Impact State of Mind: Investor Day

Join us in Midtown Manhattan for “Impact State of Mind 2026: Investor Day,” a full day of programming created for investors, funders, business leaders, and other adjacent stakeholders. Impact State of Mind is a groundbreaking initiative of Impact Hub New York Metropolitan Area with leading partners Princeton University’s Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy & Finance, Finpublica, Sustainable Investment Leadership Council (SILC), XPRIZE, and Impact for Breakfast. Thanks to our venue AES Events NYC and conference app sponsor Jotto. Throughout the day you’ll hear from leaders in sustainable finance, impact investing, and development economics as well as engage and trade notes with peer practitioners. This year's content themes will explore sustainable finance, the economy of climate adaptation, carbon markets, AI and emerging technology, energy transition, infrastructure in emerging economies, and global investment trends. Agenda (More speaker updates to come) 9:00 AM — Doors Open, and breakfast is served! 9:30 – 10:30 AM — Impact for Breakfast with XPRIZE. Audrey Selian, Founder, Impact for Breakfast & Co-Founder, Artha Networks Inc. Andrew Tauhert, Chief Impact Officer, XPRIZE 10:30 – 11:00 AM — World Café Sessions Governors Island as a Living Laboratory: What Would It Take to Finance the Coastal City of the Future? At Governors Island, adaptation solutions are tested that can help New York and other coastal cities remain resilient and investable. The session will explore what investors need to see to finance and scale successful pilots across New York, and ultimately other coastal cities around the world. Lauren Wang, Director of Climate Programs, The Trust for Governors Island Coastal Adaptation Investing in the Future beyond 2030 SDGs. As 2030 approaches, this session will engage the audience on what happens after the 2030, and what should come next. Drawing on lessons from the Joint SDG Fund, the discussion will examine how catalytic capital, investable pipelines, and supportive policy environments can help align development outcomes with financial returns. Participants will consider what a post-2030 global framework should prioritize and what it would take to bring private capital more meaningfully into achieving those goals. Lisa Kurbiel, Head of Secretariat, UN Joint SDG Fund Beyond 2030 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM — Panel: Risk, Resilience, and Adaptation: Finance for a Climate-Ready World - Presented by Princeton University’s Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy & Finance Moderated by: Pallavi Nuka, Associate Director, Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy & Finance Margot Brandenburg, Senior Program Officer, Mission Investments, Ford Foundation Caroline Hays, Senior Advisor, Climate & Housing, NYC Mayor's Office of Climate & Environmental Justice Darius Nassiry, Senior Fellow, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment 12:00 – 12:15 PM — Investing and De-carbonizing Shipping (Fireside Chat). This fireside chat will explore the approach to green methanol as both a decarbonization solution and an investment model for regenerative growth. By converting sustainably managed bamboo into carbon-negative maritime fuel, the project aims to use commercial demand from the shipping industry to finance its underlying supply chain - from forest restoration and expanded bamboo production to jobs and income for local communities. The conversation will examine how this vertically integrated model can align environmental impact with commercial returns, and what investors can learn from an approach where scaling the product also scales climate, ecological, and economic benefits. Aurora Chisté - Senior Vice President of Project Origination, ACTUAL John-Paul Parmigiani - CEO & Co-Founder, Impact Hub New York Metropolitan Area Nervous system Level Reset Deborah Lee, Somatic Executive Coach 12:15 – 1:10 PM — Lunch provided & Networking Circles 1:10 – 1:15 PM — Carbon offsetting with Sunrit Panda - Co-Founder, Nirvana Carbon Solutions 1:15 – 1:45 PM — Connecting Capital, Ideas & Ecosystems for Impact (Fireside Chat). This session will explore what it really takes for social innovation and impact to flourish when the surrounding ecosystem is still developing—or when political, institutional and economic conditions make progress particularly difficult.  Drawing in particular on experience across Iran, Armenia and other emerging markets, the conversation will look beyond the assumption that a promising entrepreneur plus available capital is enough.  The surrounding ecosystem matters enormously: institutions, regulation, connectivity, trusted networks, access to knowledge and capital, local context, and the ability of people working for change to find one another. Audrey Selian - Co-Founder, Artha Networks, Founder of Impact for Breakfast Azadeh Tajdar - Associate Professor, University of Maryland Global Campus & Lecturer, Unity Sustainability University, Maine 1:45 – 2:30 PM — Fireside Chat: The Missing Layer: Diaspora Capital and the Architecture of Financing Development Nicholas Bassey, Chief Operations and Programs Officer, African Diaspora Network Liv Varghese, Co-Chair, Impact State of Mind, Founder, Legacy Returns 2:30 – 3:00 PM — Investing in Green Growth in a Multipolar World: Geopolitics, Infrastructure, and the Global South. As global development finance becomes more fragmented and multipolar, this lightning round will explore what it means to invest in growth from the ground up. Drawing on the experience of Proximate Fund Sudan, the conversation will examine how capital can reach locally led organizations, entrepreneurs, and communities that are already building resilience and economic opportunity, even in fragile environments. The discussion will connect these lessons to the broader investment community, asking how new models of catalytic, philanthropic, diaspora, and private capital can strengthen local economies and help finance more sustainable and resilient growth across the Global So