2017 Rocky Mountain Who’s Who in Impact Investing
The first edition of Who’s Who in Impact Investing: Rocky Mountain Region, published in 2017 as a sponsored supplement to the Denver Business Journal in partnership with Impact Finance Center, CO Impact Days and CO Impact Initiative.
Letter from the Founder
As the founder and Executive Director of Impact Finance Center (IFC) and CO Impact Days and Initiative, it is my pleasure to introduce this incredible collaboration with DBJ to celebrate Who’s Who in Impact Investing: Rocky Mountain Region!
IFC is a nonprofit academic center dedicated to catalyzing investments that produce enduring value for the investor, society, and the environment. Over the past 3 years our efforts have been supported by over 100 foundations, investors, and philanthropists, including our lead supporters for 2017 Zoma Foundation, The Anschutz Foundation, The Piton Foundation at Gary Community Investments, Colorado Health Foundation, and MacArthur Foundation.
Impact investing refers to investments made into companies, organizations, projects and funds with the intention to generate a measurable financial return and beneficial social, environmental, and community impact. And it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that Colorado is a leader in the impact investing movement.
Generally, when I explain the hurdles to building the infrastructure to support impact investing in our, I’ll refer to Henry Ford, who once famously said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Instead? He gave them the car and the world was forever changed.
Investors and philanthropists often don’t know what they’re missing if they haven’t yet tried impact investing. So, how do we teach traditional investors and philanthropists that they can crave more from their capital deployment than simply “faster horses”?
We start by creating low-cost, low risk steps for philanthropists and investors to make their first impact investments. Why? Because when you do ‘one’, you do ‘two’. We call these steps “Impact Commitments”, and they are a key ingredient in enabling a first successful impact investment (which can range from screening your public investments, upgrading your investment portfolio to include decision based attribution evaluation, or doing a first direct investment). We’ve been moving investors forward with these commitments since our inception.
The next key step is to develop a phonebook of key players in the movement and marketplace.
When Denver Business Journal agreed to partner with us on this project, we were thrilled. A centralized phonebook of impact investing experts, in the form of this Who’s Who list and online map, will help to ensure that any individual or institution looking to take their first steps into impact investing has the ability to connect to qualified professionals and businesses quickly and efficiently.
We believe that when would-be impact investors have access to this information, they will be more likely to make their first investment sooner and with greater confidence. And that’s better for everyone.
Thus - it is with great enthusiasm that Impact Finance Center announces the launch of the first of its kind partnership with Denver Business Journal to curate a Who’s Who of Impact Investing: Rocky Mountain Region. We extend our warmest congratulations to all who have been highlighted, and encourage you to keep building the phonebook!
— Dr. Stephanie Gripne
Case Studies in Impact Investing
Kenneth King Foundation, a Private Foundation, Invests in Colorado Lending Source
From 2000-2010 less than 500 of the 76,000 private foundations in the U.S. have used one of the most unique tools in their toolbox: a program related investment (PRI). PRIs allow foundations to make a gift, grant, or loan to a for-profit entity or fund if that entity and gift furthers the charitable mission of the foundation. Of the small but growing list in Colorado, Kenneth King Foundation, a Denver-based private foundation, led by Janice Fritsch, joins the Colorado Health Foundation, Piton Foundation & Gary Community Investments, and the Colorado Trust in leading the way using PRIs to leverage foundation resources.
For Kenneth King Foundation – focused on ‘Improving Lives with Access to Meaningful Employment, Entrepreneurism, Education and Basic Human Services’ – PRIs can diversify the tools leveraged, and increase the funds available, to create good jobs in Colorado by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship.
The Foundation found that a PRI was the ideal funding tool support the nonprofit Colorado Lending Source, which launched its Main Street “Character” Loans in 2012, to address the fact that many potential entrepreneurs – especially Millennials, women, and immigrants – cannot get a traditional loan due to their credit scores. Instead, Main Street loans are awarded based on character – a mix of stability, focus, and passion that they say you can see in a potential investee when you meet them.
It’s old-school banking, and it’s working with a low 3% default rate over 70 loans since the organization’s inception. Main Street Loans typically range from $5,000 to $50,000.
That’s why the Kenneth King Foundation was willing to take a chance by investing $100,000 to fuel three Main Street “Character” Loans at an average of $30,000 to promising start-ups last year. Kenneth King President Janice Fritsch approached Colorado Lending Source after learning of its sponsorship of Trout Tank, Denver’s entrepreneurial pitch accelerator. The Foundation was seeking opportunities to prove its own impact investing model.
Loans generated by Kenneth King support went to: 1) Seed Social & Creative: a Millennial to help launch a social media business; 2) Sweet Sweetz Ice Cream & Deserts: two sisters opening an ice cream shop between schools in their underserved neighborhood: and 3) CG Habitats: an outdoor clothing company whose credit score had suffered during the recession but whose products are selling on a national scale.
Executive Director Mike O’Donnell has spent years supporting small businesses and generating competition. But equally important, he says, is that the Main Street “Character” Loans identify people who are passionate about their work, happy in what they do – and that makes for a more vibrant community.
With much of the financial lending and education that Colorado Lending Source does already sustainable, he and his team are now looking for new funding for the next round of Main Street “Character” Loans.
Colorado Lending Source is a nonprofit dedicated to helping inspired people create thriving businesses with funding, education and resources. Learn more at www.coloradolendingsource.org.
