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Aspen Institute Names 24 Global Finance Leaders to Join Fellowship Harnessing Finance as a Force for Good

The 2025 class extends the Fellowship to 172 Fellows in 26 countries, deepening its reach across the global finance ecosystem

Washington, D.C., June 24, 2025 — Today, the Aspen Institute announced the 2025 Class of Finance Leaders Fellows. The Finance Leaders Fellowship (FLF) ignites and supports values-driven leaders across the global finance ecosystem to lead with purpose and take bold action—harnessing the vast influence of finance to confront society’s most pressing challenges. The 24 Fellows—marking FLF’s eighth cohort since its founding in 2016—join a worldwide community of more than 4,000 values-driven leaders from over 60 countries as part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN).

Selected for their singular leadership and capacity to drive change, FLF Fellows embark on a transformative journey shaped by courageous conversations and deep self-reflection, and grounded in the Aspen Institute’s 75-year tradition of text-based dialogue. Stepping out of their finance ecosystem siloes—from asset management, banking, and venture capital to fintech, public policy, and beyond—Fellows connect across geographies, ideologies, and lived experiences to examine the values that guide them and the power they hold as finance leaders to shape a better world. 

“At its best, finance provides the capital and innovation needed to power human progress,” said FLF Founders, Ranji Nagaswami and Chris Varelas. “In a time of profound societal and economic shifts, we must ignite leaders in a lifelong journey—equipped with the values, courage, and imperative to act—using finance as a force for transformative change.” 

The Fellowship helps Fellows clarify their leadership, core values, and desired legacies, while forging enduring connections within an accountable peer community. But above all, it is a call to action. Each Fellow launches an impact venture—individually or in collaboration with peers—that challenges them to stretch their leadership and apply the tools of finance to drive positive change across their organizations, the industry, or broader society. These ventures span areas such as economic inclusion, corporate governance, sustainable finance, racial equity, affordable housing, and more.

“The Finance Leaders Fellowship convenes senior industry leaders who recognize that exceptional leadership goes beyond technical expertise to wielding finance as a tool for solving our greatest societal challenges,” said Dar Vanderbeck, Vice President of the AGLN. “We are honored to welcome these leaders to the Aspen Institute and the AGLN community, where they can harness the full potential of finance to drive meaningful change.”

The 2025 Class of Finance Leaders Fellows are:

Ali Haeri Mazanderani, Executive Chairman, Lesaka Technologies Inc., Johannesburg, South Africa

Angela D. Brooks, Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer, City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Avid Larizadeh Duggan, Senior MD, Teachers’ Venture Growth, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, London, United Kingdom

Borbala Cox, CFO, Chase US, JPMorgan Chase, New York, NY, United States

Chris Shaffner, SVP, Utilities, Supply Chain & Trade Finance, CoBank, Denver, CO, United States

Dune Thorne, Partner & Chief Strategy Officer, Brown Advisory, Lincoln, MA, United States

Erin Harkless Moore, Managing Director, Investments, Pivotal Ventures, Washington DC, United States

Fadi Al Said, Head of Investment Management, Public Investment Fund, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Garret Weston, Head of Affiliate Product Strategy and Development, AMG, Boston, MA, United States

Gerry Keefe, Head of Banking, Europe and Americas, HSBC, London, United Kingdom

Greg Blank, Senior MD and CEO of Blackstone Infrastructure Strategies, Blackstone, New York, NY, United States

Hideya Sadanaga, Executive Managing Director and Head of Private Equity, Japan Post Bank, Tokyo, Japan

Jamie Twiss, CEO, Beforepay Group Ltd. and Carrington Labs, Melbourne, Australia

Jessica Bailey, President and CEO, Nuveen Green Capital, New York, NY, United States 

Joseph McGeehin, Chief Financial Officer, FS Investments, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Kara Nortman, Managing Partner, Monarch Collective, Los Angeles, CA, United States         

Michael Hsu, Former Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Washington DC, United States 

Nadia Karkar, Head of Business Development, Impact, TPG Inc., San Francisco, CA, United States

Nick Vita, Co-Founder and CEO, Apriligen, Inc., Greenwich, CT, United States

Nolan Watson, President and CEO, Sandstorm Gold, Vancouver, Canada

Rahul Khanna, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Trifecta Capital, Mumbai, India

Sehr Thadhani, Chief Growth Officer, Nasdaq, Miami, FL, United States

Shmuel Chafets, Founder, Target Global, Tel Aviv, Israel

Soumya Rajan, Founder & CEO, Waterfield Advisors, Mumbai, India


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The Finance Leaders Fellowship is developing a global community of values-based senior finance leaders driving industry change to power societal progress, now with 172 Fellows across 26 countries. Using the Aspen Institute method of text-based dialogue, and building upon the Institute’s commitment to values-based, action-oriented leadership, the program encourages selected Finance Fellows to consider values and perspectives necessary for effective leadership in finance and in society at-large. The Finance Leaders Fellowship was founded in 2016 by Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow, Ranji Nagaswami, and Aspen Institute Trustee, Chris Varelas.

The Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) is a growing, worldwide community of more than 4,000 high-integrity, entrepreneurial leaders from over 60 countries who share a commitment to enlightened leadership and to using their creativity, energy, and resources to tackle the foremost societal challenges of our times. Because of their demonstrated accomplishments and abilities, they have been selected to join one of 13 geographic or sector-specific  AGLN Fellowships around the world.  For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/agln.  

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.