Social Innovation Symposium

The 13th Annual Social Innovation Symposium was held in person at NYU Stern School of Business on February 10, 2023. Hosted in collaboration between NYU’s Stern School of Business, the School of Law, and the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, SIS explored how we can collaborate to drive lasting social and environmental change.

We brought together thought leaders from the public, private and social sectors to discuss how partnering across traditional divides can lead to more efficient and innovative transformations. See below for our speakers and topics!

Keynote Speaker

Ron is the Founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners, a New York-based investment firm comprised of venture capital, growth equity, private equity, catalytic capital, and an operating group and innovation center focused on building the circular economy. Prior to Closed Loop Partners, Ron was the Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling and Sustainability in New York City in the Bloomberg Administration, and the Co-Founder and CEO of RecycleBank. Ron received an MBA from Columbia Business School, and served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School from 2010-2018.

Ron Gonen CEO & Founder, Closed Loop Partners

Panels

Agri-Food-Tech

How do you innovate the world’s oldest system? A conversation on Agrifood.

Stephanie Jack - Director of Product Marketing & Innovation, Bowery Farming

Tim McCollum - Founder & CEO, Beyond Good Chocolate

Yara Nagi - Operations Director, AGRITECTURE

Caroline Mak - Program Director, BigIdeasVenture

Moderator: Chisara Ehiemere - Sr. Research Lead (ROSI), NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business

Portfolios with Purpose

Measuring impact in the public markets and the role of data and reporting in sustainable investing.

Andrew Brenner - Director of Investment Management, International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation

Shahnawaz Malik - Head of ESG, Long Term Stock Exchange

Ignacio Paullier - Vice President, ETF & Index Investment Global Sustainable Product, BlackRock

Moderator: Simone Shaheen - Vice President of ESG Client Coverage, MSCI

Supply Chains in the 21st Century

How do you ensure supply chains are agile, resilient, and sustainable?

Joseph Guerra - Co-Founder, AirSign

Nora Rizzo - Ethical Materials Director, Grace Farms

Gary Kliegman - Chief Growth Officer, Cooks Venture

Moderator: Alexandra Gordon - President, Matter Unlimited

Building Teams that Build Responsible AI

Hear from leaders in the field on how they actively manage for bias in digital products.

Emily Lindemer - VP Healthcare Innovation at Morgan Health, JPMorgan Chase & Co

Dan Zhao - Lead Data Scientist/Senior Manager, Previous Companies: NASA, Medidata, Federal Reserve

Moderator: Paul Barrett - Deputy Director, NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights

Thank you to our partners!

If you are interested in partnering with us for our 2024 symposium, please reach out to sisa@stern.nyu.edu.

Past Conferences

  • Innovation for Impact

    MARCH 2022

    The 2022 theme, Innovation for Impact: How Crisis Drives World-Changing Ideas, explored extraordinary responses to change and crisis. Whether faced with a global pandemic, generational poverty, or the existential emergency of climate change, panelists spoke on how they’ve been able to design new solutions and foster unexpected optimism.

    Read about the event here.

  • Human Centered Capitalism

    MARCH 2021

    New generations seek out employers with a social mission, investors demand not only high returns but higher standards for where their money is invested, and corporations continue to see their business models disrupted by social and environmental challenges. Panelists thoughtfully considered these problems and envision solutions to the challenges at hand.

    Read about the event here.