Jed Emerson BA ’81

08/31/2021

Jed Emerson BA ’81 writes: ”The journey has been rich with ups, downs and sideways turns—and one last twist for the present. After starting my career in social work, youth, and community development as founding director of Larkin Street Services in San Francisco (serving youth experiencing homelessness), I took a turn to finance and became founding director of REDF, a leading social enterprise investment fund. Toward the end of my time with REDF, I became focused on promoting an alternative definition of value as a blend of social, environmental, and economic factors—blended value—which I then spent the last two decades exploring from the organizational, investment manager, and asset owner perspectives. These last 10 years, I turned my attention to helping families manage their wealth to optimize net positive impact. Just before COVID-19 came, I had released my latest book, The Purpose of Capital: Elements of Impact, Financial Flows, and Natural Being. (The book has been published in Chinese and will be released in Spanish later in 2021; however, it’s free in English in a digital format at www.purposeofcapital.org. You’ll also find a reader’s guide, teaching notes, and even a music video!) In some ways, I was ready to simply continue on the same track, but the lockdown left me feeling like it was time to rise toward one more challenge. So Mia, my wife and partner in crime, and I, having first left San Francisco and then Colorado, have now consolidated our life in New York City. My new role is managing director and global lead for impact investing with Tiedemann Advisors, a multifamily office with an international presence looking to take its own and the field’s practice of impact investing to a new level. We shall see where this goes, but again, who would have thought? From the halls of Platt-Howard to the canyons of New York and mountains of Norway. We are especially grateful and appreciative of what we imagine will continue to be an ongoing process of being and becoming. Who would have thought, indeed!”