat. Since launching in 2014, Chalkbeat\u2019s reporting has spurred changes in education funding, legislation, policy, and practice and is regularly cited or republished in dozens of publications, including The New York Times,<\/em> the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, the Atlantic<\/em>, Vox<\/em>, and more. Elizabeth is also the co-founder and board chair of the American Journalism Project, the first venture philanthropy firm dedicated to local news. Her book Building a Better Teacher<\/em> was a New York Times<\/em> bestseller and notable book of 2014. She has also written about education issues for The New York Times Magazine<\/em>, US News & World Report, and other publications. Elizabeth has been a Spencer Fellow in education journalism at Columbia University and an Abe Journalism Fellow studying education in Japan.<\/span><\/p>

Sibel Lowin<\/strong> is a global partnerships solutions lead at Google. She has been working on various Google News Initiative programs for the last two-and-a-half years. She is currently focused on co-leading the Digital Growth Program, which aims to help small-to-midsize news organizations globally grow their digital businesses. Prior to Google, Sibel has worked in strategy at Amazon and the New York Times<\/em>. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in applied mathematics-economics and an MBA from Harvard.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Institutional Investors Embracing Impact Investing<\/h3>

This panel will explore the experience and performance of seasoned institutional investors \u00a0in the growing field of impact investing. With impact investing going mainstream and many seasoned institutional investors deepening their presence in this space, this panel will offer a platform to discuss what their initial lessons have been both in terms of universe of investible opportunities and internal advocacy required to have a strong impact investing focus. We will also discuss trends that will further deepen the sustainability lens in investing, enablers required to further the presence of institutional capital in this growing field, and what are the pitfalls to avoid as one embarks on this journey of impact.<\/p>

John Goldstein<\/b>, Head of the Sustainable Finance Group, Goldman Sachs<\/p>

Vikram Raju<\/b>, Head of Impact Investing, Morgan Stanley\u00a0<\/p>

Megan Starr<\/b>, Global Head of Impact, The Carlyle Group\u00a0<\/p>

Iain Ware<\/b>, Managing Director, Bain Capital Double Impact<\/p>

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John Goldstein<\/strong> is head of the Sustainable Finance Group (SFG), which is responsible for working across Goldman Sachs to deepen the firm’s knowledge and grow its capabilities in relation to inclusive growth and climate transition. He serves as chair of the Sustainable Finance Group steering group. John joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management as a managing director in 2015 through the acquisition of Imprint Capital, which he co-founded in 2007, to help expand the firm’s ESG and impact investing capabilities.\u00a0Previously, John served as senior managing director of Medley Global Advisors. During that time, he co-founded and served as the executive director of the Medley Institute. Prior to that, John was a management consultant at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).\u00a0John has served as an advisor or board member to a diverse set of organizations in the impact space including groups such as the US National Advisory Board of the G8 Social Impact Investing Task Force, the Global Impact Investing Network\u2019s ImpactBase initiative, the Global Social Venture Competition, McKinsey\u2019s working group on social impact bonds, Global Giving, the Sustainable Food Lab, the UN Capital Development Fund, the International Interfaith Investment Group and a range of other organizations.\u00a0John graduated from Yale University with honors. He was awarded the Richter Fellowship and the Townsend Prize.<\/p>

Vikram Raju<\/strong> is an investment committee member and partner responsible for emerging markets and impact investing for AIP Private Markets. He has 23 years of relevant industry experience. Vikram leads emerging markets and impact investing at AIP Private Markets. Prior to joining the firm, he was a principal investment officer at the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, where he led the investment program for climate-related private equity funds across emerging markets. Previously, was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and worked with a range of clients including US private equity firms and Indian NGOs. Vikram has also been a portfolio manager with the emerging markets team at Lazard Fr\u00e8res & Co. Vikram received a BA in economics from St. Xavier\u2019s College, Mumbai and an MS in finance from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Mumbai. He also received a master\u2019s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.<\/span><\/p>

Megan Starr<\/strong> is the global head of impact for The Carlyle Group. She is based in New York. In her role, Ms. Starr works to design and execute Carlyle\u2019s cohesive, long-term impact strategy. She also oversees the dedicated ESG team, which leads the firm\u2019s investment diligence and portfolio company engagement work on material ESG issues.\u00a0Prior to joining Carlyle, Ms. Starr was within Goldman Sachs\u2019 Investment Management Division, where she helped build the ESG and impact investing business. Previously, Ms. Starr served in roles at The JPB Foundation, a $3.8B private family foundation based in New York City.\u00a0Ms. Starr received an MBA and a certificate in public management and social innovation from Stanford University\u2019s Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arbuckle Leadership Fellow, and an AB in environmental science and public policy from Harvard College, where she graduated magna cum laude with highest honors in the field of concentration.<\/p>

