6:00 pm The Science of Climate Change - Professor Horton (Columbia University)

We'll have opening remarks and jump right into the science behind climate change, what's on the cutting edge, and where experts might disagree.

6:20 pm The Future of Our World

We'll hear from Tony Lent, Emilie Mazzacurati, and Elodie Timmermans on what the future of climate change has in store for us socially, environmentally, politically, and financially.

6:40 pm Investing and Private Sector Solutions

Jeff Gitterman, Geeta Aiyer, and Bob Litterman will share how to best invest for a new future and the implications for new companies and old ones.

7:30 pm Until Next Time

We will thank our sponsors, experts, and audience and send you off to make your own impact on our planet!

Event Highlights Video

Impact Climate Video

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Link to be provided to registered guests.

Impact Public Service Fund, in consultation with the United Nations Office for Partnerships, invites you to an important discussion on climate change ahead of Climate Week NYC. We’ll be hearing from investors, scientists, thought-leaders and innovators about how climate change is a fundamental challenge to civilization and the role of private sector actors in tackling this challenge. This riveting and provocative discussion will challenge your views about our planet’s future and help you think about your investment strategies.

Our Speakers

JEFF GITTERMAN

GITTERMAN WEALTH MANAGEMENT

ELODIE TIMMERMANS

ERNST YOUNG

TONY LENT

CAPITAL FOR CLIMATE

GEETA AIYER, CFA

BOSTON COMMON ASSET MANAGEMENT

BOB LITTERMAN

GOLDMAN SACHS + KEPOS CAPITAL

RADLEY HORTON

PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

EMILIE MAZZACURATI

FOUR TWENTY SEVEN

Our Hosts

MICHAEL KOPKO

IMPACT

REKIA FOUDEL

IMPACT

PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS

Fintech
CLIMATE CHANGE INCREASINGLY POSES ONE OF THE BIGGEST LONG-TERM THREATS TO INVESTMENTS.
Figueres

RSVP

Jeff Gitterman

GITTERMAN WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Jeff Gitterman is a co-founding partner of Gitterman Wealth Management, LLC, and a thought leader in the field of Sustainable, Impact, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Investing.

He is the creator of his firm’s SMART (Sustainability Metrics Applied to Risk Tolerance)® Investing Services, which offer investment opportunities for individual clients, as well as research and investing services for other financial professionals in the Sustainable, ESG, and Impact arenas. Noted as an “ESG expert” by Financial Advisor magazine, Jeff has also been featured in the past in Money Magazine, Barron’s, Morningstar Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Affluent Magazine, among many others. Most recently, he was named RIA “Thought Leader of the Year” by WealthManagement.com.

Under Jeff’s leadership and direction, Gitterman Wealth Management has also served as the host of the 2018 Sustainable Investing Conference at the United Nations, as well as the 2016 and 2017 NYC Sustainable Investing Conferences. Jeff deeply believes that the migration of investor capital towards more Sustainable, Impact, and ESG investments is one of, if not the most effective way to help realize the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and he is committed to helping both investors and other financial professionals navigate the rapidly growing Sustainable, Impact, and ESG Investing landscape.

Elodie Timmermans

ERNST YOUNG

Elodie is a Senior Manager Climate Change and Sustainability Services at Ernst & Young, focused on the Financial Sector. Elodie has more than 10 years of experience serving clients by addressing their environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges in both an audit and advisory capacity. Being mostly focused on the financial sector, she works with a number of public and private companies in the banking, insurance, wealth and asset management sector. As a trusted business advisor, Elodie helps her clients successfully develop and transform their ESG and sustainability strategies, stakeholder engagement, outcome measurement methodologies, as well as their internal and external disclosures to further align with their companies’ visions, strategies and stakeholders and shareholders expectations.

Elodie started her career with EY Climate Change and Sustainability services in the Netherlands before joining the US practice in 2013 after successfully completed engagements in various countries in Europe and in the America’s. Her experience provides her clients and colleagues with a unique perspective on global and local ESG issues and opportunities that they encounter on a daily basis.

Elodie is passionate about ESG and sustainable development and sharing current and emerging market trends. She currently co-leading the EY global sustainable impact hub, which provides leading-edge thinking and insights relevant to organizations and businesses that are seeking to create impact and accelerate their organizational journey.

Elodie earned a Post-doctorale Master in Corporate Social Responsibility Management and Auditing from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a Master of Science Sustainable Development from the University of London.

TONY LENT

CAPITAL FOR CLIMATE

Tony Lent is a Co-Founder at Capital for Climate and a seasoned investor in the clean energy and resource efficiency industries with 25 years of experience in advisory and senior principal investing roles. Prior to Capital for Climate, Tony was a Senior Managing Director at Wolfensohn Fund Management, an emerging markets private equity fund manager concentrating on clean energy and financial services, in India, Brazil, and Eastern Europe. Prior to Wolfensohn, he was Co-founder and Managing Director of US Renewables Group, a $750M private equity fund focused on renewables and low carbon energy in North America. At USRG, Mr. Lent catalyzed the formation of the investment team and led renewables development and technology commercialization investments.

Tony has an MBA in technology management from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a BS in Biology from Tufts University focused in molecular biology.

GEETA AIYER, CFA

BOSTON COMMON ASSET MANAGEMENT

Geeta Aiyer combines over 30 years of experience in finance, with passion for environmental and social justice. Under her leadership, Boston Common has built a strong investment record, and meaningfully improved the policies and practices of portfolio companies through impactful, proactive Shareowner Engagement. The firm is a “Best for the World” honoree within the global B Corp community.

