Kat Taylor, Co-Founder & CEO, Beneficial State Bank | Keynote Speaker
Kat Taylor works in service of restoring social justice and environmental well-being to build a more equitable and inclusive world. Kat is active in a variety of social enterprises and philanthropic ventures on the West Coast focused on deep systems change. Currently, she serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Beneficial State Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and certified B Corporation whose mission is to bring beneficial banking to low-income communities in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner – and to change the banking system for good. Kat believes it’s not enough to dream that philanthropic resources can clean up damage to our society after the fact; we must instead align fundamental institutions, including business, with the public interest in the first place.
Beneficial State Bank is the result of aligned mergers between OneCalifornia Bank, which Kat and her husband, Tom Steyer, founded in Oakland, CA, ShoreBank Pacific, Pan American Bank, and Albina Community Bank. Beneficial State Bank operates 17 locations throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. The bank’s revolutionary ownership structure mandates that any distributed profit be invested in the low-resourced communities it serves and the environment upon which we all depend. With strong organizational commitments to diversity, inclusion and environmental justice, Kat’s work focuses on advancing a fair, regenerative, and prosperous economy for all.
Kat is also a Founding Director of TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation (TKREF), dedicated to inspiring a sustainable food system through ranching best practices, training, educational tours, scientific research, and school food and garden programs. TKREF owns the social enterprise LeftCoast GrassFed, humanely raising cattle and other livestock for the benefit of healthy soils. Kat serves and has served on many non-profit boards including, Ecotrust, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, ProPublica, the Community Development Bankers Association (CDBA), Forager, and CuriOdyssey. She graduated from Harvard College and earned a JD/MBA from Stanford University. She and Tom Steyer, Kat's climate/energy/justice activist husband, have four grown children, each pursuing their one wild and precious life too.
Chisato Fukuda Calvert, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Impact Experience
Chisato Fukuda Calvert, Ph.D. has over 13 years of experience working in international development, non-profit, and community engagement sectors to catalyze social impact in underserved communities across the globe. Her personal and professional commitment has been to help build and deepen relationships, facilitate generative discussions, apply research findings to design and implement programs, and contribute as a thought leader. She currently serves as Director Strategic Partnerships at Impact Experience where she has helped build bridges across diverse sectors to build trust, generate capital, and shift local narratives in over 20 communities throughout the U.S. Chisato has also worked and conducted research extensively across Asia including in Mongolia, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Drawing on her doctoral dissertation fieldwork on health disparities caused by air pollution exposure, she continues to serve as a mentor and consultant on environmental justice and public health projects in Mongolia. Chisato earned her Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated from Bucknell University with a Cultural Anthropology Honors Degree.
Jacob Haar, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Community Investment Management
Jacob Haar is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Community Investment Management (CIM), an institutional impact investment manager. CIM provides debt funding for responsible innovation in lending to U.S. small businesses and underserved borrowers in which the long-term interests of borrowers and investors are aligned. Jacob leads investment activities at CIM focused on partnerships with innovative lenders that demonstrate a commitment to responsible, transparent, and borrower-centric lending practices. Previously, Jacob was Co-Founder and Managing Director of Minlam Asset Management, an impact investment advisor which financed specialty lending to micro, small, and medium enterprise lenders in emerging markets. Prior to co-founding Minlam in 2005, Jacob worked in an operating role for a specialty finance lender in Azerbaijan. Jacob is a Fulbright Scholar, received a M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Giles Coates, Chief Financial Officer, Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF)
Mr. Coates was previously the global head of finance and accounting for FINCA Impact Finance, an international network of financial services providers using fintech to expand financial inclusion for low-income clients. Prior to FINCA, he worked at Capital One, where he served as CFO of the commercial real estate business and CFO of the community development finance business. Mr. Coates has an extensive background in capital markets raising debt and equity for commercial finance companies. He has also worked as a credit underwriter and asset manager in the real estate, retail and healthcare finance sectors. His range of experience includes several of LIIF’s core business functions and program areas. Mr. Coates is a U.K. Chartered Accountant and holds a BS in Law and Accounting from University of Wales, Cardiff. He is based in New York.
Mark Doherty, Director of Investments, San Francisco Foundation
Mark is the San Francisco Foundation’s Director of Investments and leads a team which stewards $1.5 billion of charitable capital. Mark’s team is responsible for the analysis, operations, and communications related to the Foundation’s core investment portfolios, externally managed funds, and impact investing portfolios. He helps evaluate and implement investment and liquidity management strategies to best support SFF’s mission. Prior to joining the Foundation, Mark lived in London and was Operations Director at UK Community Foundations, an organization supporting the 46 community foundations in the UK. Before London, Mark served as Director of Investments at Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Prior to his career in philanthropy, Mark was a private banker in San Francisco to high net worth clients. He holds an MA in International Policy Studies from Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and a BA in Political Science from Colorado College. When not standing with his wife on the sidelines of their sons’ soccer games, Mark enjoys ultra-distance trail running.
