Updated August 2026
100 Women in Finance Hosts Inaugural Impact Investing Symposium in New York
New York, NY, 19 October 2023: 100 Women in Finance, a global finance organization, held its inaugural Impact Investing Symposium on October 10th. Previously produced by High Water Women since 2013, this sold out event brought together nearly 250 thought leaders and industry peers to discuss sustainable investment values and expand their knowledge of the latest developments in the sector. In addition, some tickets were extended to college and university students from the Tristate area.
The concept of impact investing has been rapidly gaining popularity in recent years. It involves investing in companies or other organizations that seek to create a positive impact on society or the environment while still generating financial returns. The symposium aimed to bring together a diverse group of participants, including CIOs, CEOs, investment managers, portfolio managers, and impact investors. The day included at least eight panel discussions, roughly eighteen table talks, and continuous networking throughout.
Emcee Daniel Pianko, host of the Impact Capital Managers podcast Better Money, Better World, welcomed attendees and introduced 100WF New York ESG Peer Advisory Group Co-Chair Courtney Birnbaum of Corbin Capital Partners, who opened the symposium with a keynote address.
Nature, Climate, and the Case for Valuing the Planet
The day kicked off with an armchair discussion between Monica Medina, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, and moderator Afsaneh Beschloss, founder and CEO of RockCreek. Medina offered a comprehensive overview of WCS’s organizational structure, global outreach, and ambitious mission to safeguard nature, with an ultimate goal of achieving 30 by 30, protecting 30 percent of the Earth’s land and oceans by 2030. Beschloss explored topics including the economic case for nature and climate action, the value of nature and the associated consumer costs tied to these indispensable natural resources, and the role women are playing in this broader movement. Medina challenged everyone in the room to find the financial tool that would allow the world to properly value nature, place it on the balance sheet, and account for it meaningfully. She also acknowledged the significant role women will continue to play in driving the conservation movement forward.
During the second armchair discussion, Dr. Lucas Joppa, Senior Managing Director and Chief Sustainability Officer at Haveli Investments, offered valuable insight into the challenges of implementing a zero emissions policy. Drawing on his experience at Microsoft alongside his current role in the private sector at Haveli, Joppa addressed various aspects of the journey toward carbon neutrality. One key topic he explored was the carbon fee and its impact on business operations, weighing both the advantages and disadvantages of that approach and its effectiveness in driving sustainable practices. Joppa also stressed the importance of wholehearted commitment from top level management and employees at every level, emphasizing the need for measurable targets and transparency in tracking and communicating progress.
As the discussion drew to a close, Brooke Masters, US Financial Editor at the Financial Times, asked Joppa to share cautionary tales and potential pitfalls organizations should keep in mind while embarking on the journey toward zero emissions.
Investing Through a Gender Lens
The first panel discussion, led by moderator Michelle Noyes, Head of Americas at the Alternative Investment Management Association, explored investing through a gender lens. Noyes expertly facilitated a conversation with Debra Schwartz, Managing Director of Impact Investments at the MacArthur Foundation, and Lenna Koszarny, Founding Partner and CEO of Horizon Capital. Schwartz outlined the MacArthur Foundation’s goals and underscored its work around equity, inclusion, and sustainability, with gender considerations forming an integral part of the foundation’s broader agenda. Koszarny spoke about gender lens investing and the powerful momentum it has gained from the 2X Challenge, a global initiative launched in 2019 by the G7 to mobilize capital and support investments that advance gender equality. She explained that the criteria set out by the 2X Challenge reflected practices her fund, based in Ukraine, was already inherently following, and that Horizon Capital is today recognized as one of only two funds in the world to have achieved that standard.
Both Schwartz and Koszarny shared specific examples of how their funds have had direct and inherent impacts on societies and communities globally, while emphasizing the importance of impact measurement and management, noting that without measurement, meaningful change becomes difficult to track or sustain. The conversation left the audience with a genuine sense of inspiration around the power of catalytic capital and gender lens investing.
