Deep Impact Investing

Many of us want to be informed investors, putting our money towards companies and causes that will positively impact our earth and societies.

But finding the information we need to make these decisions can be a challenging task.

That’s why companies like Entelligent are working to give investors the data they need to invest according to their values.

In this episode, econometrician and Entelligent’s executive vice president for client & product development, Pooja Khosla, joins Kimberly Griego-Kiel to discuss just how the company helps investors engage in impact investing. She talks about investment solutions that are climate-aligned and explains how her investment tools translate the projections from climate change models into simple rankings, which can be used to build climate-resilient portfolios.

Pooja discusses:

What an econometrician is

How Entelligent helps investors engage in ESG investing

Sustainable impact investing

How climate change and inequality are linked

Gender equality in financial services and how the pandemic has empowered women

And more!

Resources:

“Small Change, Big Gains: Reflections of an Energy Entrepreneur” by Thomas Stoner 

Connect with Pooja Khosla:

LinkedIn: Pooja Khosla

Entelligent

Twitter: @EntelligentNews

Connect with Kimberly Griego-Kiel:

[email protected] 

(505) 982-9661

Horizons Sustainable Financial Services

[email protected] 

Twitter: @HorizonsSustFin

Facebook:  Horizons Sustainable Financial Services

About our Guest:

Pooja Khosla Ph.D. is Vice President of Client Development at Entelligent. Dr. Khosla is an economist, econometrician, and mathematician who has deep knowledge to build investing solutions. She has extensive experience in predictive modeling, microfinance, and designing impact investment tools and has been working on impact solutions since 2003, both nationally and internationally. 

Fear is a double-edged sword:

It can hold you back from doing something you should do and can also make you do something you normally wouldn’t do — especially when it comes to your investments.

In this week’s episode, Kimberly Griego-Kiel and Johann Klaassen discuss the different risks that involve the investment arena. Drawing from client and prospect concerns, Kim and Johann address must-know considerations around risks so that you, too, can learn how to make better financial decisions. 

Johann discusses:

Reasons why you should report on your ESG criteria

How much risk should you take with your portfolio

Risk perception: How do you understand and measure risk 

The types of risks involved in the markets

And more

Connect with Kimberly Griego-Kiel and Johann Klaassen:

[email protected] 

(505) 982-9661

LinkedIn: Kimberly Griego-Kiel

LinkedIn: Johann Klaassen

Horizons Sustainable Financial Services 

[email protected] 

Twitter: @HorizonsSustFin

Facebook:  Horizons Sustainable Financial Services

About Johann Klaassen:

As Horizons Sustainable Financial Services’ Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, Johann supports investors who focus their efforts on environmental, social, and corporate governance issues. He also helps clients vote with their dollars for a positive transformation of our economy and society toward a socially just and environmentally sustainable world. 

Deep Impact Investing has reached its first big milestone — 50 episodes! 

And because milestone episodes deserve milestone guests, this week, Kimberly Griego-Kiel welcomes award-winning artist, social impact strategist, philanthropic advisor, and the Creative Action Institute’s board chair, Alyssa Wright.

In this episode, Kim and Alyssa not only reveal their new partnership but also discuss everything around gender equality and the ways we can contribute towards a more sustainable planet that cares about treating women and children fairly. 

Alyssa discusses:

The Creative Action Institute’s approach towards sustainable impact investing – and ways it resonates with HSFS’ vision 

Women and gender equality as something that affects everyone’s lives 

Elevating female leadership through the organization’s East African Girls’ Leadership Summit and Mentor Program (EAGLS) 

The role of the UN principles of investment when it comes to planet sustainability and gender equality 

And more!

Resources:

Meet the Creative Action Institute Team

Alyssa F. Wright Consulting

TEDx Talks: “Feeling powerless? Claim your philanthropy” by Alyssa Wright

Connect with Alyssa Wright:

LinkedIn: Alyssa Wright

Creative Action Institute

Twitter: Creative Action Institute

Facebook: Creative Action Institute

Connect with Kimberly Griego-Kiel:

[email protected] 

(505) 982-9661

Horizons Sustainable Financial Services 

[email protected] 

Twitter: @HorizonsSustFin

Facebook:  Horizons Sustainable Financial Services

About our Guest:

Alyssa Wright is an award-winning artist, social impact strategist, philanthropic advisor, development coach, and writer. Having spent time as a human rights activist in Eastern Europe and Africa, Alyssa brings a decade of experience in international philanthropy to Alyssa F. Wright Consulting. As an accomplished consultant and coach, she builds new revenue streams, shifts cultural perspectives, and inspires people to believe that change is possible no matter what.

