About Sir Ronnie Cohen
Pioneering the Impact Revolution through venture philanthropy, social impact investment, and innovative financing mechanisms.
Sir Ronnie Cohen is President of GSG Impact, Chair of the International Foundation for Valuing Impacts (IFVI) and Chair of The Portland Trust, all of which he co-founded. He was co-founder Chair of Bridges Fund Management and Better Society Capital and a co-founder of Social Finance UK, USA and Israel, as well as the Education Outcomes Fund.
For nearly two decades, Sir Ronnie's pioneering initiatives in driving impact investment have catalyzed a number of global efforts, each focused on driving private capital to serve social and environmental good. These efforts are leading the global impact investment movement towards an Impact Revolution. In 2012 he received the Rockefeller Foundation's Innovation Award for innovation in social finance.
He chaired the Social Impact Investment Taskforce established under the UK's presidency of the G8 (2013-2014), and was a Special Adviser to the Impact Taskforce set up by the G7 (2021). He also chaired the Social Investment Task Force (2000-2010) and the Commission on Unclaimed Assets (2005-2007).
He was co-founder and Executive Chair of Apax Partners Worldwide LLP (1972-2005), a global venture capital and private equity firm, and co-founder and Chair of the British Venture Capital Association. He co-founded the European Venture Capital Association as well as EASDAQ.
He is a former member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers and the Board of Dean's Advisors at Harvard Business School; a former director of the Harvard Management Company, and a former member of the University of Oxford Investment Committee. He is a former trustee of the British Museum and of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
He is a graduate of Oxford University, where he was President of the Oxford Union, and an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School to which he was awarded a Henry Fellowship.
From Refugee To Venture Capitalist To Social Impact Pioneer
He is the author of 'IMPACT: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change,' published by Penguin Random House in 2020, which became a Wall Street Journal Bestseller, a second edition of which will appear in 2025, and ON IMPACT: A Guide to the Impact Revolution. His first book 'The Second Bounce of the Ball,' published in 2007, was described by the Financial Times as "one of the best books written on entrepreneurship in recent years."
Sir Ronnie was born in Egypt and left as a refugee at the age of 11. He lives in London with his wife of more than thirty years, Sharon Harel-Cohen, who is a film producer. They have two children, Tamara and Jonny.
