Aeris Appoints New Board Chair and Directors

February 13, 2019

Aeris has named Kim Leslie Shafer Chair of the Aeris Board of Directors, effective February 13, 2019. Shafer succeeds Ellen Seidman, who served as Chair since 2014. Seidman led Aeris through a critical period of its growth and development as it entered the wider impact investing field. She will continue to serve on the board through 2020. Kim Leslie Shafer is an independent consultant, combining a 15-year investment banking career with significant public service related to financial regulation. Her current focus on impact investing is the synthesis of her mission orientation and accumulated financial experience. Shafer has been a member of the Aeris Board of Directors since 2016.

Aeris also has appointed two new board members: Justin Conway and Penelope Douglas.

Justin Conway is currently Vice President of Investment Partnerships for Calvert Impact Capital and President of Community Investment Partners. Previously, Conway managed the Community Investment Program of the Social Investment Forum and Green America and also has worked on human and economic rights in both Asia and Central America. He has served as the Vice Chair and Foundation Chair of the board of US SIF, and as a board member of Green America.

Penelope Douglas has spent the past 25 years as a social entrepreneur and currently serves as founding partner of CultureBank. Douglas also serves as an advisor to several women-led social enterprises, is a board member of Startgrid, and is visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank, Community Development Division. Previously, Douglas was cofounder and CEO of Pacific Community Ventures, and senior executive and board chair of MissionHub and SOCAP.

Finally, Douglas Raymond stepped down from the Aeris Board of Directors, having completed his term of service. Raymond, a managing partner at Drinker, Biddle & Reath, and Chair of its Corporate and Securities Group for more than 10 years, has guided Aeris’ development as a founding board member, and continues to serve as Aeris’ legal counsel.