There were several professors I think about often, including Prof. Cliff Smith and Prof. Charles Wasley. They had distinct teaching styles and had a great dry humor. I’ve used what they taught throughout my finance career and to this day.

I was particularly close to six Simon classmates. To celebrate receiving and accepting our full-time employment offers in our second year, we each took each other out to dinner. We tried many different cuisines throughout the Rochester metro area, which, by the way, has excellent choices!

Our company was formed as a grassroots mission-based effort to bring Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) practices to individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofits ( i.e., retail clients rather than institutional). ESG/SRI augments conscious consumerism from product-focused consumption, which is important, to investment activism that can also help promote and influence corporate environmental and social change. Our company helps bring awareness to the unintended consequences to corporate decision-making.

I don’t believe they are at odds; quite the opposite. The Business Roundtable recently redefined the purpose of a corporation from maximizing shareholder value to maximizing stakeholder value. By considering their financial, environmental, and social impact, corporations can increase revenue, decrease expenses, and manage risk, which can lead to long-term investor value.

Our clients recognize the value of a financial plan and want to augment that with ESG/SRI options, so education in sustainable literacy is always involved. And there are so many options given the size of the market, its growth, and how it’s evolved. For example, over 25 percent of professionally managed accounts are invested sustainably. That’s $12 trillion in the ESG/SRI space, according to US SIF. We help them navigate those options while working toward their financial goals.

There is personal impact, like reducing your personal carbon footprint. There is also the ability to mobilize companies. As Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers, whose clients are smaller investors through personal accounts or corporate retirement accounts, said, “Companies that fulfill their purpose and responsibilities to stakeholders reap rewards over the long-term.”

We use a combination of passive and active investing coupled with modern portfolio theory. However, the key differentiation is client driven. There are investment options that can home in on clients’ ethics. There are investment options that focus on religious beliefs, social and gender equality, military veteran employment, clean energy, water technology, waste management, and forestry, to name a few. There are also indexed-based ESG/SRI investment options made up of large-, mid-, and small-cap portfolios.

Every day. Not only do we review clients’ investment portfolios using portfolio theory and common practices taught at Simon, but we also look at private investment opportunities into private sustainable companies. This involves in-depth analysis on the financial models, valuation, alignment of interest among investors and the company, along with many other skills taught at Simon.

A business plan is the most important aspect to starting a business. Do research to understand the long-term viability of your idea and its value proposition. Once you’ve done that, leverage your network. The Simon community continues to be a great resource helping create and manage a business.