Andrea Armeni is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service of NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He is also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Transform Finance, a field-building organization working at the intersection of capital and social change by building bridges between investors and communities. Transform Finance provides thought leadership and advisory services as well as concrete tools that promote social change both in and through finance.
Andrea is also the lead convener of the complementary Transform Finance Investor Network, a community of practice of family offices, foundations, and other asset owners that launched at the White House with an initial commitment of over $500 million and that has since grown to $2 billion.
He is recognized as an innovator in the field of impact investing, particularly at the intersection of systemic change and social justice. Andrea combines a corporate law and finance background with a deep engagement with social justice activism. He has taught at the Yale Law School and at Université Paris Dauphine in France. He is a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader, is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative and sits on the board of directors of the NGO Finance for Good Brazil and of the investment fund CARE Enterprises, Inc.
Capital is but a tool – one that can be used for many different purposes. This course explores the use of finance as a tool for social change.
The sessions provide an overview of different approaches to the question of aligning investments and values and aim to empower the student with a critical framework for the evaluation of the role of finance in society via case studies and a review of current practices along a continuum from “avoiding the bad” to “building the good.” It is geared toward both finance practitioners and social change agents seeking to understand the interrelation and intersection of capital and social change practice.
Using impact investing as a starting point – but not an end point – this course provides an actionable, practitioner-centered overview of the opportunities to advance social change via capital. It will cover emerging strategies ranging from divestment in the public equities space to direct investments into social enterprises and communities, touching on some of the major topics in the space, from the allocation of risks and returns among stakeholders, to impact measurement and management.