Closed Loop Ventures, an Impact Investing Fund, Makes an Impact Investment into Rebound Technologies
What do Walmart, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCO, Keurig, Goldman Sachs, have to do with impact investing and climate mitigation? These Fortune 100 and 500 firms recently invested in the Closed Loop Fund (either through their corporate foundation using a Program Related Investment (PRI) or treasury) in order to create a low-cost debt fund for municipalities to borrow to upgrade their recycling infrastructure. Such investments reduce waste, create new resources, save energy, and build brand.
After successfully launching the Closed Loop Fund, Closed Loop Partners launched Closed Loop Ventures (CLV). CLV is an early-stage equity investment fund focused on sustainable consumer goods, advanced recycling technologies and services that further the circular economy.
According to Project Drawdown, a climate change mitigation initiative, improving refrigeration management and reducing food waste are the number one and number three most substantive solutions to global warming, respectively. That’s one reason that Closed Loop Ventures (CLV) considered an equity investment in Denver-based Rebound Technologies an exciting and lucrative opportunity. Its team saw Rebound as ideal for one of its early impact investments – catalyzing a significant climate change mitigation impact and reducing food waste while simultaneously delivering a high potential for impressive financial return.
CLV was able to validate the supply chain opportunity and impact with its unique network of food and retail companies. “Rebound Technologies directly addresses a huge driver of waste in the food supply chain-inefficiencies in the freezing process between the farm and the retailer,” says Rob Kaplan, CLV managing director. “Based on our work with retailers and consumer product companies, we believe there is a strong demand for this technology.”
Founded in 2012, Rebound’s IcePoint technology is a liquid sub-cooling product plugs into existing industrial freezer systems and provides the control to deploy bursts of high capacity cooling, ideal for speeding up blast freezing services and mitigating peak energy expenses. No other cooling technology offers this control and Rebound accomplishes it with a 40 percent efficiency gain. Facilities not only realize a boost in revenue from increased product throughput, but they also benefit from decreased energy expenses while helping support food waste diversion.
Rebound has partnered with Lineage Logistics, one of the largest cold storage and logistics companies in the United States, to pilot IcePoint. Shipping out in November, this commercial pilot is a critical step towards optimizing IcePoint for industrial applications, a process that can lead to $275K in increased earnings per unit for Lineage along with over 2,200 tons of potential food waste diverted.
The equity investment made by CLV adds to a mix of support that also includes government grant funding from the National Science Foundation, USAID, the Department of Energy, among others. By diversifying its source of funding to include impact investments, Rebound was able to raise enough to complete research and development, pilot its product with paying customers, building its brand and creating a strong foundation from which to scale globally.
Through additional investments like Rebound, Closed Loop Ventures and its parent investment firm anticipate helping to: eliminate 40 million tons of greenhouse gases, improve recycling for more than 18 million households, divert more than 20 million cumulative tons of waste from landfills, and save nearly $60 million for US cities.
To learn more about Rebound, go to http://rebound-tech.com. Or explore the Closed Loop Ventures portfolio of impact investments at www.closedlooppartners.com/closed-loop-ventures/.
Nicole Bagley, a Donor, Trustee, and Investor, Makes Her First Impact Investing into Technology Company Silvernest
Nicole Bagley is an entrepreneur and the trustee of three family foundations. Her first impact investment followed her participation in CO Impact Days and Initiative where she learned about potential investment opportunities and how to make direct impact investments into social ventures. “What’s different about the Impact Finance Center and CO Impact Days and Initiative,” says Nicole, “is that instead of managing money, they are a non profit academic center supported by donors and foundations. IFC works to help others participate in impact investments without the conflict of interests of trying to sell you a service or product.”
Her first direct investment was into Silvernest – a woman founded and led, Colorado-based social venture serving the growing aging population. Silvernest successfully leveraged impact investing to scale its business.
Silvernest offers a unique, affordable solution designed to help address the growing housing needs and concerns for the aging generation. Successful roommate matches help yield income for the homeowner, affordability for the housemate, and economic efficiency for both parties as well as companionship and connectivity which contribute to longevity. Silvernest addresses this need by seamlessly matching and connecting individuals who want to share a home via its safe and secure online platform and unique compatibility matching service.
Co-founders Wendi Burkhardt and Chuck and Debra McKenney bootstrapped the launch of Silvernest in 2015, with a combined personal investment of $200,000. They then sought additional seed capital to further validate the proof of concept in the Denver Metro Area and to refine the user experience and marketing tactics to ensure the ability to seamlessly scale into their next eight target markets.
When Silvernest attended CO Impact Days in March 2016, the team was working to secure $200,000 to close out an initial financing round of $300,000. The first $100,000 had already been secured employing a Convertible Note. As a result of participating in CO impact Days 2016, with additional assistance from the Impact Finance Center, Silvernest attracted six impact investors who invested a total $155,000 of a total raise of $1.3 million since then.
This funding empowered Silvernest to serve communities across Colorado, as well as the major metro areas of Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Tampa, and Phoenix. The next phase of expansion will include San Francisco, Seattle, East Lansing, Boston, and Santa Clara Valley.
The venture is now generating enough revenue from its homeowner memberships and background screenings that the goal of offsetting expenses for customer acquisition and direct costs is within reach. But it still requires new sources of funding for product enhancements as well as brand, market and service expansion.
This year, at CO impact Days, both Nicole and the Silvernest team will be back – again seeking investments and investment dollars, but also as veterans of impact investing. They will lead discussions on their experiences through the uniquely aligned connections they made through CO Impact Days.
