Author: IEN Staff Published: 2/16/2021 Intentional Endowments Network
The Leading Mission-Aligned Investing Network for Higher Education and Other Endowed Institutions
Our vision is that all endowed institutions mobilize capital to create a world where all people thrive with equal access to personal and economic opportunity.
Our economic system’s prioritization of short-term returns over long-term value creation has exacerbated the issues of climate change, racial injustice, and widening economic inequality. Intentional Endowments Network encourages and supports higher education institutions to adopt long-term investment strategies that create an equitable, low-carbon, and regenerative economy.
We believe that higher education institutions are influential actors with power to drive systemic change – to benefit themselves and society as a whole.
Higher education and other social purpose institutions are making critical choices every day about how to operate in a society and economy facing multiple intersecting crises. The higher education sector educates 20 million students per year in the US, who are society’s future leaders and professionals. It helps solve current problems, anticipate tomorrow’s challenges, and serve as a model in all of its actions, including endowment investing.
Our goal is for the 2,000 higher education institutions, totaling $650 billion in endowment assets and $890 billion in retirement funds, to invest in ways that accelerate the shift to an equitable, low carbon, and regenerative economy. We are also working to ensure higher education institutions develop the next generation of leaders committed to this type of economy through student managed investment funds and sustainable investing curriculum.
About the Intentional Endowments Network
The Intentional Endowments Network is a non-profit, peer-learning network advancing intentionally designed endowments – those that seek to enhance financial performance by making investments that advance an equitable, low carbon, and regenerative economy. Working closely with leading organizations, the network engages leaders and key stakeholders from higher education, foundations, business, and nonprofits. It provides opportunities for learning and education, peer networking, convening, thought leadership and information exchange around a variety of strategies (e.g., ESG integration, impact investing, and shareholder engagement).
Read about IEN’s history.
Demonstrate and advance your leadership in creating a low-carbon, regenerative, and equitable economy by becoming a member of the Intentional Endowments Network today.
The Crane Institute of Sustainability, Board of Directors
Natasha Lamb (Chair), Managing Partner, Director of Equity Research & Shareholder Engagement, Arjuna Capital
Dianne Dillon-Ridgley, environmentalist and human rights activist; Co-Chair, Green Leadership Trust (GLT); Vice Chair, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Robert E. Johnson, President, Western New England University
Bob Litterman, Chairman, Risk Committee and Academic Advisory Board at Kepos Capital LP
Glen Macdonald, Managing Director and Senior Investment Advisor at Cornerstone Capital
Joanna Olin, Chief of Staff, Smith College
Jameela Pedicini, Executive Director, Climate Finance Initiatives, Bloomberg LP
Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, Founder and CEO, Red-Horse Financial Group, Inc.
Gabe Rissman, Co-Founder & President, Yourstake.org
Anthony Rust, Impact Fund Manager, BEI Business Equity Fund; Chair of the Investment Committee, Warren Wilson College
Sandra A. Urie, Chairman Emeritus, Cambridge Associates
Georges Dyer, Co-founder and Executive Director
Intentional Endowments Network & the Crane Institute of Sustainability
Noreen Marton, Business Manager
Intentional Endowments Network & the Crane Institute of Sustainability
Executive Committee
Garrett Ashley (Co-Chair), Vice Chancellor, University Relations and Advancement, The California State University
Joe Biernat, Trustee, Gettysburg College
Lisa Hayles, Investment Manager, Trillium Asset Management
Tamara Larsen, Executive Director, Head of Mission Aligned Investing, Agility
Ken Locklin, Managing Director, Impax Asset Management
Jeff Mindlin, Vice President of Investments, ASU Enterprise Partners
Tom Mitchell, Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
Carol Jeppesen, Head of US, UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
Libby George, Director of Investments, North Carolina State University
Steering Committee
Garrett P. Ashley, Vice Chancellor, University Relations and Advancement, The California State University
Joe Biernat, Trustee, Gettysburg College
Keryn Brock, Head of Institutional Endowment and Foundation Business, Brown Advisory
Tim Coffin, Senior Vice President, Breckinridge Capital Advisors
Felicia Davis, Co-founder, HBCU Green Fund; Coordinator, Sustainability at Clark Atlanta University
Libby George, Director of Investments, North Carolina State University
Erik Gross, Board Treasurer, UNH Foundation
Kelly Major Green, CIMA®, Chicago office of Graystone Consulting, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Carol Jeppesen, Head of US, UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
Robert E. Johnson, President, Western New England University
Karan Kishorepuria, Student, Northeastern University
Alex Lamb, Trustee, Montserrat College of Art; Managing Director, Commonwealth Impact Partners
Tamara Larsen, Executive Director, Perella Weinberg Partners
Henry M. Lancaster, Partner at Lancaster Craig & Associates, Director of the HBCU Green Fund, and Trustee of Lincoln University
Maria Lettini, Director, Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) Initiative
Ken Locklin, Senior Advisor – Director, Impax Asset Management
Carol Malnick, Vice President, Boston Common Asset Management
Tom Mitchell, Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
Jeff Mindlin, Vice President of Investments, ASU Enterprise Partners
Robert Nava, Executive Director, California State University San Bernardino Philanthropic Foundation
Catie O’Connell, Director, Institutional Development Unit, Natixis Investment Managers
Neda Nobari, Vice Chair of the Foundation Board, San Francisco State University
Anthony Rust, Impact Fund Manager, BEI Business Equity Fund, Chair of the Investment Committee, Warren Wilson College
Tim Smith, Senior Vice President, Director of ESG Shareowner Engagement, Walden Asset Management, Boston Trust
Daren Smith, President and Chief Investment Officer, University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM)
Randall Strickland, Director and Investment Advisor, Cornerstone Capital Group
Heidi Welsh, Executive Director, Sustainable Investments Institute
Lindsey White, Senior Manager of the Investor Network on Climate Risk and Sustainability, Ceres
Justin Wilson, Director, Diverse Asset Managers Initiative (DAMI)