Tim Lampkin, CEO, Higher Purpose Co.
Tim Lampkin is the co-founder and CEO of Higher Purpose Co. a nonprofit social impact agency building wealth in communities of color across Mississippi by supporting the ownership of land, businesses, and homes. Ashoka recognized him in 2018 as an emerging innovator addressing the racial wealth gap in the United States. An BALLE and Movement Voices Fellow, he has a decade of community development experience. He previously managed the Racial Equity Program for the Mississippi Humanities Council which won the national 2018 Schwartz Prize. Lampkin also worked for Southern Bancorp to implement several community initiatives and assisted rural entrepreneurs at Delta State University. He continues to produce narrative change documentaries highlighting relevant Mississippi topics. Lampkin serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Advisory Council. He is a proud HBCU graduate of Mississippi Valley State University and currently finishing a Doctor of Education degree at the University of Arkansas.
Dana Lanza, CEO, Confluence Philanthropy, and Confluence Board Member
Dana launched Confluence Philanthropy in August of 2009 after serving as the executive director of the Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA). While at EGA, Dana provided networking services to over 250 grantmaking organizations from across North America and Europe.
From 2009-2011 Dana served as the Program Director and Board Advisor at The Swift Foundation while launching Confluence. Prior to Philanthropy, Dana founded Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ), an environmental education and youth empowerment organization for at risk youth. While there, she acted as a lead organizer in the closure of San Francisco’s infamous Hunters Point Power Plant; raising funds to supplant it with the region’s first off-the-grid educational Eco Center. She has been a fellow at the Donnella Meadows Program in Systems Theory and the California Women’s Foundation Policy Institute.
Dana has also lived and worked among the Samburu (Maasai) in northern Kenya for many years; the Cheyenne River Lakota; and Roma refugees in Europe.
Tamara Larsen, Executive Director, Asset Management, Perella Weinberg Partners
Ms. Larsen is an Executive Director in Perella Weinberg Partners’ Asset Management business and co-heads the Mission-Aligned Investment efforts of the firm. She leads investment selection and due diligence for mission aligned strategies across asset classes, and has responsibilities for conventional private real assets investing. She is a member of the Agility Investment Committee. Tamara has more than 18 years of investment experience. Prior to joining Perella Weinberg Partners, Tamara was at Russell Investments from 2008 to 2017, where she most recently served as Head of Private Markets Research, responsible for leading the investment selection and due diligence for various private capital investment strategies, including energy, infrastructure, private equity / debt, and real estate; she was also portfolio manager for a mission-aligned mandate focused on the healthcare, climate change mitigation, and financial inclusion sectors. She was a voting member of the Russell Investments Alternatives Subcommittee, which governed all client investment recommendations for hedge funds, private markets and listed real assets. She was previously a Senior Vice President of Centerline Capital Group, where she was a portfolio manager and acquisitions officer for a real estate investment joint venture with California Public Employees’ Retirement System (“CalPERS”). Prior to that, Tamara held acquisitions roles at Lehman Brothers and boutique real estate investment manager Thor Equities. She began her career as an Analyst at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Tamara earned a MSc in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Economics from Smith College. She serves on the boards of Colorado Public Television (CPT12) and a renewable energy venture focused on Sub-Saharan Africa.
Michael Lent, Founding Principal and CIO, Veris Wealth Partners
Michael is a founding principal and the CIO of Veris Wealth Partners. For 20 years, he’s been delivering financial planning and investment consulting services to high-net-worth families, family offices, and foundations. Michael has been recognized by the Calvert Foundation for his advocacy of blended-value community investing and is regularly cited by major media outlets such as AP and Reuters on matters pertaining to sustainable investing. Prior to Veris, he co-founded the New York office of Progressive Asset Management, the first full-service broker/dealer to focus on socially responsible investing.
Earlier in his career, while working on economic development issues in Central America, Michael realized that, for his work to achieve its full impact, he and his colleagues would need sustained access to new financial resources. So he began to focus his efforts on outreach, educating others who also recognized the important link between capital and social change. He now helps others use their resources to achieve personal financial goals while having a positive impact on the world around them.
