Our People

Lauren Ferstandig

Managing Director, NatureVest

Italy

Managing Director, NatureVest

Areas of Expertise

Capital markets, private equity, transaction structuring, nature-based solutions

Executive Contact

William Morton
Email:

Biography

Lauren Ferstandig is the Managing Director of NatureVest at The Nature Conservancy.
Lauren provides strategic leadership, overseeing the Impact Investing Team and post-close Impact Management Team as well as the Sustainable Financial Advisory team, which includes dedicated Carbon Finance expertise. Collectively, these teams, under Lauren’s guidance, enable NatureVest to offer a broad suite of financial solutions that yield impactful conservation outcomes in alignment with TNC’s 2030 goals. Lauren’s leadership is pivotal in advancing the organization's mission by integrating sustainable financial practices and innovative conservation strategies.

Lauren joined NatureVest in 2014 as the Director of Product Development, focusing on water and agricultural investments. She went on to become the Managing Director of NatureVest’s Origination Team (recently renamed the Impact Investing Team), which focuses on identifying and structuring impact investment transactions across all TNC’s conservation priorities. Under her leadership, the Origination team worked collaboratively with Conservancy colleagues to structure and close deals across Africa, Asia Pacific, and the Americas.

Lauren has a BA from Middlebury College and an MA in International Relations from the London School of Economics where she focused on issues related to East African water resource management.

Learn more about NatureVest.


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Hear more from Lauren in the interviews below:

A Different Way of Investing

A Different Way of Investing Lauren and others discuss the power of impact and social investing in this short interview by Big Society Capital.

Africa Conservation and Communities Tourism Fund

Africa Conservation and Communities Tourism Fund Learn more from Lauren about the ACCT Fund in this video by the International Finance Corporation.

Agriculture has shaped our history, now we need to shape its future

Shaping the future of agriculture Join Lauren as she explores the future of sustainable food production. Telling the story through the experience of Maria Paz Chadwick, a pioneering farmer in central Chile.