A Fletcher School graduate aims to achieve social and environmental goals as well as financial gains
Playing with goats is all in a day’s work for Karin Chamberlain, F99. As the director of impact investing at Clean Yield Asset Management in Norwich, Vermont, Chamberlain oversees investments in New England food, agriculture, and green-energy businesses for clients who want to make a just, positive social and environmental impact as well as a financial return.
The $20 million she manages supports ventures such as a Massachusetts clean-energy group that finances solar projects in underserved urban neighborhoods and a Vermont company that sells organic seeds. And while Chamberlain admires all sorts of social entrepreneurs, she admits to a soft spot for farms that produce food–she did grow up on an organic sheep farm in New Hampshire (which she now owns), after all.
“The companies we’re investing in often have limited access to capital,” she said. “As investors, we bring a unique mix of shared interest in mission, capital, and patience, so that organizations can be more thoughtful and strategic in their growth, rather than just chasing a quick return.”
Heather Stephenson can be reached at heather.stephenson@tufts.edu.
