Impactful Insights with The Impact Attorney: Part 1 [Interview]

On February 10th 2016 Vanderbilt Financial Group CEO, Steve Distante, had the opportunity to speak with Chintan Panchal, the founder of the New York office for law firm, RPCK. We like to call Chintan the “Impact Attorney” as his practice specializes on advising clients on impact investments.

To gain insight into Chintan’s role in the impact investing arena, as well as learn from his experiences and expertise, we decided to ask him a few questions.  Here’s part one of our two part interview series with Impact Investor, Chintan Panchal.

Steve and Chintan have been friends for years, and about a year ago, as Steve was explaining his passion and commitment to sustainability and service through his business, Chintan aptly pointed out that what Steve was explaining was Impact Investing. Quickly after introducing Steve to this emerging investment strategy, Vanderbilt Financial Group took a deep dive into Impact Investing.

Since Chintan jump-started Vanderbilt’s Impact Investing journey, we were curious about how his Impact journey began. He explained the three basic missions he was looking for in a career; he wanted to work with people who inspired him, work on projects he believed in, and work for clients who were positively changing the world. Becoming an Attorney focused in Impact Investing fulfilled those three missions.

Chintan also explained that when advising a client on an Impactful endeavor, he first asks what their main goal is and what objectives will be measured to achieve success. He then evaluates their return expectations to see if they are looking for a market or concessionary rate of return. And overall, he must discover what is the most important expected result, rate of return or social impact.

Check back for part two next week where we uncover Chintan’s opinions on how Impact Investing has changed in the past 5 years and how he anticipates it will become more widely accessible in the future. 

This blog was originally posted on www.blog.joinvanderbilt.com