Sir Ronald Cohen

Sir Ronald Cohen is Chairman of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment and The Portland Trust.  He is a co-founder director of Social Finance UK (2007-11), Social Finance USA, and Social Finance Israel, and co-founder Chair of Bridges Fund Management and Big Society Capital. He was co-founder Chair of Bridges Ventures (2002-2012). For nearly two decades, Sir Ronald’s pioneering leadership in driving impact investment has catalyzed a number of global initiatives into being, each focused on driving private capital to serve social and environmental good. These efforts are leading the global impact investment movement, toward an Impact Revolution.

He chaired the Social Impact Investment Taskforce established under the UK’s presidency of the G8 (2013-2015), the Social Investment Task Force (2000-2010) and the Commission on Unclaimed Assets  (2005-2007). In 2012 he received the Rockefeller Foundation’s Innovation Award for innovation in social finance.

He co-founded and was Executive Chairman of Apax Partners Worldwide LLP (1972-2005). He was a founder director and Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association and a founder director of the European Venture Capital Association.

He is a graduate of Oxford University, where he was President of the Oxford Union. He is an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.  He has an MBA from Harvard Business School to which he was awarded a Henry Fellowship.

He is a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors at Harvard Business School and a Vice-Chairman of Ben Gurion University; a former director of the Harvard Management Company and the University of Oxford Investment Committee; a former member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers (2007-2013), former Trustee of the British Museum (2005-2012) and former trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (2005-2011).

In 2007, Sir Ronald published: The Second Bounce of the Ball – Turning Risk into Opportunity, and in 2020, he published IMPACT: Reshaping Capitalism to Drive Real Change.

Today, Sir Ronald lives in Tel Aviv, London, and New York with his wife of more than thirty years, Sharon Harel-Cohen, who is a film producer. His children, Tamara and Jonny, are involved in the impact field in the UK, the US, and Israel.