Press Releases

Apollo Announces Impact Advisory Committee

Lisa Hall Chairs Committee of Industry Experts

NEW YORK, March 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “Apollo” or the “Firm”) today announced the creation of an Impact Advisory Committee (the “Committee”). The Committee, chaired by Lisa Hall, will help guide the Apollo Impact platform and includes 11 members bringing diverse backgrounds and expertise across a variety of fields to focus on the Firm’s impact investing platform.

The Committee is tasked with providing strategic counsel to amplify the impact performance of portfolio companies by leveraging their experience and professional networks, as well as to help inform impact objectives and methodology.

Apollo’s Lisa Hall said: “When I joined Apollo to chair its Impact platform and establish the Advisory Committee, we recognized the important role the Committee could play in driving greater impact performance. I am thrilled to now introduce and lead this diverse group of accomplished professionals whose experience spans our areas of investment focus. I’m confident that our collective efforts will help make an even greater impact as we demonstrate how private markets can improve society and the environment.”

In establishing the Committee, the Firm sought members to contribute meaningful insights across Apollo Impact’s focus areas of Economic Opportunity; Education; Health, Safety & Wellness; Industry 4.0; and Climate & Sustainability. The Committee will be comprised of:

  • Lisa Hall, Impact Chair, Apollo Global Management;
  • Julie Abrams, Founder and Managing Director of Impact Investing Analytics;
  • Iris Choi, Partner at Floodgate;
  • Kimberlee Cornett, Director of Impact Investments at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation;
  • Maurice Jones, CEO of OneTen;
  • David Luan, Director at Google Research;
  • Patience Marime-Ball, Founder and CEO of Women of the World Endowment;
  • Jenna Nicholas, CEO of Impact Experience;
  • Megan O’Connor, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Chegg;
  • Mindy Posoff, Managing Director and Member of Golden Seeds;
  • Sonal Shah, Professor and Founder of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University;
  • and David Thomas, the 12th President of Morehouse College.

Speaking on the launch of the Committee and the value it provides to the investing team, Apollo Impact Co-leads Marc Becker and Joanna Reiss stated: “We are delighted to welcome the Advisory Committee members and believe their experience and advice will be invaluable as we seek to drive positive change at scale.”

In addition to leveraging the Committee, Apollo Impact will draw on a variety of peer networks and commitments, including Impact Capital Managers, the Operating Principles for Impact Management and ILPA’s Diversity in Action initiative, to help drive maximum positive impact across its portfolio companies.

Impact Advisory Committee

Lisa Hall, Chair of Impact – In this role, Ms. Hall will work with the committee and the Apollo Impact investment team to maximize portfolio company impact. She will be advised and make decisions on impact metrics and investment due diligence, and act as point person for the firm in its engagement with the industry as part of its field building efforts. Prior to joining Apollo, Hall was a Fellow and Fair Finance Lead at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, where she led a research initiative focused on creating a more inclusive economy. She previously served as a Managing Director at Anthos Fund & Asset Management (“AFAM”), where she launched and oversaw the firm’s impact investing portfolio. Prior to AFAM, Hall was President and CEO of Calvert Impact Capital. Hall covered economic and community development policy issues as a Senior Policy Advisor for the National Economic Council and has diverse civic leadership and non-profit board experience. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. Hall currently serves on the boards of Community Development Trust and Habitat for Humanity International.

Julie Abrams – Ms. Abrams is Founder and Managing Director of Impact Investing Analytics, an advisory firm for impact investment managers. Abrams is also Investment Lead, CATALYZE to mobilize $2B globally via blended finance at Palladium Group. She has served as a Senior Advisor to Omidyar Network (ON). Previously, she helped design and launch investment and due diligence operations for impact fintech startup ImpactUs Marketplace. Prior to ImpactUs, Abrams worked at PwC focused on sell side private equity and privatizations, and started in microfinance in its early days at Women’s World Banking. Abrams has authored over 25 impact investing publications and participated in 12 industry standards-setting groups. She serves on the global advisory board of PlaceFund, an ON spinout, on the MicroBuild Fund investment committee, and previously served on Calvert Impact Capital’s investment committee. Julie earned an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and an MA in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Certified Expert in Risk Management from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and holds a BA from Oberlin College.

