Agents of Impact | January 11, 2019

Follow the Talent: Agents of Impact Special Report for Jan. 11

Dennis Price
ImpactAlpha Editor

Dennis Price

Greetings, Agents of Impact!

‘Follow the talent’ is one of our mantras as ImpactAlpha covers the daily beat of impact investing. Smart, passionate Agents of Impact are driving change within their organizations and across financial markets.

In this special report, we recap our daily ‘Follow the Talent’ sections and profile a weekly ‘Agent of Impact.’ Read on to catch up with talent on the move, job openings and places to be. Help the growing ImpactAlpha community follow your talent: Send job moves, mandates, event announcements and other news to [email protected].

Don’t miss: Can we put a dollar value on impact? Reactions to the Rise Fund’s ‘impact multiple of money’.

Can we put a dollar value on impact? Reactions to the Rise Fund’s ‘impact multiple of money’

– Dennis Price, editorial director

Agent of Impact

Boston Ujima Project’s Lucas Turner-Owens. Lucas Turner-Owens’ favorite part of his job is hitting the street to talk to business owners in the Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan neighborhoods of Boston. Turner-Owens is the manager of Boston Ujima Project’s planned $5 million fund, launched last month, to make low-interest loans and small equity investments in such businesses. Investment decisions, however, will be guided by neighborhood residents themselves, who vote on the fund’s priorities and which businesses to back. Turner-Owens, who was raised in Mattapan, says such self-determination already is increasing the “agency” of Ujima’s community investors. Turner-Owens returned to Boston after working for Operation Hope, the financial education non-profit, and Cooperation DC, which provides technical assistance to cooperatives. Ujima couldn’t find a traditional fund manager able to handle the complexity of Ujima’s democratic approach. “It was just too foreign, both in how we would administer the program and the administrative burden to track it,” Turner-Owens says. “We decided we would do it ourselves.” Follow ImpactAlpha on Instagram.

Seize the Opportunity

Ceniarth is recruiting an investment officer and investment manager in London… The Mulago Foundation is looking for an investment principal in San Francisco… Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio & Fellowship team is hiring a program associate and other roles in New York… Drashta Ventures is looking for a managing partner in London… Elevar Equity is recruiting an investment professional in Mexico City or Bogotá… Virginia Community Capital is hiring a community investments analyst in Richmond…

Accion is recruiting a summer associate for its global investments team in Washington D.C…. Acumen is spinning out Lean Data as 60 Decibels, with a global team of 30 in the U.S., U.K., India and Kenya (see, ImpactAlpha’s Measure Better series).* The new for-profit firm is hiring a director of finance based in New York… MaRS is recruiting a director of public sector advisory and other roles in Toronto… Bridges Fund Management is hiring an impact and finance director and an investment manager for its social outcomes team…

Open Society Foundations is looking for an investment principal for its Economic Advancement Program in London… Canada’s development finance institution, FinDev Canada, is recruiting a lead investment officer in Montreal… Salesforce Impact Fund is hiring a senior manager in San Francisco… New Island Capital is hiring a vice president for real estate in San Francisco… Just Capital is looking for a director of investment products in New York… Mission Investors Exchange is looking for a digital associate in New York…

The Jain Family Institute is recruiting project leads for universal basic income and income share agreements in New York… Kaya Impacto is recruiting a senior associate in Mexico City… NorthStar Asset Management is hiring a systems support analyst/assistant trader in Boston… AHL Venture Partners is looking for a partner in Nairobi… The International Trade Centre is recruiting a sustainable investment consultant… The Annie E. Casey Foundation is hiring an investment analyst in Baltimore.

Follow the Talent

AdPredictive’s Kristin Frank joins Cornerstone Capital’s board of directors… Boston Trust’s Kimberly Gluck, OppenheimerFunds’ Aniket Shah, Chicago treasurer Kurt Summers and Leslie Samuelrich of Green Century Capital Management join the board of The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, or US SIF… Yusuf Shaikh joins South African impact investing fund Secha Capital as a principal… New California Gov. Gavin Newsom named Lenny Mendonca as the state’s chief economic and business advisor and director of the office of business and economic development…

Eve Tetzlaff joins Opportunity Zone venture fund The Pearl Fund as a partner… Kanini Mutooni, ex- of the East Africa Trade and Investment Hub, comes on as Toniic’s managing director of Europe, Middle East and Africa… Annie Donovan steps down as director of the Community Development Finance Institutions Fund. Jodie Harris steps up as the CDFI Fund’s new director… Stephanie Copeland, formerly Colorado’s economic development director, joins Four Points Funding to work on the firm’s rural Opportunity Fund… The Securities and Exchange Commission appoints Martha Legg Miller as its first advocate for small business capital formation.

Where to Be

Third Sector Capital Partners, SVT Group, and Social Value U.S. are hosting an impact management skills training in Boston Jan. 30… Ethical Corporation is hosting a circular economy webinar Jan. 10 featuring executives from Unilever, Walmart, Danone and WBCSD.

Apply, Respond, Submit

The Entrepreneurs Impact Summit, June 13-14 in Santa Monica, Calif., is asking participants for new, specific and measurable commitments to social impact… The Creative Startups accelerator is accepting applications… New York’s 76West clean energy startup competition is open.

* Editor’s note: Acumen is in the process of spinning off Lean Data, a process the firm expects to complete by end of Q1, 2019. A previous iteration of this post incorrectly suggested the spinoff was complete. 

That’s a wrap! Help the growing ImpactAlpha community follow your talent: Send your own job moves, new opportunities and event announcements to [email protected].