Blueprint Local and Village Capital’s Leadership Evolution
Anyone who knows Ross Baird has probably heard him use the term topophilia.
While we may not all share Ross’ love of the Classics, his ideas about empowering communities and democratizing entrepreneurship have been important contributions to our global economy since Village Capital in 2009. Topophilia means “love of place”. Ross’ understanding of topophilia is that every city is unique, and has something special to offer. When it comes to a dynamic, entrepreneurial community, cities shouldn’t try and and recreate Silicon Valley; they should be the best version of themselves.
Love of place has also always been at the heart of Village Capital’s work ever since 2009 when the founding Village Capital team decided to run its first pilot program in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. And now, seventy-plus programs later, as Village Capital approaches its 10th anniversary, Ross is stepping back from his role at Village Capital, to lead a new project that has topophilia at its very core.
Blueprint Local (learn more here and in today’s Impact Alpha) is a new company focused on helping investors back the entrepreneurs and ecosystems where they live. It will be a platform for “place-based” investments in both real estate and operating businesses, allowing investors to invest in their own communities for both attractive financial returns and meaningful, tangible impact.
Building on a renaissance of interest in community development spurred on by Opportunity Zone legislation, and understanding that people everywhere want meaningful ways to invest in their own community, Blueprint Local will be forming a joint venture with global investment management firm Brown Advisory.
Blueprint Local will build on Village Capital’s long history of tapping into the potential of place, and will play a complementary role to Village Capital in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and impact investment industry. Stay tuned for more from the Village Capital team on its Opportunity Zone strategy, which will include working closely with Blueprint and other investors to identify promising Opportunity Zone-based ventures, expanding its VilCap Communities Initiative, and building on its VC Pathways program to uncover and support underrepresented founders.
A new era at Village Capital
And so, as Ross steps into his new role with Blueprint, and continues his work as Innovator in Residence with the Kauffman Foundation, I’m excited to announce on behalf of the entire Village Capital board that Allie Burns will become CEO. (Ross will remain an active and engaged board member for Village Capital).
Allie joined Village Capital nearly three years ago after a long history of working to catalyze investment in early stage entrepreneurs from overlooked places, on often-overlooked challenges. As a senior executive at the Case Foundation and Revolution, she worked closely with technology and impact investing pioneers Jean and Steve Case to create and build initiatives like the Startup America Partnership and Rise of the Rest; and has nearly two decades of experience working directly with startups and innovators in technology.
Since coming on board Village Capital in 2016, first as Chief Operating Officer and more recently as Managing Director, Allie has played a key role in managing Village Capital’s growth and overseeing both day to day operations and driving programmatic initiatives globally.
Allie has also built out a new leadership team at Village Capital, including most recently hiring Matt Zieger to lead the US Ventures team.
Matt is a longtime leader in innovative philanthropy and mission-driven organizations, with a history of advancing equitable economic opportunity through impact investing, business creation and cross-sector collaboration. He’s served as CEO of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s economic development public/private partnership, founder of the impact investing and social entrepreneurship division of one of the largest nonprofits in the US, and helped to lead The Forbes Funds in Pittsburgh, PA which organized impact investment capital and supported technology-based entrepreneurs working on important social challenges.
Victoria Fram, co-founder of Village Capital, will continue to remain at the head of VilCap Investments, as the current fund shifts its focus to maximizing the success of the existing portfolio of more than 100 investments through follow-on capital and hands-on support.
In its 10th year, Village Capital is entering a new era. Ross, Victoria and Allie have built Village Capital into a substantial organization with significant influence on both individual entrepreneurs and the impact investing community. To date they’ve facilitated over 100 seed investments and supported more than 1,000 entrepreneurs. We’re excited for what the next 10 years has in store as Village Capital continues to pioneer new approaches, question the traditional power dynamic in early stage investing, and ultimately catalyze investment in the entrepreneurs of the future, a future where business drives equity and long term prosperity.
Bryce Butler is Chair of Village Capital’s Board of Directors.