Iris Choi – Ms. Choi is a Partner at Floodgate, a preeminent early stage venture capital firm. She leads all of Floodgate's investments past the first check, takes board seats, drives corporate relationships and works closely with portfolio companies on a range of strategic areas, including business development and financings. She previously spent 10 years in investment banking, most recently with Goldman Sachs, and focused on mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Choi worked at Salomon Smith Barney Citigroup in NY and London and started working in early stage venture capital in the early 2000s. Choi holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Harvard University.

Kimberlee Cornett – Ms. Cornett is Director of Impact Investments at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Previously, she led the Social Investment Practice at the Kresge Foundation. Prior to joining Kresge, Cornett worked at Maryland-based Enterprise Community Investment, a real estate investment services company for affordable housing and community development. Appointed a White House Fellow by President Clinton, she served at the Small Business Administration. Earlier in her career, she started a Habitat for Humanity affiliate and worked at a shelter for homeless women and children in Washington. Cornett holds a BA from Hood College.

Maurice Jones – Mr. Jones is the CEO of OneTen, a coalition bringing together business leaders committed to upskilling, hiring and promoting one million Black Americans over the next 10 years into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement. Prior to OneTen, Jones was CEO and President of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), one of the country's largest organizations supporting projects to revitalize communities and catalyze economic opportunity for residents. He previously served as the Secretary of Commerce and Trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to this position, Jones served as Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during the Obama Administration. Additionally, Jones also served as the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services and Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner. Other positions include: Special Assistant to the General Counsel at the U.S. Treasury Department, Legal Counsel to the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and Director of the Fund during the Clinton Administration, Associate Attorney at Hunton & Williams in Richmond, Virginia and Partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners. Jones received a BA from Hampden-Sydney College and attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, where he received a Master’s in International Relations. He later received a JD from the University of Virginia.

David Luan – Mr. Luan is Director of a new Al research group within Google Research, focused on solving the remaining '"grand challenge" problems in Al and applying them toward creating new Al capabilities, advancing science and improving the control and governance of Al systems. He previously served as VP of Engineering at OpenAI, a capped-profit R&D firm whose mission is to ensure that the development of Artificial Intelligence is conducted in a way that is safe and ultimately broadly benefits society. Much of Luan’s career has revolved around the near- and long-term impacts of Al on society. In addition to investing in OpenAl's policy and government engagement efforts, Luan has formerly created an ethics board with diverse stakeholders focused on regulating the use of Al in law enforcement. Luan has a BS / BA in Applied Math and Political Science from Yale and received a certificate in Computer Science from Worcester State when he was 12.

Patience Marime-Ball – Ms. Marime-Ball is Founder and CEO of Women of the World Endowment, an endowment focused on driving optimal outcomes for women and girls through an institutional-quality investment portfolio. She has more than two decades of investment experience across debt and equity financing, large scale infrastructure, distressed assets as well as venture stage opportunities. Her previous roles include VP Project Finance, Mizuho Financial Group and Principal Investment Officer and Global Head Banking on Women at the IFC. In 2005, Marime-Ball co-founded and was COO of Emerging Sun LLC, a company focused on business intelligence and IT-spend management. Marime-Ball is a Venture Partner at ATP Fund II and an angel investor at Golden Seeds. She is also Vice Chair of the International Center for Research on Women's Board. She has an MBA from Kellogg, Northwestern University and a JD from Northwestern University.