Learn more about Silvernest at www.silvernest.com.
The Denver Foundation, a Community Foundation, Makes an Impact Investment into Prodigy Ventures
While community foundations have had the ability to make direct investments into social ventures (e.g. projects, nonprofits, for profits, and funds) that support the mission of the foundation since 1969 (with both their unrestricted endowment dollars and their hundreds of donor advised fund dollars), Colorado’s 18 community foundations are still just starting to use this tool. In the last few years, Rose Community Foundation, Community First Foundation, Telluride Foundation, and The Denver Foundation are four of Colorado’s community foundations that have been making direct impact investments. Last year, The Denver Foundation invested in Prodigy Coffeehouse. Prodigy Coffeehouse is not your average neighborhood café. It’s located in a Northeast Denver neighborhood often neglected by similar businesses and where the unemployment rate is high. As important, Prodigy is a nonprofit venture whose baristas come from the neighborhood’s vulnerable youth population to learn job skills while earning a wage.
Since opening its doors in July 2016, 47 low-income, disadvantaged youth age 18-24 have gone through its pre-apprenticeship program, and Prodigy has trained and hired 15 young people as full-service baristas. Today, not only can you purchase a perfectly poured latte, but the apprentice baristas can host your after-hour events for up to 100 people as well.
One more difference? If you take a look at Prodigy’s funding model, you find a unique mix of traditional grants and impact investments in the form of loans with the expectation of financial return.
It took founders Steph and Hillary Frances about a year and a half to raise enough funding to open Prodigy Coffee. As youth development experts, not experienced business owners, they started with foundation grants. That’s when The Denver Foundation opened a new door through impact investing.
The Denver Foundation’s Impact Investment Fund uses low-interest loans and investments, rather than grants, to advance the Foundation’s mission. Other recent investments by the Fund include: 1) the Rocky Mountain Microfinance Institute, a nonprofit that provides learning, lending, and coaching to grow Community Entrepreneurs, and 2) Community Enterprise Development Services (CEDS), which helps immigrant and refugee families in Aurora start and grow businesses.
Impressed with the Prodigy team and concept, the Foundation offered the startup a funding package that combined an initial $20K grant through its Economic Opportunity Community Grant Program, which was re-upped in 2017 for $25k based on the coffee shop’s strong financial and social performance; and a $25K loan at 3 percent interest for 5 years, with interest only for the first two years.
In addition, members of The Denver Foundation’s Impact Investment Committee provided guidance in creating a business model that would work. Without The Denver Foundation’s creative approach to mixing grant and investment funding, Prodigy would not have opened when it did, depriving its youth apprentices of training and income and the community around its location at 40th and Colorado of a top-notch coffee shop.
A year later, named ‘Best New Coffee Shop’ by Westword, Prodigy and its team of apprentice baristas are thriving in a world where only about one-fifth of service businesses survive their first year. In fact, in its first six months, Prodigy earned enough revenue to cover almost 75% of its operating costs.
Visit Prodigy Coffee at www.prodigyventures.org for a lovely cup of coffee, to support Denver’s youth, or to put on your next event. And learn more about The Denver Foundation’s Impact Investing Fund at www.denverfoundation.org/Community/Impact-Investing.
The 2017 Honorees (77)
Listed by the supplement’s directory categories, in the order printed. Contact details (addresses, phone numbers, emails, websites) are omitted.
Academic Centers
Kristin Giant, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Impact Finance Center
Education: JD, University of St. Thomas School of Law; BS, College of Charleston
Expertise: Giant assists corporate and nonprofit clients with a variety of matters, including implementing impact investing strategies, the formation of new entities, corporate and nonprofit governance, strategic planning, social media marketing and web analytics, fundraising, and social enterprise. She brings nearly a decade of experience in fundraising, marketing, and nonprofit management, paired with legal expertise and a passion for applying for-profit efficiencies to nonprofit ventures.
Jeremy Keele, President/CEO, The Sorenson Impact Center
Education: JD, New York University; Masters in Public Administration, Harvard’s Kennedy School
Expertise: Keele’s work at the Sorenson Impact Center is dedicated to advising stakeholders from philanthropy, government, investment, and nonprofits on innovative and data-driven approaches to solving difficult social problems in their communities. Under Jeremy’s leadership, the Center has grown from three employees in 2014 to 35 in 2017, with an additional 50 graduate and undergraduate student fellows working on live projects and investments around the world every year.
David Miller, Executive Director, Barton Institute for Philanthropy and Social Enterprise
Expertise: After serving as CEO of The Denver Foundation for 20 years, Miller went to the University of Denver and started the Barton Institute for Philanthropy and Social Enterprise in 2016. The Barton Institute now has several projects up and running, including the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab in partnership with the Governor’s Office, an interdisciplinary Social Enterprise Fellowship, and test programs regarding tiny homes and restorative practices.
Accelerators & Incubators
Ross Baird, Founder, Village Capital
Education: University of Oxford, University of Virginia
Expertise: Baird is the founder of Village Capital, an organization that democratizes entrepreneurship by investing in under-capitalized people, places, and industries. Village Capital has been one of the most active impact investors worldwide over the past decade.
Tom Base, Managing Director, Boomtown
Education: MBA, BS
Expertise: Investments in healthcare innovations.
