About me
Karl is Co-Founder and Executive Director of EngagedX, which specialises in providing bespoke consultancy, thought leadership, advocacy and policy work. He works internationally across private, public and social sectors. He is an experienced entrepreneur and has held numerous leadership, management and executive positions.
He is Head of Research and Knowledge for the UN’s Social Impact Fund (UNSIF), for whom he leads a global research consortium to improve the analytical framework for social impact investing; also a member of Groupe d’Experts de la Commission sur l’Entrepreneuriat Social (GECES), which is appointed by the European Commission to advise on its Social Business Initiative; sits on the OECD expert group on social impact investing; Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab, which was set to explore, innovate and evolve the financial system to sustain people and planet; Adviser to the Global Value Exchange, which is an open source database and platform for measuring social and environmental values.
Karl has been invited by civil society organisations, academia, governments and the media across Europe, Asia and USA to speak on social impact investing. He has delivered guest lectures to MBA students at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; advised HM Treasury on EU social investment regulations; was invited to submit evidence regarding alternative finance to the UK’s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards; been asked by the UK Cabinet Office to represent the UK on social investment at EU level; and was invited by US Secretary of State to speak on a plenary panel at first Global Impact Economy Forum in 2012.
In 2011, he co-authored ‘Making Good in Social Impact Investment: Opportunities in an Emerging Asset Class’. Karl has also written articles for magazines and journals.
Karl holds an MBA specialising in entrepreneurship and project management. He started his career as an architect, then project manager for multidisciplinary design teams and development leader for public and private sector construction projects. Karl volunteers in his community and was the founding Chair of Friends of the Crystal Palace Subway, which is a community-led initiative to reopen a historic community asset to the public.
Tag Archives: social business initiative
The Welfare State is dead – long live the Kinky State
I don’t mean the type of adulterous scooter socialism enjoyed by French President Francois Hollande – I mean an agile and nimble State that is deftly able to do more with less. Kinky like an inflection point in a trend line. … Continue reading
Social investing : fixing capitalism with capitalism
Capitalism – in its current form – has let us down. We have seen this truism manifest itself globally, from the disruptive protests of the “Occupy” movements to mainstream debates such as Capitalism in Crisis, the in-depth series that the … Continue reading
The Road Less Travelled: Social Business in Europe
Call it a new kind of capitalism. You make goods to sell to a mass market but your aim isn’t profit. Enterprises are run by workers and customers and surpluses are ploughed back to achieve social goals. Capitalism? Not as … Continue reading
Global Impact Economy Forum. US State Dept, Washington DC, 26 & 27 April 2012
I recently went to Washington to learn about the new global impact economy being advocated by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and specifically to find out whether it is aligned with social business and social investment initiatives in Europe. … Continue reading →