In 2016, Geeta was honored by Investment News, as an Innovator whose new ideas and tools have propelled the industry forward. The 2017 UN Global Compact Report on Business Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) featured Geeta as a leader in the financial sector. Geeta is the recipient of the Joan Bavaria Award at the CERES conference in 2015 for Building Sustainability into the Capital Markets and the SRI Service Award (2013), recognizing leadership and innovation in SRI (Sustainable, Responsible, Impact) investing.

Geeta serves on the Board and Investment Committee of NRDC. She is also on the board of the Better Future Project in Massachusetts. She is co-founder and board chair of DAWN Worldwide, an NGO addressing gender-based violence. Geeta has previously served on the boards of the Sierra Club Foundation, and YW Boston. From 2015-2017, she served on the Board of UN PRI

Before Boston Common, Geeta was President of Walden Asset Management, and has worked at US Trust Company (Boston) and Cambridge Associates. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School; BA (Hons) and MA degrees from the University of Delhi, India. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

BOB LITTERMAN

GOLDMAN SACHS + KEPOS CAPITAL

Bob Litterman is the Chairman of the Risk Committee and a founding partner of Kepos Capital, a New York City based systematic global macro firm. Prior to joining Kepos Capital in 2010, Bob enjoyed a 23-year career at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he served in research, risk management, investments and thought leadership roles. He oversaw the Quantitative Investment Strategies Group in the Asset Management division. While at Goldman, Bob also spent six years as one of three external advisors to Singapore’s Government Investment Corporation (GIC).

Bob was named a partner of Goldman Sachs in 1994 and became head of the firm-wide risk function; prior to that role, he was co-head of the Fixed Income Research and Model Development Group with Fischer Black. During his tenure at Goldman, Bob researched and published a number of groundbreaking papers in asset allocation and risk management. He is the co-developer of the Black-Litterman Global Asset Allocation Model, a key tool in investment management, and has co-authored books including The Practice of Risk Management and Modern Investment Management: An Equilibrium Approach (Wiley & Co.).

Bob was inducted into Risk Magazine’s Risk Management Hall of Fame and named the 2013 Risk Manager of the Year by the Global Association of Risk Professionals. In 2012, he was the inaugural recipient of the S. Donald Sussman Fellowship at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. In 2008, Bob received the Nicholas Molodovsky Award from the CFA Institute Board as well as the International Association of Financial Engineers/SunGard Financial Engineer of the Year Award. Bob serves on a number of boards, including Common fund, where he was elected Chair in 2014, Options Clearing Corporation, Resources for the Future, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, and the Sloan Foundation. He is also currently serving as the chair of the CFTC Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee.

Bob earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Human Biology from Stanford University.

RADLEY HORTON

LAMONT RESEARCH PROFESSOR

Radley Horton is a Lamont Research Professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. His research focuses on climate extremes, tail risks, climate impacts, and adaptation. Radley was a Convening Lead Author for the Third National Climate Assessment. He currently Co-Chairs Columbia’s Adaptation Initiative, and is Principal Investigator for the Columbia University-WWF ADVANCE partnership, and the NOAA-Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments-funded Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast. He is also the Columbia University lead for the Department of Interior-funded Northeast Climate Science Center, and is a PI on an NSF-funded Climate Change Education Partnership Project. Radley has been a Co-leader in the development of a global research agenda in support of the United Nations Environmental Program’s Programme on Vulnerability, Impacts, and Adaptation (PROVIA) initiative. He serves on numerous national and international task forces and committees, including the Climate Scenarios Task Force in support of the 2018 National Climate Assessment, and frequently appears on national and international television, radio, and in print. Radley teaches in Columbia University’s Sustainable Development department.

EMILIE MAZZACURATI

FOUR TWENTY SEVEN

As a pioneer of the incorporation of climate science into decision-making in the private and public sectors, Emilie founded Four Twenty Seven in 2012 to help businesses and communities understand the risks from climate change and develop effective resilience strategies.

An expert in climate adaptation and resilience, she is a frequent speaker at international events on climate risks and opportunities, has published extensively on climate policy, and teaches at the University of California, Davis on Business & Climate Change. She served as a member of California’s Technical Advisory Group for the implementation of Governor Brown’s Executive Order on climate change (EO B-30-15) and was Head of Carbon Analysis at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon. Emilie received the Visionary Award from the City of Berkeley, CA in 2016 and was a finalist for the Cartier Women’s Global Initiative for women entrepreneurs in 2014.

MICHAEL KOPKO

IMPACT

Michael is a Vice President at Oscar Health, the leading technology-focused health insurance company. Mike joined Oscar as one of its first employees and currently manages the company’s network contracting systems. Prior to joining Oscar, Michael worked at Bridgewater Associates, as a Manager of Research Analytics where he was responsible for 60 investors, managers, and staff. In 2009, Mike successfully sold DormAid, a college service company, which he launched and ran while he was a student at Harvard and Columbia Business School.

Michael has appeared in major media outlets including Fox News, The New York Times, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Wired, and MSNBC. He is the recipient of Columbia’s Feldberg Fellowship, a full tuition merit scholarship in honor of former Dean Feldberg and sponsored by Henry Kravis. His mentor of over 10 years is George David of United Technologies.

Mike is a graduate of Columbia Business School and Harvard College.

REKIA FOUDEL

IMPACT

Rekia is an impact investor, climate activist and a passionate speaker about the future of Africa. Rekia started her career in the private sector, working in investment banking at Barclays and JP Morgan and moved to the non-profit world. As head of project development for the government of Niger, she helped raise $437 million dollars for two greenfield development and growth-focused projects, including a Climate Resilient Communities project.

Rekia earned an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A in Political Science from Stony Brook University.