Michael served as Chair of the Board of Directors of US SIF, The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, an association for professionals, firms, institutions and organizations engaged in socially responsible and sustainable investing. In addition, Michael is a member of the Investments & Wealth Institute, which sets standards and practices for the investment management consulting profession. He received his Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation in 2002. Michael also has a B.A. in Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He lives with his wife in Brooklyn, NY.
Roland Lewis, President and CEO, Waterfront Alliance
A lifetime New Yorker, Roland Lewis, has been at the helm of the Waterfront Alliance since its founding in 2007. Under his leadership, the Waterfront Alliance has organized a powerful constituency for a more resilient, accessible, and equitable New York Harbor. The organization has instituted programs, initiated and helped create a new waterfront plan for the City of New York, and become the leading waterfront policy organization in the New York region, known nationally and internationally.
Mr. Lewis has worked in the field of community development for more than three decades. A graduate of Columbia University, he then went on to earn both a Master of City and Regional Planning and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers University. He previously served as a partner in the law firm of Dellapa, Lewis, and Perseo, whose clients included nonprofit organizations, civic groups, churches, cooperative corporations, and private real estate developers. Following this, he served for a decade as the executive director of Habitat for Humanity New York City where he led the organization to become one of the top producers in the region and a nationally emulated model for Habitat for Humanity locations in other urban settings.
In addition to his professional experience with community development, Mr. Lewis is active with many nonprofit community organizations. He served as co-chair of Housing First! and currently is on the boards of the Waterfront Management Advisory Board and the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York.
Alex Linkow, Director, Fair Food Fund
Alex Linkow leads the Fair Food Fund, an innovative Fair Food Network program that provides financing and business assistance to good food enterprises that connect small and mid-size farms with consumers hungry for local, sustainably grown food. As Director, Alex oversees the fund’s investment portfolio, including deal sourcing, due diligence for investment opportunities, and raising grant and program-related investment capital. Alex also manages the fund’s business assistance offerings, which includes one-on-one support and an annual Business Boot Camp.
Alex has an MBA and master’s degree in sustainable systems from University of Michigan’s Erb Institute, where he focused on social entrepreneurship, sustainable food systems, and marketing. He lives with his wife, son, and daughter outside Boston, Massachusetts.
Ken Locklin, Senior Advisor, Clean Energy Finance, Energy Foundation
Mr. Locklin is a senior investment executive with 30 years of finance experience, and a 20-year commitment to clean energy enterprise investment, development, management, and finance.
He currently serves as Senior Advisor to the new Clean Energy Finance program at Energy Foundation. Ken worked to develop this effort, and which works to both battle climate change and assist philanthropic funders in exploring how they can maximize their contributions to that effort. He also serves a Director and Senior Portfolio Advisor/US Policy Analyst for Impax Asset Management.
Previously, Ken was the Director of Finance and Investment with the Clean Energy Group (CEG), the not-for-profit organization which supports and advises clean energy investment efforts worldwide with groundbreaking research. He also worked with the NGO Ceres to help create the Ceres Investor Network, and was a founding member of the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund management team.
From 1997 to 2004, Ken served as a Partner with EIF Group, the oldest power investment management firm in the U.S. He worked with EIF’s Clean Energy investment interests across all its investment funds. He launched its emerging markets-focused Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund for the International Finance Corporation, and helped design OPIC’s Central and Eastern European Energy Efficiency Fund.
Ken served for 8 years as an independent observer and delegate to the UNFCCC Climate Convention process, advising the US delegation and others in the run up to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol limiting global greenhouse gas emissions. He is a founder of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), the leading US renewable energy umbrella organization. He is a graduate of Yale University.