Graham Forman, Founder/Managing Director, Edovate Capital
Education: MBA, University of California at Los Angeles; BA, University of Chicago
About: Edovate Capital is a seed and early stage venture capital company whose leadership invests in companies that lead innovation in the education market. We know firsthand the pains and gains of growing early-stage companies into successful firms and we have passion and experience in the education market. We look for outstanding people to partner with for the long term who have products or services that will transform education.
Mike Freeman, General Partner, Innosphere Fund
Education: MPA, George Washington University; University of North Carolina
Expertise: General Partner in Innosphere’s seed stage venture fund. The fund invests in Innosphere client companies.
Dave Harris, Director of Operations, Rockies Venture Club
About: Rockies Venture Club is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization that has been working to connect investors and entrepreneurs in Colorado since 1985. Since 2014, RVC has pitched several hundred companies to our Angel investor chapters around the state, with over $35 million of investment. Rockies Venture Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit centered on education for entrepreneurs and investors.
Jesse Johnson, Founder, Telluride Venture Accelerator & YX Ventures
Education: MES & MBA, Yale University; BA, Princeton University
About: Telluride Venture Accelerator is a startup accelerator based in Telluride; 100+ jobs created, 80% in CO; 35 graduating companies; 100+ mentor network. YX Ventures is a $5m In early stage venture fund focused on companies with positive social or environmental impact potential.
Elizabeth Kraus, Co-Founder/Chief Investment Officer, MergeLane
Expertise: A venture fund for high-growth startups with at least one female in leadership. Kraus is an active angel investor, startup mentor and advisor, and has been very involved in the state and national effort to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem and mobilize angel investors.
Elizabeth Marsh, Director, SCAPE | SW Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs
About: The Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs works to launch startup companies by providing access to equity funding and mentoring, and being the hub of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in our area.
Accountants
Greg Anton, Chairman and CEO, ACM (Denver/Boulder/Northern Colorado/Laramie, WY)
Education: University of Northern Colorado
About: Accountants and Consultants
Kim Ryan, Partner/Vice-Chair, Not-for-Profit Services, RubinBrown
About: We provide audit, tax and consulting services to not-for-profit organizations.
Timothy Woods, Managing Director/Shareholder, CBIZ Mayer Hoffman McCann
Education: MBA/MSF and BSBA - Accounting
About: CBIZ Mayer Hoffman McCann is the 10th largest Business Advisory Services and Accounting Firm in the nation. Woods leads the audit/consulting practice for the Denver office and offers attestation and transaction advisory services to middle market companies primarily in the technology, manufacturing, retail and distribution, AEC, and business services sectors.
Banks
Ivan Frishberg, Vice President, Sustainability Banking, Amalgamated Bank (Washington, DC)
Expertise: Frishberg works across the bank on a range of banking, investment and lending products designed to serve sustainability goals and the goals of our clients in the energy, climate and environment communities. He has more than 25 years of public interest advocacy, organizing and policy experience. He sits on numbers boards for state and national advocacy organizations.
Susan Graf, Vice President/Regional Development Manager, New Resource Bank
Education: MBA, University of Colorado
Expertise: Graf is establishing a market presence in Colorado for New Resource Bank, a B Corp that serves values-driven clients that are building a better world. The bank is changing the way people think about money by putting deposits to work for good in organizations serving people and the planet.
Community Development Financial Institutions & Small Business Development Corporations
Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO, Nonprofit Finance Fund
Education: Masters in Public Administration, Princeton University; BA Political Science and International Relations, Yale University
About: Financing helps nonprofits and social enterprises bring opportunities and hope to people in low- and middle-income communities. A pioneer US Community Development Financial Institution, we have provided $620 million in financing and access to additional capital in support of over $2.3 billion in projects for thousands of organizations nationwide. We are actively looking for borrowers in a range of sectors including healthcare, education, workforce development, and human services.
Deb Nelson, Vice President, Client and Community Engagement, RSF Social Finance
Education: MBA, Kellogg Graduate School of Management; BA English, Northwestern University
Expertise: Nelson leads RSF’s Integrated Capital Fellowship, Women’s Capital Collaborative, and Money to Transform Initiative. She is passionate about economic justice, women’s empowerment, and courageous leadership. Nelson was executive director of Social Venture Network, a community of mission-driven entrepreneurs and impact investors, for 15 years.
Mike O’Donnell, Executive Director, Colorado Lending Source
Education: MBA, Australian Graduate School of Management
About: Colorado Lending Source is a mission-based, nonprofit lender and educator. We facilitate several loan programs including the Colorado Main Street small business loan program that provides character-based micro loans to small businesses unable to access reasonably priced financing from any other sources.
Ceyl Prinster, President/CEO, Colorado Enterprise Fund
Education: BA in English and Theology (Phi Beta Kappa), University of Notre Dame; extensive additional coursework in Business and Accounting; CFA professional designation
About: Colorado Enterprise Fund is an award-winning nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution that was founded in 1976 to help build prosperous, diverse and equitable communities, and has provided more than $64 million in financing to over 2,100 Colorado small businesses. As the chief executive of CEF for over 25 years, Prinster was a pioneer in microlending and is a national leader in community development finance in the small business, microenterprise and healthy foods sectors.
Joe Rowan, Director of Programs & Development, Mile High Community Loan Fund
Education: BS Real Estate & Finance, Colorado State University
About: MHCLF offers early stage, bridge and construction financing for developers of housing and community facilities that serve low and moderate-income households. Through its Funding Partners subsidiary, programs deliver financial products direct to consumers seeking to purchase or rehabilitate their home. FP recently introduced a loan program specifically for manufactured home communities and residents.
