Rebecca Adamson, First Peoples Worldwide

Rebecca Adamson is an Indigenous Economist, Cherokee and Founder of First Nations Development and First Peoples Worldwide. Her career spans from time in and out of jail working for the Coalition of Indian Controlled Schools to currently serving as Advisor to the Wharton Business School Initiative on ESG Investing. In 1983, she created the first microenterprise loan fund, the Lakota Fund and became a key leader of the community development financial institutions (CDFI) movement. In 1990, as Trustee of Calvert Social Investment Mutual Funds, Adamson created the first market mechanism to invest directly into CDFIs, which has supported investments worth US$4.2bn. From 2014 to 2019 she advised Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto, Vale and Hess on Social Performance and indigenous Peoples Rights. A featured TEDMED speaker in 2014 and early Schwab Social Entrepreneur 2004-2009, Adamson is a National Women’s History Recipient and co-author of the award-winning book, ‘The Color of Wealth: the Story Behind the US Racial Wealth Divide’.