Podcast with Colleen Briggs, Executive Director of Community Innovation at JP Morgan Chase & Co
In our latest podcast, Caroline Kremer (WG ’19) speaks with Colleen Briggs, the Executive Director of Community Innovation at JP Morgan Chase & Co. In her role at JP Morgan, Colleen spearheads two initatives focused on helping fintech entrepreneurs: the Financial Solutions Lab and the Catalyst Fund.
In the podcast, Colleen discusses her work supporting and growing innovative companies that target consumers underserved by traditional financial institutions. Colleen discusses the business opportunities for companies focused on financial inclusion, both in the U.S. and globally.
Managed in partnership with the Center for Financial Services Innovation, the Financial Solutions Lab has launched its fourth business competition focused on companies that empower underserved and underbanked populations in the U.S.
Globally, the Catalyst Fund is an initiative spearheaded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and JP Morgan Chase, in partnership with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Accion Venture Lab. The Catalyst Fund supports fintech companies in Africa and Latin America before these startups raise institutional venture capital.
Colleen is the Head of Community Innovation within the Office of Corporate Responsibility at JPMorgan Chase & Co, a global leader in corporate philanthropy with $200 million invested in communities annually. Colleen is responsible for helping establish and execute the firm’s global philanthropic strategies on financial health and community development, including two signature initiatives — the Financial Solutions Lab and PRO Neighborhoods competition. The Lab is a $30 million, five-year initiative that convenes leading experts in technology and design to improve consumer financial health for underserved populations. PRO Neighborhoods is a five-year, $125 million program that works to increase the availability and accessibility of vital economic opportunities in distressed neighborhoods. Colleen also manages numerous programs across both topics designed to surface new approaches to community challenges, as well as explore global cross-cutting themes across the Foundation’s work, such as women’s empowerment, peer learning, evaluation, and attracting additional investment in our projects.
Prior to joining, Colleen was the Economic Policy Advisor to Senator Debbie Stabenow. In this role, Colleen managed the Senator’s economic portfolio, including policy related to financial services, tax, small business, job creation, community development, manufacturing, and housing. Colleen managed the Dodd-Frank market reforms for the Senate Agriculture Committee, and helped draft the Recovery Act, TARP, the Dodd-Frank Act, and healthcare reform.
Colleen is a member of the Asset Funders Network Steering Committee and the Innovations for Poverty Action Policy Advisory Group. She earned an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