Community Foundations & Impact Investing Support Organization Donor Advised Fund Providers
Sally Boulter, Senior Engagement Officer, ImpactAssets
Education: Hamilton College
Expertise: Boulter works with ImpactAssets clients to align money with missions and ensure the highest possible level of engagement for their philanthropic and investment capital.
Ed Briscoe, Founder/President, Impact Charitable
Education: MBA in Strategy and Finance, Vanderbilt University; BS in Business Management, Samford University
About: Impact Charitable’s mission is to free up philanthropic capital to fuel innovative investments designed to solve the most pressing problems in our donor’s communities. Briscoe has over 15 years of experience in affordable housing and low-income community investment, facilitating over $300 million to create positive social and environmental impact.
Lauren Casteel, President/CEO, The Women’s Foundation of Colorado
About: A unique community foundation focused on building a more prosperous Colorado for us all through the advancement and acceleration of economic opportunity for women and their families. We are proud that one of our philanthropic tools is gender-lens investing through not only our unitized pool, but also a special SRI 100% gender-lens fund for our donor advised fund investors.
Ella Fahrlander, Vice President Community Engagement, Community Foundation of Northern Colorado
Education: MBA, University of Colorado Colorado, graduation Dec. 2017; BS in Business Administration, Colorado State University
Expertise: Fahrlander leads the events and communications team and carries out fund development efforts with a focus on our region’s nonprofits sector. She also provides leadership to the Nonprofit Loan Fund, the Foundation’s role of Regional Champion for Colorado Gives, and supports Foundation initiatives and projects that advance community leadership efforts.
Kate Krebs Lyda, Philanthropic Services Director/Impact Investing Specialist, The Denver Foundation
Education: MBA, Washington University in St. Louis (expected ’19); MNM, Regis University; BA, University of Colorado at Denver
Expertise: Lyda co-leads The Denver Foundation’s impact investing program to improve lives for Metro Denver residents through economic opportunity, basic human needs, education, and leadership & equity. She also works with individuals, families and businesses to achieve their philanthropic goals and their charitable impact investing strategies.
Marla Williams, President/CEO, Community First Foundation
Education: JD, Harvard Law School; AB, Indiana University
Expertise: Williams joined Community First Foundation in November 2010. The Foundation has been helping generous donors and innovative nonprofits come together to improve the quality of life and create positive change in Jefferson County, the Denver metropolitan area and beyond since 1975.
Family Offices
Jim Davidson, President, PeakChange
About: We seek to build the field of Impact Investing in Colorado and globally. Our vision is of a sustainable, regenerative, and inclusive economy in service to people and our mission is to demonstrate this possibility through our own investments and work with values-aligned organizations. We have funded several innovative startups in Colorado. We also actively partner with key organizations in the Colorado social venture space.
Andrew McGregor, Managing Director, McGregor & Associates
Funds
Marcia Cohen, Director of Finance and Administration, TBL Fund
Education: Masters of Accountancy, University of Denver; Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science, University of Denver
About: TBL Fund is a CDFI that finances green upgrades in multifamily affordable housing properties in Colorado and New Mexico.
Robert Kaplan, Managing Partner, Closed Loop Partners (New York, NY)
Education: Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley
Expertise: Closed Loop Partners invests in companies, technology, and infrastructure to optimize supply chains, turn waste into value, and advance the circular company. Closed Loop Fund invests in sustainable materials, advanced recycling systems, and infrastructure. The fund is unique in that the LP’s are exclusively the world’s largest retailers and consumer goods companies. Closed Loop Ventures invests in early stage companies that optimize consumer product supply chains.
Jeramy Lund, Managing Director Impact Investing, Sorenson Impact
Education: MBA, Harvard Business School; BS, University of Utah
About: We provide due diligence, portofolio management and impact measurment for captive funds and foundations interested in impact investing.
Mark Newhouse, General Partner, Innosphere Fund
Expertise: Newhouse is a General Partner for the Innosphere Fund and the Entrepreneur in Residence at the Center for Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise at Colorado State University. He is focusing much of his time helping to develop new sources of capital for non-profits. In that regard, Newhouse is a Founding Circle Sponsor of Colorado Impact Days, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Denver Social Venture Partners, and Colorado Pledge 1%.
Alicia Robb, Managing Partner, Next Wave Impact Fund, Next Wave Ventures
Education: PhD in Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Expertise: Robb is the Founder and CEO of Next Wave and the Managing Partner the Next Wave US Impact Fund and a Managing Partner of the Rising Tide Angel Training US Pilot Fund. She is also the Founder and past Executive Director and Board Chair of the Foundation for Sustainable Development. Robb is the co-author of A Rising Tide: Financing Strategies for Women-Owned Businesses and The Next Wave: Financing and Investing Strategies for Growth-Oriented Women.
Brad Weinig, Deputy Director, Denver Programs, Enterprise Community Partners
Education: MBA
Expertise: Affordable Housing Finance and Policy.
Investment Advisors
Akasha Absher, Chief Consulting Officer, Syntrinsic Investment Counsel
About: Syntrinsic partners as a fiduciary with nonprofit organizations and philanthropic private clients to develop, implement and monitor customized investment portfolios. Absher is charged with overseeing the firm’s efforts to create enduring strategic partnerships with clients and craft best in-class stewardship platforms that will allow them to have a meaningful impact in the community. In addition, she is a voting member of the firm’s Investment Committee.