Many investors who want to make a positive impact with their dollars find it difficult to identify investment opportunities that will help them accomplish this.

That’s where ESG investment companies like Community Capital Management can help.

Managing over $3 billion in assets and fully aligned with the UN sustainable development goals, Community Capital Management works to help clients develop investment strategies that contribute to positive environmental and social outcomes.

This week, CCM’s Alyssa Greenspan and David Sand join Kimberly Griego-Kiel to discuss the company’s client investing and reporting approach.

Alyssa and David discuss:

CCM’s annual impact report

How the firm’s work culture reflects their overall investment process 

CCM’s areas of investments 

How to use mortgage-backed securities to help communities in need

And more!

Resources:

About Jamie Horwitz

Check out Community Capital Management’s Blog Posts 

Connect with Alyssa Greenspan and David Sand:

Community Capital Management (CCM)

(877) 272-1976

LinkedIn: Alyssa Greenspan, CFA

LinkedIn: David Sand

Connect with Kimberly Griego-Kiel:

[email protected] 

(505) 982-9661

Horizons Sustainable Financial Services 

[email protected] 

Facebook:  Horizons Sustainable Financial Services

About Alyssa Greenspan, CFA:

As Community Capital Management’s president and chief operating officer, Alyssa is responsible for strategic planning, human resources, and new product development. Alyssa is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities and operations of the firm. She also oversees risk management, including portfolio compliance and client service.

About David Sand:

As Community Capital Management’s chief impact strategist, David is responsible for furthering the scope of CCM’s impact analysis including metrics, outcomes, and reporting. As the firm’s subject matter expert on impact and ESG investing, he is involved in client relations and creating new impact and ESG investing strategies to meet the needs of existing and future clients.

While money is certainly used to acquire goods and services, it is also often linked to the ways people feel, think, and behave.

That’s why Kimberly Griego-Kiel likes to consider money not only for its value, but also for the messages and meaning it can hold.

In this episode, Kimberly takes a deep dive into what money messages mean, why they are so meaningful, and how we can shift those money messages to create a new economic model.

Kim discusses:

Her experience with money messages throughout her life

A view of money messages from a psychology point of view

Reasons why couples, parents, and children should have money-related conversations 

The role our perspective play when judging good and bad money messages 

How to change the narrative around ESG money messages 

And more!

Resources:

Episode 2: When was the last time you spoke to your kids about money?

Connect with Kimberly Griego-Kiel:

[email protected] 

[email protected] 

(505) 982-9661

Horizons Sustainable Financial Services

[email protected] 

Facebook:  Horizons Sustainable Financial Services 

There is great power that comes with knowledge and information.

What can we accomplish if we as investors make use of data and knowledge to drive our impact investing?

In this episode, learn how Promethos Capital, an employee- and majority women-owned institutional investment boutique is doing just this. The firm’s chief investment officer and managing partner, Ivka Kalus, joins Kimberly Griego-Kiel to discuss the gender gap in the investment industry while explaining her firm’s experience and trajectory in value-based (ESG/SRI) equity investing.

Ivka discusses:

Ivka’s journey to being ranked as the #3 female portfolio manager in the United States

The financial and non-financial metrics of the sustainable investing world 

Ways to draw women into the investment arena

“Greenwashing” as a necessary step to improve the future of sustainability 

And more

Resources:

* Pax World Management

* “Winning women: The 20 top female portfolio managers in the US” – Citywire 

* Diversity of Asset Managers in Philanthropy – Knight Foundation Study

* “Greenwashing to Green Virtue” by Ivka Kalus 

Connect with Ivka Kalus:

LinkedIn: Ivka Kalus

Promethos Capital

Connect with Kimberly Griego-Kiel:

[email protected] 

(505) 982-9661

Horizons Sustainable Financial Services

[email protected] 

Facebook:  Horizons Sustainable Financial Services

About Our Guest:

Ivka Kalus is the chief investment officer and managing partner at Promethos Capital, a majority-women-owned global asset management boutique based in Boston. She is an accomplished investor with over two decades’ experience in managing global and international equity portfolios, with significant expertise in sustainable and gender-lens investing. Before co-founding Promethos, Ivka was the lead portfolio manager of International Strategies at Boston Advisors and a senior portfolio manager at Pax World Management.

