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Vice President - Ocean Investment
Builders Initiative/Builders Vision
Chicago, IL, USA
Posted on Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Position Summary:
Builders Vision is seeking a Vice President to support the execution of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and impact investments on the Builders Initiative Investment Team (BIIT). The position is designed for individuals who possess significant investing experience and the desire to make the planet a more healthy and humane place.
The Vice President will be part of a team that manages multiple pools of assets, including the Builders Initiative Foundation Endowment and an impact-driven LLC. The endowment invests in market rate, mission aligned opportunities at scale. The LLC houses three thematic portfolios (oceans, clean energy & climate justice, and food & ag) that have invested in over 50 companies and early fund impact managers since 2020. BIIT regularly collaborates and interacts with teams across Builders Vision and serves as a thought leader in impact investing and our thematic sectors. Given BV’s mission to shift markets and minds for good, new ideas, new structures, and new partnerships are often created through our investment work in an effort to offer new private sector solutions to the world’s pressing climate problems. The 10-person Builders Initiative Investment team was formally established in 2022. The Vice President can expect significant ownership over investments & strategic projects while joining one of the most experienced teams in impact investing.
This role will focus on executing investments in private impact funds and direct investments in early stage start-ups, businesses, and occasional grants The candidate will primarily support the Principal responsible for leading one of the three thematic portfolios in the above mentioned LLC - our Ocean Impact Fund.
The candidate is expected to lead sourcing, underwriting and monitoring of investments, and is intended to actively engage with senior staff internally at Builders Vision and across a variety of organizations with whom Builders partners. The Vice President will also provide significant instruction, direction, and coaching for earlier career professionals.
Ideal Candidates:
- 6-10 years of work experience in investments, investment banking, or consulting with 3-5 years’ experience executing private investments
- Demonstrated interest in the role’s primary focus: ocean sustainability. This could come from professional or academic experiences. Or have an alternative background in ancillary sectors such as food and ag investing, climate, or hard-tech focused investment roles. .
- Are comfortable in a fast-paced environment
- Has a university degree with a record of high achievement. Preference for technical/STEM or liberal arts backgrounds
- Has an MBA or CFA charter
- Mastery of business tools such as Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint skills. Comfortable with database/CRM tools
- Excellent writing skills
- Demonstrated critical thinking and problem solving skills
- Willing to take a creative approach to determining deal structures, as well as when designing strategies
- A strong collaborator and mentor
- Comfortable in public speaking roles. Internally as well as externally, as the organization frequently speaks at events and conferences
Main Responsibilities
Please note this position description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the candidate in this position. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may evolve or change over time.
- Investment analysis and research, including quantitative and qualitative assessments of impact fund managers, early stage, catalytic direct investments, capital markets and asset allocation/portfolio construction work. Nearly everything will incorporate an ESG and impact investing lens. Impact investments will range from impact-first to market rate
- Impact measuring and monitoring (IMM) - working with a cross-office team to implement an IMM framework across multiple portfolios
- Special investment projects as needed such as thematic impact investment landscapes or program-related investments done in partnership with foundation program officers
- Produce written and presentation materials to communicate the investment and impact analysis to our Executive Principals
- Obtain the third-party analyses-external consultants, tax, legal etc.-and Executive Principal approvals required to execute investments
- Provide ongoing monitoring of existing investments, including reviewing monthly and quarterly manager reports, annual meeting attendance, and regular check-ins with fund managers (in person at times)
- Perform other duties as required and necessary to accomplish goals and objectives
About Builders Vision
Builders Vision (BV) is an impact platform dedicated to promoting a humane and healthy planet. Builders Vision includes a range of philanthropic and impact investing capabilities to support, seed and scale sustainable agriculture, food systems, renewable energy, ocean health, animal welfare, and the arts. Today it encompasses a family foundation (Builders Initiative), a venture and growth equity group (S2G Ventures), and an asset management team (Builders Asset Management). We are guided collectively by the belief that markets can and should benefit society and the environment and that the most successful businesses in the future will be those that are purpose-driven.
About the Builders Initiative Investment Team
We are a multi-asset class private investment team providing patient capital to impact-oriented opportunities in food and agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, and clean energy. We are part of a dedicated, single-family office that also includes an investment management team, a private foundation, a private capital firm, and an operations team.
Our vision is “a humane and healthy planet,” which we relentlessly pursue and advance through our mission, “shifting markets and minds for good.”
Diversity, equity, inclusion and justice are at the core of our mission to shift markets and minds for good. We believe the change we want to see toward a humane and healthy planet starts with us. We understand that diversity, equity, inclusion and justice are long-term commitments, and while we aspire to be a catalyst for change, our journey starts from within. We are committed to learning from others and doing the work to become a more diverse, equitable, inclusive and just organization, and will seek to promote those same values in the world around us. We know that a diverse workforce allows everyone to see problems in more nuanced ways, creating the thought leadership needed to achieve the organization’s mission. We actively seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. We are an equal opportunity employer, and we welcome people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply.
The family office relies upon many shared services provided by a central office, Walton Enterprises, Inc. (WEI), with locations in Bentonville, AR, Denver, CO and Washington, DC. WEI serves the needs of the broader Walton family and works in partnership and collaboration with family offices of individual family members, including Builders Vision.
Please note this position description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the candidate in this position. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may evolve or change over time.
Personal attributes that support your success
- Ability to act as a trusted advisor to principals and colleagues while demonstrating expertise and integrity
- You are helpful, a team player, and show respect while collaborating with others
- You are results oriented and exercise sound judgment in your work
- A lifelong learner, who is inquisitive and solves problems with bold thinking and innovation
- You are dedicated to achieving excellence and work with others to tackle the tasks at hand
- A superior communicator who treats everyone with respect
- Unquestionable ethics and personal integrity
Builders Vision is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building and maintaining a culturally diverse workplace. We encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.