Connect with other members to discuss areas where the group can support and further advance Opportunity Zone projects within our community.
December’s session will showcase the successes of recent projects led by Opportunity Alabama and Blueprint Local. Join us as we learn from leaders spearheading impactful Opportunity Zone projects.
Featured Speakers:
Lindsay Edwards is an Investment Manager working with Blueprint Local and Opportunity Alabama to provide diligence and underwriting services for potential impact-oriented investment opportunities across the state of Alabama. Lindsay is also a Principal at Chesapeake Capital, a private firm making both active and passive investments across myriad industries and asset classes. In his most recent role he was Co-Founder and CFO at MARS Financing, a medical accounts receivables company. Previously, Lindsay was a Banker in the Atlanta office of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. In this role, he was responsible for delivering the firm’s investing, wealth transfer, credit and philanthropic services to clients in the Southeast. Mr. Edwards joined JPM from Goldman Sachs where he worked as a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division. He advised clients on strategic alternatives, complex M&A, debt and equity financings, corporate finance and other advisory services. While at Goldman Sachs, he also worked in the Investment Management Division in the Alternative Investments & Manager Selection (AIMS) Hedge Fund Strategies group. Mr. Edwards started his professional career at Goldman Sachs as an analyst in the Debt Capital Markets group.
Alex Flachsbart is the Founder and CEO of Opportunity Alabama, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to creating an impact-based Opportunity Zones ecosystem to provide access to capital to Alabama’s low-income communities. Prior to founding OPAL, Alex was a corporate attorney for several years with Balch & Bingham LLP in Birmingham, Alabama, specializing in tax credit and economic development-related work. During his tenure at Balch, Alex’s clients ranged from real estate developers and major utilities to local governments and nonprofit hospital systems. His focus was on creating unique financing solutions (like revolving loan funds and new uses for state or local incentives), building capital stacks (with state and federal tax credit programs like Historic and New Markets Tax Credits), and writing grants for high-impact projects.
Moderated by :
Amanda Askew is an associate at Hydrogen Technology Ventures, a VC firm focused on clean energy investments, and a recent graduate of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management at Columbia University, where she focused on the intersection of finance, agro-ecology, and renewable technologies, culminating in a capstone project benefitting the New York State Office of Parks. Prior to graduate school, Amanda gained eight years of experience as a business development and marketing professional in the sustainable apparel and luxury goods industries in the southeastern U.S., Chicago, and New York. She is a member of the Young Professionals Board of Harlem Grown, a youth development charity focused on bridging the connection between sustainability and food justice through hands-on urban farming. Amanda and her family have been interested in OZ investments since 2018.
Who can join?
The working group is open to new members. It is relevant to those investing in Opportunity Zones - or supporting such investment - including foundations, financial institutions, impact investing intermediaries, fund managers, investors, attorneys, advisors, and real estate developers.
What are Opportunity Zones?
Opportunity Zones have emerged as a transformative economic development tool, providing a new incentive to place much-needed capital into distressed communities. Opportunity Zones also offer investors opportunities to defer and/or reduce their tax liabilities when committing capital within designated areas.
This group is co-sponsored by Impact Capital Forum and Orrick, a law firm and leading advisor in the Technology, Energy & Infrastructure, and Financial sectors globally.
ICF Members can pre-register at no cost. Non-Members may join for a $15 registration. Membership is available at levels for $25, $50 and $95, learn more.
Login instructions for this Zoom videoconference will be emailed after your registration is completed.