Jenna Nicholas – Ms. Nicholas is the CEO of Impact Experience, which is focused on addressing the very critical issues of structural racism and incorporates a variety of powerful tools to tackle prejudice by confronting and engaging with the historical and ongoing realities of inequality and racial bias, particularly within the investment industry. She has also worked with the World Bank Treasury on green bonds and other sustainability initiatives. Nicholas is a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow for New Americans, recipient of the Stanford Social Innovation Fellowship, an Echoing Green Fellow and Forbes 30 under 30 for Social Entrepreneurship. She has links with China and co-taught a course at Tsinghua School of Economics and Management on Business Ethics, Sustainability and Impact Investing. Nicholas holds an MBA and a BA from Stanford University. She has been involved in early stage investing through a variety of leadership positions and co-chairs the Emerging Leaders Council of LISC. As a member of the Baha'i Faith, Nicholas actively seeks to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into every aspect of her work.

Megan O'Connor –Ms. O'Connor is an entrepreneur and operator focusing on solving complex problems related to education and the future of work. Megan recently joined the team at Chegg to grow Chegg Skills as the Head of Strategic Partnerships and expand the company’s footprint in the skills-based learning space. Prior to Chegg, O'Connor was Entrepreneur in Residence at Kaplan Test Prep and the founder and CEO of Clark (acquired by Noodle). Clark provides educators with the economic opportunities by giving them software tools to start tutoring businesses and prior to its acquisition was funded by leading venture investors, including LightSpeed Venture Partners. O’Connor is also a venture partner at New York¬ based startup studio Human Ventures and on the board of Kinvolved. She has an MPA from NYU's Wagner School of Public Service and a BA from Santa Clara University.

Mindy Posoff – Ms. Posoff is a Managing Director & Member of Golden Seeds, an investment group whose network is dedicated to investing in early stage companies with diverse management teams. Additionally, Posoff is an Independent Trustee of the Oakmark Family of Funds at Harris Associates Investment Trust. Posoff founded Traversent Capital Partners, a consulting firm focusing on strategic solutions for start-ups, hedge funds & asset management firms. She was one of the three co-founders of NewMarket Capital Partners, LLC, an investment management company. Previously, Posoff was a VP at E*Trade. Prior to E*Trade, Posoff was a Director at Credit Suisse First Boston and an institutional sales manager of the structured product sales group. Posoff received an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Philosophy from Beloit College.

Sonal Shah – Ms. Shah is a Professor and founded the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University in 2013 which she led for 8 years. She currently serves on Beeck’s Advisory Board and remains a professor at the university. Prior to Georgetown, Shah served as Deputy Assistant to the President for President Obama and founded the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. She has extensive experience in the public sector including as an international economist at the Department of Treasury, setting up the central bank in Bosnia, post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo and poverty reduction strategies for African nations and financial crises in Asia and Latin America. She also has private sector experience in social impact. At Google, Shah led the International Development Initiatives, including civic technology for social impact and investing for impact. Additionally, at Goldman Sachs, she worked with senior leadership to develop the environmental strategy and initiatives, including investing in clean technologies. Shah holds an MA in Economics from Duke University and BA in Economics from the University of Chicago.

David Thomas – Dr. Thomas is the 12th President of Morehouse College, the nation's only historically black college focused on educating men. Thomas has more than 30 years of experience in the business of higher education and is nationally respected as an expert in organizational change and workplace diversity issues. He has written several books and academic articles on the subject. Under Thomas' administration at Morehouse, the college increased philanthropic giving to a record $107 million last fiscal year and raised its profile as the national epicenter for thought leadership on civil rights. Thomas is the former Dean of Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. He also served as a former business school professor at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School for 20 years. Thomas holds a doctorate in Organizational Behavior Studies and a Master of Philosophy degree in Organizational Behavior, both from Yale University. He also has a master's degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Administrative Sciences degree from Yale College.

About Apollo

Apollo is a leading global investment manager with offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Bethesda, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo, among others. Apollo had assets under management of approximately $455 billion as of December 31, 2020 in credit, private equity and real assets funds. For more information about Apollo, please visit www.apollo.com.

Contact Information

For investors please contact:

Peter Mintzberg
Head of Investor Relations
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
+1 212 822 0528
APOInvestorRelations@apollo.com

For media inquiries please contact:

Joanna Rose
Global Head of Corporate Communications
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
+1 212 822 0491
Communications@apollo.com 


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Source: Apollo Global Management, Inc.