Dean Blackman, Founder

From 2005 to 2017, Dean worked for The Church Pension Fund in New York City as a member of the Private Equity team, which did buyouts as well as venture capital investments.  He left to become an independent consultant and start his own firm specializing in social impact investments. Dean also had a previous stint as a Senior Associate at the Yale University Investment Office.  He built an entrepreneurial practice in wealth management at Morgan Stanley and Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo) for small business owners.  He has an MBA in Finance and Investments from the Yale School of Management and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.

Dean believes in expanding the opportunity for entrepreneurs to access investment capital, networks and the expertise to start, build and scale their new enterprises. Thus since 2017 he has taught Business classes at the Queens Economic Development Corporation Startup! Business Plan Competition. Since 2018 he has been a judge in the Columbia University Venture Competition Tech Challenge. He is also an advisor for the Social Venture Advisory Network within the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School.

Dean volunteers as a Director on the Board of the St Paul’s (Episcopal) Community Corporation in Paterson, New Jersey.