What are the latest trends in sustainable investing?

Get ready to find out in this data-packed episode!

Join Kimberly Griego-Kiel and the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment’s acting director of research, Farzana Hoque, as they sit down to shed some light on the US SIF Trends Report. This is a document that provides extensive data on the number of institutional asset owners, money management firms, and investment vehicles that are using sustainable investment strategies. 

You will learn:

What the US SIF Trends Report measures and why it’s so important for the sustainable and impact investing industry 

A trend comparison between the 1995 and 2020 report 

The reason for the exponential asset growth between 2018 and 2020

Who puts the document together and the stages of developing the Trends Report

And more!

Listen in today to explore the importance of the US SIF reports for current and future sustainable investing industry practitioners!

Resources:  Episode 43 | Episode 44 | Horizons Sustainable Financial Services: 505-982-9661 | [email protected] | Facebook  | Kimberly Griego-Kiel | Farzana Hoque | The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (US SIF) | US SIF 2020 Trends Report | Croatan Forum

Many companies strive to continuously innovate and progress — and Horizons Sustainable Financial Services is no different. 

From SEC registrations to  new software and platform additions, in this week’s episode, Johann Klaassen and Kimberly Griego-Kiel reveal some great changes and developments happening at Horizons.

In this episode, you will learn:

What it means to be registered with the SEC

Horizons’ latest sustainable portfolio improvements

How the firm’s new software addition can help clients understand their portfolio impact 

And more!

Listen in and discover how these new developments can help clients like you to invest like you give a damn!  

Resources: Horizons Sustainable Financial Services: 505-982-9661 | [email protected] | Johann Klaassen | Adasina Social Capital | Altruist | Jason Wenk |  Charles Schwab Corporation | Folio Institutional

Not many investors realize the impact the palm oil industry has on people, animals, and the environment. 

Find out what you need to know about this industry in today’s information-packed episode with Green Century Capital Management’s Jessye Waxman. 

Jessye joins Kimberly Griego-Kiel to discuss her work as a shareholder advocate and to explain how she works with companies to help mitigate their exposure to the material, financial, operational, and reputational risks related to palm oil and deforestation. 

In this episode, you will learn:

Why Jessye is passionate about the environment

Palm oil industry issues and how they are closely related to Green Century’s deforestation concerns 

How child labor in the palm oil industry is tied to Girl Scout cookies

Ways you can contribute to the advocacy, environmental, and investment work Green Century does 

And more!

Stream this episode today to discover how the No Deforestation, Peat, and Exploitation (NDPE) Commitment holds supply chains accountable for the negative impacts of palm oil!

Resources: Horizon Sustainable Financial Services: (505) 982-9661 | [email protected] | [email protected] | Facebook | Jessye Waxman | Green Century Capital Management | 30 Under 30 List | Tom Chapin | No Deforestation, Peat, and Exploitation (NDPE) Commitment | Palm Oil and Girl Scout Cookies

Farmers are a lot like scientists. In fact, for farmers to be able to cultivate healthy food for people like us, they need to know a lot about the way they’re producing and growing that food. 

How are farmers and ranchers working to bring us healthier meals while also enhancing sustainability efforts in agriculture?

Find out in this episode, as Erin Fitzgerald, the CEO of U.S. Farmers and Ranchers In Action (USFRA), sits down with Kimberly Griego-Kiel to continue the conversation on sustainable agriculture. Erin explains everything you need to know about USFRA and the firm’s role in creating solutions for economic and agricultural sustainability.

In this episode, you will learn:

USFRA’s vision and mission

How farmers and ranchers can reduce carbon emissions 

From cow Fitbits to cover crops: Technological innovations for farms and ranches 

Ways agriculture can contribute to America’s overall economic growth 

And more!

Tune in today and learn how you, too, can support the sustainable agriculture movement! 

Resources: Horizon Sustainable Financial Services: (505) 982-9661 | [email protected]  | Facebook | Erin Fitzgerald | US Farmers and Ranchers in Action  | Film: 30 Harvest | Cow Manager | Episode 42: Investing in Climate-Smart Agriculture – With David Bennell