Paul Herman, CEO & Founder, HIP Investor Inc.
An internationally recognized expert in impact investing, Herman invented the “HIP = Human Impact + Profit” ratings system more than a decade ago, in 2004 when investors asked how to create more human impact with their for-profit portfolios. HIP Investor Ratings show that portfolios and companies can realize lower risk, enhanced returns and profit potential, and build a better world — by focusing on the root-cause drivers of value creation, which include human (customers, employees), social (trust, governance) and environmental (energy, water) factors, and their associated impact on profit. The HIP Investor team rates and ranks more than 32,000+ investments and funds globally, including nearly 5000 companies worldwide, and 26,500+ issuances of bonds (municipals, sovereigns and agencies). HIP’s Ratings reveal undiscovered risks and potential sources of untapped returns. Like Morningstar’s 5-star ratings system for companies and funds, HIP Investor’s Ratings (a 100-point scale) are licensed by investors, advisors, fund managers and retirement plans (401-k and 403-b). HIP Ratings cover all asset classes — including stocks and bonds, public and private, muni bonds, private equity and notes, real estate properties and funds, real assets and farmland, cash, artwork and hedge funds. With the HIP Ratings methodology, all asset classes can be scored and rated on quantifiable metrics of sustainability and how they drive financial performance – and thus can benefit investors (individuals and families, family offices and foundations, institutional and qualified investors) as well as advisers, brokers and consultants (in their fiduciary duty to assess risk and seek enhanced returns).Herman and the HIP team manage the HIP Portfolios – the HIP 100, the HIP Sustainable Real Estate, the HIP Preferred Stock folio, the HIP Best Companies to Work For folio — as separately-managed accounts (available for investors on platforms like the 9000 advisors on EQIS, as well as Folio Institutional). HIP’s indexes can be licensed by fund managers, advisors, and institutional investors.
Herman’s landmark book, The HIP Investor: Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World is published by John Wiley & Sons, swiftly became a top 20 business book bestseller in April 2010 for Inc. magazine / 800ceoRead.com, and is now integrated into 26 university curricula for MBAs, MPAs and undergraduate students. HIP’s industry rankings have been featured in Fast Company in 2007, 2008 and 2010. HIP has also advised corporate clients, like Walmart and NIKE, on how to be more HIP.
Herman’s financial expertise began with his Wharton School finance degree and corporate advising at McKinsey & Co. developing incentive regulation for energy companies and regulators. Herman’s strategic advisory and implementation leadership for Fortune 500 corporate clients and government continued at CSC Index. At eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s Network, Herman designed investment strategy that also enabled high human impact, including venture-backed growth companies. Herman led Ashoka.org’s fundraising and partnerships as Chief Development Officer globally, expanding its donations and entrepreneurial networks.
Herman’s first pioneering venture reached 30,000 customers by creating a financial system for families, teens and kids, a $200 billion market that included shopping, saving, investing and donating — including a permission-based online debit card for families and channel partners.
Herman’s own HIP investing – including investing in the HIP Portfolios – covers microfinance, sustainable food, renewable energy, affordable health care, and transparency and trust-facilitating systems. Herman is an Investment Committee member of the Patient Capital fund, and an advisor to (and lifetime member of) Net Impact, a network of 20,000 professionals, MBAs and students worldwide. Herman is also an advisor to SASB.org: the Sustainability Advisory Standards Board.
Herman is an adjunct professor teaching MBAs at Thammasat Business School in Bangkok, Thailand, and a visiting lecturer for MBAs, including the Presidio MBA Graduate School in S.F. Herman’s wife Gayle Keck is an expert travel and food writer, and they live in the sunny part of San Francisco.