Namrita Kapur

Namrita Kapur is a leader in advancing innovative solutions for sustainability, including strategies in finance, corporate engagement, and policy. She brings a unique mix of traditional finance skills from her time in investment banking combined with environmental, social and governance impact assessment from her 20+ year tenure in the nonprofit space. Currently, she is an adjunct lecturer at the Yale School of Management; advises National Geographic Society on its philanthropic impact investing strategy; and, consults to several philanthropists on their climate change strategies. She has previously been a senior leader at the Growald Family Fund, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Root Capital, Adams, Harkness & Hill, and the Environmental League of Massachusetts.

She is best recognized for being second-in-command in developing the products and platform of one of the early leaders of the impact investing space – Root Capital. As Managing Director of EDF + Business, she pioneered the bridging of EDF’s science, technical and policy expertise to impact investors. In her entrée to philanthropy, Namrita developed and implemented Growald Family Fund’s approach to organizational development. This involved building a partnership with the Ford Foundation and working closely with grantees to develop 3-year business plans and organizational strengthening plans. In parallel, she helped convene and coordinated $75 million of annual global grant-making across 40+ funders to transition to a clean energy future. Namrita also has a successful track record in capital markets having launched the alternative energy franchise at the investment bank Adams, Harkness & Hill, now Canaccord Genuity. Namrita currently serves on the Boards of ELM (and served as its Treasurer from 2010-2016), Center for Business & Environment at Yale, and the IE-Brown Executive MBA Program. She holds an MBA and MA of Environmental Management from Yale University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from Princeton. As a mother of two beautiful girls, she enjoys imbuing them with her love of foreign language and is teaching them Hindi and Spanish.