Wendy Dominguez, President/Co-Founder, Innovest Portfolio Solutions
Education: MBA and BSBA Finance, University of Denver
Expertise: Dominguez has more than 25 years of experience in the investment consulting profession. Her clients include some of the largest public and private sector retirement plans in the Rocky Mountain Region, as well as many large Foundations, Endowments and wealthy families. In 2014, Dominguez was named one of the 20 Most Influential Women in Benefit Advising in the nation by Employee Benefit Adviser. She has also been designated as one of the Financial Times’ Top 100 Women Financial Advisors.
Phil Kirshman, Chief Investment Officer, Cornerstone Capital Group
Education: University of California, Santa Cruz
Casey Verbeck, Director, Veris Wealth Partners
Expertise: A full-service Impact Wealth Management Firm that brings over 100 years of collective experience amongst the leadership team. Verbeck leads strategy, and business development and marketing. He is very skilled in helping families, individuals and foundations align their wealth with their values. Verbeck also serves on the Board of Advisors for New Resource Bank and Accion.
Matthew Weatherley-White, Co-Founder/Managing Partner, The Caprock Group
Education: Phillips Academy, Dartmouth College
Expertise: Architect of Caprock’s leading impact investing platform; recognized global speaker and thought leader on the discipline; advisor to multiple impact investing funds; early-stage impact investor.
David Wolf, Managing Principal/Chief Operating Officer, BSW Wealth Partners & R3 Returns
Education: JD & MBA, University of Colorado – Boulder
Expertise: Wolf serves as Managing Principal of BSW Wealth Partners, a national leader in impact investing. BSW is an independent certified B corp wealth advisory firm managing $900 million from offices in Denver and Boulder. Wolf is also the CIO of R3 Returns, which has invested $125 million into high-impact municipal projects, including affordable housing, open space preservation, education, and renewable energy.
Microfinance Organizations
Rebecca Cueto, Treasury Manager, Friendship Bridge
Education: BS in Finance, University of Illinois
About: Friendship Bridge is a nonprofit organization that creates opportunities to empower Guatemalan women to build a better life through microcredit, education, and health services. They have a group of Impact Investors (individuals, foundations, and institutional lenders) who have helped grow the program and reach additional clients. As Treasury Manager of Friendship Bridge, Cueto coordinates the borrowings, seeking impact investors and partners who are aligned with the organization’s mission and who support the strategic goals.
Patricia Foley Hinnen, Founding CEO, Capital Sisters International
Education: MPA, University of Denver School of Business and Public Policy; BA Political Science and Economics, University of Colorado
About: A non-profit organization that raises business capital for impoverished women in developing countries by selling $1,000 zero interest bonds to the general public. Each bond finances ten women’s loans of $100 each and then the capital is returned to investors (or reinvested for more loans). Foley Hinnen has worked in economic development and international affairs for the past three decades with the U.S. Congress, the U.S. State Department, and the microfinance industry.
William Foote, Founder/CEO, Root Capital
Education: MS in Development Economics, London School of Economics; BA, Yale University
Expertise: A nonprofit impact investor that offers farmers around the world a path to prosperity by investing in the agricultural businesses that serve as engines of impact in their communities. Since its founding in 1999, Root Capital has provided more than $1 billion in loans to 630 agricultural businesses in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Together, these businesses have generated more than $6 billion in revenue, 80 percent of which has been paid directly to the 1.2 million smallholder farmers whose crops they collect and market.
Rob Smith, Executive Director, Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute
About: The Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute is a community that creates economic and social mobility though entrepreneurship; RMMFI helps curious people transform into serious entrepreneurs through a focus on personal stability, business feasibility, and access to capital. For more than nine years, RMMFI has filled a gap to under-resourced entrepreneurs who often lack the resources and support to transform their ideas into a wealth-generating business.
Brittany Woedl, Lending Team Manager, Accion
About: Founded in 1994 and serving the states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, Accion is a nonprofit organization that increases access to business credit, makes loans and provides training to enable entrepreneurs to realize their dreams and be catalysts for positive economic and social change. The organization offers business loans from $1,000 to $1 million, along with training, networking and other support services to those who own or want to start a business.
Private Foundations & Corporate Foundations
Ben Bynum, Portfolio Director, Private Sector Engagement, Colorado Health Foundation
Education: MD, Howard University College of Medicine; MBA, Columbia Business School; MPH, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; BS Biology, Tuskegee University
Expertise: Dr. Bynum develops and executes the Foundation’s impact investing strategy and currently manages a $25 million impact investment portfolio, including the Foundation’s for-profit and nonprofit program-related investments. Before working at the Colorado Health Foundation, Dr. Bynum helped to plan and execute the creation of Vital Healthcare Capital, a $100 million nonprofit loan fund that provides flexible financing and development services to support quality health care and good health care jobs in low-income communities.
Luis Duarte, Investments Director, Impact Investing and Innovation, Gary Community Investments
Education: MBA, cum laude, Babson College; BS, cum laude, in Mechanical Engineering, Tec de Monterrey
Expertise: Duarte’s role includes executing on philanthropic, near-market, and market-rate investment opportunities that encompass financial returns and social impact. He has worked on multiple projects in the areas of education, financial economic security, workforce, two-generation approaches, and early childhood. Currently, he leads the areas of impact investing and innovation. Duarte is currently a director of WeeSchool, an advisor at the Colorado Impact Fund and Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, and a board member at Mental Health Center of Denver.
