Velasquez, Christa

Christa Velasquez is a Senior Fellow with the Initiative for Responsible Investment (IRI) at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University. Her work at IRI includes the integration of industry networks More for Mission and the PRI Makers Network, impact investing advocacy and policy, and the development of social impact bonds.

For the past nine years Christa was the Director of Social Investments at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization whose principal mission is to help build better futures for disadvantaged children and families in the US. She was responsible for managing the foundation’s $125 million social investment fund. Her work encompassed all aspects of social investing, including program design, developing investment strategies, underwriting and structuring investments and portfolio management. In addition to the investment portfolio, she helped develop the impact investing field and was a co- founder of the More for Mission Campaign and the PRI Makers Network.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Christa spent six years at the consulting firm Brody-Weiser-Burns, specializing in social investing, community development finance and business planning for social enterprises. She received a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Chicago and an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.