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Pioneers Post: Investor in Focus: Why Blue Haven Initiative's views "irritate everyone"
Blue Haven Initiative’s co-founder Liesel Pritzker Simmons knows about influence. Her extended family is one of the wealthiest in the US, reportedly worth billions of dollars – the Pritzker Group is a majority owner of the Hyatt hotel chain – and several relatives are high-profile figures in philanthropy or politics. Her cousin, JB Pritzker, is the governor of Illinois.
Pritzker Simmons is making waves of her own in impact investing, through Blue Haven Initiative, which she founded with her husband Ian Simmons in 2012, at the time still in her 20s. This was one of the first family offices set up with impact investing as a primary focus; its “total portfolio” approach – that is, aiming to invest 100% of assets for impact – saw it named impact asset owner of the year in 2018 by GSG Impact. Pritzker Simmons also co-founded The ImPact, “a global network of families committed to aligning their assets and values”, and sits on various other boards and committees.
