Tag: Conference

56. Leadership & Community Investments as Crucial ESG Components — Part 2

56. Leadership & Community Investments as Crucial ESG Components — Part 2

In October 2021, Kimberly Griego-Kiel took part in the ESG For Impact! Conference in Colorado Springs. 

Now back with part two of her ESG for Impact! miniseries, Kim welcomes George Gay, the CEO of First Affirmative Financial Network, and Ebony Perkins, Self-Help Credit Union’s Vice President and Director of Investor Relations. 

George and Kim explore George’s military background and ways to gain leadership within the environmental, social, and governance investing arena, while Ebony reviews everything you need to know about community investments. Plus, she shares how Self-Help Credit Union can support you when you need it the most. 

Kim, George, and Ebony discuss:

  • How leadership skills are transferable from industry to industry
  • How 9/11 and the 2008 Market Crisis affected perceptions of success 
  • The lending business during the pandemic
  • The importance of understanding where your money ‘sleeps’
  • And more!

Resources:

Connect with George Gay:

Connect with Ebony Perkins:

Connect with Kimberly Griego-Kiel

About George Gay:

George has worked at First Affirmative Financial Network since 1986, serving as the CEO since 1999. First Affirmative is a leading provider of professional services to investment professionals who focus on socially responsible investing, sustainable investing, ESG investing, and/or Impact Investing. Through their managed account service, Sustainable Investment Solutions TM, they currently manage roughly $1 Billion for clients around the country. Geroge is recognized as an industry role model and mentor. He’s a highly sought-after speaker, panelist, and counselor. He is a past recipient of the industry’s “SRI Service Award.”

About Ebony Perkins:

Ebony is a dedicated, solution-oriented social entrepreneur with a passion for community investing. In her career, she has scaled operations across 70 individual branches and 800 employees to grow cash investments in the social impact space, nearly doubling investments YoY from 2020 – 2021.  She has participated on a leadership team that has led overall deposit growth from $1.2B to $2.5B over five years through strategic planning, business development initiatives, and mergers and acquisitions. Ebony was elected to the Board of US SIF in 2020, the leading voice for sustainable investing across all asset classes. She has secured $250M + in community investments by engaging foundations, high net worth individuals, and Fortune 100 companies across industries, including tech, consumer goods, and financial services.

 

55. How we can Create a New Economy With Rex Raimond — Part 1

55. How we can Create a New Economy With Rex Raimond — Part 1

In October 2021, Kimberly Griego-Kiel took part in the ESG For Impact! conference in Colorado Springs. 

During this two-day conference, Kim attended sessions focused on SRI investments, strategies, and concepts while connecting with like-minded professionals and industry leaders. 

One of those leaders was Rex Raimond, the director of The Transformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS) Initiative.

In the first part of the ESG for Impact! miniseries, Rex joins Kim to explain everything around investing in global food systems. They explore how food growth can impact our health and the environment and outline ways we can get into a new sustainable economy.

Kim and Rex discuss:

  • How food systems fit within the ESG arena
  • The destructiveness of the agricultural system
  • The financial component of growing food system operations
  • Consequences of not managing our land properly
  • And more!

Resources:

Connect with Rex Raimond

Connect with Kimberly Griego-Kiel

About Rex Raimond: 

Rex Raimond has more than 20 years of experience developing strategies and building effective partnerships for sustainable and equitable food systems. He applies his partnership-building skills to help build a movement among concessional, impact, and commercial investors, companies, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to increase investment in principles-aligned food system businesses that are economically viable and deliver sustainable impact. Rex has worked on many aspects of food and agricultural systems transformation, including sustainable finance, crop insurance, and agricultural policy, market incentives for soil health practices, sustainable supply chains, food safety, science and emerging technologies, sustainable landscape planning, and climate change.