Afsaneh Beschloss invested in clean energy and humanitarian projects even “before it was the cool thing to do.”
The Rock Creek Group founder and CEO has made her name in the world of finance, banking, and investment, without sacrificing her ideals. And no doubt about it: by focusing investments on sustainable, green, and humanitarian projects – even when few cared about such things in the investment world – Beschloss has earned her name on Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women in Finance and American Banker’s 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance.
Afsaneh Beschloss rises in the finance world
Beschloss has led a long career, dabbling in several different fields. Her work finally culminated in her current roles, which include both board and leadership positions. Most notably, she runs the Rock Creek Group in Washington, DC as founder and CEO.
After teaching international economics at Oxford University, her alma mater, Beschloss jumped straight into the world of banking. She first joined JP Morgan Chase, but soon transferred to the World Bank. There, her activism first met with her finance career when she established the World Bank’s Natural Gas Group. After a stint at the Shell Corporation and The Carlyle Group, Beschloss went on and founded RockCreek in 2002.
But Beschloss has not sat still in the 18 intervening years. In addition to her work at RockCreek, she currently serves in multiple institutional boards.
She is the Vice Chair of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Foundation Board of Directors, as well as the General Vice Chair of the PBS Board and Chair of the PBS Finance Committee. Additionally, she serves on the boards of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the World Resources Institute, and the American Red Cross. Along with several other positions, memberships, and honors, she is also a former Trustee of the Ford Foundation, where she chaired the Investment Committee and participated in the Sustainability Advisory Committee.
Widely recognized as one of America’s Most Powerful Women in Banking, Beschloss has also received the Institutional Investor Lifetime Achievement Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award.
A powerhouse family
Born Afsaneh Mashayekhi in Iran, Beschloss got her Masters of Philosophy at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford. She married Michael Beschloss, a top presidential historian. He has published a total of 10 books in his niche. In December of 1997, President Bill Clinton told People Magazine that the first audiobook he ever listened to was Taking Charge by Michael Beschloss. Despite their demanding and successful careers, the couple has still managed to find time for family. They have two children together.
The pair have quite a reputation as a power couple in the public eye. In the ’90s, President Clinton invited the Beschlosses to attend a dinner for British the PM. Some years later, President George W. Bush also invited them to a White House dinner for Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla.
Afsaneh Beschloss and the environmental, social, and governance standards
Rock Creek Group’s values encourage a long-term investment that pays off not only to investors, but to communities. The culture at the firm encourages three major attitudes:
- Global perspective, local knowledge
- Building durable partnerships
- Experience meets agility.
They meet these attitudes through sustainable investment and investment in emerging markets. “Our local teams provide on-the-ground knowledge on small-cap and mid-cap companies often overlooked, as well as provide insight to technology and venture themes in those countries,” Rock Creek writes.
This mentality has a name: ESG – environmental, social, and governance-motivated investment. They actively seek “growth opportunities at the best companies that are investing in climate-related things,” Beschloss said at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook 2020 Summit. She also prioritizes affordable housing. “Those returns are comparable with really any kind of opportunistic real estate investment,” Beschloss explains. “As the real estate market goes through transition, this will be interesting.”
In this way, Rock Creek Group proves the value of ESG. They not only invest in long-term, humanitarian causes, but in fact manage about $14 billion in total.
Learn more about the Rock Creek Group on their official website or blog.