Carbon Markets and the Path to 1.5 Degrees
Following that panel, Annette Nazareth, Chair of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market, and Emily Chien, a Sustainability and Climate Fellow at Harvard University, discussed accelerating a just transition to 1.5 degrees by mobilizing climate finance through high integrity voluntary carbon markets. Nazareth outlined what needs to happen to achieve the 1.5 degree target set under the Paris Agreement and how leveraging the carbon market could prove critical to that effort. The initiative aims to attract both public and private sources of climate finance to support projects focused on reducing emissions and implementing nature based solutions, with the goal of accelerating the global transition toward a low carbon economy.
Nazareth also highlighted the current lack of standardization and transparency within the carbon market, discussing the work underway through the Integrity Council to address those issues and accelerate the development of high integrity voluntary carbon markets, including establishing core principles and implementing a formal assessment framework.
Active Ownership and Value Creation
The final panel discussion before lunch was moderated by Courtney Birnbaum, who explored active ownership as an alternative to divestment and its impact on returns. She was joined by Paula Luff, Director of ESG Research and Engagement at DSC Meridian Capital, and Chavon Sutton, Senior Investment Director of Sustainable and Impact Investing Research at Cambridge Associates.
Luff and Sutton explored the concept of value creation as it relates to sustainability issues, highlighting how such issues can act as levers, either diminishing value or creating new opportunities for businesses. They emphasized that sustainability isn’t solely about risk management, but also about identifying and capitalizing on genuine opportunity, with engagement serving as a key tool for gathering information and evaluating impact. Effective measurement methods to track progress and outcomes emerged as a recurring theme throughout the day, with that kind of transparency driving accountability and benchmarking that can, in turn, incentivize change among peers.
Table Talks and Peer Discussion
Table talks, hosted by various sponsors, began following a networking luncheon, giving attendees the opportunity to engage with peers on topics related to impact investing. Discussions covered a wide range of areas, including the role of private equity in impact investing, impact investing in emerging markets, and impact investing within the renewable energy sector. Esteemed hosts included Lisa Green Hall, Impact Chair at Apollo Global Management, Blair Miller, Senior Advisor at Two Sigma Impact, Diana van Maasdijk, Co-Founder and CEO of Equileap, Angela Outlaw-Matheny, Director of Diverse Manager Equity at Crewcial Partners, Melissa Weigel, Managing Director of Capital Raising at NatureVest, Myriam Ahmed, Executive Director of Global Sustainability Finance at Morgan Stanley, Matthew Christ, Portfolio Manager at Ninety One, and Han Yik, Senior Advisor to the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer at NYS Teachers’ Retirement System.
Closing Perspectives from Allocators
The closing panel discussion, An Inside Look at Allocators’ Approach to Sustainable Investing, was moderated by Bhakti Mirchandani, Managing Director of Responsible Investing at Trinity Church Wall Street. Panelists included Essma Bengabsai, Senior Social Investments Analyst at The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Michaela Edwards, Partner at Capricorn and Sustainable Investors Fund, and Han Yik, Senior Advisor to the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer at NYS Teachers’ Retirement System.
Mirchandani examined how different types of allocators approach their work and how their specific role shapes the way they engage with particular social and environmental issues. Panelists closed by reflecting on what success has looked like in their own experience, along with some of the challenges they’ve faced along the way.
Closing remarks were shared by 100WF Interim CEO Nicole Wiley and IIS committee volunteer Anna Snider, Head of Investment Selection within the Chief Investment Office for Global Wealth and Investment Management at Bank of America and former High Water Women board chair.
A Symposium Aligned with a Larger Mission
The symposium served a dual purpose. First, it highlighted the growing significance of environmental, social, and governance factors in investment decision making. Second, the themes that emerged throughout the day resonated closely with 100WF’s broader mission and its Vision 30/40 initiative, which seeks to achieve gender parity and diversity within the finance industry by 2040 through programming, peer networks, and visibility initiatives.
For more information on the Impact Investing Symposium, including the lineup of speakers and detailed agenda, please click here. If you are interested in learning more about our Peer Advisory Groups (e.g., ESG PAG), please click here or contact us.