Teri Lovelace, President, LOCUS Impact Investing
Teri Lovelace is President of LOCUS Impact Investing, a social enterprise empowering place-focused institutions to invest their assets locally to build vibrant and prosperous communities. LOCUS is a nonprofit consulting firm and registered investment advisor assisting clients who are engaged in place-based impact investing. Teri has over 27 years in the philanthropic, mission investing and the nonprofit sector. She served as Chief Impact Officer & Senior Vice President for Virginia Community Capital (VCC), the parent company of LOCUS. At LOCUS, Teri is responsible for all aspects of mission impact consulting and capital deployment where place-focused institutions can invest in their communities to earn both a financial as well as a social return. Prior to joining VCC and LOCUS, Teri served in senior leadership role at the Community Foundation serving a greater Richmond where she worked with high net worth donors on their complex charitable giving portfolios.
Teri has a law degree from the University of Richmond, her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is also a member of the Virginia State Bar and holds a Series 65 license.
Joshua Mailman, CEO and Founder, Joshua Mailman Foundation
Josh Mailman is Founder and Managing Director of Serious Change L.P., a $100M L.P. impact investment vehicle started in 2010 . He serves on the board of the following non-profits: the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University , Echoing Green, the Fund for Global Human Rights ( cofounder and Emeritus board member ) and the Sigrid Rausing Trust U.K. (founding trustee ).
He co-founded Social Venture Network with Wayne Silby of Calvert Group in 1987. Social Venture Network has recently merged with Investors Circle ( started out of SVN in 1982 ) and is now called Social Venture Circle . He also started the Threshold Foundation (1981) and Business for Social Responsibility (1992 ) and the Middle East Social Innovators Fund , with Synergos Institute , in 2010. I have been passionate about the impact investment space for 40 years . I was a founding investor in Stoneyfield Farms , Seventh Generation , the Utne Reader , Shaman Pharmaceuticals , Global Telesystems ,Grameen Telecom , BKash , Grove Collaborative , Clinica de Azucar , Giving Assistant and CatchaFire , Lotus Foods and AlterEco , Impact America and Mosaic , Clean Choice Energy and Off Grid Electric.
John Mandyck, CEO, Urban Green Council
John Mandyck joined Urban Green Council in 2018 as its first-ever CEO. He capped a 25-year career as Chief Sustainability Officer for United Technologies Corporation, a Fortune 45 global leader in the building, aerospace and food refrigeration industries. He also serves as a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Business. John is the founding chair of the Corporate Advisory Board for the World Green Building Council, a former board chair of Urban Green, and co-author of the book Food Foolish.
Loe Marcoline, Director, The Womadix Fund
Loe Marcoline is Director at The Womadix Fund, a tax-exempt private fund that is committed to supporting women and girls as promoters of peace in their communities. Over time, The Womadix Fund aims to strengthen its social impact by combining grant making and investments in ways to more fully leverage and align the Fund’s resource base on behalf of its mission. The Fund works primarily within the geographical boundaries of Africa and the U.S., with attention to Minnesota and New Mexico. During the past year and half, The Fund engaged Susan Hammel, Founder of Cogent Consulting Inc., to learn more about the field of impact investing. The Fund adopted a new investment policy statement to guide the alignment of The Fund’s resources with the mission of the organization and began active due diligence on potential investments. The Fund holds active membership with Confluence Philanthropy, Minnesota Council of Foundations, New Mexico Association of Grantmakers, and the Women’s Funding Network.
Loe is based in Northern New Mexico. Her work spans vastly different efforts from philanthropy to public health emergency preparedness to supportive housing. She looks for opportunities to promote the potential for change. She maintains a core belief in the value of interdisciplinary approaches to solving social problems and that such approaches may be well adapted to and useful in the field of philanthropy. She earned her degree from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Loe is Interim Co-Chair of the New Mexico Impact Investing Advisory Committee and sits on the Steering Committee of the Rainmakers Investment Collaborative at Confluence Philanthropy. Loe and her husband own a small homestead in Northern New Mexico that is off-grid where they operate an organic farm (which at times is more like an extreme sport!). They maintain annual flower and vegetable gardens, raise birds, care for three horses, and try to keep up with the pack of dogs that rule the land.
