Former Governor Deval Patrick and Lauren Smith, MD, MPH Join Social Finance Board of Directors

Patrick and Smith will bring unique public policy, impact investing, and public health expertise to the organization.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today national nonprofit Social Finance announced the appointment of Deval Patrick and Lauren Smith to its board of directors.

Deval Patrick is a business executive, impact investor, political and civil rights advocate, and former governor of Massachusetts. The first African American governor of Massachusetts, he served from 2007-2015, during which he expanded affordable health care to more than 98% of state residents, launched initiatives stimulating clean energy and biotechnology, and steered the state to a 25-year high in employment. In 2015, he founded the Double Impact Fund at Bain Capital, the first impact investing fund of a major U.S. investment firm, where he and his team invested hundreds of millions of dollars in companies that deliver both competitive financial return and significant measurable social and environmental good. Patrick is the founder and chairman of the TogetherFUND, a political action committee working to drive engagement among disenfranchised and marginalized voters, a senior advisor to Bain Capital, and a member of the boards of directors of mission-driven companies. Learn more about Deval Patrick >

Lauren Smith, MD, MPH is the chief health equity and strategy officer of the CDC Foundation, where she works to embed health equity across the Foundation’s COVID-19 response activities with an explicit focus on addressing systemic racism and its impact on vulnerable populations’ wellbeing amidst the pandemic. Smith’s previous roles include serving as co-CEO of FSG, a social impact consultancy, where she also led the U.S. Health practice; medical director and then interim commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; senior strategic advisor for a 50-state network focused on reducing infant mortality; national medical director of the Medical Legal Partnership for Children; health policy fellow in the office of the Massachusetts Speaker of the House; medical director of the pediatric inpatient service at Boston Medical Center; and faculty member of the Department of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. Learn more about Lauren Smith >

“On behalf of our team and board of directors, we are excited to welcome Deval and Lauren to Social Finance,” said Tracy Palandjian, CEO and Co-Founder. “As governor of the Commonwealth, Deval was one of the earliest champions of Social Impact Bonds to help government spend smarter, and he is a passionate advocate and practitioner of impact investing. His leadership will help advance our public sector offerings and our next generation of impact investment products. Lauren’s extensive experience as a public health leader and a clinician will be invaluable to our work as we build partnerships and funding structures to tackle the structural and social determinants of health, from education and housing to workforce development.”

Social Finance pioneered a set of innovative outcomes-based funding strategies in the U.S. over the past decade, including the Social Impact Bond. The organization launched the first-ever Career Impact Bond in 2019, a holistic financing model designed to increase access to education, employment, and economic opportunity. Founded in 2011, Social Finance has a team of 75 people with offices in Boston, Austin, and San Francisco.

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About Social Finance

Social Finance is a nonprofit organization that develops funding strategies to measurably improve lives. The organization has mobilized over $150 million to support more than 20,000 individuals across a range of issue areas including workforce development, homelessness, and criminal justice. Learn more at socialfinance.org.