Andrew Farnum, Director, Program-Related Investments, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
About: Farnum manages the Gates Foundation’s $2 billion impact investment initiative.
Janice Fritsch, President, Kenneth King Foundation
About: Managing a private foundation where we are interested in job creation and entrepreneurship.
Tom Gougeon, President, Gates Family Foundation
Education: MCRP Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; BA, University of Denver
About: The Gates Family Foundation is a private foundation with a focus statewide on the K-12 achievement gap, natural resource stewardship, urban and rural community development, and capital grant making across a wide variety of areas. Gates also operates a Program Related Investment program and makes mission aligned investments through its portfolio.
Rich Hoops, General Partner, VanHoops Holdings LP
Expertise: Family Office.
Chris Jensen, Colorado Region Manager, J.P. Morgan Chase
Gary Steuer, President/CEO, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation
About: The Foundation has been exploring the use of Impact Investing to leverage our traditional grant support of Denver’s cultural institutions, which we believe are critical to building and sustaining a vibrant economy. To date, the Foundation has participated in a program related investment that stabilized and reduced the facility debt of an important cultural institution and enabled them to direct more of their annual budget to programmatic activities.
Alvin Warren, Program Officer, WK Kellogg Foundation
Education: MPA, Harvard Kennedy School of Government; BA, Dartmouth College
Expertise: Led WKKF’s three initial PRIs in NM and co-founded NM Impact Investing Collaborative.
Support Organizations
Peter Adams, Executive Director, Rockies Venture Club
About: Rockies Venture Club has hosted the Impact Investing Conference each December for the past six years resulting in the RVC portfolio of investments which consists of over half women led businesses and over one third are impact companies. The Biz Girls programs create impact by creating tomorrow’s women leaders through leadership and entrepreneurship accelerators for high school age girls. The Women’s Investor Network seeks to increase the percentage of women investors in the community and bring new perspective to investment decisions. The Rockies Impact Fund is a $25 million impact investing fund launching in 2018.
Vic Ahmed, Founder/CEO, Innovation Pavillion
Education: BS in Computer Science and Systems Engineering, Washington University in Saint Louis, MO; Stanford University’s Executive Leadership program; numerous other management programs
Expertise: A serial entrepreneur, Ahmed is a visionary behind Innovation Pavilion. He has built several startup companies from scratch and has a gift for translating visions and foresight into sizeable business opportunities. Ahmed has consistently demonstrated the commitment and energy needed to raise angel, venture and private equity funding with world-class teams. In both large corporations and startups, Ahmed formed a reputation as a visionary by articulating concepts and plans to investors, employees, partners, and customers alike.
Andrea Armeni, Co-Founder/Executive Director, Transform Finance
About: Transform Finance is a field-building organization that envisions capital as a tool for the advancement of real, transformative social change. Through thought leadership, trainings, convenings, and advisory services, Transform Finance supports all stakeholders who are pursuing that vision. Besides her role as Executive Director, Armeni is the lead convener of the complementary Transform Finance Investor Network, a community of practice of family offices, foundations, and other asset owners that launched with an initial commitment of over $500 million that has since grown to $2 billion.
Melanie Audette, Senior Vice President, Mission Investors Exchange (New York, San Francisco, Seattle)
Expertise: Audette is Senior Vice President at Mission Investors Exchange, a leading network of over 200 foundations engaged in impact investing. MIE provides a forum for practitioners of all experience levels to partner and exchange best practices and develop new investment opportunities, ultimately deploying more capital for social impact.
William Browning, Chief Strategy Officer, Mile High United Way
Expertise: Working within the Mile High United Way where we currently invest nearly $10M annually into Denver Metro community, we are exploring ways to leverage impact investing to produce a more sustainable portfolio while continuing to deepen our impact. Currently we are evaluating concepts within affordable housing, early childhood education, and social ventures which can create opportunities for economic mobility.
Sumanth Channabasappa, Founding Director, The CORE
Kim Coupounas, Director, B Lab
Education: MBA, Harvard Business School; MPA, Harvard Kennedy School of Government; AB with honors in Philosophy, Princeton University
About: The B Lab team has partnered with a wide range of companies, organizations, impact investors, business associations, incubators/accelerators, universities, and foundations while building a regional multi-stakeholder effort that can be replicated. With over 30 community partners and local funding, the B Lab team launched a statewide “Best for Colorado,” a program that helps teach all Colorado businesses how to create higher quality jobs, build stronger communities, and protect the environment in the years ahead.
Karl Dakin, CEO, Invest Local Colorado
Expertise: Dakin’s work has been directed toward improving access to capital by improving Colorado’s capital eco-system. He participated in the passage of the Colorado Crowdfunding Act that opened investing in Main Street businesses, social enterprises and community. As a founder of Invest Local Colorado, Dakin launched an investment crowdfunding platform. Through these efforts, it is far easier, less expensive and quicker for an organization seeking impact investments to raise money from impact investors of all income levels.
Maria Fabula, President/CEO, Community Resource Center
Education: BA in Political Science, University of California at San Diego Revelle College
About: Community Resource Center (CRC) creates opportunities, tools and strategies to develop nonprofits and community groups to strengthen Colorado.
