Who We Are

We are a team of forward-thinkers driven by a shared passion to progress impact investing to the next level.

This photo was taken by Daisy in Khadka Gaun, Nepal.

ImpactARC brings together decades of collective, cross-sector experience across investment management, multilateral institutions, corporates, non-profits, and law.

Because we’ve worked inside these sectors – not just advised them – we understand the opportunities and constraints they face, and how to turn ambition into implementation.

Our collective experience includes:

  • Establishing and expanding the world’s first dedicated impact bond asset manager.

  • Designing the eligibility criteria for the first green bond, issued by the World Bank, and managing the first green bond fund.

  • Developing and refining impact verification, reporting and engagement processes for sustainable investment strategies.

  • Leading corporate responsibility teams, implementing sustainability reporting, operational efficiency initiatives and carbon accounting.

  • Engaging in corporate and shareholder advocacy to influence positive environmental and social outcomes.

  • Coordinating supply chain optimization and efficiency projects to reduce waste and emissions.

  • Delivering training on corporate sustainability, green finance and impact investing for public and private clients worldwide.

Our Team

We are pioneers at the intersection of sustainability and finance applying holistic, evidence-based thinking to global challenges.

Judith Moore

  • 45 years’ experience

  • Head of Verification and Impact – Affirmative Investment Management

  • Head of Corporate Responsibility – World Bank

  • Environmental Consultant – World Bank, WWF, WRI

  • PhD, Regional Planning (MIT)

  • MSc, Forest Science (Yale School of the Environment)

Co-Founder

    • Founded Affirmative Investment Management (AIM) to mobilize mainstream capital into impact-focused fixed income portfolios.

    • Partnered with World Bank Treasury to develop the first green bond, defining the eligibility criteria and selecting the underlying projects.

    • Established and led the World Bank’s Corporate Responsibility team, tracking the environmental impacts of the World Bank’s day-to-day operations and launching sustainability reporting aligned with GRI and CDP.

    • Advised the United Nations on its Sustainable UN Initiatives.

    • Advised regional units at the World Bank across Europe & Central Asia and East Asia & Pacific on national environmental action plans, environmental policy and landscape ecology.

    • Lead author: Furthering World Bank Group's Corporate Environmental Sustainability (2010)

Alya Kayal

  • 30 years’ experience

  • Board Director – CDP North America

  • Board Director – BreaktheTide

  • Partner (Verification and Impact) – Affirmative Investment Management

  • Director of Policy and Programs – US SIF

  • Vice President, Sustainability Research – Calvert Investments

  • JD (University of Minnesota Law School)

  • Member, Bar of the District of Columbia

Co-Founder

Daisy Nicholls

  • 7 years’ experience

  • Supply Chain Analyst and Forecasting Manager – Tesco

  • Deputy Coordinator (Central London) – The Felix Project

  • Co-Host of Fossil vs Future (Top 10, Apple Podcasts: Nature)

  • Volunteer – International Citizen Service (Raleigh International), Nepal

  • MSc, Environmental Technology (Imperial College London)

  • MChem, Chemistry (Magdalen College, University of Oxford)

Senior Analyst

    • Coordinated £15 million of food donations to UK food banks during Covid-19.

    • Proposed and implemented idea to replacing plastic-wrapped multipacks with plastic-free multi-buys in Tesco stores, eliminating 67 million pieces of plastic each year.

    • Finalist for the IGD Supply Chain Excellence Award (2019) for collaborating with suppliers to remove trucks from the road via double-stacking, reducing costs and carbon emissions.

    • Launched the Felix Green Scheme initiative.

    • Published MChem research on small heat shock proteins in Science Advances (Collier et al., 2019).

    • MSc thesis: How does current practice in the UK fast food sector compare with good practice?

Stuart Kinnersley

  • 35 years’ experience

  • Co-Founder, Managing Partner, and CEO – Affirmative Investment Management

  • CEO and CIO – Nikko Asset Management Europe

  • Managing Director – LTCB Foreign (F&C)

  • Fixed Income Economist – ANZ Merchant Bank

  • BSc, Economics (First Class) (London School of Economics)

Senior Advisor

    • Created the world's first green bond fund in conjunction with World Bank (2010).   

    • Leading advocate for responsible investing in the fixed income impact bond space.

    • Recognised speaker at major conferences on sustainable finance, green bonds and global markets.  

    • Acted as senior advisor to a multi-billion-dollar supranational pension fund.

    • Article (ClimateAction): Stuart Kinnersley from AIM talks impact investing.

Senior Advisor

Rebecca Adamson

  • 50+ years’ experience

  • Internationally recognized Cherokee Economist and Indigenous Leader

  • Founder – First Peoples Worldwide, First Nations Development Institute, Lakota Fund, Oweesta Fund, North American Native Bankers Association

  • Founding Advisor – Wharton Impact and the Rebecca Adamson Indigenous Risk Index

  • Trustee – Bay Paul Foundations; Calvert Social Investment Funds

  • Honorary Doctorate, Economic Development (Dartmouth College)

  • MS, Economic Development and Economics (Southern New Hampshire University)

    • Led passage of the Community Development Financial Institutions Act (1994).

    • Launched the first standalone Indigenous Peoples Rights Investment Criteria (2000).

    • Creator of Community Notes, the first market mechanism enabling individuals to invest directly into low-income CDFIs.

    • Co-author of award-winning book: “The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the US Racial Wealth Divide”.

    • Winner of numerous awards including PBS Change Makers, National Women’s History Recipient, Council on Foundations Scrivner Award for Most Innovative Grant-Maker and John Gardner Civic Leadership Award.Indigenous Expert Advisor on Sustainable Indigenous Finance: Navigating the Energy Transition (in collaboration with US SIF and ImpactARC).