BOSTON, MA (JUNE 3, 2021) – The Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) and its nonprofit home The Crane Institute of Sustainability (Crane) announced today the hiring of Julia Parker, a nonprofit executive with deep expertise in community impact investing, as Managing Director. Parker joins IEN co-founder Georges Dyer on the leadership team of IEN, the leading field-building organization for mission-aligned endowment investing.
“We know that the investors in our network need and want leadership that is focused on a holistic definition of sustainability and on community impact,” Board of Directors Chair Valerie Red-Horse Mohl said. “Julia brings that deep expertise, which she’s built growing small businesses, getting capital to successful BIPOC entrepreneurs, and investing in sustainable community development.”
Parker previously led the Omaha Small Business Network to accelerate social and economic impact through investments and support to low and middle income BIPOC entrepreneurs. Most recently she led the Economic Development department at Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation investing up to $250,000 in debt capital to BIPOC. She was also an investor at Odds on VC where her investment thesis focused on BIPOC and femme led start-ups. Julia continues to serve as VC in Residence at Pipeline Angels fund investing in trans women, cis women, nonbinary, two-spirit, agender, and gender-nonconforming founders.
“I am excited to join the IEN team and bring my experience to this peer learning environment,” Parker said. “For the past ten years I have been working on impacting investing across asset classes, and I am eager to support IEN’s mission to provide education around mobilizing capital in an effort to create a world where all people thrive with equal access to personal and economic opportunity.”
IEN is advancing the field of mission-aligned and socially/environmentally sustainable investing in a number of ways, including the newly launched Net Zero Endowments initiative, programming based on IEN’s Racial Equity Investing primer, a Sustainable Retirements initiative, and the SIILK Network of student-managed investment funds.
“We are thrilled to have Julia join our team,” said Dyer. “She brings deep commitment and expertise on creating a more equitable and just society, and understands how this benefits not only communities, but also businesses, investors, and the economy as whole. This aligns with the growing focus within IEN on how investors need to think about the intersection of racial justice, climate change, and other sustainability issues.”
Parker joins the staff at Crane that support IEN’s 180+ members and other stakeholders to achieve social equity and climate goals.
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 aligning with institutional mission, values, and sustainability goals. 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). www.intentionalendowments.org
About Crane
The Crane Institute of Sustainability is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to promoting leadership for sustainability. Crane works with organizations in the higher education, business, non-profit, and public sectors to promote a strategic approach to sustainability, and facilitate collaboration among organizations and across sectors to accelerate progress toward sustainability. Crane’s flagship initiative is the Intentional Endowments Network. www.cranesustainability.org
Contact:
Georges Dyer
Co-founder & Executive Director, Intentional Endowments Network & The Crane Institute of Sustainability