Peter Martin, Director of Philanthropy, Tides
As Tides' Director of Philanthropy, Peter partners with Tides' philanthropic clients to maximize their real-world impact through philanthropy, advocacy, and impact investing. Before joining Tides, Peter was a strategic philanthropic advisor to individuals and family foundations. In that role he helped establish new charitable entities and advised clients on their philanthropic plans, programmatic priorities, and grantmaking portfolios. He’s adept at working across a range of issues for clients, but is particularly driven by climate solutions, environmental justice, immigrant rights, and civic engagement. Previously, he served 15 years at the Sierra Club. In his role as executive director of the Sierra Club Foundation, he oversaw a $55+ million annual revenue and grants budget, advised donors on their philanthropic goals, led on impact investing, and partnered with board and staff leaders to plan and launch a multi-year Climate Recovery Partnership capital campaign.
Peter also has extensive nonprofit board experience. Most notably, he helped re-shape the board while serving as executive director of the Sierra Club Foundation and currently sits on the board of directors of Children for Change, a local nonprofit in Marin County committed to creating a new generation of global citizens, empowered with knowledge and empathy to create positive change in the world. His deep personal commitment to mobilizing philanthropy and investments to solve humanity’s biggest challenges makes him a natural fit with Tides.
Brendan Martin, Executive Director, The Working World
Brendan Martin is founder and Executive Director of The Working World, a “venture cooperative” Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) providing innovative forms of finance and customized technical assistance to community-based and cooperative enterprise, with a mission of building quality jobs and wealth for workers and communities. Prior to its founding, Brendan was a partner and general manager in a Wall Street news company and worked in both technology and finance. Brendan lived for seven years in Argentina working with cooperative business there, is an Ashoka Globalizer, BALLE Fellow, board member of the Southern Reparations Loan Fund, and investment advisor to a number of foundations, impact investment, and divest/reinvest ventures.
John MacIntosh, Partner, SeaChange Capital Partners
John leads SeaChange Capital Partners with overall responsibility for grant-making, credit and investment, advisory services, and market-making. He also explores new roles SeaChange might play to help nonprofits have more impact while giving donors leveraged funding opportunities.
Prior to joining SeaChange, John was a partner at Warburg Pincus in that global private equity firm’s New York, Tokyo, and London offices. At Warburg Pincus, he was responsible for overseeing the firm’s expansion into several new international markets and industry segments, designed the firm’s investment performance and measurement system, was co-head of professional development, and served as a director of 16 companies. Earlier in his career John worked as a software engineer in Tokyo and a management consultant at Oliver Wyman.
In conjunction with the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, John coordinated a three-year program in resilience-building and depression prevention for more than 3,000 children across 25 middle schools in the United Kingdom.
John has a BSE from Princeton University and a MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics. He serves on the board of the New York Junior Tennis & Learning, the Credit Committee of the Contact Fund, and Healing Arts Inc; and is an equity investment advisor to MicroVest Capital Management. John lives in Brooklyn with his wife and four daughters.
Laura Kind McKenna, Trustee and Treasurer of the Patricia Kind Family Foundation, Trustee of the van Ameringen Foundation
Laura Kind McKenna served as the Managing Trustee of the Patricia Kind Family Foundation from 1998 until January 2016. She continues to serve as a Trustee and Board Treasurer. The Foundation provides grants to health and human service organizations that work to alleviate poverty in the Philadelphia area. Laura also serves as a Board Member of the van Ameringen Foundation, a philanthropic foundation focused on mental health needs, located in NYC.
Laura is passionate about the importance of Mission Related Investing for Foundations. She believes it is vitally important to link endowment assets with mission and to fully leverage all available resources to make the world a better place. Currently over 95% of the PKFF endowment is invested in mission aligned vehicles across all asset classes. Laura is also an active member of Social Venture Circle Philadelphia and personally invests in under resourced minority entrepreneurs.
