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Laura Berry became executive director of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility in 2007. The organization’s emphasis on community, social justice and responsible investing are themes with deep roots in her life.
Laura grew up in a working-class neighborhood of Detroit. She attended both Catholic and public schools, rooted on the Detroit Tigers, and lived within walking distance of 63 first cousins. The riots of 1968 made her aware, for the first time, of larger social challenges facing America. Her passion for baseball nurtured an interest in math and analysis.
After working for five years as a chemical engineer, Laura began a 17-year career as a Large Cap Value Portfolio Manager on Wall Street, gravitating to socially-responsible investing and handling accounts for religious orders. Her colleagues teased her for investing “nun money,” but to Laura, the reward of the work went beyond the value of a good return; it helped make the world a better place. It also put her in contact, for the first time, with ICCR.
In 2001 Laura left Wall Street and began her non-profit career as the director of the New London Development Corporation’s Community Development Initiative. She served the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven for five years as Vice President for Development and, later, its Senior Vice President for Philanthropic Services. Laura was responsible for a $15 million grantmaking portfolio from The Foundation’s nearly $300 million endowment. She has lived in and around New Haven, Conn. since 1984
“ICCR has allowed me to mix the analyst in me, who understands the symbolic value of money, with my understanding of what value really is,” Laura said. That has a lot to do, she said with faith, a belief in social justice, and ICCR’s role in making the world a better place.
Laura has a B.S. from Michigan Technology University and an M.S. from the University of Michigan; she obtained a Certified Financial Planner designation from Quinnipiac University.
And, although Laura has never stopped believing in her Detroit Tigers, since the mid-80s she has been a member of the Red Sox Nation.
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