Impact-Focused Firm i(x) Investments Adds Ex-Obama Official as President
The firm, co-founded by Warren Buffett's grandson, deepens its bench of government-connected players as it grows its SRI portfolio.
Once again highlighting the growth and importance of sustainable investing, Christine Harada, former U.S. chief sustainability officer in the Obama administration, has joined i(x) Investments as president, the social impact investment firm announced today.
In addition to this move, the company brought on board Paul Aaronson, formerly with Guggenheim Partners, as chief operating officer, and appointed board member Sarah Bloom Raskin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury in the Obama administration, as chair of the board.
These moves continue to solidify the “profit with purpose” mission of i(x) Investments, which invests in “critical areas of human need (renewable energy, green real estate development, affordable housing, gender equality, technology and information, waste reduction and food and agriculture) in a multi-strategy investment approach throughout the entire capital structure,” states the company’s website. It focuses on companies with “proven science and technology with the potential for hyper-growth as well as on mispriced assets.”
i(x) Investments was co-founded in 2015 by Howard Buffett (the grandson of Warren Buffett) and Trevor Neilson.
Harada most recently was with Ridge-Lane LP, a strategic advisory firm and merchant bank. While serving as U.S. chief sustainability officer, her role was to promote environmental and energy sustainability across all federal government operations.
“More than ever, investors are considering the social impact of how they deploy capital,” Harada said in a statement, adding that she was pleased to join a firm that helps investors “leverage their power in ways that address the world’s most challenging problems in scalable and sustainable ways.”
As COO, Aaronson will focus on efficient growth as the company scales its impact investing model. Raskin, who served as U.S. deputy secretary of the Treasury from March 2014 through January 2017, joined the i(x) board in August 2017.
“Their leadership and experience will play a crucial role as we build the world’s first institutional-scale impact investing platform that will enable investors to achieve both risk-adjusted market rate returns and positive social impact,” Neilson said in a statement.
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