Shawn Lesser
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Shawn Lesser is a Global Leader on Impact Investing, he co-founded the 1st Impact Investing Investment Bank along with Michael Whelchel in 2007. He speaks at events around the world on the topic of Impact Investment and is often quoted in media outlets such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Barron’s and a host of others on the topic of Impact Investing.
Over 12 years Big Path Capital has worked with over 50 companies, and over 150 Private Equity Impact Funds more than any other group in the world. Big Path Capital has put on over 50 Impact events globally that have attracted 3000+ Impact Investors.
In partnership with Michael Whelchel, Shawn has founded several first of their kind initiatives all of which demonstrate SmarterMoney+ maximize return, maximize impact (no tradeoffs). Those include the Five Fund Forum, Impact Capitalism Summit, The Impact Capitalism Train Stop Tour series, The Smarter Money Review series, Real Leaders 100 and in partnership with the US Department of Commerce under the Obama Administration the Impact & Sustainable Trade Missions Series (Throughout Europe & The Nordics)
He brings over twenty years of experience in the financial advisory sector to Big Path Capital. Prior to co-founding Big Path Capital, Shawn founded the investment bank, Sustainable World Capital, which assisted cleantech companies in raising capital from European institutional investors. Shawn has been Co-Head and Managing Director of the international equity teams at Morgan Keegan and at Deutsche Bank. He is the author of the book, Global Cleantech Directory. In 2010, Shawn also co-founded the Global Cleantech Cluster Association
Shawn received his BS in Finance from Syracuse University. He is conversant in Mandarin, German,and Spanish and lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Blanca and daughter Ellie and son Lucas.