Alumni Spotlight: Preeti Bhattacharji
Name: Preeti Bhattacharji
School: Columbia Business School (’14)
Degree: MBA, Social Enterprise
Current Role & Organization:
Head of Sustainable Investing, JPMorgan Chase US Private Bank
Bio: Preeti Bhattacharji is the Head of Sustainable Investing for J.P. Morgan’s US Private Bank. In this role, she works with advisors and their clients to incorporate sustainability into their investment portfolios, develops thought leadership, and works with portfolio managers and due diligence colleagues to expand the Private Bank’s sustainable investing platform.
Preeti has over a decade of experience stewarding Sustainable Investments across asset classes and return profiles. Prior to JP Morgan, Preeti worked on post-investment engagement at Calvert Research & Management. Before that, she served as a Vice President of Integrated Capitals at the F.B. Heron Foundation, working to better align the foundation’s endowment with its mission, informing Heron’s long-term strategic direction, and helping to steward its investments across asset classes. Preeti has also served as the assistant director for the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing and a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she reported on global issues that included the global financial crisis and climate change.
Preeti currently teaches at Columbia University as an Associate Adjunct Professor and The Brandmeyer Fellow for Impact and Sustainable Investing. She serves on the Investment Committee of the Nathan Cummings Foundation.
Q: How did Turner MIINT shape your understanding of impact investing?
A: Looking at and conducting due diligence on a real company helped me understand that real impact investing can be, at times, messy. Case studies and pitch decks are designed to be tidy, but doing real due diligence on a company sourced from the real world helped me learn the complexities, trade-offs, and imperfections that come with this work.
Q: Looking back, what part of the Turner MIINT program was most valuable for your professional growth?
A: I think it was the network, which is a key element of the Turner MIINT program. Now, 15 years later, I still keep in touch with—and even co-invest with— people I met through the program.
Q: Are there skills or perspectives you gained through Turner MIINT that you still use in your work today?
A: Turner MIINT was my first exposure to impact investing and the Donor Advised Fund (DAF) structure. DAFs are a structure that I still frequently use in my work today and appreciate the exposure I got to them via the program.
Q: What was your experience like competing in the Turner MIINT competition?
A: It was terrifying — and that's a good thing. Turner MIINT pushed me far outside my comfort zone. I never imagined I’d participate in a pitch competition partly because, at the time, I didn’t see many people who looked like me taking part in them (outside of Turner MIINT). The thought of pitching a company in front of a room full of people felt like jumping into the deep end of a pool, but that helped me learn that I could swim.