ABOUT
Mission
Proxy Impact was launched to help foundations and sustainable investors align their investments and values. We provide environmental, social and sustainable governance (ESG) shareholder engagement and proxy voting services that promote sustainable and responsible business practices.
Proxy Impact also works with foundations and NGOs on grant making and campaign strategies on environmental and social justice issues.
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Leadership
Michael Passoff
Founder & CEO
Michael has over 25 years of experience in corporate social responsibility, shareholder advocacy, and philanthropy. Michael has led or participated in more than 400 shareholder dialogues and resolutions on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. For more than a decade Michael served as a Senior Program Director for the As You Sow Foundation’s Corporate Responsibility Program. Michael is the founder and co-author of the annual Proxy Preview, the most comprehensive publication on ESG shareholder resolutions. He also co-authors an annual Racial and Gender Pay Scorecard ranking corporate disclosure and practices on pay equity. His shareholder advocacy work led him to be named as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics” by Ethisphere Magazine. Michael also received the Climate Change Business Journal award for a shareholder campaign that received the first majority vote for an climate resolution and which prompted greenhouse gas emission reductions and renewable energy development at public utilities.
Advisory Board
Andrew Behar
Andrew Behar, As You Sow CEO, has 30 years of experience as a Senior Executive and strategist in the cleantech, communications, and life science sectors. Prior to joining As You Sow, Andrew founded and was CEO of a start-up developing innovative fuel cell technologies. He served as COO for a social media agency focused on sustainability and has been a strategic consultant in the nonprofit sector. He is a member of the board of US Social Investing Forum (US-SIF) and is a member of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Green Finance Advisory Group and author of The Shareholders Action Guide: Unleash Your Hidden Powers to Hold Corporations Accountable.
Patricia Farrar-Rivas
Patricia Farrar-Rivas, retired CEO and founding principal of Veris Wealth Partners, is a recognized leader in impact and sustainable investing. Patricia has more than 20 years of experience providing investment advisory and wealth management services to individuals, families and foundations. Patricia formerly served as principal consultant to the Envestnet's Impact Investing Solutions, and was on the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board's (SASB) Standards Council. Earlier in her career, Patricia co-founded the New York office of Progressive Asset Management.
Tim Smith
Tim Smith has been a pioneer and leading voice in responsible investing and corporate responsibility for over five decades. Tim currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). Prior to that, Time served as Director of ESG Shareowner Engagement at Boston Trust Walden for 22 years, where he lead the firm’s shareholder engagement program to promote greater corporate leadership on ESG issues. Tim had previously served as Executive Director of ICCR for 24 years. ICCR coordinates corporate responsibility programs for over 275 religious, institutional investors committed to using shareholder advocacy to influence corporate conduct and promote social justice.
Dana Lanza
Dana Lanza founded Confluence Philanthropy in 2009 with an ambition to accelerate the flow of private capital to environmental and social equity challenges. Today Confluence is a membership network of private, public, and community foundations; family offices; individual donors; and their values-aligned investment advisors representing more than $95 billion in philanthropic assets under management, and over $4 trillion in managed capital. Dana previously served as the Executive Director at the Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA) where she provided networking services to over 250 grantmaking organizations from across North America and Europe.