19 Apr CAV Angels Board Member Christine Mahoney leads Social Entrepreneurship at UVA as its director for the last decade.

— How do you define social entrepreneurship and what role can it play in Cville’s entrepreneurial ecosystem?

Social enterprises are companies that have a mission to have a positive social and/or environmental impact alongside financial return. The majority of start-ups emanating from the UVA community have this type of mission, whether it is to improve access to education, improved patient outcomes, or improved environmental outcomes, just to name a few.  CAV Angels have the great fortune of having so many high-impact companies to consider in our deal flow!

— What perspective on impact investing do you hope to bring to CAV Angels as a new board member?

Impact Investing is committed to achieving financial return alongside measurable positive social and environmental impact, a story about impact isn’t sufficient. I hope to bring expertise and trained impact investing student fellows to the table that can help us rigorously evaluate and weigh the positive impact of the portfolio companies CAV Angels is considering, so we can make the highest positive impact on the world, alongside healthy financial returns.

— Are there any focus communities or industries for these initiatives in Virginia? 

Successful social enterprises can be found across industries, and importantly in some of the most important industries for human flourishing, including: ed-tech, fin-tech, healthcare, energy, climate resilience, water quality, sustainable agriculture, and on and on.