NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

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Investing in the Real Economy with Rodney Foxworth

Tens of millions of people are unemployed or under-employed, thousands of small and medium-sized local businesses — the less-visible, principal drivers of the economy — have shuttered, and yet the stock market continues to reach all-time highs. Clearly, the financial system is not working for most working people.

To revive the economy in the immediate and long-term we must reimagine the economy. We need to invest in the real economy, as opposed to just the financial economy. To do this effectively, there needs to be a shift of power — including in the impact investment space — by looking to new leadership, reconsidering what is impactful and engaging new audiences in how we think about investment and leadership.

In this live, virtual fireside chat, Impact Entrepreneur’s Laurie Lane-Zucker welcomes Rodney Foxworth, CEO of Common Future (formerly BALLE), to discuss impact investing’s evolving relationship with the real economy.

Featured Guest

RODNEY FOXWORTH is CEO of Common Future (formerly Business of Alliance for Local Living Economies, “BALLE”). Most recently, he founded Invested Impact, a nonprofit consulting firm and intermediary that connected philanthropic and impact investment capital to underrepresented social entrepreneurs. The firm advised and partnered with numerous foundations, financial institutions, and policy organizations, including Annie E. Casey Foundation, Aspen Institute, Calvert Impact Capital, Greater Washington Community Foundation, Legg Mason, and T. Rowe Price Foundation. Prior to Invested Impact, Rodney served as Deputy Director of the Warnock Foundation, a venture philanthropy affiliated with the private equity firm Camden Partners. He previously held leadership positions at BMe, a national social entrepreneur network for African American men, and Job Opportunities Task Force, a policy advocacy and workforce development organization.

An inaugural Ford Foundation Global Fellow, Rodney serves on the board of directors of Nonprofit Finance Fund and Race Forward, and the steering committee of Justice Funders. He has spoken at Social Finance Forum, Council on Foundations, Global Philanthropy Forum, SOCAP, Open Markets Institute, Skoll World Forum, Brookings Institution, and other stages. His writing has appeared in publications such as Boston Review, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and Nonprofit Quarterly, and he has been featured in Conscious Company, Devex, Forbes, ImpactAlpha, Inside Philanthropy, and The New York Times.

Host

LAURIE LANE-ZUCKER is Founder and CEO of Impact Entrepreneur, an impact economy business that hosts the Impact Entrepreneur Network, a 25,000 member global network of entrepreneurs, investors and scholars. Impact Entrepreneur is a cornerstone field building, research and educational player in the social impact space, and a consulting company that works with blended value companies, impact investors and academic institutions. For nearly 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 published, edited and written the introductions for celebrated works by Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez and David James Duncan. He is the author of numerous articles on entrepreneurship and impact investing, and is the co-founder of the Place-Based Education movement, having coined the term with Dr. John Elder, and published, edited and written the foreword for the first book on that growing pedagogy. His current writing projects include two chapters (both co-written) for a forthcoming textbook, Sustainability: Business and Investment Implications by World Scientific Publishing.

Laurie is also a lifelong student of world wisdom traditions and is the former Executive Director of Seven Pillars House of Wisdom, a nonprofit organization founded by Pir Zia Inayat Khan focused on advancing wisdom in service of social and environmental healing.

Impact Entrepreneur’s Luminarias Webinar Series features reflective conversations with the leading lights in impact investing and entrepreneurship.