How Far Can Financial Acumen Push Positive Social Impact? The Case of the Redevelopment of Spofford in the Bronx

Abstract

When Eric Clement graduated from the University of Oxford Said Business School executive MBA program on his 37th birthday, he was searching for the new Eldorado: jobs in the high-octane private equity industry. These were simply the most sought-after jobs out there – pay was high! The first-born son of Panamanian-American parents now had the degree, knowledge, and experience to make it happen. But then he was offered a job in a government organization, where he would hire fund managers to make investments and where he would have to focus on the social impact of his investments. He was intrigued. Growing up in a middle-class suburb of NYC, Eric knew how difficult it was to move up the socioeconomic ladder. He had been working since he was 11-years old, and because his parents were not from the U.S., he didn’t have the social contacts many of his friends did, which could open up career paths he had never heard of. Could he use the finance skills he had acquired throughout his career to improve the lives of underrepresented people so they wouldn’t have to go through what he did? What if a hard-core finance chap like himself stepped into a world where finance acumen was rare and tree-hugging plentiful? What if he took the opposite seat at the negotiation table, effectively hiring the people he wanted to join, and got them to behave and act responsively? What would happen then?