“There’s risk in the person you’re backing, there’s risk in the market, there’s risk in the product. But I think investing in the circular economy, at least today, is a way of actually de-risking your investment because you’re investing in the direction of major industry. ”
— Ron Gonen
Ron Gonen is the Founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners, a New York-based investment firm comprised of venture capital, growth equity, private equity, project-based finance, and an innovation center that’s focused on building the circular economy.
Ron spent his early childhood years in Israel, moving to Philadelphia around the age of five. He studied History and Economics at the University of Massachusetts and after graduating, joined Andersen Consulting as a trainee, then moved on to Deloitte Consulting. In 2004 he co-founded RecycleBank while studying for his MBA and then he went on to become New York City’s Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling, and Sustainability, during the Bloomberg administration.
In 2013, Ron was named the city’s ‘Public Official of the Year’ by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Earth Day New York. Throughout his career, he has earned numerous business and environmental awards, including recognition as ‘Champion of the Earth’ by the United Nations Environment Program and receiving a Medal of Excellence from Columbia University, where he earned his MBA and later served as an Adjunct Professor in its business School from 2010– 2018. In 2021, he received the Social Enterprise Center Award for Excellence in Teaching. A former member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Henry Catto Fellow at the Aspen Institute, he holds multiple recycling industry technology and business method patents.
In this episode, we learn more about the circular economy and why it has a clear competitive financial advantage. We hear about Closed Loop Partners’ investment strategy, as well as some real-life examples of circular economy investments they have made. Ron shares how he verifies impact and measures outcome, and we learn how Closed Loop Partners’ Innovation Center came about.
I learned a lot during this far-reaching discussion and I hope you will too!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Connect with Ron Gonen: LinkedIn
- Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting)
- Closed Loop Partners
- Columbia University
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Deloitte
- Earth Day 2013
- Enron
- Goldman Sachs
- HomeBiogas
- Mori
- Pepsico
- RecycleBank
- Seventh Generation
- Sodastream
- The Aspen Institute
- The Bloomberg Administration
- The Coca-Cola company
- The Reusies™
- Unilever
- ‘Waste Free World’ book
- WorldCom
SHOW NOTES:
[00:00] Episode introduction
[04:08] Ron describes his time at the University of Massachusetts and how he chose to train at Andersen Consulting, over a PhD in History/Economics
[06:17] How Ron came to co-found RecycleBank and what led to his departure from the company
[09:37] Ron tells us about his role working for the Bloomberg Administration, and how he describes himself as ‘the compromise candidate’
[11:26] Ron was named New York City’s ‘Public Official of the Year’
[11:50] How Ron came to found Closed Loop Partners
[12:30] Ron’s ‘Champion of the World’ distinction by the United Nations Environment Program
[12:53] Ron describes his journey into environmental and sustainable investing
[15:05] We hear more about Closed Loop Partners and their mission
[17:05] Ron explains the Circular Economy and how it differs from the traditional “linear economy”
[23:11] How Closed Loop Partners selects their investments and the non-financial screens used in the process
[26:37] Real-life examples of circular economy investments and how they were selected
[28:23] We hear what Impact means to Closed Loop Partners, how they verify it and the criteria used to measure outcome
[31:50] Closed Loop Partners’ typical investors and why they choose to invest with Closed Loop Partners
[34:54] We hear more about Closed Loop Partners’ ‘Innovation Centre’ and its growth
[40:40] Opposition to the circular economy and how the tide is turning
[42:05] Ron’s recently published book “Waste Free World” and what motivated him to write it
[43:14] Ron describes The Reusies™ awards and what they are all about
MORE RON GONEN QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW:
“I’ve always viewed finance as one of the most effective tools.”
— Ron Gonen
“I don’t necessarily view myself as an ‘investor’…I’m using an investment platform to build out the circular economy.”
— Ron Gonen
“I think we have a problem in the financial services industry where, there’s way more urban legends and myths and cognitive dissonance than is healthy for the long-term value that shareholders expect.”
— Ron Gonen
“There’s no shortage of companies looking to raise money by greenwashing, and no shortage of funds that are looking to raise capital and just greenwash and put the capital to work.”
— Ron Gonen
“One of the great scams in American history is that the CEOs of ExxonMobil got to make a lot of money and sort of pound their chest as the titans of capital, but in reality, behind the scenes, they were really on the dole. They were collecting government subsidies for their businesses, and I think getting rid of those types of subsidies…would go a really long way in terms of evening out the market.”
— Ron Gonen
PEOPLE MENTIONED:
