Dave Chen
Showing 1–6 of 6 transcripts.
- Milken Institute58 min
The Sustainable Investing Challenge: Meet the Winning Team and See Their Plan
Conrad Kiechel, Dave Chen, Maoying He, Teng Kai Loh, Felicia Shaw, Annie Donovan, Paul, Richard Matthew
The Milken Institute, Morgan Stanley, and Kellogg School of Management launched the Sustainable Investing Challenge eight years ago to train future professionals in creating financial instruments with measurable social and environmental impact. The 2018 competition, which engaged over 300 students from 65 business schools across 34 countries, awarded its top prize to Singapore Management University for an ASEAN Storm Resilience Fund designed to mitigate typhoon risks for smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia. This winning proposal outlines a multi-phase implementation strategy blending private investment, grants, and Development Impact Bonds to reinforce rural housing, continuing a track record of past student projects transitioning into real-world ventures like Fresh Coast Capital and Blue Forest.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
The Sustainable Investing Challenge: Innovative Plans from a New Generation
Paul Irving, Ryan Alam, Suzana Amoes, Dave Chen, Megan Strawther, Susanna Amos, Thomas Witt, David Bank, Amit Boren, Cameron Saul
The Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge at the Milken Institute Global Conference saw the USC Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship team, Terra Limpa, win by proposing a $30 million fund to revitalize Angola's agricultural sector by clearing landmines on 5,500 hectares of uncultivated arable land. The three-member team, led by Susanna Amos, plans to partner with UXO technicians and institutional buyers to secure land titles at deep discounts and cultivate staples like cassava for the Luanda market. This structured investment vehicle aims to diversify Angola's oil-dependent economy while generating social impact through a layered capital structure and a five-to-seven-year exit mechanism that transfers land ownership to local smallholders.
- Milken Institute1h 12m
Sustainable Investing: Innovative Plans From a New Generation
Paul Irving, Dave Chen, Chad Reed, Leigh Madeira, Zach Knight, Nick Wobrock, Jim Tolosano, Mark Timski, Micah
At the Milken Institute's London awards, the UC Berkeley Haas School team won the 10th Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge by presenting a finance vehicle that monetizes proactive forest management to mitigate California's drought and wildfire risks. Their "Blue Forest Conservation" model proposes a $67 million pilot project utilizing a 50/50 debt-equity structure to generate returns for water and electric utilities through a pay-for-success framework that increases snowpack retention. Selected from 127 global teams, the four-person group outlined a strategy to scale the initiative into a $1.6 billion green bond while securing critical utility contracts and navigating public land complexities with a $1.8 million bridge raise.
- Milken Institute59 min
Theory to Practice: A New Generation Transforms Impact Investing
Dave Chen, Nicole Chavez, Laura Bremmerkines, April Mendez, Alex Friedman
Co-hosted by the Milken Institute and Morgan Stanley, the 2023 Sustainable Investing Challenge narrowed 39 global business schools to four finalists who presented impact investing strategies evaluated by hundreds of industry professionals. The winning team, a joint submission from Yale's School of Forestry and Business School, proposed the Fresh Coast Forest Fund to generate 6–11% returns by planting hybrid poplar tree farms on 5 million acres of U.S. brownfields for phytoremediation. The 10-year project targets $50 million in initial capital to remediate soil at 80–90% lower costs than traditional methods while producing timber and carbon credit revenue, with the team currently seeking mentors and strategic investors to launch a pilot site.
- Milken Institute59 min
Theory to Practice: A New Generation Transforms Impact Investing
Dave Chen, Matt Gee, Tobias Schimmer, Kathleen Schindler, Claire Tramm, Paul Irving, Andrew Tyndale, Candace Klein
Founded by Kellogg Professor Dave Chen, the International Impact Investing Challenge has grown to include 32 schools, showcasing student teams who design innovative financial instruments for social impact rather than traditional service-based businesses. Two 2011 alumni teams presented their models at a recent Milken Institute panel: Upskill Capital, which addresses India's skills gap through salary-based tuition loans targeting an 18-22% IRR, and Effortless Energy, which finances residential upgrades via repayment from guaranteed utility savings to achieve a 12% return. These ventures exemplify a shift in business education where future investors are trained to integrate financial discipline with social outcomes, with both teams now seeking further capital to scale their operations.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Impact Investing: The Art of the Deal
Dave Chen, N. Lee, Sari Miller, Eitan Stibbe, Martha Minowski, Ann Coopermann, Chip, Andy Cooper
A panel of global investment leaders from Equilibrium Capital Group, Impact Investment Exchange, LeapFrog, and Vital Capital convened to define impact investing as a practice where intentional social and environmental outcomes are non-negotiable components of the investment thesis alongside market-rate or preservation returns. The discussion detailed practical execution strategies, ranging from complex financing structures like convertible notes and tax equity flips to rigorous measurement frameworks such as GEARS that rejected 40% of opportunities due to social and environmental risks. By highlighting specific case studies in micro-insurance, African agro-industrial centers, and US real estate, the panel demonstrated how practitioners mitigate mission drift and generate sustainable alpha through deep community integration and strategic capital stacking.