Reimagining Venture Capital for Sustainability

Cecilia Young is a responsible investing advisor who specializes in strategy design, implementation, and market intelligence. She has drafted responsible investing policies for top U.S.-based VC funds with over $50 billion combined AUM and writes a monthly client newsletter on relevant market developments.

Prior to Lucid Capitalism, Ms. Young supported the design of a fixed-income impact investing instrument and a green bank lending platform at Sustainable Capital Advisors, a financial advisory serving the sustainable infrastructure ecosystem. Her previous experience spans the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, including work for startup social enterprises, the U.S. Department of State, and The American Red Cross.

Ms. Young received her M.S. in Global Business and Finance from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and her B.A. in International Politics with a minor in Human Rights from the University of California, San Diego. She lives in San Diego, California, with her partner and their two rescue pitbulls.

Danilo Santoboni heads the Private Investment & Family Office practice of Griffitts LLP. Mr. Santoboni represents domestic and international private investors, individually or through their single-family or multi-family offices (SFOs and MFOs), as well as private market sponsors and asset managers, seamlessly integrating his longstanding experience with private investments, corporate governance, ESG & sustainability compliance, public-private partnerships, and charitable planning, as well as M&A and real estate transactions in the United States and Europe.

Prior to Griffitts LLP, Mr. Santoboni practiced with reputable large law firms in their offices in Milan, London, and New York City. He serves on the board of directors and advisory boards of several reputable impact investing institutions.

Diane Kaldany is the co-founder of The CSG Group. After obtaining her B.A. in Philosophy from Fordham University, Diane embarked on professional self-discovery via the real estate, banking, and insurance sectors as a business development executive. She was compelled to make a difference, joining nonprofit boards; curating art shows; and organizing discussions on a variety of topics, such as economic inequality, women and children’s issues, and education. During her tenure as the U.S. Development Director of a Lebanese NGO, Diane came to understand the challenges of grassroots organizations and the communities they serve.

In 2018, Diane realized that systemic change takes time and commitment and that enterprises have the capital and resources to make an impactful difference, especially through private-public partnerships. To that end, she co-founded The CSG Group with the mission to encourage and help enterprises lead through purpose and values by incorporating more transparent social and sustainable business practices into their operations.

Joe Milam is the founder of AngelSpan/The Legacy Funds, a platform and solution to remove the gamble from funding innovation. Prior to AngelSpan, Mr. Milam founded and managed Legacy Capital Management, Inc., a fee-based RIA. Legacy was originally headquartered at 3000 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park. Managing both “old” and “new” money — with clients from Sequoia Capital; Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati; and Silicon Valley Bank — gave Mr. Milam a unique perspective on wealth preservation, wealth creation, and institutionally rigorous portfolio management.

Having witnessed and participated in the birth of “modern” angel investing, in 2000 Mr. Milam founded AngelSpan’s predecessor firm, Angel Legacy, to address the funding inefficiencies for early-stage companies. Mr. Milam has been published multiple times in Institutional Investors Journal of Private Equity, Journal of Portfolio Management, and Practical Applications Journal, and he is a recognized expert in the optimal venture fund model.

Mark Milstein is Clinical Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. He conducts applied research in and oversees the Center’s work on market and enterprise creation, business development, clean technology commercialization, and sustainable finance.

Dr. Milstein specializes in framing the world’s social and environmental challenges as unmet market needs which can be addressed effectively by the private sector through innovation and entrepreneurship, thereby allowing companies to achieve financial success by creatively addressing problems such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, and poverty. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation the S.C. Johnson Foundation, SEvEN, the World Bank, the University of Queensland, and the Water Resources Institute. Over the past decade, Dr. Milstein has worked with more than 100 firms across a range of industries, including renewable energy and carbon markets, life sciences and sustainable agriculture, consumables, food and nutrition, healthcare, tourism and hospitality management, as well as finance and international development.

Dr. Milstein’s work and perspectives have been featured in The New York Times, MSNBC, CNBC, Forbes, The Guardian, and GreenBiz. He is a frequent speaker on the topics of strategy, organizational change, and innovation related to business and sustainability. He also consults with a number of multinational firms, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and NGOs. Dr. Milstein currently serves on the board of directors of Livelihood Basix International and as a board member for Johnson & Johnson’s Earthwards Program.

Meghan Cross is a partner at Amplifyher Ventures, investing in early-stage, high-growth businesses built by women and diverse leadership teams. She has 14 years of asset management and operating experience in New York ventures. Prior to Amplifyher, Ms. Cross built Red Bear Angels, leading the firm’s investments into more than 25 companies, including Lyft [NASDAQ: LYFT], Datalogue [acq. Nike], and Trumid. Her angel investments include Sequoia-backed Maven Clinic, Urban Umbrella, and Privy [acq. Attentive]. Ms. Cross writes for TechCrunch and Forbes, is a United Nations UN Week speaker, and lectures at Columbia and Yeshiva Universities. She also serves on the boards of the Lincoln Center Young Patrons and Facing History, an education nonprofit that furthers diversity and inclusion. Ms. Cross holds a Bachelor of Science in Fiber Science from Cornell University and a Master’s degree from Columbia Business School.

Rene Bonomi pursued his MBA at Cornell University and has a degree in Industrial Engineering from UFSCar in Brazil. He brings years of experience both in business development, for startups as well as corporations, and in financial advisory, structuring M&A and capital-raising transactions. Rene has international business experience working in Latin America, United States, and Europe. His industry expertise includes industrials, renewable energy, healthcare, biotechnology, agriculture, food production, and social and environmental impact.

Rene is passionate about environmental finance and impact investing, venture capital, and startup acceleration. He has a consulting business focused on supporting entrepreneurs, startups, and corporations on financial strategy, business modeling, and business strategy in the fields of social and environmental impact. Rene’s business has a collaboration partnership with The CSG Group to work on these projects globally. He also collaborates with Idea Lunchbox, an U.S. accelerator that internationalizes and expands deep tech startups to the U.S. market.