Stephanie Gripne, Ph.D as Founder and CEO of Impact Finance Center, Stephanie is the creative force behind the National Impact Investing Marketplace with a goal to catalyze $1 Trillion in investment capital into social ventures by replicating and scaling infrastructure that was piloted in Colorado. By providing nonconflicted education, Impact Finance Center identifies, educates, and activates individuals and organizations who want to become impact investors and develops community infrastructures such as Impact Days (an impact investing marketplace), Impact Investing Institute, Who’s Who in Financial Innovation & Impact Investing (regional directory), Impact Investing Giving Circles (investor accelerators), and Impact Investor Clubs. The three-year pilot CO Impact Days has resulted in over 70 new impact investors, sourced over 550 social ventures, and catalyzed over 260 direct impact investments totaling over $300M to date. Stephanie’s vision is driven by over 20 years of combined experience as an applied academic, investor, and practitioner at the University of Colorado Real Estate Foundation and Center, the $100 million Eco Products Fund, The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service, DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Journal of Wildlife Management, and several universities.
Stephanie serves in a variety of other roles: State of Colorado Employee Ownership Commission; Visiting Scholar at the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School in New York City; Virginia Tech Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability Associate; Aspen Institute Environment Forum Scholar; Boone & Crockett Fellow; Denver Foundation Impact Investing Committee Member; Environmental Leadership Senior Fellow; Property and Environment Research Center Fellow; Ford Foundation Community Forestry Fellow; Boone and Crockett Professional Member; LegacyWorks Group Board Member; International Women’s Forum – Women’s Forum of Colorado Member and Trustee Emeritus; Realize Impact Board and Investment Committee Member; RSF Social Finance Integrated Capital Institute Advisor; Full Spectrum Capital Partners Principal; and Net Impact’s Innovator in Residence.
She received her Ph.D. from the Boone and Crockett Wildlife Conservation Program at the University of Montana, and has a B.S. in Biology & Wildlife Management from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and a M.S. in Ecology from Utah State University.
