Positive Impact Investing

Dr. Karen Wendt is Multiple Entrepreneur, Business Angel, Impact Investing Advisor and scientist lecturing at various universities worldwide about foreign direct investing and impact investing. She has worked as a change, thought and action leader in international investment banking and was among the thought leaders in designing the Equator Principles, the first industry wide framework for de-risking assets form environmental, social and governance risks, creating the first level playing field in finance for eco-social impact measurement and management. The Equator Principles team was assigned the prestigious Financial Times Sustainability Award. Karen has been introducing and using mediation alongside project structuring as a facilitation tool to prevent problems becoming entrenched disputes that may delay or hinder finance. She introduced and led the Extra-Financial Risk Management Team of a top tier global bank, where she introduced the Equator Principles, Karen started her careerat a major German Bank after working for the European Commission. She holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool. As Member of the Steering Committee of the Equator Principles Financial Institutions Association since its inception. she has undertaken research on impact investing, impact entrepreneurship, investment banking culture, the role of alignment of interests and values and the impact of leadership behavior on trust and value identity and stakeholder engagement. She is the editor of the Sustainable Finance and SDG Economics Book series with Springer Nature.