Iain Ware<\/strong> joined Bain Capital Double Impact in 2018. He is a managing director. Previously, he was a member of the Bain Capital Private Equity European team in the technology, media, and telecommunications Vertical where he focused on investments in the software, financial technology, information services, and media sectors. He has also played a leading role in recruiting and training efforts. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Ware worked in private equity for 3i and started his career as a management consultant with McKinsey.\u00a0Mr. Ware received an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and was awarded a Siebel Scholarship for academic achievement and community leadership. He also earned a BA in Economics from Yale University.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Scaling Social Ventures<\/h3>

So, your company has been innovating and finally has significant traction with its customer base. Now you\u2019re faced with a whole new set of challenges as you seek to scale and grow your venture and shift from innovating to scaling. From securing funding to balancing growing revenue with growing burn rate to hiring the right team, there are hundreds of problems for startups to balance in this exciting time. This is even more challenging for social ventures that face stigma around profitability and pressures around mission drift. This panel will discuss these challenges and more, as well as possible solutions to bring social ventures to scale.<\/p>

Jeffrey Hollender<\/b>, Co-founder and CEO and Board Chair, American Sustainable Business Council\u00a0<\/p>

Vikas Raj \u201910BUS<\/b>, Managing Director, Accion Venture Lab<\/p>

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Jeffrey Hollender<\/strong> is CEO, board chair, and co-founder of the American Sustainable Business Council, which through its national member network represents more than 250,000 businesses in a wide range of industries. He was co-founder and CEO of Seventh Generation, which he built into a leading natural product brand known for its authenticity, transparency, and progressive business practices.\u00a0Jeffrey is also the founder of Sustain Natural, which develops and markets sustainable feminine care products for women; and a strategic advisor and former board chair of Greenpeace US. He is currently an adjunct professor of sustainability and social entrepreneurship at the Stern School of Business, New York University. He is also the author of his seven books, including most recently, The Responsibility Revolution: How the Next Generation of Businesses Will Win and Planet Home<\/em>.<\/p>

Vikas Raj<\/strong> is managing director of Accion Venture Lab, Accion\u2019s seed-stage investment initiative in fintech for the underserved. Venture Lab invests capital in, and provides support to, innovative fintech startups that increase access to, improve the quality of, or reduce the cost of financial services for the underserved at scale. Vikas leads Venture Lab\u2019s investment work, in addition to managing portfolio relationships and driving the strategy and growth of Venture Lab.\u00a0As part of his role, Vikas is the host of VentureKast, Venture Lab\u2019s podcast series featuring fintech for inclusion entrepreneurs from around the world, and is an adjunct professor of financial inclusion at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He currently serves as a board member or observer for AYE Finance, CreditMantri, Konfio, First Circle, Self Lender, SMECorner, StreetShares, and Tienda Pago.\u00a0Prior to joining Accion, Vikas was an M&A investment banker at Evercore Partners, where he advised on multiple corporate transactions with aggregate value of over $45 billion across the technology, real estate, consumer products, and industrials sectors. Previously, he worked in the microfinance space, primarily in India, as an early employee at Ujjivan and ASA International, both of which are now publicly traded companies. At Ujjivan, Vikas co-led the establishment of the firm\u2019s first lending branches in Delhi and helped lead the firm\u2019s Series B financing round. At ASA, Vikas was responsible for establishing and investing in the fund\u2019s greenfield MFIs in India, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Vikas started his career in the corporate strategy group at Deloitte Consulting.\u00a0Vikas has a bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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ESG Investing: A Viable Investment Strategy for the Long-term?<\/h3>

Can ESG investing be a market solution for society\u2019s most pressing challenges? Global Sustainable Funds exceeded $1 trillion, for the first time, in Q2 and $1.2 trillion in Q3 in 2020. As European and American funds embed ESG into their portfolios, what are the consideration factors for investors beyond a company\u2019s financial performance? Join us for a conversation on the risks and returns of ESG investing compared to the overall market. Panelists will provide valuable insights into ESG measurement tools, how investors are deploying capital to drive impact in environmental, social, and governance challenges, and the outperformance of ESG portfolios during extremely volatile markets.<\/p>

