Suzanne Kim, CFA

Founder/Managing Partner

Ms. Kim has over two decades of experience in investment management, commercial real estate, environmental finance, and public policy.

Prior to founding Motivate Capital, Ms. Kim was Manager of Investment Analytics for New Forests, a global private equity firm managing sustainable real asset investments and funds.  Prior to New Forests, she was with Greenleaf Power, a renewable energy company concentrated in biomass, Credit Suisse, and Kensington Investment Group, where she focused on Real Estate Investment Trust ("REIT") securities as well as infrastructure and green building investment opportunities.  Before her career in finance, Ms. Kim worked for Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, an internationally recognized commercial real estate architecture firm.  She also has worked at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies as well as the Harvard Center for Urban Development Studies, where she supported infrastructure/development projects tackling issues ranging from public policy to sustainability, urban planning, capacity building, and finance.  In addition, she has worked as a Washington, DC-based staff member for both US Senator Dianne Feinstein and US Senator Bill Bradley.

Ms. Kim’s recent and present affiliations include the U.S. EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board, the Department of Energy C-PACE Working Group, the State of California Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation Advisory Council, and the Town of Tiburon’s Design Review Board.  Past affiliations include the San Francisco Treasure Island Citizens’ Advisory Board, overseeing a public private green community development project designated by the Clinton Climate Initiative as a model Climate Positive Project, and the San Francisco League of Conservation Voters, where she served as a board member.

Ms. Kim received her A.B. from Dartmouth College and her Dual Master in Public Policy and Urban Planning as well as her Master in Architecture from Harvard University.  She is a CFA charterholder as well as an FSA credential holder through SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board).