“Lauren’s appointment acknowledges all she has built at WaterEquity and our confidence in her ability to lead the firm through its next stage of growth. The Council is glad to formalize what is already clear: she is the right person to help WaterEquity navigate all that comes next.” said Amy Bell, Director, Council of Directors, WaterEquity; CFO, MCE Social Capital.
Before joining WaterEquity, Lauren spent eleven years at The Nature Conservancy’s NatureVest, the organization’s impact investment unit. She joined TNC in 2014 as Director of Product Development, where she focused on water and agricultural investments and led the structuring and execution of NatureVest’s engagement in investment funds with footprints across Australia, Chile, the United States and Mexico.
She presented that work at World Water Week in Stockholm and was published through the Global Water Forum. In 2022 she was elevated to Managing Director and head of NatureVest, overseeing sourcing, structuring, and impact management of approximately $3.5 billion in committed conservation capital across four continents.
Prior to The Nature Conservancy, Lauren spent over a decade at Ares Management, a global alternative asset manager. She worked across private credit strategies in the United States and Europe. Lauren holds a Master of Science with distinction in International Relations from the London School of Economics, where her research focused on transboundary water resource agreements in East Africa, a Bachelor of Arts with honors in American Literature and Civilization from Middlebury College, and a Certificate in Business and Finance from Columbia University.
Lauren Ferstandig said, “Water is beginning to gain recognition from people, companies, and governments as an area of real value, and we believe WaterEquity is well placed to help meet that need. We have spent a decade investing in water and sanitation with a focus on SDG 6, and we benefit from the technical support of Water.org, which has worked to advance water and sanitation lending across the global south for decades. As President, my focus is to deepen our investment capabilities, develop new products that bring more institutional capital into this space, and keep proving that water and sanitation is a credible, high-impact place to put capital to work. I am glad to be doing it alongside this team”.
About WaterEquity
WaterEquity is an asset manager directing private investment to the water and sanitation sector in emerging markets, exclusively focused on solving the global water and sanitation crisis. WaterEquity invests directly in financial institutions, businesses, and infrastructure that help deliver safe water and sanitation solutions to low-income communities across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, while seeking financial returns for investors. Since 2016, WaterEquity has invested more than $563 million in capital and has improved access to safe water or sanitation for more than 10 million people.
Founded by entrepreneurs Gary White and Matt Damon of Water.org, the success of WaterEquity is built on decades of collective experience investing in water and sanitation in emerging markets.