Olivia Albercht ’10 BUS<\/b>, Executive VP and Head of ESG Business Strategy, PIMCO<\/p>

Navindu Katugampola<\/b>, Head of Sustainable Investing, Fixed Income and Liquidity, Morgan Stanley\u00a0<\/p>

Sam Mindlin ’21 BUS<\/b>, MBA Candidate, CBS\u00a0<\/p>

John Paluska ’21 BUS<\/b>, VP ESG Securitized Products, Bank of America<\/p>

Mark Zurack<\/b>, Senior Lecturer in Discipline in Business, CBS<\/p>

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Olivia Albrecht<\/strong> is an executive vice president in the Newport Beach office and the head of PIMCO’s ESG (environmental, social, and governance) business strategy. Previously, she led the firm’s global fixed income business strategy. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2011, she worked in private equity at Cerberus Capital Management in Frankfurt, Germany. She has also held positions at Lockheed Martin, Mubadala Development Corporation in Abu Dhabi, and the US Department of Defense. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, along with a master’s degree from Columbia University\u2019s School of International and Public Affairs and an undergraduate degree from Princeton University. Olivia was a member of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Orange County Board of Directors from 2012 to 2014.<\/span><\/p>

Navindu Katugampola<\/strong> is the head of sustainable investing for Morgan Stanley Investment Management\u2019s (MSIM) Fixed Income and Liquidity teams. He joined the firm in 2004 and has 17 years of industry experience. Navindu was previously the head of Green & Sustainability Bond Origination for Morgan Stanley\u2019s Global Capital Markets group. In this role, he helped issuers raise over $80Bn in green, social, and sustainability bonds and led landmark transactions, and served on both the executive committee and the advisory council of the Green and Social Bond Principles. Navindu was also previously the head of Sovereign, Supranational and Agency Debt Origination for Morgan Stanley. In addition to his MSIM role, Navindu works with MS EMEA Firm Management on cross-divisional sustainable finance initiatives, product innovation, and policy and regulatory engagement.<\/span><\/p>

Mark A. Zurack<\/strong> teaches capital markets and investments, equity derivatives and equity markets, and products at Columbia Business School, and also teaches at Cornell University as an adjunct professor. Mark is currently on the board of directors of the Binghamton University Foundation and also serves on the boards of the Alzheimer’s Association, Teach For America, Upper West Success Academy, ETC, Southampton Bath and Tennis, and the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise. Prior to coming to Columbia, Professor Zurack worked at Goldman Sachs for 18 years. He joined GS in 1983 and started the equity derivatives research group. He later assumed a broader leadership role in equity derivatives, co-managing the product in both North America and Asia and leading the effort to cross-market equity derivatives products to high-net-worth individuals. He became a partner in 1994 and a managing director in 1996. Between 1998 and 2001, Professor Zurack served on the board of directors at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He received his CFA in 1983, his MBA from Cornell in 1980, and his BS from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1978. Areas of interest: capital markets, sales and trading issues, portfolio construction, risk management, and quantitative research.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Creating a More Ethical and Sustainable Agricultural System<\/h3>

Agriculture is one of the oldest, and arguably the most important, industries. While our modern global agricultural system is capable of creating immense amounts of food to feed an ever-growing world population, in many ways it falls short. Poor distribution and misaligned incentives lead to both food waste and food insecurity. The shift in monoculture is destroying biodiversity of crops, making our system fragile to fungi and disease. And last, but not least, the agricultural system is accountable for roughly one-quarter of the world\u2019s total greenhouse gas emissions. This panel will bring together entrepreneurs and experts to discuss how we are rising to meet these challenges to move towards a more ethical and sustainable agricultural system.<\/p>

Kaushik Kappagantulu ’17 BUS<\/b>, Co-founder and CEO, Kheyti<\/p>

Sara Tjossem<\/b>, Senior Lecturer, Columbia University\u00a0<\/p>

Scott T. Weathers<\/b>, Senior Policy Specialist, The Good Food Institute<\/p>

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Kaushik<\/strong> Kappagantulu <\/strong><\/span>has spent the last 11 years building scalable social enterprises serving India’s rural poor. He is the co-founder and CEO of Kheyti, an organization helping smallholder farmers battle climate change through its \u201cGreenhouse-in-a-Box\u201d, a low-cost greenhouse bundled with end-to-end services that protect crops from environmental risks and grows seven times more food using 90 percent less water. Kheyti works with partners to offer farmers financing, input linkage, training, and market linkage services, creating a seamless path towards steady incomes of $100\/month.\u00a0Before Kheyti, Kaushik spent five years as a leadership team member of B-ABLE, and as their first employee, he helped the company scale from its training center to 200 centers across 14 states training more than 70,000 school dropouts yearly. He is a graduate of ITT Kharagpur and has an MBA from Columbia Business School. Kaushik is an Acumen India Fellow 2014 and a DRK Foundation Entrepreneur.<\/p>

