The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) on Monday announced that Lauren Cochran has been appointed as Vice President of Equity and Investment Funds.
“We are thrilled to welcome Lauren Cochran to this critical role at DFC,” said DFC Chief Operating Officer David Marchick. “Lauren is a strong leader with a proven track record, positioning herself to build and lead the DFC’s direct equity and fund investments including in the world’s most challenging markets. She will serve the agency well as DFC looks to expand our investment funds and equity programs.”
DFC said Ms. Cochran will provide executive leadership to DFC’s equity portfolio, building DFC’s strategy to commit private capital into both direct equity and fund investments in emerging market economies globally. She will help drive the agency’s efforts to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative, including the call for applications for climate-focused investment funds announced by the agency in April 2021.
Most recently, Ms. Cochran was Managing Director at Blue Haven Initiative, where she led strategy and execution for the family office’s portfolio of direct investments as well as sitting on the investment committee for Blue Haven’s multi-asset class fund portfolio. At Blue Haven, Ms. Cochran focused on investments with the dual expectation of best-in-class financial returns as well as maximum positive social and environmental impact. As part of this work, she spent much of her time in sub-Saharan Africa, sitting on the boards of several of Blue Haven’s portfolio companies, working with entrepreneurs, building the startup ecosystem while sourcing new investment opportunities.
Prior to joining Blue Haven, Ms. Cochran was one of the first employees at Imprint Capital supporting the growth of the impact investment firm until it was acquired by Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 2015. At Imprint, Ms. Cochran made investments across the developing world in for-profit businesses and funds seeking to improve standards of living, create economic opportunity, and better the environment while also generating a commercial financial return.
Ms. Cochran’s work in emerging- and frontier-markets dates back to her 2006-2007 tenure with the William J. Clinton Foundation’s Health Access Initiative which she joined after three years in private equity in New York. At the Clinton Foundation, Lauren supported the buildout of healthcare infrastructure on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa and working to fill gaps in the diagnosis, care and treatment of children living with HIV/AIDS. Encountering grassroots entrepreneurship in Africa inspired Ms. Cochran to pursue a career linking social impact and private equity.
Ms. Cochran holds a B.S. from Georgetown University, completed the General Course program at the London School of Economics, and earned her M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
