Hearts and minds delivering impactful results.

In 2015 David founded Confluence Partners, a communications strategy firm that specializes in working alongside changemakers from across the capital stack that are shaping the contours of impact investing, helping them define their brands, build adherents and reorient the conversation. Clients range from well-established market leaders to start-ups from across the capital stack including asset managers, advisors, wealth managers, private equity, hedge fund and venture capital firms, non-profit organizations and a number of sustainability-focused companies.

David’s perspective is informed by more than 25 years of experience as a corporate securities lawyer and communications practitioner at some of the leading law firms and management consultancies. Earlier in his career, David was a Managing Director in Special Situations at FTI Consulting’s Strategic Communications division working on issues management and cross border matters. David began his communications career at Brunswick Group in New York, focusing on mergers and acquisitions. David began his career as a corporate finance/securities lawyer in New York and practiced for many years, most recently at Morrison & Foerster LLP. Subsequently, David joined AOLTimeWarner as a member of AOL’s business development team where he structured and negotiated revenue and content deals.

David sits on the Board for EO New York; the Advisory Board of Impact Entrepreneur and the Advisory Council of the Ackerman Institute’s Gender & Family Project. David is a member of the Bar in the State of New York. He received his JD at Columbia Law School and his BA from Stanford University.

Cindy is committed to using the levers of communications to help the sector scale, and particularly enjoys working alongside clients who are advancing the circular economy through innovative financial solutions in the sustainable infrastructure and climate tech sectors.

Cindy has developed a reputation as an outstanding media relations practitioner thanks to her bold thinking and uncanny ability to create cut-through with the media. In the crowded and often confusing impact marketplace, Cindy regularly secures earned media coverage for our clients by helping them differentiate their strategies and expertise across the investment landscape to reach their targeted audiences of institutional and high-net worth investors. She has deep and long-lasting relationships with reporters across the mainstream, financial, entrepreneurial and impact investing media.

Prior to joining Confluence Partners, Cindy was a Director in the Corporate and Financial Communications group at the global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, where she led high-profile executive visibility and proactive communications programs for Bank of America’s (BAC) Global Commercial Banking group, Accenture (ACN) Financial Services and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Financial Services.

Previously, Cindy was a Senior Director at kwittken + company where she supervised the Financial Services team. At kwittken, Cindy worked closely with asset management companies, including Virtus Investment Partners (VRTS), in addition to larger financial institutions such as American Express (AXP) and Guardian Life Insurance, to build opportunistic public relations programs targeting financial advisers, individual and institutional investors and CFOs.

For five years, Cindy was a Director of Corporate Communications at Fitch Ratings where she managed all public relations activities for the Latin America, U.S. Public Finance and the Global Infrastructure & Project Finance analytical teams. She began her financial services communications career as a public relations associate with Prudential Financial (PRU).

Cindy holds a BA in Communications from the University at Albany. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn and as a self-proclaimed oenophile, she is currently pursuing a WSET diploma in wines, to fulfill her personal passion for the sustainable wine industry.

Some of her areas of expertise include institutional investors, hedge funds, venture capital, impact investing, government policy and long-term asset ownership.

Imogen serves on the Advisory Board of Girls Who Invest, a not-for-profit focused on increasing the number of women in investment management roles. She is a member of the content planning committee for High Water Women’s annual Impact Investment Symposium. From 2012 to 2014 Imogen worked as a consultant to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights on its Compass conference program, a high-level conference aimed at engaging asset owners in issues relating to the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance. She represented the RFK Center in negotiations with the Department of Labor with regards to the November 2015 DOL guidance concerning impact investing and shareholder engagement. She is working with members of the Divest/Invest coalition on a grassroots investment education and idea-sharing program.

Imogen has expertise in social media, including blogs, podcasts and Twitter. She serves as a media relations and communications advisor to and on the event organizing committee of A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO), a New York based not-for-profit which provides limbs and minor surgeries to children in developing countries. Imogen has an MA in American Studies from Columbia University and a BA from the University of East Anglia, England.

She has worked for a number of leading firms including Brunswick, Joele Frank, FleishmanHillard and FTI as well as in-house for JPMorgan and LIVESTRONG, providing high-level communications support in global roles.

Ellen spent more than a year on-site in Texas and Louisiana following the Deepwater Horizon accident working directly with Transocean’s CEO and executive team on media and investor relations, government outreach, litigation support, employee communications and regulatory affairs.

Her experience includes leading teams for Fortune 100 clients facing SEC, EPA, DoJ and IRS investigations as well as managing high-profile M&A assignments and proxy contests.

She is the President of the Board of The Moyer Foundation, which helps children dealing with bereavement or family addiction and serves on the board of the Friends of Harlem Renaissance. Ellen, a graduate of Georgetown University, has lived and worked throughout the US and Western Europe and is a guest lecturer at USC and Boston College.

He has developed a reputation for his dynamic and results-driven approach to brand positioning, visual and verbal identity, product development, and omnichannel marketing that has created success for clients across numerous industries, ranging from consumer goods and consumer electronics to financial services, healthcare, beauty, retail and fashion. His client experience includes brands like American Express, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Verizon, Pfizer, Walmart and Coors to name a few.

Tim has an insatiable curiosity about human behavior, translating marketplace insights into effective strategies that drive results for his clients. He has focused the last 4 years of his career working with clients in the Social Impact and Sustainability space, believing passionately in the power of the triple-bottom line and that the public, private and non-profit sectors all have equally important roles to play in solving our most pressing social problems.

Prior to joining Starfish Partners, Tim held senior strategy rolls at a number of leading agencies, most recently as Managing Director, Global Communications Strategy at Mindshare where he was responsible for constructing a new global target spanning both B2C and B2B businesses for American Express as well as developing the communication architecture and strategy across their global markets.

Tim is based in New York but his proclivity for adventure and interest in culture has had him living in 11 postal codes on 3 continents. When he is not cooking or otherwise enjoying food he can be found on an escape to a remote island in Canada.

Earlier in his career, Tim spent 2 years in Togo, West Africa working in micro-finance with CARE International as a Peace Corps volunteer. Tim is fluent in Spanish and French.

He specializes in creating authentic and unique visual language, whether in collaboration with established organizations or with startups. He has created successful web presences across the spectrum of national non-profit organizations, startups and large-scale established companies. He has created authentic and unique visual language in the context of established design conventions for clients as diverse as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Water Environment Federation, American Bankers Association, Gitterman Management, RPCK, Marriott, Nickelodeon, MTV, Lifetime and Verizon, including leading the transition of the Bell Atlantic website to Verizon post acquisition and accessibility overhaul for visually impaired users.

Tom is also an associate professor with tenure and serves as Head of Graphic Design at the University of Arkansas where he specializes in business startup and design. His past research projects include leading the creation of a recording studio for the visually impaired, piano pedagogy software, a museum-use web-based presentation app in collaboration with SFMOMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a curated internet art online presentation system. His recent favorite project was the branding and design of the Cold War-themed KGB Food Truck, including identity, truck wrap design and all copy writing with themed menu items such as Lenin-ade.

When he is not behind his computer or in front of a class Tom can be found enjoying time with his wife and 4 children or playing city-league soccer.

Tom received his BS in Journalism and MFA in Visual Communication from the University of Arizona. He is a frequent speaker on visual communication and recipient of many grants relating to design and pedagogy. Tom speaks German ‘fairly well’ and is fluent in Italian.

During her undergraduate years, Katherine served as Editor-in-Chief of the campus newspaper and worked as a communications intern at several organizations, including Ticketmaster and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a Los Angeles native and is passionate about journalism and travel.