Brendan McLaughlin, Executive Director of Credit & Special Underwriting and Credit Committee Chair, Office of Development, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
Brendan McLaughlin is the Executive Director of Credit & Special Underwriting and Credit Committee Chair in the Office of Development at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). In this role, he is responsible for the credit review of all affordable housing development projects receiving City subsidy, and financial impact analyses related to New York City housing policy. Brendan also oversees the Office of Development’s Sustainability and Land Acquisition & Valuation units.
Brendan is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and Associate Faculty at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation at Columbia University, where he teaches real estate finance and development courses.
Previously, he has held various roles in corporate strategy, investor relations, and equity research over a 13-year career in the financial services industry. Brendan holds a BBA in Finance from James Madison University and an MSc in Real Estate Development from Columbia University.
Max Messervy, Senior Associate, Responsible Investment Consultant, Mercer
Max Messervy joined Mercer in February 2018 and is a Senior Investment Consultant in the North American Responsible Investment team. Max has a strong background in environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes, as well as a recognized expertise in the re/insurance sector. Max provides advice on sustainable investment strategies, integration of ESG factors, and sustainability trends throughout investment processes. Max is responsible for advising institutional investors and provides advice to a broad range of clients, including pension funds, endowments, insurers and other stakeholders in the investment value chain. Max was a lead co-author of recent papers on increasing institutional investors’ allocations to African infrastructure, as well as a guide for integrating responsible investment approaches into corporate retirement plans in a project with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Prior to joining Mercer, Max spent nearly four years working in the Insurance practice at Ceres in Boston, a leading non-profit sustainability advocacy organization. In that role, he worked with a range of stakeholders across the industry in making the business case for the sector to address climate and ESG risks and opportunities both as underwriters of weather risk and investors in physical infrastructure. This involved engagement with re/insurers, regulators, non-re/insurer investors and NGOs. Previously, Max worked in various capacities with Canadian federal and provincial governments, and with other environmental and sustainability entities as an independent consultant.
Max holds a Master of Public Policy from the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA, and an Honors Religious Studies degree from McGill University.
Craig Metrick, Managing Director, Cornerstone Capital Group
Craig Metrick is Managing Director at Cornerstone Capital Group, where he oversees the firm’s manager review process and provides investment advisory services for institutional clients. Craig contributes to Cornerstone’s Investment Advisory business by helping to ensure the firm provides clients with a robust investment product solutions suite and by leading and supporting advisory relationships with our foundation, endowment and family office clients.
Previously, Craig was Principal and US Head of Responsible Investment at Mercer, working with a variety of clients — from multibillion-dollar pension plans to smaller institutions. For 18 years, he has consulted on implementing responsible investment principles and mandates. Before joining Mercer in 2006, Craig was a Director at the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), which provided ESG research to institutional investors.
Craig serves as the Chair of the Board of the US Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (US SIF) and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.
Tom Mitchell, Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
Tom is a Managing Director of Cambridge Associates, based in the Arlington, VA office. He advises institutions and families and builds investment portfolios designed to meet financial and impact objectives. Tom is a founding member of Cambridge's Mission-Related Investing (MRI) Practice, a global team that partners with clients to build investment programs that support our communities, environment, and social compact. Beyond portfolio management, Tom also engages in research, writing, and learning with the larger community of impact investors.
Tom has over twenty years of experience in impact and financial sectors, the last eleven of which have been with Cambridge Associates. He joined the firm after completing his graduate studies in business and planning. During this time he was also an analyst with Agora Partnerships, focused on making venture investments with impact entrepreneurs in Central America.
Previously, Tom consulted to the World Bank in Brazil on education investments, spent four years as the Director of Program Development for the nonprofit, KaBOOM!. helped launch the ZOOB play system from start-up stage, served two years as a Team Leader in AmeriCorps NCCC, and began his career in technology marketing.
Tom earned an MBA from Duke University, where he was a CASE Scholar, a Master of Regional Planning (MRP) from UNC Chapel Hill, and an AB from Stanford University.
