Get to Know Calvert Impact Capital Staff: Josh Bay

Name: Josh Bay

Title: Officer, Investor Relations

Tenure at Calvert Impact Capital: Eight Months

Places you’ve called home: DC Metro Area; Tel Aviv, Israel; Berkeley, CA; Chicago, IL

Languages: English, Hebrew, Spanish

1. What do you do at Calvert Impact Capital?

As an Officer on the Investor Relations team, I get to engage directly with our diverse investor base every day--from our smallest individual investors just getting started with impact investing, to our largest institutional supporters who may be veterans in the field. Whether I’m answering account-related questions from investors by email and phone, analyzing data to fulfill reporting requests, or surveying investors to hear their feedback on our work, it’s my job to help ensure our team is responsive to investor servicing needs and that their experience with us remains top-notch.

Beyond existing investors, I regularly educate prospective investors, financial advisors, and others in the industry about our Community Investment Note® and the impact of our work across our portfolio sectors. Additionally, I enjoy the operational aspects of my role, where I make sure our internal systems and processes, as well as our external investor portal, are functioning properly and efficiently. We’re always adding new features to the online investor experience, and it’s fulfilling to get to play a part in the strategic vision of the technology we use to support our investors.

2. What excites you most about your work at Calvert Impact Capital?

The impact we create! On our borrowers, their end-clients, our investors, and our industry as whole. It’s particularly exciting to hear from investors and advisors who have been searching for a product like ours--one that makes impact investing truly accessible. Empowering our investors to funnel their capital to communities who need it most, and then seeing the power that capital has to impact such a diverse range of borrowers, makes coming in to work every day an exciting endeavor. Plus, to be part of a leader in the field with regards to how we measure and report out on our impact, and to see other organizations in the space be inspired by our work to release their own impactful financial products, makes it an awesome time to be on this team.

3. How did you get to Calvert Impact Capital, and more specifically, into impact investing?

Before Calvert Impact Capital, I worked in a number of client-facing and operational roles at mission-oriented tech startups in Chicago, IL. Around that time, outside of work, I volunteered with various community organizing groups focused on local social justice initiatives in Chicago, which first got me interested in socially responsible investing to put my money in institutions better aligned with my values.

In 2019, I left the tech world (and Chicago) and moved to Berkeley, CA to work on an educational urban farm and learn the basic principals of small, sustainable agriculture. There, I was further exposed to the social and environmental issues harming our planet, and became more motivated to apply my professional background in ways that would help change the status quo.

After initially getting involved in stakeholder advocacy as a means of large-scale reform, I came across direct impact investing as a theory of change that resonated even more deeply with me. As I familiarized myself with organizations in the space, Calvert Impact Capital stuck out as a particularly prominent player. A serendipitous move to the DC Metro area, shortly before the team was looking to grow their Investor Relations efforts, led to our paths formally crossing and the rest was history!

4. If you could have a dinner party with any three guests, dead or alive, who would you invite?

I would start by inviting Paul Farmer, the public health icon who founded Partners in Health. I first learned about his work through the biography Mountains Beyond Mountains in college, which detailed his efforts to fight Tuberculosis in Haiti, and have been inspired by his dedication and impact ever since. He died earlier this year and I regret never having had the chance to hear him speak—I would have loved to pick his brain and hear more stories from his decades abroad providing direct care to some of the most in-need communities around the world.

Next, I would invite Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fame. From watching his show as a kid, to learning about his life and legacy later in life, I’ve always admired his approach to childhood education and his show’s ability to address complex emotional topics in a way that’s accessible for young kids. Plus, he just seemed like the kindest man. Lastly, I would invite Maya Rudolph, because what’s a dinner party without some laughs? Maya and her characters are always quick to crack me up.

5. Do you have any reading or listening recommendations? (Books, podcasts, articles, etc.)

I’ve recently started listening to the podcast, More Perfect, the NPR/Radiolab series about the history of the Supreme Court. The overturning of Roe v. Wade and other unprecedented decisions by the current court had me eager to better understand how we got to this point, and the podcast so far has done a good job of using key rulings to demonstrate the evolution of the Supreme Court’s influence on our society.

I also highly recommend the recently-released movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once, an incredibly creative, genre-bending story about a Chinese-immigrant family struggling to cope with the difficulties of everyday life (while also needing to save the world from a multi-versal foe)

6. If you had to describe Calvert Impact Capital in one word or term, what would it be?

"Innovative.”