ICM takes the helm of Turner MIINT to develop the next generation of impact investors

Turner MIINT, the long-running impact investing training program popular with MBA students, will kick off the academic year with some big changes. 

The Impact Capital Managers Institute will co-produce the program with the Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business Initiative at the Wharton School, now known as Wharton Impact. The ICM Institute will take the reins from Bridges Impact Foundation, which has co-produced the event for more than a decade.

ICM Institute, the field-building, research and education arm of Impact Capital Managers, will be able to tap ICM’s network of more than 140 private impact fund managers that collectively manage roughly $80 billion of assets. 

Turner MIINT, with financial support from impact investor Bobby Turner and his wife Lauren, and the Ron Moelis Family Foundation, provides hands-on impact dealmaking experience to more than 400 university students from top global business schools each year. It includes a pitch competition with a panel of judges, industry leaders who offer their time to mentor the program’s participants on deal sourcing and due diligence. 

“It has been so rewarding to see the growth of the Turner MIINT into the premier experiential educational program for impact investing in the world,” says Brian Trelstad, a Bridges Fund Management partner, Harvard Business School professor, and ICM member, who launched the program in 2011 with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Trelstad is stepping back as co-producer of the program, but will remain engaged with its future cohorts. “There remains strong demand from the next generation of impact investors and the ICM Institute is well-positioned to build a talent pipeline for the industry for years to come,” he told ImpactAlpha. 

Developing the impact lens of MBA students and students of other business-related programs is a rising priority of many business schools around the world, such as London Business School, Harvard Business School and Wharton, and building curriculums that include courses on climate and sustainability and other impact investing topics is critical to students’ impact learning development. 

Just one in 400 graduates of top US MBA programs are working in impact roles, according to a recent HBS survey. “Current pathways into the field are narrow and often unclear,” HBS professors and researchers Shawn Cole, Marcus Sander and Jonah Zahnd wrote in a recent guest post on ImpactAlpha.

ICM has already been engaged with Turner MIINT through its members, many of which have served as judges and mentors. Some ICM members have been participants of the program during their business school days.

By co-producing the program with Wharton Impact, it will have a leading voice in shaping its curriculum and strategic direction, as well as provide direct support with fundraising and operations. The partnership, ICM’s Marieke Spence says, combines “Wharton Impact’s top-tier academic programming and resources with ICM’s network of investors.” 

Career development

Student participants praise the Turner MIINT program for its ability to sharpen their impact senses before they decide where to apply for a job after graduation. 

“Before going through the Turner MIINT program, I wasn’t really considering a career in impact investment,” London Business School’s Shavir Pooniwala told ImpactAlpha at last year’s Turner MIINT pitch competition. “Now after going through the whole experience, it’s definitely something that I want to pursue.” 

Pooniwala’s team secured first place, winning the $50,000 prize for Afterwind, an early-stage wind turbine recycling company. He now serves as the company’s advisory board member and has secured a full-time job as an energy consultant at McKinsey & Company. 

ICM, through its Mosaic Fellowship, has provided critical career development opportunities for first-year grad students who are looking to enter the impact investing workforce. The program works in partnership with impact investing firms that are opening up their offices and making available their staff to accommodate more interns and fellows from top business schools (see, “Empowering young impact professionals to advance their careers and their impact”). 

The fellowship allows ICM to support the development of more diverse pipelines of well-trained impact talent. Combining that program with the Turner MIINT program will help achieve new scale.

“Together, we are creating a powerful pipeline of talent and ideas that will accelerate the scaling of impact investing—from a few trillion dollars today to the tens of trillions needed to address society’s most pressing challenges—while ensuring that capital is deployed both effectively and responsibly,” says Wharton Impact’s Witold Henisz. 

The barrier to entry for ICM’s Mosaic fellowship program is steep since it only accepts a couple dozen students out of the thousands who apply. This year’s cohort of 27 ICM Mosaic Fellows is the largest to date, up from 25 last year. 

The fellowship program has been rewarding for many MBA students, like Harvard Business School’s Mary Chen, who last week secured full-time employment at Lime Rock New Energy when she graduates next year. As a Mosaic Fellow, she supports investment research, strategy and portfolio at the Connecticut-based energy transition-focused venture firm. 

“Her focus, insight and impact throughout the fellowship made it clear she’d be a strong long-term addition to the team,” Lime Rock shared on LinkedIn. 

Kendall Bedford, a recent Wharton graduate and ICM Mosaic Fellow, now works at SustainVC, a Philadelphia-based impact investing firm. She was promoted from associate to senior associate in April, and earlier this year won ICM’s “emerging leader” award. 

This year’s ICM Mosaic Fellows have been spread out through top impact firms, including Generation Investment Management, Clean Energy Ventures, HCAP Partners, Apis & Heritage Capital Partners and Impact Engine.