Join Tracy Gray (Founder of The 22 Fund) and Allison Kelly (CEO of ICA) for a timely conversation about racial and gender equity in early stage investing and the pivotal steps for investors to create systemic change in the industry.

Hosted by the Sustainable and Impact Finance initiative and in partnership with Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership.

Tracy Gray

Ms. Gray is the Founder and Managing Partner of The 22 Fund (The 22), an impact, growth equity and advisory firm with a mission of creating the clean, quality jobs of the future by increasing the global competitiveness of manufacturing companies, intentionally targeting women- and BIPOC-owned businesses. She is a Board of Director of Applife Digital Solutions, Inc (OTC: ALDS), a publicly-traded, fully-reporting, start-up incubator and venture studio, and of the California State University, Dominguez Hills Philanthropic Foundation Endowment, where she serves as Treasurer/Secretary and on the Investment Committee.

She is also an Executive-in-Residence at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and chaired LACI’s Diversity in Entrepreneurship Advisory Council. Ms. Gray is the first Social Impact Fellow at the UC Berkeley Haas Business School’s Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership.

In 2015, Ms. Gray gave a TEDx Talk entitled “Why It's Time for Women to Be Sexist with Investment Capital.” Due to the response from her TEDx Talk, Ms. Gray founded the non-profit We Are Enough (WAE). WAE’s only mission is to educate ALL women on how and why to invest in women-owned, for-profit businesses or with a “gender lens.” WAE recently released the study Creating LAIA: The Feasibility of a Women-Focused Incubator and Accelerator in Los Angeles and was chosen by Variety magazine as a global 50 most "impactful" non-profits.

Ms. Gray was named one of the 50 Women of Influence in business in Los Angeles and is featured in the recently released book “200 Hundred Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World” and Robb Report article "Tracy Gray Invests in Women." In 2019, Ms. Gray received the Bad Ass Woman in Green award from the California League of Conservation Voters and the Women of Courage award from Youth Mentoring Connection.

Ms. Gray was formerly senior advisor for international business to the LA Mayor, an investment professional at a venture capital fund and a systems engineer on the Space Shuttle program. Ms. Gray holds a B.S. in Mathematical Science with an aeronautics emphasis from UC Santa Barbara and dual MBAs from Columbia University and UC Berkeley.

Allison Kelly

Allison Kelly is the CEO of ICA which accelerates great businesses through capital investment and mentorship with the explicit goal of closing the racial and gender wealth gaps. Previously, Allison worked as the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at CDC Small Business Finance (CDC), a leading U.S lender focused on supporting entrepreneurs. At CDC, she worked to forge creative partnerships and foster innovation in community development finance. Her successes at CDC include partnering with Prudential to create a $15M impact investment fund for small businesses, collaborating with the Oakland-based startup CNote to develop a community investment financial product, and organizing a first-of-its-kind Community Finance Challenge to spur innovation in the CDFI sector.

Prior to CDC, Allison spent seven years in various leadership positions at Pacific Community Ventures, a nonprofit social enterprise focused on helping small businesses thrive through affordable capital and free business coaching. Allison started her professional career in the healthcare service industry and has worked on international campaigns to promote changes in public health behavior. Her experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania, shaped her passion for using small business as a force for social change.

Moderator: Jessie Tang, Head of Strategic Initiatives at impact investor Gratitude Railroad and Haas MBA 2020 alumni.

Timely Conversations: Addressing Equity in Investing