ImpactAlpha Podcasts

Tirtha Patel and John Morris of Intentional Asset Management join David for this episode. Intentional is raising the Carib Grow Fund to provide much-needed equity financing for food systems in the Caribbean. Tirtha and John explain the fund's strategy for transforming the region’s food value chain, from production to processing to waste recovery.  Intentional Asset Management has been an activ...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank and producer Isaac Silk . Up this week: As the Trump administration steps back from domestic policy, how states are taking the lead on clean energy, the ownership economy, and AI regulation (09:25); Why smaller funds are leading to bigger returns in Africa (); And, the pivots of Mast Reforestation, as it seeks to sell remov...

The Russell Family Foundation is a regional small fry among the giant pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds in the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, which represents more than $9 trillion in assets. Russell, based in Gig Harbor, Wash., near Seattle, accounts for only about $100 million of that total.  “We can move a little bit faster,” Kathleen Simpson , CEO of the foundation, tells David Ba...

The status quo is stupid, expensive and unfair.  That’s the first line of David Erickson’s book, “ The Fifth Freedom ,” which makes the case for good schools, well-funded libraries, safe streets and public spaces, quality health care, spiritual refuges and accessible transportation to help kids and communities thrive. Erickson joins David Bank on this episode of Agents of Impact. His team at the F...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: Highlights from this week’s Agents of Impact Call on Shaping the Algorithm for good AI; how regional housing finance agencies in California are leveraging public funding to crowd private capital into affordable housing (12:20); and the emergence of local guarantee facilities for local investors in infrastruc...

Dimitry Gershenson and Erin Davis of Enduring Planet join David Bank to discuss how their working capital loans help early-stage climate startups meet the milestones need to unlock other financing – and pay them back. They discuss the current state of climate tech, technology-enabled lending, catalytic guarantees and even corporate beekeeping.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with Jessica Pothering , Dennis Price and Roodgally Senatus . Up this week: Jessica reports from Cape Town on how Africa’s mining industry is leveraging global demand for critical minerals; Dennis shares takeaways from his panel at the Urban Institute on what’s next for place-based investing (12:15); and, Roody reports from Philadelphia on Kensin...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: How patient capital built India’s booming affordable home lending market; Nippon Life Insurance’s step-up to system-level investing in Japan (07:15); and, the push and pull behind growing interest in climate adaptation (13:20). Story links: " Key to India’s booming affordable home lending market: Patien...

SHIFT Capital, Aedera Companies and Lafayette Square are teaming up to bet on some of the most overlooked corners of the US housing market: Federally subsidized housing in mid-sized cities and rural communities on the east coast, and in the rust belt and midwest. SHIFT's Brian Murray and Aedera's Alison Carey join David Bank to discuss their new fund's strategy of preserving, and impro...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: How some LPs are going ‘beyond the check’ to help their GP impact managers survive the fundraising drought; enabling US retail investors to back solar projects in Africa and Latin America (8:05); and, at “He for She,” recognizing men who champion women in asset management (13:40). Check out this week's s...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: Highlights from this week's star-studded call on the real returns of impact-first managers; why some investors are raising permanent capital to keep affordable housing affordable, permanently (10:00); and, how Lendable is showing that asset-backed financing in emerging markets can have institutional appe...

Former New York City Deputy Mayor and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group head  Alicia Glen  joins  David Bank  to unpack how MSquared is using private capital to tackle America’s affordable housing crisis. Glen shares why mixed-income, mixed-use projects are better for investors and communities, how tools like tax credits and land use policy make the numbers work, and why transit-oriented, green...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week : In an impact fundraising drought, novel strategies and private credit stand out and, yes, size matters. Joseph Blasi's strategy to give workers a stake in AI’s upside through state and federal ‘permanent funds’ (10:45). And, the social-impact of popular movies and television (17:00). “ In impact fundrais...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: Impact investors chart a path for Latin America after the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Why working capital might be the biggest barrier for next-gen fund managers (6:15). And, why some insurers are looking for new risk transfer tools in the face of accelerating climate impacts (13:20)....

Robert Raben, of the Raben Group, a Washington DC-based consulting firm that champions diversity and social justice, joins David Bank to discuss the resilience of diversity, equity and inclusion, if not the acronym DEI, and where the movement for an inclusive economy, society and asset-management industry is headed. Let’s jump right in to our conversation. https://impactalpha.com/robert-raben-the-...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: Why LP might stand for Leadership Potential, in addition to limited partner, as asset allocators contend with an increasingly complex world; how new approaches to the ownership economy are helping to both increase and share the pie; and, amid a pullback in official aid, how African asset owners and fund mana...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: How the Sierra Club Foundation is leaning into system-level investing with its $200 million endowment; the 1803 Fund’s ambitious plans to restore historically Black neighborhoods in Portland; and, how financial advisors can meet clients’ demand for impact investing opportunities, and other takeaways from thi...

Stackwell founder  Trevor Rozier-Byrd  joins  David Bank  to talk about how public financial markets can become a real wealth-building tool for people who’ve historically been left out. Stackwell’s model: culturally resonant education, behaviorally informed nudges like recurring deposits, and seed investment programs that help “multicultural emerging wealth builders” get into the market and stay t...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: The ambitious strategy behind New Mexico’s $67 billion sovereign wealth fund; How the residential solar industry plans to stay competitive by eliminating dealer fees; And, how cities are building durable capital stacks for climate action, as federal support evaporates. Story links: “ How New Mexico’s $67 bil...

David Bank chats with Bruce Brown of New Mexico’s State Investment Council, a $67 billion sovereign wealth fund of sorts that helps pay for child care, schools, college and other services for the state’s residents. Brown is using funds generated from oil and gas production on state lands to invest in climate funds and attract clean energy projects to New Mexico.

The Cordes Foundation's Steph Stephenson joins Amy Cortese to talk about her family foundation’s evolution over its twenty years, from early support for social entrepreneurs to a focused push for gender equity throughout the global fashion industry. Check out all of ImpactAlpha's sustainable fashion coverage .

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: Beyond investments and guarantees, how Encourage Capital assembled the necessary pieces to unlock capital flows for the global clean energy transition; The missing markets for local builders and buyers of health, wealth, and vibrant communities (09:30); And, how European pension funds learn to stop worrying...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: Instead of 50 year mortgages, actual solutions to make homeownership affordable; The case of the missing $54 billion in climate finance; And, highlights from this week’s call, on plugging the financing gap for growth businesses in Africa. Story links: “ From affordable home ownership to ‘fair-share appreciat...

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank . Up this week: In the lead up to the COP30 climate summit, the state of climate blended finance is a mixed bag; the private credit jitters that are putting even impact investors on edge (10:55); and, a preview of next week's Agents of Impact call on mobilizing growth funds for growth firms in Africa and Asia (16:10). R...

As a former hedge fund investor, Eva Yazhari is comfortable making the contrarian bet. While other VC investors are swinging for grand slams with AI startups, Yazhari’s Beyond Capital Ventures is knocking down singles and doubles around the west Indian Ocean, one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. “The gap is where the alpha lives,” Yazhari told ImpactAlpha on the latest Agents of Impact podc...