Place-Based Investing Track

Active Owners Breakfast | Secrets in the Islands: Predatory Money in the Caribbean (Wednesday, February 26th | 8:00 AM)
Organized with The Ocean Foundation and the Active Owners Steering Committee

Predatory capital is hidden in offshore accounts across the Caribbean. Among these types of holdings, hedge funds count foundations, endowments, foreign governments, and central banks as part of their clientele. Perhaps unwitting to investors, some have speculated in Puerto Rico’s debt and forced policy changes in their financial favor. As just one example, the bet against Puerto Rico cost lives. This panel will explore these dangerously damaging practices and what investors can do to protect their values and bring dark money to light.

Speakers:

• Mark Spalding, President, Ocean Foundation and Confluence Board Chair (moderator)

• Myrna Rivera, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Consultiva Internacional Inc. (“Consultiva”)

• Edward Tillinghast, Board Member , Ocean Foundation

Love and Resilience in the Decisive Decade (Wednesday, February 26th | 6:00 PM)
Organized with the Hip Hop Caucus

Join us for a unique evening discussion that captures the spirit of revolution amidst growing global, grassroots movements for sustainability and justice. Whether Divest Invest, Black Lives Matter, #Metoo, or Fridays for the Future, social campaigns are often the first to shine a light on inequity or environmental abuse, raising awareness and inspiring others to join in demanding a meaningful response from the private and public sectors. Investors and philanthropists are uniquely positioned to bolster social, economic, and political movements by leveraging capital and influence to support transformative change. This special evening event will explore and honor the significant role that civil society movements play in shaping the emergent environmental and economic narratives of this critical era. How we can support them?

Opening Remarks | Gabe Gonzalez, Writer and Comedian

Keynote | Luis Miranda Jr, Founding Partner, the MirRam Group, and Philanthropist

Panel Conversation

• Luis Miranda Jr, Founding Partner, the MirRam Group, and Philanthropist (Moderator)

• May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org

• Gabe Gonzalez, Writer and Comedian

• Christine Nieves, Co-founder and President, Emerge Puerto Rico

• Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President and CEO of the, Hip Hop Caucus

• Special Message from Bill McKibben, Co-founder and Senior Advisor, 350.org

Special Breakfast Session | Investing in the Future of Puerto Rico (Thursday, February 27th | 7:30 AM)

Please join Islanders for a spirited early morning conversation about how to partner with local businesses and investment managers. This will be a discussion on both the grantmaking and investment sides of the balance sheet. Please feel free to bring your questions, ideas, and willingness to build connections!

Speakers:

• Ramphis Castro, Co-Founder and General Partner, ScienceVest (Moderator)

• Luis Alberto Ferré Rangel, Chief Social Innovation Officer, Grupo Ferré Rangel

• Karina Claudio Betancourt, Director, Open Society Foundations’ Puerto Rico Project

• Adrian Franco, Ph.D., Officer & Director of Community Development Finance (CoDeFi), Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Tales from the Fire: Place-Based Climate Investing for a Just Transition (Thursday, February 27th | 10:45 AM)
Organized with Coastal Enterprises Inc (CEI)

The benefits of climate action align with many investors’ focuses on rural and urban economies, environmental justice, and resilience of low-income communities. However, opportunities that align investor needs with viable solutions are few. In this session, we will review three local deals through the lens of a CDFI, a place-based foundation and international investment fund manager. Together they will examine how to leverage capital based upon fair transition principles. The session will highlight the value of place-based knowledge, technical assistance, and enabling policy in helping advance clean energy investment.

Speakers:

• Catherine Godschalk, Vice President of Investments, Calvert Impact Capital (Moderator)

• Dr. Nelson Colon, President, Puerto Rico Community Foundation

• John Egan, Chief Investment Officer, Coastal Enterprises Inc (CEI)

• Justin Maxson, Executive Director, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

Eradicating Poverty by Working with Policy (Thursday, February 27th | 10:45 AM)
Organized with Libra Foundation

The fact that virtually all of Puerto Rico has qualified as an Opportunity Zone (OZ) is a stark reminder of the persistent, omnipresent US contradiction of deep poverty amidst great wealth and resources. Does the OZ approach offer the desired balance of positive return for both investors and communities? What other examples of programs are there that facilitate investment in ways that promote sustainable and equitable economic development? This session will dive deeper into the evolving geography of poverty and into the ways that federal or local programs can further equitable economic development.