Will Morgan, Head of Impact, Sonen Capital
Will Morgan leads the effort to define, evaluate and report impact across Sonen Capital's public and private market investment strategies, as well as for Sonen's highly targeted and customized impact investment portfolios. Will provides top-down impact frameworks that inform the investment underwriting process, focusing on identifying thematic social and environmental outcomes and how those outcomes can be achieved through specific investment activities.
As part of communicating the results of Sonen's investments, Will works with underlying investments and managers to improve impact evaluation and measurement systems and processes to enhance the quality and depth of impact data reported to clients. Under Will's leadership, Sonen integrates third-party ESG data into public markets investment impact evaluation, as well as other emerging industry standards such as GIIRS, the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and science-based targets.
Terence “TC” Muhammad, Community Outreach Manager, Hip Hop Caucus
Terence “TC” Muhammad has been a community activist and organizer for over two decades. His experience spans voter mobilization campaigns, issue advocacy, and coalition building in African American communities, faith communities, on college campuses, and among civil rights and progressive organizations.
He works at the intersection of economic justice, criminal justice reform, climate and environmental justice, youth empowerment, and community health. His primary role as Community Outreach Manager for Hip Hop Caucus is to coordinate grassroots mobilizations with advocacy agendas at local, state, and federal levels. This involves working with local and national issue-based coalitions, Hip Hop Caucus’ grassroots leaders, and elected officials to ensure communities’ voices have a say in the policymaking process.
TC has been a key force behind executing many of Hip Hop Caucus’ campaigns, tours, and major events, including: the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2018 Respect My Vote! Campaigns; environmental campaigns including People’s Climate Music, the Hip Hop Caucus Act On Climate HBCU Tour, and the Green the Block campaign; and, the Make Hip Hop Not War Tour for peace and justice.
His entertainment industry expertise includes directing on-the-ground logistics and management for events, concerts, and touring artists, which are services he has provided for such acts as Ludacris, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Biggie, T.I., and Russell Simmons. TC is from and lives in North Carolina and proudly wears the banner of an Aggie having studied Psychology at North Carolina A&T State University. He remains very involved in his local community while raising his son.
Amy Mullen, Chief Development Officer, Root Capital
Amy Mullen joined Root Capital as Chief Development Officer in October 2018, overseeing both fundraising and communications. Utilizing a mix of loan guarantees, philanthropy, and investment capital, Root Capital invests in the growth of agricultural enterprises so they can transform rural communities. With growth, these businesses become engines of impact that can raise incomes, create jobs, empower women and young people, sustain peace and preserve vulnerable ecosystems.
Previously, Amy worked at Oxfam America (2008-2018) as Director, Institutional Support; managing relationships with foundations, corporate funders, and bilateral and multilateral institutions to secure ~ $30 million annually for long-term development and humanitarian response in the US and globally. Prior to Oxfam, Amy was Director of Institutional Giving at the national headquarters of The Trust for Public Land (2002-2008) and managed donor relations at Sierra Club (1998-2002). Collectively, she has more than two decades of experience securing vital financial resources from a range of funders and through a mix of funding mechanisms.
Rudi Navarra, Director of Investments, The Solutions Project
Rudi Navarra works as Director of Investments at The Solutions Project managing grantmaking strategies to advance 100% clean energy for 100% of the people and resourcing frontline leaders for greater policy and movement influence. In 2017, his rapid response grantmaking program was recognized nationally with the Impact Award from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Rudi also leads a national effort to organize philanthropy to increase investments in rural electric cooperatives and communities. Rudi first started as an organizer in Central Florida engaging Latinx communities on immigration, healthcare, digital democracy and civic engagement. Rudi was recently recognized by the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public & International Affairs with the Four Under 40 Award. Follow him on Twitter @LatinoSublime.