Jacob Moore, Associate Vice President of Tribal Relations, Office of Government & Community Engagement, Arizona State University
Jacob Moore is responsible for the intergovernmental affairs between ASU and tribal nations and communities. Previously, Jacob Moore was managing partner for Generation Seven Strategic Partners, LLC, and also worked as an Economic Development Analyst and Special Assistant on Congressional and Legislative for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Jacob previously served as a member of the Arizona State Board of Education. Mr. Moore is currently on the board of directors for the Arizona Community Foundation, the ASU Morrison Institute, WestEd, the Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center (AMEPAC), and Touchstone Behavioral Health. Mr. Moore earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and an Executive MBA from the Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey College of Business and is a citizen of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Pablo Bravo Vial, Vice President, Community Health, Dignity Health
As Vice President Community Health, Pablo oversees the work of System Wide Community Health efforts, Community Benefit reporting, Community Health International, Grants, and Community Investments programs for CommonSpirit Health. Prior to his time at CommonSpirit Health, Pablo was the Fiscal Director for the City and County of San Francisco Department of Mental Health Children Services and Managed Care. Pablo has an M.P.H. from USF. Pablo serves on Boards including Dignity Health Medical Foundation, San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund, and on the Dominican San Rafael’s Socially Responsible Investment Committee.
Wendy Walker, Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
Wendy Walker, CFA, is a Managing Director and a Chief Investment Officer in CA Capital Management, Cambridge Associates’ outsourced investment office business. Wendy works with endowment & foundation clients and is a member of the firm’s Mission-Related Investing Practice. Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, Wendy worked on the investment teams at Imprint Capital Advisors, focusing on socially responsible and environmental-themed fund managers, and at Parnassus Investments, integrating environmental, social and governance factors into industry and company-specific research. She is a former vice chair of the Sustainable Investing Committee of the New York Society of Security Analysts.
Wendy graduated cum laude from Yale University and earned an MBA (with Honors) from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. She serves on the Advisory Committee to the Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund.
Amir Kirkwood, Chief Lending and Investment Officer, Opportunity Finance Network
Amir joined OFN in 2019 and manages OFN’s Financial Services team and is responsible for the development of new capital resources to support OFN’s on and off-balance sheet financing activity. Amir comes to OFN from Amalgamated Bank, where he was First Vice President for Commercial Banking, covering community development finance and growth markets. In this role, he was a lead originator for mission-focused lending to nonprofits, CDFIs, impact investment funds, and foundations, completing more than $100mm in approved transactions and originations. Also serving as Senior Advisor to the Amalgamated Foundation, Amir advised nonprofits, CDFIs, and investment funds on impact finance strategies. Prior to Amalgamated Bank, he served as a Partner at Next Street, playing various roles to support business development and client management. Earlier, he was a Director in Citigroup’s Municipal Securities Division, working as a relationship banker for Citi Community Capital. Amir managed origination with municipal agencies, CDFIs, intermediary lenders, community development corporations, and nonprofits. While at Citi, and in partnership with OFN and Calvert Impact Capital, he helped create the Communities at Work Fund, LP, a national $200 million commitment to finance the general operating needs of CDFIs.
Catherine Chen, CIMA®, AWM, Managing Director and Financial Advisor, RBC Wealth Management, SRI Wealth Management Group
Catherine has significant corporate finance and institutional advisory experience and has been in the investment field since 1993. Before joining RBC, she was part of the SRI Wealth Management Group at Piper Jaffray for five years where she advised foundations, non-profit organizations and high net worth individuals on ESG investments. Prior to Piper Jaffray, Catherine worked with J.P. Morgan for almost seven years as an investment banker covering the healthcare, natural resources and technology sectors. During her tenure at J.P. Morgan, Catherine advised clients on over $5 billion of M&A, project finance and equity and fixed income underwriting transactions. She was based in the New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong offices, and has expertise in advising multi-national companies. Prior to that, she was an analyst in the International Banking Department of Chinatrust Commercial Bank in Taiwan, part of one of the largest conglomerates in Taiwan. She performed investment analysis for a variety of project finance transactions and assisted in establishing its Hong Kong office.
Catherine is a Board Member of the East Bay Community Foundation, former Advisory Board member of the Women's Funding Network, and former Board member of the Children's Council of San Francisco. She is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and has a BA in both Economics and History where she is a Cal Alumni Scholar. She is also a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®), a designation she earned from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is a member of IMCA (Investment Management Consultants Association). She has passed the Series 7 and Series 66 exams, and holds a California insurance license. Catherine is a member of the Social Investment Forum. She has sat on the firm’s Investment Advisory Group Council, is a member of the firm’s Senior Consulting Group, and is part of the Chairman’s Council in the firm (which is a distinction bestowed on high producing advisors in the firm). She is also a proud parent to two kids with her husband.
Austin Wilson, ESG Investment Associate, Aperio Group
Austin is an ESG Associate at Aperio Group. He helps create customized SRI/ESG solutions and facilitates shareholder engagement and proxy voting aligned with clients’ values. Prior to Aperio, Austin was the Environmental Health Program Manager at As You Sow, responsible for shareholder engagement to address risks and opportunities in food production and public health. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a combined BA in Politics and Mathematics/Economics.
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