Jenna Nicholas

President, Phoenix Global Impact

Jenna Nicholas is the President of Phoenix Global Impact. Jenna is also the co-founder and CEO of Impact Experience which is focused on addressing equity across climate, healthcare, education and investments. Impact Experience applies insights from the disciplines of systems transformation and organizational development, design thinking, somatic psychology, and experiential learning to build bridges between organizations and among people that catalyze collaboration and investment.  Impact Experience tackles society’s most pressing issues including post-hurricane rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, Houston and Puerto Rico, workforce training programs in former coal economy driven communities in West Virginia, building capital in people of color and women-run businesses, equitable and inclusive investment processes, supporting sustainable agriculture practices and working with corporations to integrate more of a climate focus into their retirement accounts and bank deposits. Jenna is currently spearheading the Business Climate Finance initiative through Impact Experience to decarbonize corporate bank accounts and retirement funds. 

Jenna is also the Investment Partner of One Planet VC where she invests in early-stage businesses in transformative industries, such as climate, healthcare, education technology, marketplaces, media, and the future of mobility. There is a focus on investing into socially conscious companies, at least 60% of which are run by women and people of color. Jenna has also led Corporate Development for One Planet Group which incubates, operates and invests in businesses. She has led the acquisition and integration of three companies over the course of 15 months. Jenna formerly founded Phoenix Global Impact, a firm that specializes in impact investing, social entrepreneurship, and strategic philanthropy. Through her firm, she project-managed Divest-Invest Philanthropy, a coalition of foundations, divesting from investments in fossil fuels and reinvesting in new economy solutions. Jenna spoke at TedX Portland about the Divest-Invest work.

Jenna is also an active angel investor and has invested in over three unicorns including Lyft, Virta Health and Esusu. Jenna has also worked with the World Bank Treasury on green bonds and other sustainability projects and with Toniic helping to support an impact investing community.  She has worked closely with the Calvert Special Equities team, actively investing in companies and funds in the areas of education technology, financial inclusion, renewable energy, and sustainable agriculture. She is an advisor to the Nexus Global Youth Summit and Ethic, an online impact investing platform. Jenna graduated from Stanford University with an International Relations Honors Degree during which time she also read International Development at Oxford University. 

Jenna is a Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA graduate, a PD Soros Fellow for New Americans, recipient of the Stanford Social Innovation Fellowship, an Echoing Green Fellow, Forbes 30 under 30 for Social Entrepreneurship, a Summit fellow, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a coach for the Roddenberry Foundation and a Young Leaders Council member of Milken Institute. She also serves on the Investment Committee of the Wayfarer Foundation. Jenna also served on the Impact Advisory Committee for Apollo Global Management.  Jenna has special links with China and co-taught a course at Tsinghua School of Economics and Management on Business Ethics, Sustainability, and Impact Investing. Jenna also co-chairs the Emerging Leaders Council of LISC, a community development finance institution that has invested over $1.5 billion into community development projects. Jenna is the Vice President of Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs, a community of over 1500 entrepreneurs and investors. She is an active member of the Baháí Faith.