Angeleno Group Taps Sustainable Forestry Pioneer Dr. David Brand as Operating Partner

Angeleno Group, the Los Angeles-based investment firm providing venture capital and growth equity to clean energy and climate solutions companies, has announced that Dr. David Brand, international leader in sustainable forestry and nature-based climate solutions investing, has joined the firm as an operating partner.

Dr. David Brand

Dr. Brand is the founder, former CEO and executive chair of New Forests, a globally renowned investment management firm that specializes in sustainable forestry, agriculture and conservation. He brings over 40 years of experience in forestry investment, forest management, science and public policy to the firm.

Dr. Brand joins Angeleno Group as an operating partner alongside other founders and CEOs of portfolio companies, all leading changemakers in the climate and clean tech sector, including Dominic Drenen, Mark Henderson and Steve Lockard. Dr. Brand’s work has been instrumental in demonstrating how private capital can be profitably mobilized at scale for nature-based solutions and the development of a circular bioeconomy.

Earlier this year, Angeleno Group also added new board members, including Sir Andrew Steer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Other members of Angeleno’s Board include former U.S. Secretary of Energy and MIT physicist Ernest Moniz, Nobel Laureate and Alphabet board member Frances Arnold and economist and former Dean of the Berkeley Haas School of Business Laura Tyson.

New Forests, which Dr. Brand founded in 2005, is a sustainable forestry investment manager offering strategies in forestry, agriculture and conservation. Under his leadership, New Forests grew from a small startup to one of the world’s largest forestry investment firms, managing over $8 billion in assets across Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Southeast Asia and Africa.

He most recently served as the inaugural Chair of the International Sustainable Forestry Coalition, an organization of 23 international forestry sector companies working to progress the transition to a nature- and climate-positive circular bioeconomy. Currently, Dr. Brand is a managing director of Arborcrest Investments, a company he founded, and is the director of the David Brand Foundation, which issues grants to organizations engaged in conservation and restoration of nature, social and community support programs, the arts and tertiary education in conservation and sustainable forestry finance.

“Dave Brand has long been recognized for his visionary leadership in making sustainable forestry an investable and profitable asset class for institutional investors. His advocacy for the essential role private capital plays in scaling nature-based sustainability solutions will be instrumental as we expand our portfolio of investments in the natural assets sector,” said Daniel Weiss, co-founder and managing partner of Angeleno Group. “We’ve had the great privilege of knowing and working with Dave Brand for over a decade. From our early days as an investor in New Forests through its successful exit, and now to have him join our firm as an Operating Partner, it feels like we have come full circle as we begin another chapter together pursuing opportunities in nature-positive investments.”

“I am looking forward to working with all of the talented investors at Angeleno Group, as well as the thought leaders on the Operating Partner team. The team has been at the forefront of climate finance for over twenty years, using the private sector to mobilize the capital needed to advance the energy transition and build vital, resilient communities throughout the world,” said Dr. Brand. “Natural assets, such as forestry, are essential components of the sustainability transition, and there’s a growing number of compelling investment opportunities that can deliver competitive financial returns and measurable societal and environmental impacts. It’s a propitious time for investors to recognize the link between financial performance and the health of the natural world.”

Information for this article was sourced from the Angeleno Group.