Sara Tjossem<\/strong> is senior lecturer at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where she teaches environmental policy and history and is associate director of curriculum for the Masters Program on Environmental Science and Policy. As a historian of science, she researches the interplay of ecology and society, particularly the development of environmental policy and sustainability. She has written two books on the development and organization of scientific cooperation: Fostering Internationalism through Marine Scienc<\/em>e (2017) and The Journey to PICES: Scientific Cooperation in the North Pacific<\/em> (2005).<\/span><\/p>

Scott T. Weathers<\/strong> leads The Good Food Institute’s (GFI) state-level political strategy, working to level the playing field for cultivated and plant-based meat, dairy, and eggs. He came to GFI from Compassion in World Farming-USA, where he was a strategic partnerships manager, establishing CIWF\u2019s first-ever program focused on plant-based proteins. Scott\u2019s work has appeared in The New York Times<\/em>, The Guardian<\/em>, Vox<\/em>, NowThis<\/em>, Civil Eats<\/em>, and more. He holds a master of science from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Microfinance Done Right<\/h3>

How can we successfully expand financial access to the underserved communities in society? This panel will talk through the opportunities and challenges surrounding microfinance and discuss how certain organizations are approaching and solving these issues.<\/p>

David del Ser \u201908BUS<\/b>, Chair and Chief Innovation Officer and Director, BFA Global and FinnSalud Project\u00a0<\/p>

Diane M. LuTran ’21 BUS<\/b>, EMBA Global Candidate at CBS, London Business School, University of Hong Kong; Formerly Digital Finance Specialist at International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group\u00a0<\/p>

Jennifer Pryce \u201900BUS<\/b>, President and CEO, Calvert Impact Capital\u00a0<\/p>

Brad Swanson ’88 BUS<\/b>, Partner, Developing World Markets<\/p>

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David del Ser<\/strong> is the chair and chief innovation officer at BFA Global and the director of the FinnSalud Project. He brings world-class high-tech skills in growing areas of BFA Global to expand the company vision. He supports and promotes tech-enablement in the financial sector, and reaches beyond the financial services sector to other tech-related businesses and social investors. David is also the founder and chairman of Frogtek, a business that provides app-based technology to enable small retailers in developing countries with better business tools. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an Echoing Green Fellow, and holds a dual master’s of telecommunications from the Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica de Madrid and T\u00e9l\u00e9com ParisTech and an MBA from Columbia Business School.<\/span><\/p>

Diane M. LuTran<\/strong> is an emerging market professional at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group based in Washington, DC. She works across financial services, technology, and international economic development practice areas for East Asia Pacific and Africa. In her role, she provides investment and advisory services focused on expanding financial inclusion, access to information technology, and workforce development for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and women-led businesses. Before IFC, she consulted for the World Bank on SME development, trade competitiveness, and public-private partnerships. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, a master’s degree in management, business economics from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics, political economy, and international area studies from UC Berkeley.<\/span><\/p>

Jennifer Pryce<\/strong> is president and CEO of Calvert Impact Capital. For 25 years, Calvert has strived to make markets work for more people, more often, by investing in communities overlooked by traditional finance. Jenn began her career in the Peace Corps, worked at NeubergerBerman, on the investment banking team at Morgan Stanley\u2019s London office and at a national Community development financial institution, Nonprofit Finance Fund, investing capital in communities.\u00a0Jenn studied engineering at Union College and holds an MBA from Columbia University. She currently serves as a Forbes contributor, a lecturer at Oxford Sa\u00efd School of Business and as the advisory board chair of Quantified Ventures.<\/p>

Brad Swanson<\/strong> manages private equity investments in global emerging markets as a partner at a socially responsible fund management firm, Developing World Markets. He has also held other senior positions in international finance, working in more than 60 countries in total. Before entering finance, he served in several countries in Africa as a foreign service officer, and prior to that was a reporter. He lives in Vienna, Virginia.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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What We\u2019ve Learned: The Best Solutions to Come out of COVID-19<\/h3>

