Align Impact is a woman-owned and majority-staffed firm based in Santa Monica, California. With $2.3 billion in assets under advisement, Align specializes in impact investing strategies for high-net-worth individuals, foundations, institutions and advisors. 

Q: Tell us about your firm and the clients you serve.

As our name implies, we work with a variety of clients to co-create and implement impact investment strategies. We serve a variety of clients across the U.S. and some internationally. Our vision is to build diverse investment portfolios to move the needle on issues that people care about, while still achieving our clients’ goals.

Q: What’s your role within the firm?

Most of what I do involves data — aggregation, analysis and reporting — so I work with the Addepar platform daily.

Q: Can you tell us more about your firm’s impact investing strategies?

Align views investments across a range of social and environmental issues. We might focus on anything from sustainable agriculture, to affordable housing, renewable energy, healthcare and more. Our Investment Research Team identifies and conducts due diligence on impactful opportunities and our Advisors work with clients to see how the investments best fit into their portfolio, depending on the client’s values. 

Q: What are your firm’s key priorities?

Approximately two years ago, we undertook a major technology overhaul. We updated our entire tech stack, including integrating Addepar into our systems. Now we’re iterating on these processes to accommodate the firm’s rapid growth. We are working to scale as efficiently as possible so we can serve our growing client base. 

Q: How will technology help you achieve your priorities?

Technology delivers this efficiency, reducing routine tasks and headaches. At the same time, it reduces the risks associated with human error or data loss. The key for us is our integration between systems. 

Q: What capabilities within Addepar do you find most useful?

Addepar provides a centralized database that’s interconnected with our systems, which saves us time. It gives us a full picture of a client’s portfolio, and we no longer have to log into multiple custodians or track our private market investments manually. Most of all, Addepar helps us ensure that our data is accurate, organized and easily accessible.

Q: What are some of the data challenges you’ve solved with Addepar?

We love that we can report on private market and public market investments in the same place. This was challenging in the past, and Addepar has solved that. Especially in impact investing, we not only deal with financial data, but also with impact considerations. It’s a huge volume of information and Addepar gives us the tools we need for analysis and reporting.

Q: How would you describe your partnership with Addepar?

It’s been amazing. We’re constantly learning and growing together. Being part of the Addepar Community and participating in the forums facilitates valuable conversations around features and best practices. We’ve also participated in several Addepar Pro sessions. 

Q: What’s next on your list to accomplish professionally or personally?

Professionally, I’m exploring ways to better measure impact. We can easily measure financial performance, but my goal is to also use data to gauge the impact of what our clients invest in. I’d like to see what we can do to enhance and inform our investors’ efforts. Personally, I’m just enjoying skiing as much as possible during this unusual winter in Southern California.