$5 trillion investment fund Blackrock has announced that non-profits titan Deborah Winshell will join the company to grow its “impact investing” arm.
Winshell served as the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA) CFO and, until recently, was the President of the Robin Hood Foundation, which aims to tackle poverty in New York. She plans to draw on her years of experience in social enterprise and research-backed development programs, as well as a black book of contacts that includes top level city officials, to transform BlackRock’s more ethically-minded investor platform into a investing powerhouse.
BlackRock Impact will be dedicated to projects for investors that have social or environmental objectives around the world. As well as launching the programme, Winshel will lead the company’s Global Corporate Philanthropy programme.
“Today, many clients are looking for investment opportunities that advance social and financial goals at the same time,” said Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock.
“While the roots of this movement can be traced back many years, the frequency and complexity of these mandates are increasing. More and more, clients are looking to measure the returns on their investments both by the societal and financial outcomes they can help to create.”
He added: “With her experience at Robin Hood, and its focus on programs with measurable impacts, Deborah is the ideal choice to help BlackRock develop scalable impact investing offerings through both public and private markets.”
Winshell, whose CV lists high level posts at JP Morgan alongside non-profit projects that assisted hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, is also a founding board member of Immigrant Justice Corps and a member of the Economics Club of New York.
Commenting on her new appointment, she said: “BlackRock is uniquely positioned to serve investors who are interested in combining outcome-oriented societal benefits with their investment objectives.
“I am incredibly excited to join this world-class organization and further my passion for improving lives through targeted, innovative and measurable investments.”