COVID-19 has catalyzed an unprecedented wave of change and innovation. New policies, funding, and solutions are realizing impact \u2014 or falling short \u2014 faster than ever before. By taking stock of what the world has achieved against COVID-19, we can gain new insight into what it will take to address other collective threats to our planet, health, and prosperity. Join this session\u2019s panelists for a riveting discussion highlighting the most important lessons and missteps from the pandemic response. The panel will be composed of three speakers spanning finance, policy, and innovation.<\/p>

Shanthakumar Bannirchelvam ’22 BUS<\/b>, Panel Organizer for the Social Enterprise Conference and MBA Candidate, Managing Director, CBS and Global Impact Partners\u00a0<\/p>

Rajesh Dash<\/b>, Associate Professor of Medicine and co-founder, Stanford University Medical Center and HealthPals<\/p>

Amelia Earnest ’22 BUS<\/b>, AVP of the Social Enterprise Conference and MBA Candidate, CBS<\/p>

Varun Jhaveri<\/b>, Officer on Special Duty, National Health Authority of India<\/p>

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\u201cWe each have a role to play in forging a world with impact at its heart. Impact is grounded in the people and environment that we strive to serve.\u201d Shanthakumar<\/strong> has advised companies in the Infrastructure, property, technology, and medical sectors on strategy and capital raising in Australia, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He has also previously worked in corporate law in Sydney and London with Herbert Smith Freehills, the United Nations Economic and Social Council in New York, and served as an Infantry Officer in the Singapore Armed Forces. Shanthakumar is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of NSW and holds a bachelor’s in economics and law from the University of Sydney.<\/p>

Varun Jhaveri<\/strong> is currently deputed as an officer on special duty at the National Health Authority (NHA), Government of India. He leads the innovation strategy and focuses on supply side strengthening at the NHA. Within the innovation strategy, Varun leads the Market Access Programme, a government of India\u2019s initiative for supporting healt hcare innovations. Earlier, he has worked with the Asian Development Bank, United Nations, NITI Aayog, and University of Chicago. Formerly, he has advised the Government of Karnataka on setting up Arogya Karnataka, India\u2019s first Universal Health coverage scheme. In 2019, Varun was selected as one of the SDG Goalkeepers by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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BlackRock Impact Investing Workshop<\/h3>

What is impact investing? How do you track and measure impact? How do you create and manage an impact portfolio?<\/p>

In this workshop, attendees will have a chance to sit in the seat of an impact investor. BlackRock will guide attendees through three exercises to uncover how to define impact, what the logical key performance indicators are when analyzing a business, and how to weigh different holdings within an impact portfolio.<\/p>

The team will facilitate this workshop and provide an overview of the fundamentals of impact investing, outline career paths into the sector, and \u200boffer insights into what BlackRock is doing in the impact investing space.<\/p>

Workshop Outline:
10:00 AM | What is Impact Investing?
10:25 AM | Defining Impact Workshop
10:45 AM | Measuring Impact Workshop
11:05 AM | Managing an Impact Portfolio
11:50 AM | Closing Remarks<\/p>

Caroline Brady<\/b>, VP and Product Strategist, BlackRock Active Equities Group<\/p>

Daniel Concessi<\/b>, Research Analyst, BlackRock\u00a0<\/p>

William McSweeney CFA<\/b>, VP and Research Analyst and Member of the Global Impact Team within the Fundamental Equity Division, BlackRock Portfolio Management Group<\/p>

Eric Rice<\/b>, Managing Director and Head of Active Equities, Impact Investing at BlackRock\u00a0<\/p>

Quyen Tran<\/b>, Director of Impact Investing, BlackRock\u00a0<\/p>

Flora Cameron Watt<\/b>, Impact Analyst, BlackRock<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Caroline Brady<\/strong>, vice president, is a product strategist within BlackRock’s Active Equities group. She is the lead product strategist for the Active Equity Impact Investing team. Her role encompasses product strategy, business development, client strategy, and communication globally.\u00a0She was a founding member of the BlackRock Sustainable Investing team where she worked with the firm’s global investment teams across equity, fixed income, and alternatives to develop scalable, innovative investment solutions that address client’s sustainable objectives. She worked on research to develop ESG investable insights and proprietary signals, for use in security selection and company level analysis. As well as working in partnership with investment teams to enrich the ESG Integration practices. Prior to this, she was a member of BlackRock’s Securities Lending and Financing Group within Trading and Liquidity Strategies. Caroline’s service dates back to 2015.\u00a0She worked in Hong Kong as an investments analyst Intern for a sustainability lead distressed debt and private equity fund \u2014 ADM Capital. Caroline earned a BSc, hons degree in biomedical sciences from Newcastle University in 2012, where she spent time as a researcher at the Northern Institute of Cancer Research. Her research was published: https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/bjc2013325<\/p>

