Heidi Patel

Heidi Patel is a Managing Partner at Rethink Impact, based in San Francisco and sitting on the boards of Spring Health, Oncue, and Ketos, and as a board observer for Angaza, Juntos Global, and Full Harvest. Previously, she was President of New Island Capital Management, an institutional-scale and 100% mission-focused investment advisor to a single ultra high net worth family. In this capacity, she helped grow and run the firm while also running its early stage investing program. She sat on New Island’s Investment Committee, overseeing 100+ investments, across multiple asset classes, in sustainability, conservation, online marketplaces, education, economic development, sustainable agriculture, and green real estate.

Prior to this, Heidi was an Acumen Fund Global Fellow working with D.light Design India, a mission-driven business operating in India, China, and Tanzania to eradicate kerosene through the design, manufacture, and distribution of solar-powered LED lights. Before Acumen, Heidi was a Director at Pacific Community Ventures, an impact fund focused on middle market businesses creating high-quality jobs in low-income neighborhoods. Previously, she was a founding member of AOL Time Warner Ventures where she led several investments into early stage, technology-enabled companies within the mobile, voice recognition and digital media sectors. She also worked in Investment Banking at both Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Heidi Patel teaches (and co-created) a course on impact investing at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and she serves on the Investment Committee for the Stanford GSB Student Impact Fund. Heidi is an advisor to Impact America (another women-led impact investing firm) and Better Ventures (a seed-stage impact fund) and an active member of AllRaise, co-leading their Community and Partnerships efforts. Heidi’s work in social enterprise and impact investing has been featured in the Wall St Journal, NPR’s Marketplace, Fox Business News, Forbes.com, Huffington Post, and the Acumen Fund blog. Heidi earned an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.