Athena Global is an impact finance company utilizing finance to redistribute social equity through direct capital allocation and providing expertise to financial service providers, investors and philanthropists to support investment to underserved populations or for projects requiring innovative financing, risk management or transaction structuring. As a small, woman owned company, gender/social equity and climate lens is incorporated into all projects. Clients include banks, MFIs, VC Funds, Family offices, Community Foundations, NGOs, DAF holders, Social Entrepreneurs and investor networks. Motivated by using capital as a tool for creating equity for people and planet with a sense of urgency, Kaylene has worked in impact investing and sustainable investments for over 25 years and in over 40 countries on 6 continents. She is well-respected for her breadth and depth of impact investing, especially structuring investments that leverage a full capital stack using blended finance. Kaylene is passionate about using finance as a tool for positive social and climate change, optimizing impact in parallel with financial returns and prudent risk management. Kaylene excels working within systems of finance and is proficient in Sharia and Indigenous systems, as well as the conventional “western” type of finance.Kaylene has extensive experience developing strategies for and executing on impact and values-aligned investments, mostly in private markets. She also writes and speaks frequently on investing with impact themes like social /gender equity, investing in diverse/ emerging managers, climate positive outcomes, social entrepreneurship and bias in the investment process. Kaylene has spoken at industry events sponsored by organizations such as World Bank, Global Environmental Facility, IFC, SOCAP, UNDP, USAID, Gender Smart and others.Since investing is a team sport, she also spends much of her time building relationships with internal and external stakeholders, and crowding others into the impact investing universe. She is also a sought-after mentor and adviser for social entrepreneurs and impact investors from the US and emerging markets. Outside of her substantial operating experience, Kaylene also serves in leadership roles on several Boards and Investment Committees, including Convergence Blended Finance (global) and Gary Ventures (Denver). She holds an MBA from Wharton, and an MA from Johns Hopkins SAIS.