Daniel Concessi<\/strong> is a research analyst for the impact investing strategy within BlackRock’s Fundamental Active Equity group. Danny covers multiple sectors within the impact strategy, including health care, software, telecommunications, and financial services.\u00a0Prior to joining BlackRock, Danny was a research associate at Wellington Management, where he worked as an equity analyst on the firm’s flagship global impact equity strategy, and as a sector specialist covering financial services. Before Wellington, Danny began his career in New York City at Morgan Stanley conducting credit analysis to support the underwriting of leveraged loans.\u00a0Danny graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting and a minor in economics. Outside of his career, Danny is active in community and philanthropic work, including running Boston Marathons to raise awareness and cancer research funding for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.<\/p>

William McSweeney<\/strong>, CFA is vice president, research analyst, and member of the Global Impact team within the Fundamental Equity division of BlackRock’s Portfolio Management Group. William joined the Global Impact fund in 2020 and covers multiple sectors, including financial and education technology.\u00a0Prior to joining the Global Impact Fund, William was a research associate responsible for covering global energy for BlackRock’s Value and Income team.\u00a0William graduated cum laude from Hofstra University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and minored in economics.<\/p>

Eric Rice<\/strong>, managing director, is head of Active Equities Impact Investing. He works as a portfolio manager and is the architect of the world’s first diversified public-markets impact investing strategy, Global Impact. Global Impact is an alpha-oriented strategy that invests in companies whose goods and services help address the world’s great problems as defined by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Eric also collaborates with other investors at BlackRock to help germinate additional impact and sustainable investing strategies.\u00a0Eric joined BlackRock from Wellington Management in 2019, where he had been an investor for over 20 years. Previously, he worked as a World Bank country economist and a diplomat in Rwanda with the US Department of State.\u00a0Eric earned a PhD in economics from Harvard University and an AB degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. He lives in San Francisco, CA.\u00a0<\/p>

Quyen Tran<\/strong> is the director of impact investing for BlackRock. Her research creates BlackRock’s structural framework for advancing impact investing, including the case for impact in public equities, the case for alpha generation, and best practices in impact measurement. She has developed the measurement framework for BlackRock’s public equity impact strategy, authors publications, meets with clients, and speaks at conferences. Quyen partners with academia and industry practitioners to develop thought leadership in the impact ecosystem. She is a member of Harvard Business School’s Alumni for Impact Initiative, serves on the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN) working group for impact in public equities, and is a board advisor for Bentley University’s Sustainable Investment Group.\u00a0Prior to BlackRock, Quyen worked as the sustainable investment strategist for Wellington Management. She guided the development of the firm’s flagship impact strategy in public equities and the strategy to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Quyen worked as a senior investment consultant at Cambridge Associates, where she advised endowments and foundations on investment strategy. At Fidelity Investments, Quyen was a director of investment analytics covering global equities. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA, cum laude, in philosophy from Mount Holyoke College. She studied abroad at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India, and has taught English in Vietnam and worked for the advancement of grade-school children in the United States.<\/p>

Flora Cameron Watt<\/strong> is an impact analyst for the impact investing strategy with Blackrock\u2019s Fundamental Active Equity group. Flora focuses on impact analysis, the impact universe, and the Impact Team\u2019s engagement strategy, working alongside the impact investment analysts, to engage with companies.\u00a0Flora joined Blackrock through the Blackrock\u2019s Graduate scheme in London, England. She worked on the European Equity Team and the Nutrition Team, covering multiple sectors including business services, food delivery, and infant milk formula. Flora also completed an industrial placement year in Blackrock\u2019s Fundamental Equity Team during her third year of university.\u00a0Flora graduated from the University of Bath, where she earned a BS (hons) in politics and international relations. Flora is a keen runner and coxswain, competing at Henley Royal Regatta for her university and coaching others in the sport. Her philanthropic work is mostly focused on the inclusivity of education and is currently training for her first marathon.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Using Sustainable Investing to Transform the Status Quo at Scale and Create a Sustainable and Inclusive Economy<\/h3>

Cyan Capital Partners works to connect new and talented sustainable investment firms with what they need to thrive, and to support institutional investor\u2019s deployment into new sustainable investment strategies. What industry trends can accelerate pools of institutional capital into sustainable investments at scale? In this keynote session, speakers will share insights into the creation of their investment firm and investing thesis, their pathway into the field of sustainable investing, as well as advice for those exploring careers in the sector.<\/p>

