Sydney Bolger

I work with people and projects to shift consciousness and capital toward a more beautiful and just world. I've begun identifying as part of a network of ‘interstitionaries’–as coined in Jennifer Brandel’s, ‘Invisible Landscapes’–who work across disciplines and sectors to facilitate collaboration, surface insights, and drive systemic change. I do this through my work with The ImPact, a network of families committed to creating a positive impact with their wealth, and a Steward of Linestone, a network of leaders across disciplines, cultivating the conditions for radical collaboration towards a more more wise, peaceful, humane, and convivial world.

The Global Financial Crisis and ensuing Occupy Movement were hallmarks of my undergraduate experience, catalyzing inquiry into the fragility of our financial and economic systems. The more I dug, the clearer it became that these systems were not designed in service of life. I soon discovered the impact investing movement, which sought to transform our financial systems to mitigate harm and create positive outcomes. I began my career in impact investing working with families and foundations to create 100% values-aligned portfolios and co-created a Catalytic Impact Investing Program, working with funders and investors on the leading edge of systems change to invest $100M+ of patient, flexible, and creative capital that prioritized impact over financial return through innovative investment and business models.

Recognizing the limits of working within the financial system to create economic systems change, I took a year to study at Schumacher College, exploring how we arrived at our current economic system and how we might create the conditions for regenerative economic systems to emerge. This was a profound experience deep diving into holistic science, complexity theory, systems thinking, deep ecology, while inhabiting a living laboratory of experiments in regenerative economies. Inspired by Donella Meadows, ‘Places to Intervene in a System,’ I became curious about how to shift consciousness and culture from which systems emerge. Stewarding Linestone with an exceptional group of creative collaborators, I honed the craft of designing experiences that expand our sense of what is possible, create deep relationships of trust, and build our capacity to co-create the emergent future.

I delight in working with creative collaborators at different altitudes from my neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY to global networks and systems.