Speakers

Bruno is Head of fi-compass at the European Investment Bank, leading the team implementing a unique advisory platform on financial instruments under the European Structural and Investment Funds. Combining the experience gained in the private sector, at the European Commission (EC), at the European Investment Fund (EIF) and at the European Investment Bank (EIB), Bruno cumulates more than 30 years of direct involvement in financial instruments focusing on SMEs, access to finance, innovation, venture capital and private equity, debt and guarantee products, microfinance and social impact investing as well as in the provision of technical assistance and capacity building services.

Since 2019, Bruno has been steering the Social Outcome Contracting platform, under the European Investment Advisory Hub, which aims to raise awareness and provide support in the development and use of social outcomes contracting, including social impact bonds and payment-by-results.

Prior to EIB, Bruno spent eight years at EIF acting as Head of Region for JEREMIE financial instruments in Italy, France, Malta and Spain: he was instrumental in the launch and follow-up of nine JEREMIE Holding Fund operations. Bruno joined EIF in 2000 and, as an investment manager, carried out investments in venture capital and private equity funds in the Benelux, the UK, France, Italy, Greece and Spain, holding several advisory board positions in various risk capital funds. Previously, spent six years as an advisor to the EC for initiatives related to innovation financing for SMEs in the framework of the INNOVATION Programme.

In 2007, Bruno was appointed Adjunct Professor lecturing on Innovation Management at the Master of Business Administration programme of the John F. Welch College of Business - Sacred Heart University in Luxembourg. He is a regular guest lecturer on topics related to financial instruments at SDA Bocconi School of Management and at European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA). Bruno holds a Master’s Degree in Business Management and an MBA and is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Italian.

Filipe Almeida is President of Portugal Social Innovation, a pioneering Government initiative that mobilises European funds to promote social innovation and social entrepreneurship, as well as develop the social investment market in Portugal. He is also professor of the University of Coimbra and researcher at the Center of Social Studies (CES/FEUC) and Center of Cooperative and Social Economy Studies (CECES/FEUC).

Filipe holds a PhD in Business Administration from EBAPE / FGV (Brazilian School of Public Administration and Business, Getúlio Vargas Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, and a PhD in Business Management from FEUC (Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Portugal). He also holds a Master's Degree in Business Sciences from the University of Coimbra, having attended the MBA program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA. He is the author of several books and articles in Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Academic Fraud.

Georgia is a Policy Officer for Social Impact Investment at the European Commission, Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, where she currently coordinates the work of the Directorate on EU policy development, financial instruments and capacity building in the area of social investments developed together with relevant Commission services, the EIB Group and other IFIs and contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This builds on her previous experience working with the United Nations Development Programme on area-based development and Roma inclusion in CEE.

Georgia has also previously worked in the fields of urban policy, local community development, CSR and banking and finance. Her professional path thus blends experiences from the corporate field, academia, civil society, international development and public policy fields. Her academic background includes undergraduate studies in Economics and International Relations (UIC Chicago), graduate Research in Nationalism (CEU Budapest), and doctoral research in Social Anthropology (UCL London).

Laura Blanco is Director of Knowledge and Outreach at SpainNAB. She has led SpainNAB’s Social Impact Contracts task force in alliance with COTEC Foundation to design a roadmap for a Spanish market for CIS (a.k.a. SIBs). Laura has co-authored a toolkit on how to build CIS in Spain. She joined Foro Impacto in 2018 to foster the impact investment market in Spain which is focused on generation, transfer and dissemination of knowledge and best practices on impact and sustainable investing across the capital spectrum. Throughout her career in the financial industry, she has performed roles in research and sales and has earned spots in several international rankings.

SpainNAB is the Spanish National Advisory Board for Impact Investment, associated to the GSG since Jun 2019, and Foro Impacto is SpainNAB’s secretariat.

Mara is an Economist and Decision Analyst and holds degrees from Bocconi University in Milan and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research is motivated by a desire to improve decision making in government, with a special interest and extensive expertise in the field of healthcare. Mara is one of the lead developers of the STAR toolkit, a socio-technical approach sponsored by the Health Foundation to improve resource allocation in healthcare organisations.

Mara has worked extensively with managers of the English and the Italian National Health Systems. She has also consulted for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in Ontario (Canada), the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence and the (then) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England, NATO and the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

As a graduate in Executive Engineering from Mines Paris, Mathilde combines a strong scientific background and a specialisation in social sciences. She joined FAIR, head of the French impact investing network and recognized expert of SIBs, to carry out a PhD (2018-22) on “the politics of social impact bonds” in collaboration with the Centre de Sociologie de l’Innovation, Mines Paris. The PhD research studies the ways in which social services are shaped and transformed by impact investment products such as SIBs. It focuses on SIB setup practices in France, Colombia and Chile.

Mika is a Master of Social Sciences from The University of Tampere. Nowadays he is a Director of The Centre of Expertise for Impact Investing. The Centre was established in the beginning of 2020 to The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment by The Finnish Government. Before the present position Mika led about five and half years Sitra's development operations in terms of impact investing. As the result of teamwork lead by him, there are, for example, altogether several SIB and EIB projects underway or set for launch in Finland. Mika’s team worked also very much in terms of economy of well-being and social outcomes contracting as a part of Finland’s EU Presidency during the second part of 2019. Mika has previously worked in leadership positions in organizations such as Finland's Slot Machine Association from 2008 to 2012 and the Finnish Centre for Health Promotion between 2003 and 2008. He has worked and still works in Finland and abroad, particularly as a champion of proactive and preventive measures in terms of well-being. In addition, Mika has been engaged in the development of collaboration between the public, private and third sectors. One of Mika's most public achievements is the National Heart Symbol system (food labelling) – he headed its development and start-up when was working for the Finnish Heart Association between 1995 and 2003.

Ruben Koekoek is co-founder and managing director of Social Finance NL. He introduced the first Social Impact Bond in the Netherlands in 2013. Before he started Social Finance NL he worked at ABN AMRO for more than 8 years. Ruben is involved in 10 of the 15 SIBs launched in the Netherlands. Ruben holds a Bachelor and Master in Economics (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam. Besides his work for Social Finance NL, Ruben serves as the chairman of the Jewish Humanitarian Fund.