A Portfolio Approach to Impact with Alix Lebec
The catalytic nature of philanthropy is incredibly misunderstood — and it is to everyone’s detriment. Most business leaders and investors still draw a strict line between philanthropic endeavors and traditional profit-driven investment. But in making this false separation, they fail to see how philanthropy plays a unique role in de-risking investments in new and unproven markets and attracting other forms of financing to take on the world’s trillion-dollar challenges.
Drawing on her 20+ years of advising and growing organizations across the philanthropy and sustainable finance ecosystem, Alix Lebec will share how a portfolio approach to impact allows for risk mitigation; synergies between different impact projects and asset classes; and the scalability of successful impact models.
For over 20 years, Alix Lebec has been advising and growing organizations across the philanthropy and sustainable finance ecosystem. As a member of the founding and executive leadership team at WaterEquity — alongside co-founders Gary White and Matt Damon — Alix spent the past decade building this high-performing global asset manager that invests in water, women, and sanitation in emerging markets. She previously worked at the World Bank in Paris and Southeast Asia, followed by the Clinton Global Initiative and Water.org — where she mobilized $260 million in capital and built winning teams.
In 2020, Alix launched Lebec Consulting to support philanthropists, investors, and entrepreneurs worldwide and shape a paradigm shift in our global financial ecosystem. She is a Limited Partner and impact advisor at Polymath Ventures (Latin America’s premier seed fund venture studio building businesses such as Elenas), a member of 100 Women in Finance, and a co-founder of the World Climate Tech Summit in Miami. Alix also serves on the Board of iDE Global which powers entrepreneurs globally and is a regular media contributor on philanthropy, innovative finance, and investing in women in emerging markets.
Alix holds a Master of Science in Social Policy and Development with Merit from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Business from the American University of Paris.
Laurie Lane-Zucker is Founder and CEO of Impact Entrepreneur, PBC, an impact economy business that hosts the Impact Entrepreneur Network — a large, global network of “systems-minded” entrepreneurs, investors, and scholars of social and environmental innovation — and editor and publisher of Impact Entrepreneur, a digital magazine covering the emerging Impact Economy. For over 30 years, Laurie has been a “pioneer” (Forbes) and recognized leader in sustainability, social enterprise, and impact investing. Laurie was the founding Executive Director of the international environmental organization, Orion Society, which publishes the celebrated Orion Magazine, as well as the founder of a global sustainability think-tank, the Triad Institute, and Hotfrog, a Founding B Corporation, GIIRS Pioneer Company, and the first company ever to complete an equity transaction on an impact investment exchange. Laurie is the bestselling and multiple award-winning publisher and editor of books and magazines on sustainability and social impact — having worked with such acclaimed authors as Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, and David James Duncan — and the author of numerous articles on entrepreneurship and impact investing. Laurie is contributing author to the recently published academic textbook from World Scientific, Sustainability: Business and Investment Implications (2023).
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