A venture capital executive focused on impact investing and humanitarian work is joinging the board of an ESG asset manager that offers a mutual fund.

Rostam Zafari World Within HQ Managing Partner

Atlanta-based Rostam Zafari has been appointed to the board of directors at New York City-based Cornerstone Capital Group. Rostam, who is in his twenties, is the youngest person to be inducted into the board.

"His intellect, his entrepreneurship and his mission alignment, and his energy. He's extraordinary. He is a renaissance man. His insights and skills cross all the different functions of this world," said Erika Karp founder & CEO of Cornerstone.

Karp is the only Cornerstone executive on the company's board, which has eleven people and holds four formal meetings a year. Rostam joined approximately four months ago and is presently observing two committees: the audit, finances, and compensation commitee, and the governance and nominating committee.

Zafari is a managing partner at World Within HQ, a venture firm that assists underserved communities. Before founding World Within HQ, Zafari was the chief investment officer for Sage Hill Capital Partners and managed investments in the U.S., Europe, India, and Africa.

Zafari stated, "I am honored to serve as a board member at such a purpose-driven firm. Cornerstone's commitment to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by providing access to healthcare and quality education through investments resonates with me. I look forward to working with Erika and her team as they usher in the next generation of investing to build a more prosperous, equitable, and beautiful world."

Discussing the ways in which Zafari's humanitarian efforts align with Cornerstone's interest in community welfare, Karp said, "We [at Cornerstone] go even beyond healthcare and education. We go to the climate and to food systems and we go to social justice. [Zafari] has interest in everyone of these mission-related areas. That alignment of purpose is what is so compelling. His ability to create incredibly powerful networks is really compelling."

Karp continued, "It's an incredible privilege, to bring his wisdom to the cornerstone. We're an impact investment advisor and it is the next generation of asset owners that are going to try and heal the world. He is a leader in that next generation of investors. It's a very powerful signal for him to be joining us. It is a big deal for this next generation to be driving impact investing forward. Being such a prominent individual it's a privilege to have him."

Zafari graduated from Emory University, and as of 2019 is a board member of the university’s Global Health Council. 

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