A Portfolio Approach to Impact
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 decades of experience advising and growing organizations across the philanthropy and sustainable finance ecosystem, Alix Lebec and Julia Wilkinson 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.
Julia Wilkinson, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Lebec Consulting, brings more than 16 years of investing experience for institutional asset owners, venture capital and private equity fund managers, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. She is an expert in impact and finance due diligence, structuring deals and funds, building impact investment strategies, and leading the integration of sustainable finance strategies to generate value. She works with traditional, institutional, and impact investors and entrepreneurs across the globe to reduce risk, multiply impact, and grow a resilient and sustainable global economy. Julia also has a deep background advising real estate and place-based investors. She actively built national and local coalitions on Opportunity Zones, and has worked on renewable, mixed use, affordable housing, innovation districts, and eMobility investment strategies. In addition, Julia is the founder of imvest, an impact investing practice dedicated to building high impact private market portfolios across asset classes.
Julia’s clients and employers have included: Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley LatAm Fund, Women’s World Banking Asset Management, Peace Boat Ecoship, Third Way Africa Partners, Health Foundation of South Florida, Cambridge Innovation Center, and OBE Power. She holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. She is trilingual in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, with over a decade of experience living in Latin America.
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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