Deval Patrick on Pushing for Impact
Who is responsible for solving our major social problems? Former Massachusetts Governor and Bain Capital Senior Advisor Deval Patrick discusses...
About This Episode
Who is responsible for solving our major social problems? Former Massachusetts Governor and Bain Capital Senior Advisor Deval Patrick discusses the roles of government and business in solving our society’s most intractable problems. “[Government] policy is not that interesting or important in the abstract, it matters where it actually touches people.” After his term as governor, he founded and built an impact investment fund that helped push the industry. “No one sector is going to be able to solve those issues alone, and business has to be part of solutions because it’s so fricking big. What if we could prove that [business has] a false choice; if you could get superior returns and measurable, demonstrable positive human or environmental impact at the same time.”Resources and Mentions:
Deval Patrick
Senior Advisor
Deval Patrick served as governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for two terms from 2007-2015. He was a partner at Boston’s Hill & Barlow when President Clinton appointed him Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in 1994. He went on to leadership roles at Texaco and the Coca-Cola Company. During his tenure as governor, Patrick helped revive a battered economy through the expansion of affordable health care, unprecedented investments in Massachusetts public schools and public infrastructure, and initiatives stimulating clean energy and biotechnology. In 2015, he founded and built an impact investment fund at Bain Capital, where he focused on investments that deliver both a competitive financial return and significant positive social impact. He is the Founder & Chairman of TogetherFUND, a political action committee to support progressive politics and grassroots groups working to drive turnout and engagement among disenfranchised and marginalized voters.
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