For more on Ed’s journey as a pioneering VC and lifelong advocate for racial equity, see his Ed Talks, first person accounts of his experience as a Black man in America.

11/1 Essential Conversation
“The Meritocracy Myth: What happens to a dream deferred?”

8:00-9:30am CDT

Edward Dugger III, president of Reinventure Capital and an early pioneer in impact investing, explores the intersection between the venture capital community and racial equity.

“I could not have been more excited. It was September 1988, and I was on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles to meet with Michael Milken. Several months earlier I had received a call from his representative asking for a meeting. “Ed, you are a venture capitalist who has pioneered in providing entrepreneurs of color with equity investments, and we think you can help us,” he said.

Our conversation confirmed what I already knew. Milken and his firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert, had concluded that there was a huge, untapped investment opportunity in the form of entrepreneurs of color, who were essentially invisible to the rest of the investment banking market. More importantly, they had declared their intention to capture that overlooked market opportunity. To do so, they would bring billions of dollars to market. Now they were undertaking a methodical process of aligning existing sources of equity capital for founders of color, and partnering to create new ones. The first of these was Georgetown Partners, a US$ 100m fund. Other partnerships were under discussion. Mine was one of them.

Heading for LA, was I actually seeing the dawn of a new era in America? One for which generation after generation of people of color, aspiring to the American dream, had been waiting?” …

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11/29 Essential Conversation
“Welcome to the Third Reconstruction: Reconstruct · Rethink · Recalibrate · Redefine · Reinvent

8:00-9:30am CDT

Reinventure Capital is advancing the Third Reconstruction by investing in a more perfect multicultural, equitable, and prosperous union.

I am a Black man. A Harvard and Princeton educated Black man.  One who has rubbed shoulders with the corporate elite for decades, pioneered as a venture capitalist for even longer, and discussed the intricacies of national fiscal policy at the highest levels as a director of one of our nation’s leading Federal Reserve Banks.

And yet, in George Floyd I see myself. By the mere change of attire — a hooded sweatshirt, a pair of jeans, a baseball cap —  and in the right place at the wrong time, I am transformed into JABM, Just Another Black Man. More to the point, a Black man whose life may not matter, will not be respected and cannot be saved. …

In America today we are in the midst of our Third Reconstruction, another pivotal point in our history where the truth of our nation is revealed to be so disturbing that it can not be ignored. A period during which we will once again decide how freely we will let Black folks breathe and who we, as a nation, actually will be for the next generation or two to come. And as powerfully disruptive as it is certain to become, our Third Reconstruction holds the promise of truth telling: it will set us free to be people we are not yet, but claim we want to be.

As with our earlier two periods of Reconstruction, the Third Reconstruction will not be driven by one issue, one face, one age, but many.  For some, the driver will be righteous indignation. Others will see it as an opportunity to accelerate and tighten the bend in the arc of the moral universe. Still others will use it as an opportunity to redress past wrongs.  I believe enlightened citizens of all identities will come to see it as our urgent and deeply patriotic effort to save ourselves from ourselves.

The Third Reconstruction, Part 2
January 28, 2021

I imagine what I will tell my grandchildren about the beginning of 2021 when the nation held its breath for nearly two weeks while the forces of who we are battled with those of who we want to be.

The Third Reconstruction, Part 3?
June 21, 2021

Before there was a Juneteenth, before there was the First Emancipation Proclamation, before there was a need for a First Reconstruction, before even the nation’s founders encoded their ideals and flaws in the U.S. Constitution, there was Neptune Branch, my 5th-great grandfather

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Edward Dugger III, president of Reinventure Capital

As a founding partner and President of Reinventure Capital, Ed’s professional career has come full circle. An early pioneer in impact investing, he also has had careers as a real estate developer, business strategy consultant, interim CFO  and now has re-entered the profession of venture capital with over 30 years of deep business development and venture capital experience and a track record of notable achievements.

Ed’s VC career began at age 25 and accelerated at age 27 when he became CEO of one of the larger venture capital firms in the nation, backed and mentored by such board directors as the CEO of Morgan Stanley and the Chairman of the Executive Committee of JP Morgan. As head of one of the earliest impact VC funds, he invested in growth industries to consciously expand business opportunities for entrepreneurs of color, achieving an IRR of 32% during its last decade.

In addition to generating a top quartile return, Ed also helped launch some of the nation’s most successful African American controlled companies, both private and public, and assisted them in attracting over $2 billion in conventional capital, while achieving 30% diversity among managers and employees and generating over 7,000 family supporting jobs.

Although his investment practice was national, Ed leveraged his successes as a VC to build bridges among disparate local business communities as an early advocate for and practitioner of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). As a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, he co-convened with the Bank several business leadership forums advocating more inclusive business practices. Expanding the effort after harvesting the venture funds, Ed partnered with the CEO of State Street Corporation to form The Business Collaborative (TBC), a unique business community initiative that dramatically increased the B2B sales volume among major corporations and businesses of color in Massachusetts.

Most recently Ed has responded to our nation’s current challenges, stemming from persistent racial, social and economic inequities, by forming Reinventure Capital. Once again he is targeting the vast, untapped reservoir of innovative, entrepreneurial talent, comprised of those of color and women consistently overlooked by the mainstream investment community. In so doing, Ed is implementing a proven contrarian investment playbook, as before, ensuring an impact rich return on capital AND inclusion. For more on Ed’s journey as a pioneering VC and lifelong advocate for racial equity, see his Ed Talks, first person accounts of his experience as a Black man in America.

Based in Boston, Ed is a graduate of Harvard College and Princeton University (MPA-UP, School of Public and International Affairs).

click {HERE}

This will register you for both 11/1 & 11/29 sessions. Attendance at both is not required, but you don’t want to miss either.

Monday, November 1, 2021
8:00 AM 9:30 AM

Google Calendar · ICS

Monday, November 29, 2021
8:00 AM 9:30 AM

Google Calendar - ICS

“I’m a proud papa of three children, all of whom have been bitten by one of the “bugs” that has smitten me.  My son, Cyrus (Brown Univ., NYU Law), has the social justice bug and is a labor lawyer in New York City. My son, Langston (Brown Univ., Dartmouth MBA), has the entrepreneurial bug, and is pursuing it as Director of Operations for a scaling shared mobility business.  My daughter, Chloe (Brown Univ., Oxford Univ., UK, MA Development Studies, Africa & Asia), has the economic justice bug and is pursuing it in Johannesburg, South Africa as VP of Commercial Strategy for a pioneering shared-value health insurance business.  When I am not bragging about my children, I spend my time as a serious fitness buff, photographer, family genealogist and practitioner of Buddhism.”