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Our Team

Leading Experts in Blended, Innovative & Sustainable Finance

Meet our expert team

We are pleased to have leading experts in the field of blended finance from the private and public sector as well as academia in our team. A highly valuable asset is our extended network of advisors and researchers that provide mission-critical input for individual research and education projects.

Team Leads Initiative for Blended Finance

Bjoern Struewer, CEO, Roots of Impact

Bjoern Struewer – Initiative Lead

Bjoern Struewer is Founder and Co-CEO at Roots of Impact, a manager of catalytic capital and a pioneer in Impact-Linked Finance, empowering entrepreneurs to achieve impact at scale by managing innovative funds, providing quality advisory and education, and building the field for Impact-Linked Finance. After 20 years of experience in the finance sector, including 12 years at Credit Suisse, Bjoern dedicated his work to designing and implementing effective solutions for financing social impact at scale.

Bjoern is Senior Collaborator at the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth at University of Zurich.

University of Zurich Center for Sustainable Finance & Private Wealth

Falko Paetzold – Academic Lead

Dr. Falko Paetzold is the Initiator and Managing Director of the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth at University of Zurich («CSP»). CSP is a spin-off from the Next Gen Impact Investing program that Falko co-initiated at the Initiative for Responsible Investment at Harvard University.

Before CSP, Falko was a fellow at Harvard, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT Sloan, Sustainability Analyst and M&A Consultant at Bank Vontobel, and partner at the sustainable investing consultancy Contrast Capital. Falkoalso  founded GreenBuzz, an international network of sustainability intrapreneurs.

Christina Moehrle prof

Christina Moehrle – Education Lead

Christina Moehrle is Lead Communications & Community Management at Roots of Impact. In addition to leading the firm’s communications and developing a community of practice, she designs blended finance and impact investing content for onsite and online education programs. After 20+ years in structured finance, investor relations and venture capital, the impact space has become her passion and (freelance) profession since 2011.

Christina enjoys sharing her impact finance knowledge as a pro bono advisor and mentor to impact entrepreneurs and as a writer for leading impact sector media.

Advisors Initiative for Blended Finance

Prof. Dr. Timo Busch

Hamburg University

Dr. David Wood

Initiative for Responsible Investment at Harvard Kennedy School

Karen E. Wilson

OECD

Dr. Peter Beez

Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation

Prof. Dr. Dirk Lehmkuhl

University of St. Gallen

Dr. Lars Stein

Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation

Mark Plant

Center for Global Development

Maya Ziswiler

UBS Optimus Foundation

Aakif Merchant

Convergence Blended Finance

Research Team Initiative for Blended Finance

Researchers from University of Zurich and partner institutions are nominated based on individual research projects.

Contact: info@roots-of-impact.org