Millard "Mitty" Owens, Advisor Program Director, Confluence Philanthropy
Mitty first learned about the power of capital – to create either human advancement or exploitation – during his college years, when he fought for his university to divest from apartheid-era South Africa. Throughout his thirty-year career, he has explored local and international innovations in fighting poverty and promoting economic security. Mitty cut his community development teeth working on community land trusts with the pioneering Institute for Community Economics in western Massachusetts. In 1990, he was blessed with an opportunity to work in Zimbabwe and travel in southern and eastern Africa. For nearly 15 years, he helped lead and fund innovations in community development finance with Self-Help (in North Carolina), the Ford Foundation, and the newly-formed Office of Financial Empowerment under New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
As an adjunct professor at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service, Mitty created a course on the role of public policy in shaping wealth and poverty. Mitty has run his own consulting firm offering facilitation, strategic planning and organizational development to non-profits, and he has served on a number of economic development and social justice boards, including Yale University’s Dwight Hall Center for Public Service and Social Justice, Global Exchange, and Grassroots Leadership. A three-year WK Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship enabled Mitty to explore the intersection of culture and social change.
Mitty is a graduate of Yale University and holds a master’s degree in community economic development. He is a proud Brooklynite and a devoted daddy of a caring, conscious daughter who manifests "Black Girl Magic."
Shilpa Patel, Director of Mission Investing, ClimateWorks Foundation
Shilpa Patel is Director of Mission Investing at ClimateWorks Foundation. She works with partner foundations on the design and implementation of mission investing strategies and programs focused on climate change mitigation. Shilpa has a development banking, project finance and climate policy background. She started her career at the World Bank, where she worked on private sector development across a number of sectors, regions, and economies in transition, and headed the International Finance Corporation’s work on climate strategy and metrics, including understanding the climate change impacts of its activities, as well as the impacts of climate change on private business and IFC’s operations. She has also consulted with a number of organizations on climate finance.
Matthew Patsky, CEO & Managing Partner, Trillium Asset Management
Matthew Patsky is CEO, Managing Partner, and a Portfolio Manager at Trillium Asset Management. He leads Trillium’s Sustainable Opportunities strategy and has over three decades of experience in investment research and investment management.
Matt began his career at Lehman Brothers in 1984 as a Technology analyst. In 1989, while covering emerging growth companies for Lehman, he began to incorporate ESG factors into his research, becoming the first sell side analyst in the United States to publish on the topic of socially responsible investing in 1994. As Director of Equity Research for Adams, Harkness & Hill, he built that firm’s powerful research capabilities in socially and environmentally responsible areas such as renewable energy, resource optimization, and organic and natural products. Matt was most recently at Winslow Management Company in Boston, where he served as Director of Research, Chairman of the Investment Committee, and Portfolio Manager for the Green Solutions Strategy and the Winslow Green Solutions Fund.
Matt is currently on the Boards of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, Shared Interest and Pro Mujer. He has also served on the Boards of US SIF and Root Capital. He is a member of the Social Venture Network (SVN) and the CFA Society Boston. Matt holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Elizabeth Phillips, Executive Director, Phillips Foundation
Elizabeth is a social entrepreneur and Millennial philanthropist at the helm of Phillips Philanthropies, which includes the Phillips Foundation. Since 2013, she has led the Foundation’s implementation of Generational Grants, Original Programs, and Impact Investing, including a Total Portfolio Activation approach. Elizabeth serves as a Governor-appointed Trustee of UNC Greensboro and is on the boards of Women Moving Millions, Texas Women’s Foundation, and Say Yes to Education, along with other affiliations. She has appeared in featured stories on broadcast news and in a variety of publications, including The Financial Times, Barron's, Bloomberg, Dallas Morning News, and Triad Business Journal. Elizabeth and her husband Kevin are cofounders of The ImPact and principals of Phillips Enterprises. They enjoy life with their young family in Dallas, Texas, and Greensboro, North Carolina.