Geoffrey Heal<\/b>,<\/b> Donald C. Waite III Professor of Social Enterprise and Bernstein Faculty Leader, CBS\u00a0<\/p>

Peter S. Knight,<\/b> Co-founder and Managing Partner, Cyan Capital Partners\u00a0<\/p>

Beth Richtman ’07 BUS<\/b>, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Cyan Capital Partners<\/p>

John-Austin Saviano<\/b>, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Cyan Capital Partners<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Geoffrey Heal<\/strong>, Donald C. Waite III Professor of Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School, is noted for contributions to economic theory and resource and environmental economics. He holds a bachelor’s (first class), master’s, and doctoral degree from Cambridge University, where he studied at Churchill College and taught at Christ\u2019s College. He has also taught at Sussex, Essex, Yale, Stanford, \u00c9cole Polytechnique, Stockholm, and Princeton. He holds an honorary doctorate from the Universite de Paris Dauphine.\u00a0Author of eighteen books and about two hundred articles, Professor Heal is a fellow of the Econometric Society, past managing editor of the Review of Economic Studies, past president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, recipient of its prize for publications of enduring quality and a life fellow, recipient of the 2013 Best Publication Prize of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, a director of the Union of Concerned Scientists,<\/em>and a founder and director and chairman of the board of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, developers of the REDD policy for reducing deforestation by awarding carbon credits for forest conservation. Recent books include Nature and the Marketplace, Valuing the Future, When Principles Pay, <\/em>and Whole Earth Economics<\/em> (forthcoming).\u00a0Professor Heal chaired a committee of the National Academy of Sciences on valuing ecosystem services, was a commissioner of the Pew Oceans Commission, was a coordinating lead author of the IPCC\u2019s Fifth Assessment Report, was a member of President Sarkozy\u2019s Commission on the Meaurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress,<\/em> was a member of the advisory board for the World Bank\u2019s 2010 World Development Report, and the United Nations Environment Program\u2019s 2011 Human Development Report, and acts as an advisor to the World Bank on its Green Growth project. He is also a director of Public Business, a foundation that promotes in-depth public interest journalism, and a member of the advisory board of Green Seal.\u00a0He has been a principal in two startup companies, a consulting firm and a software and telecommunications company, and until recently was a member of the investment committee of a green private equity group. He teaches the MBA courses Current Developments in Energy Markets, Business and Society: Doing Well by Doing Good?, and the Business of Sustainability, and he teaches a doctoral course on advanced microeconomic theory, and he also advises doctoral students interested in sustainability.<\/p>

Prior to Cyan, Peter Knight<\/strong> was a founding partner of Generation Investment Management and president of the North American Business. At Generation, he served on the management committee, the Generation foundation, and still serves on several of Generation\u2019s fund boards. Prior to Generation, Mr. Knight was a managing partner at Met West Financial. Mr. Knight started his career at the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department and then served as chief of staff for Rep. and then Senator Al Gore from 1977 to 1988. Mr. Knight served in senior positions in four presidential campaigns, including as campaign manager for the 1996 Clinton\/Gore Campaign. Mr. Knight has served on numerous public company boards. He currently serves as chair of the Climate Museum, the board of Emergent, a Forest Finance Accelerator, and the board of Gratitude Railroad. Mr. Knight holds a BA from Cornell and a JD from Georgetown University Law School.<\/span><\/p>

Beth<\/strong> Richtman <\/strong><\/span>has deep expertise in sustainability, ESG Integration, underwriting assets and asset managers, talent development, and portfolio management. She is a co-founder and managing partner of Cyan Capital Partners, whose mission is to bridge gaps for the Institutional Investor community and new firms pursuing sustainable investment strategies capable of generating financial returns and significant impact at scale.\u00a0Directly before co-founding Cyan, Beth served as the first managing investment director of sustainable investments for CalPERS. In this role, Beth led a team providing centralized leadership for integration of ESG factors into investment decision-making across CalPERS\u2019 approximately $400 billion total fund and served as part of the executive leadership team overseeing the CalPERS Investment Office. During her years at CalPERS, Beth also managed a $7 billion portfolio of infrastructure and real estate assets and served on the Real Assets Investment Committee.\u00a0Prior to her time at CalPERS, Beth was director of business development for Enel Green Power North America, where she worked on various business and finance aspects of over 1600 MW of renewable power assets. She earned a BS in science, technology, and society from Stanford University and an MBA in finance from Columbia Business School.<\/p>

