Sarah Gelfand Named President of BlueMark to Lead Next Phase of Growth for Impact Verification Specialist

NEW YORK, Feb. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- BlueMark, an impact investing verification specialist, today named Sarah Gelfand the new President of the firm, with responsibility for co-leading BlueMark's business strategy and team, business and product development efforts, and various market-building and standard-setting initiatives. Christina Leijonhufvud, CEO of BlueMark, will remain in her role and work closely alongside Gelfand and other senior leaders.

"Sarah embodies every character that BlueMark seeks to emulate through its mission — integrity, accountability, professionalism, and humility, to name a few, along with deep expertise in impact management, measurement and reporting," said Leijonhufvud. "It is a privilege to partner with her in building this business, and I know the full BlueMark team shares my conviction that, with her talent as an entrepreneur and leader, BlueMark is exceptionally well-positioned to continue to drive scale with integrity in the sustainable and impact investing market."

"I'm thrilled to take on this increased leadership role at BlueMark, and to help drive the next phase of the firm's growth," said Gelfand. " I believe BlueMark's rigorous and comprehensive verification services can play a critical role in addressing the need for greater transparency and trust in the growing and global sustainable and impact investing markets."

Gelfand first joined BlueMark in January 2021 as a Managing Director. Earlier in her career, she was a founding Director at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), where she led development of the industry's leading system for measuring and managing impact (now known as IRIS+), growing the user base from five pilot investors to several thousand organizations across the industry.

Gelfand has also previously held senior roles at Fidelity Charitable and Duke University, where she worked with different segments of the industry, including social enterprises, donors, corporations, retail investors, and other intermediaries.

During Gelfand's tenure, BlueMark has grown to become the leading provider of independent impact verification and intelligence for the impact and sustainable investing market. Since BlueMark was founded in January 2020, the firm has completed over 160 verifications for investors managing a combined $230 billion in impact AUM. BlueMark opened its first European office in London in February 2022, and plans to open its first Asian office later in 2024.

BlueMark has also played an important role in shaping industry best practices via its research and data analysis, as highlighted by the "Making the Mark" series on impact management practices and the "Raising the Bar" series on impact performance reporting. In June 2022, BlueMark introduced a Practice Leaderboard to highlight those investors that received the highest ratings based on their most recent BlueMark verification. BlueMark also recently worked with academics at CASE at Duke University to publish a field guide to bring more rigor and consistency in how allocators evaluate and manage private market impact funds.

About BlueMark
BlueMark is a leading provider of independent impact verification and intelligence for the impact and sustainable investing market. As a certified B Corp, BlueMark's mission is to "strengthen trust in impact investing" by providing investors with market-leading impact verification services, benchmarks, and analytics. BlueMark's verification methodologies draw on a range of industry standards, frameworks, and regulations, including: the Impact Management Project (IMP), the Operating Principles for Impact Management (Impact Principles), the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), SDG Impact, Sustainable Disclosure Requirements (SDR), and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Learn more about BlueMark and impact verification at www.bluemark.co.

Media Contact:
Dmitriy Ioselevich | 17 Communications | [email protected]

SOURCE BlueMark