Speakers:

• Lisa Mensah, President & CEO, Opportunity Finance Network (Moderator)

• Andrew Harris, Principal, North Sky Capital

• Jerry Maldonado, Director of Cities and States, Ford Foundation

• David Sand, Chief Impact Strategist, Community Capital Management

• Morgan Simon, Founding Partner, Candide Group, Libra Foundation

Resilience is the New Sustainability (Thursday, February 27th | 10:45 AM)
Organized with Natural Investments, Tides, and Root Capital

The climate crisis is here, and rapidly implementing effective adaptation and resilience strategies is among the world’s most urgent challenges—especially for the most vulnerable populations who did little to cause this crisis, but now must face its consequences. Join us for a discussion to better understand what resilience means with the help of some frameworks, and to self-identify synergies in each of our work. We will have deep conversations around resilience in agriculture and energy systems, in addition to perspectives around capital access and policy environment.

Speakers:

• Peter Martin, Philanthropic Director, Tides (Moderator)

• Michael Kramer, Managing Partner, Natural Investments

• Arturo Massol-Deyá, Founder, Casa Pueblo

• Amy Mullen, Chief Development Officer, Root Capital

Field Trip: Investing in a Just Transition in Puerto Rico: An Estuary Exploration by Boat (Thursday, February 27th | 12:30 PM)

Join practitioners in a shared learning opportunity to explore local solutions to resilience among communities in the environmentally degraded Caño Martín Peña neighborhood, a 3.5-mile long natural tidal channel that is part of the San Juan Bay Estuary. The region is the only tropical estuary within the EPA's National Estuary Program, and was among the most affected regions during Hurricanes Irma and María. The trip, in partnership with Proyecto ENLACE, a prominent non-profit, and Excursiones ECO, a community micro-enterprise committed to the restoration of Caño Martín Peña and San Juan Bay Estuary, will include a boat trip through the estuary to discuss the area history, followed by a bus tour that explores various neighborhood interventions.   

Tour Leaders:

• Melba Ayala, Co-founder, Excursiones ECO

• Dan Chu, Executive Director, Sierra Club Foundation

• Mario Núñez Mercado, Executive Director, Corporación del Proyecto ENLACE

• Lucy Cruz Rivera, President, G-8

• Estrella D. Santiago Pérez, J.D., Environmental Affairs Manager, Corporación del Proyecto ENLACE

Field Trip: Investing in Island Entrepreneurship (Thursday, February 27th | 12:30 PM)

The last decade has seen the emergence of new vision and commitment to local economic development. The Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, a small business incubator and accelerator in Santurce, houses an intensive training program and venture fund for high-impact start-ups. Also offered is a local pre-acceleration program focused on helping early-stage Puerto Rican startups that have global potential, to get to market. Field trip participants will hear from entrepreneurs and key partners nurturing investment innovation. The trip will be flexibly structured to enable those who wish to remain after the first half to further engage, while others will be able to depart and walk to La Placita, the 100-year old market that anchors food and nightlife– where we host the trip’s final half hour debrief.

Tour Leaders:

• Ricardo Burgos, Consultant, Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust

• Marie Custodio, Outreach Manager, Parallel 18

• Andreica Maldonado, Grants Program Director, Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust

Field Trip: Exploring the Investable Landscape: Hike El Yunque National Forest (Thursday, February 27th | 12:30 PM)

The IPCC report “Climate Change & Land,” released in August 2019, emphasized the critical role of land management to curtail the impending climate crises. This report was a call to action for investors to mobilize capital towards land based climate solutions. With the world’s forests at the heart of those solutions, this field trip will take attendees on a hiking tour through trails of 28,000 Acre El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rain forest in the US. The trip will be led by a local tour guide, with expert investor insights from EcoTrust.

Tour Leaders:

• Kim Foley, Director, Investor Relations, Ecotrust Forest Management (EFM)

• Jorge A. Montalvo, Professional Tour Guide Founder, Patria Tours

• Dr. Tamara Heartsill Scalley, Research Ecologist, International Institute of Tropical Forestry

Field Trip: How a Disaster Seeded a Local Food Movement (Thursday, February 27th | 12:30 PM)
Organized with the Ocean Foundation

Hurricanes Irma and Maria destroyed an estimated 80% of Puerto Rico’s crops and farmland. However, Puerto Rico has continued to develop its food economy, increasing the amount of locally grown food on the island. How are these after effects a model for ecological resilience, sustainability, and community empowerment? This field trip will feature local producers with a unique story to offer investors, relevant to Puerto Rico and beyond. Conservación Con Ciencia will guide our visit to the Naguabo Fishing Cooperative, a commercial fishing cooperative that has made fishing more sustainable from the catch to consumption. Participants will gain a comprehensive view of the strengths and challenges for local fishermen and residents more than two years after the natural disasters.

Tour Leaders:

• Jason Donofrio, External Relations Officer, Ocean Foundation

• Raimundo Espinoza, Founder and Executive Director, Conservación ConCiencia

• Isabel Rullán, Co-Founder and Executive Director, ConPRmetidos

• Naguabo Fishing Cooperative