John-Austin Saviano<\/strong><\/span> serves as a strategic advisor to investment firms and the institutional pools of capital who back them. He draws on his 25 years of investment experience that includes two ten-figure endowment launches. Previously, John-Austin was the founding president and chief investment officer for UC Berkeley’s endowment management company. In this role he was responsible for investing its portfolio, creating its management company, and leading its investment team.\u00a0Before joining Berkeley in 2009, he advised a wide range of institutions and institutional-sized families at Cambridge Associates and served on the founding investment team at the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. He began his career financing the growth and operations of public and private companies, as both a senior creditor at a commercial bank and as venture investor.\u00a0John-Austin earned a BA in economics from UC San Diego, an MBA from Duke University, and is a CFA charterholder.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Embedding Sustainability Into PepsiCo Beverages North America\u2019s Value Chain<\/h3>

PepsiCo Beverages North America recognizes the importance of prioritizing sustainability throughout its entire value chain. How does the company embed sustainability into the organization to ensure the company\u2019s success and financial returns tie to its impact on agriculture and climate, packaging, and with its internal and external stakeholders? This keynote session will explore how PepsiCo Beverages North America is creating scalable solutions to produce and distribute its beverage portfolio, while minimizing waste. Jason Blake, \u201905BUS, will also share insights on career paths into the sustainability sector.<\/p>

Jason Blake \u201905BUS<\/b>, Senior VP and Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA)<\/p>

Vanessa Burbano<\/b>,<\/b> Assistant Professor of Management, CBS<\/p>

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Jason Blake<\/strong> is senior vice president, chief sustainability officer for PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA). PBNA is PepsiCo\u2019s $21 billion beverage business in North America as well as Global Foodservice with an iconic portfolio of beverages including, Pepsi, Gatorade, Tropicana, bubly, MTN DEW, Naked Juice, Starbucks ready-to-drink coffee, LIFEWTR, Rockstar Energy Drink, and KeVita.\u00a0Jason is a 12-year PepsiCo veteran. In his current role, Jason leads PBNA\u2019s efforts to deliver its long-term sustainability targets across the full beverage portfolio.\u00a0Prior to returning to PepsiCo in August 2020, Jason served as vice president of commercial at Delta Airlines since June 2019 where he led the diversification and de-risking of the company\u2019s revenue model and led key innovation and business development initiatives.\u00a0Since joining PepsiCo in 2007, Jason held a variety of roles of increasing responsibility, including senior vice president of customer management and channel strategy for Frito-Lay North America (FLNA), in which he led PepsiCo\u2019s Target and Costco teams and channel strategy for FLNA in traditional and emerging e-commerce; region vice president for the Southeast Region of FLNA; and senior director of customer management for the Great Lakes Region of Pepsi Beverages Company.\u00a0Jason is a member of the board of directors of the American Beverage Association. Jason holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Morehouse College where he graduated cum laude. Jason is married with two children.<\/p>

Vanessa Burbano<\/strong> is an assistant professor of management in the strategy area at Columbia Business School. She was named to Poets and Quants\u2019 2019 list of Best 40 Business School Professors Under 40.\u00a0Burbano researches the strategic implications of socially responsible and irresponsible firm practices. Her research has been recognized with awards including those from the Strategic Management Society, the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability, the Responsible Research in Management Award, the Impact for Investment Research Prize, the Berkeley Sustainable Business and Investment Forum, the International Association of Business & Society, and the Industry Studies Association. Her work has been published in Organization Science<\/em>, Management Science<\/em>, Strategic Management Journal<\/em>, California Management Review<\/em>, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes<\/em>, and Organization & Environment<\/em>, and has been featured in Forbes<\/em>, Fortune<\/em>, The Financial Times<\/em>, and the New York Times<\/em>.\u00a0She holds a PhD from UCLA Anderson School of Management and an MPA from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Prior to academia, she worked as an associate at Goldman Sachs and as a strategy consultant at Monitor Group.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This headline event, located in the finance capital of the world, provides a unique opportunity for attendees to tap into the vibrant ecosystem of capital for impact through the lens of philanthropy, impact investing, ESG, and social venture and business examples. Social impact leaders in business, government, nonprofit, and philanthropy will speak to how they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2648","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2648"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2658,"href":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2648\/revisions\/2658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/columbiasocialenterprise.org\/conferencearchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}