Susan Phinney Silver, Mission Investing Director, David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Susan Phinney Silver is the Mission Investing Director at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. She oversees the Foundation’s $180 million mission investing program, which targets a range of loan and equity investments in the fields of: environmental conservation, climate change, oceans/fisheries, U.S. health care access, international reproductive health and rights, children’s education and issues in the U.S., and local Bay Area initiatives. Before joining Packard, Susan consulted with the MacArthur Foundation and California Community Foundation on their PRI programs, among other social investment and nonprofit clients. For 13 years previous to that, at The Development Fund in San Francisco, she led the creation of innovative financing programs that generated over $600 million in new private investment nationally from banks, insurance companies, and other corporations for funds targeted to: affordable housing, community economic development, and environmental clean-up. Earlier in her career, Susan was an overseas auditor for Catholic Relief Services in Africa, and a consultant with McKinsey & Company in New York. She has an undergraduate degree from Princeton and an MBA from Yale School of Management. She enjoys exploring nature with her family, including hiking, camping, and kayaking.
Tom Potter, Co-founder and President, New York Distilling Company
Tom Potter is co-founder and President of the New York Distilling Company. Its award-winning products include Dorothy Parker Gin, Ragtime Rye Whiskey; and Mr. Katz’s Rock & Rye. All rye used is proudly New York grown.
Tom was an early investor in and currently serves on the boards of Brooklyn Roasting Company and Ample Hills Creamery. Both are based in Brooklyn and are among the regional leaders in their market segments. Tom’s previous business experience includes co-founding The Brooklyn Brewery in 1987. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, guiding the company to $20 million in annual sales, until selling his voting shares and retiring in 2004. Tom has been profiled in Fortune, Forbes, Inc., The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. The Brooklyn Brewery remains the largest craft brewery in the New York region and is among the most honored craft breweries in the world. In addition to its well-known brewing operations, under Tom The Brooklyn Brewery also created one of the first and largest specialty beer distributors in the U.S., with operations in New York and Massachusetts.
Tom received his BA from Yale and MBA from Columbia. Before starting The Brooklyn Brewery, he was an Assistant Vice President at Chemical Bank, where as a loan officer he financed the acquisition of assets valued in excess of $1.5 billion. He also served as Executive Director of the American Institute of Wine & Food, a national membership culinary organization founded by Robert Mondavi and Julia Child. He is currently Chairman of the AIWF Foundation and is co-author of the book “Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery” (foreword by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg; John Wiley & Sons). Tom is active in Brooklyn community affairs, especially in waterfront activities. He is co-founder of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse and is managing partner of Brooklyn Kayak Guides. He is a certified whitewater and coastal kayaking instructor.
Dr. Divine Pryor, Executive Director, Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions
Dr. Divine Pryor serves as the Executive Director of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, an independent research, training and advocacy think tank that applies Human Justice to achieve public safety, racial equity, community investment, human development and well-being in society. Founded and developed by academic professionals with prior experience within the criminal punishment system, the organization is the first of its kind in the country.
Dr. Pryor is a social scientist with extensive knowledge and expertise in the criminal justice, health and social service fields, having spent over half his career administering HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, substance abuse and other social service non-profits. He has traveled extensively providing counsel and technical assistance on criminal justice issues to judges, prosecutors, correctional staff and other system stakeholders for the purpose of influencing policy decisions. In addition, he has developed trainings and workshops for professionals that address issues such as anti-gang initiatives, poverty, literacy, unemployment, housing and healthcare.
He is a highly sought after technical assistance provider who continues to work with various non-profit and governmental agencies to build infrastructure, program capacity and innovative solutions.
In 2001, Dr. Pryor was appointed by the Council of State Governors to the National Re-entry Policy Council where he and over 100 national experts produced the most voluminous work in re-entry in the nation. Dr. Pryor has also served on the advisory board of the DC Pre-Trial Services Agency, NYC Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Re-entry program of the Kings County Prosecutor office. Dr. Pryor currently serves as a member of the Mayor of New Yorks subcommittee on pre-arraignment/arrest.
In 2009, Dr. Pryor was appointed by the Majority Leader of the New York State Senate to co-chair the New York State Anti-Gang Violence Reduction Commission. In 2016 he was appointed as chair of the NYC Criminal Justice Clergy Taskforce and Co-Founded the Peoples Police Academy. In addition, Dr. Pryor is an active member of a number of local, regional & national legislative, social and political advocacy groups whose focus is to achieve de-carceration through community development.