Greg Greenwood, Executive Director, The Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network Colorado
Expertise: Greenwood (nicknamed “Woody” since childhood) is the Executive Director of BEN Colorado. A veteran Coloradan entrepreneur, Greenwood has founded several companies including those in technology, manufacturing, distribution, motorsports, retail, services and non-profit. He is the founder and CEO of Idella Wines, a boutique winery in Napa Valley and is the co-founder and CEO of Colorado Thought Leaders Forum. Greenwood is a board member of Colorado Companies to Watch and serves on several private company board of directors.
Joanne Kelley, Executive Director, Colorado Association of Funders
Education: Master of Science in Journalism, Northwestern University; BA in Spanish/History, Wells College
Expertise: Kelley leads the only organization in Colorado focused on connecting, educating and advocating on behalf of the full spectrum of foundations and funders throughout the state. Kelley has worked with leading foundation executives to establish an Impact Investing Forum that brings together foundations and other philanthropic funders interested in learning and sharing expertise around impact investing and social enterprise. Kelley currently serves on three boards and has been a key partner in CO Impact Days and Initiative.
Pat Landrum, Executive Director, Social Venture Partners Denver
Education: MS in Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of Washington; BS in Communications and Speech Pathology, New York University
About: Social Venture Partners cultivates engaged philanthropy, helps nonprofit organizations and social enterprises improve their business effectiveness, and promotes cross-sector collaboration. Landrum has been working with members of the SVP Partnership to help nonprofit organizations prepare for and succeed with Impact Investments.
Michael Loftin, CEO, Homewise
Education: BA in History, Northwestern University
About: Homewise is an innovative social enterprise based in Santa Fe, that has pioneered a customer-centric business model for creating moderate-income homeowners. This model vertically integrates all the steps for buying a home into one seamless process: Home Purchase Advisors provide financial education and individual coaching for long-term homeownership success; salaried Homewise Realtors help homebuyers find the right home within their purchasing power; and Homewise Loan Officers provide financing packages saving the average homeowner over $120 per month compared to the cost of an FHA mortgage.
Paul Polak, CEO, Windhorse International
About: Sell affordable safe drinking water at scale to $2/day customers.
Consultants
Jed Emerson, Founder, Blended Value Group
Education: MBA and MSW
Expertise: Early pioneer in the impact investing arena focused upon working with asset owners and fiduciaries to deploy their capital on an impact basis, across all asset classes, inclusive of philanthropic capital. Published 8 books on social entrepreneurship and impact investing, as well as receiving academic appointments to the faculty of some of the nation’s leading business schools. Engages in deep strategic advisory work with a limited group of families and foundations.
Steve Godeke, Founder, Godeke Consulting
About: Godeke Consulting helps foundations, endowments, families and investment managers drive positive change. Since 2001, Godeke has worked to source, structure and execute impact investment strategies across a range of sectors and to connect his clients to the best partners and resources. He leads independent searches for impact investing advisors and works with investment managers and funds to deepen the environmental and social impact of their offerings.
Paul Hudnut, Director, GSSE MBA Program, New Belgium Family Foundation
Education: JD, University of Virginia; BA, Colorado College
Expertise: Advise foundations on impact investing, philanthropy and advocacy.
Carl Palmer, Founder, LegacyWorks Group
Education: MBA, Graduate School of Business at Stanford University; BA in Architectural Studies and a BA in Environmental Studies with Honors, Brown University
Expertise: Palmer is the founder of LegacyWorks Group and President of the Board of Directors of the affiliated Legacy Philanthropy Works. Palmer has led innovative community impact initiatives for the past 17 years. His experience spans impact investing, nonprofit leadership, ecological restoration, strategy development, entrepreneurship, investment management and place-based education.
Cindy Willard, President, Full Potential Philanthropy
Education: Master of Nonprofit Management Program, Regis University; Bachelors Degree, University of Kansas
Expertise: Willard works with Foundations, Businesses and families to weave grant-making and impact investing into a comprehensive philanthropic portfolio; cultivate innovation and entrepreneurial thinking for philanthropic projects; build and manage strategic program initiatives and collaborative partnerships; enhance capacity and infrastructure for foundations and family philanthropy. She founded Full Potential Philanthropy, where she serves as an advisor and strategist for foundations and individuals.
Attorneys
Lisa D’Ambrosia, Managing Director/President, Minor & Brown
Expertise: D’Ambrosia is a business transactional attorney with over 20 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions. She helps her clients put their decision-making process into the context of the client’s business and personal life. D’Ambrosia has taken her transaction experience to include an active role with The Denver Foundation’s Impact Investing Committee as the Committee evaluates and makes recommendations for investment in a variety of social impact businesses and investments.
Dominick Sekich, Partner, Moye White
Education: JD, Geortown University; MS, London School of Economics and Political Science; BA, magna Cum laude, The Colorado College
Expertise: A dedicated and responsive attorney, Sekich provides strategic counsel on complex corporate, commercial, internet, real estate, utilities, and regulatory matters. He is passionate about helping investors find meaning while deploying their capital. Sekich works with startups, food, and beverage manufacturers, established tech and communications companies, industrial real estate developers, and industrial users, including breweries and distilleries. His practice areas also concentrate on sustainable business practices.
Jason Wiener, Principal/Attorney, Jason Wiener, PC, A Public Benefit Corporation
Education: JD cum laude, Suffolk University Law School; BS, Cornell University, School of Industrial Labor Relations
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Presented by Impact Finance Center, CO Impact Days and CO Impact Initiative with the Denver Business Journal. Advertisers in this supplement: Guaranty Bancorp, BNY Mellon Wealth Management, and MassMutual Colorado.