SALT LAKE CITY – Former Senior Director of Partnerships at Village Capital Dustin Shay has been named Director of Impact Labs by the Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business.
Shay began his career catalyzing impact through strategic investments as a student fellow at the Sorenson Impact Center. At Village Capital, Shay developed key flagship initiatives and leading strategic partnerships with a wide range of corporate and foundation leaders. His work supported the organization’s mission to back entrepreneurs solving pressing social and environmental challenges.
“Dustin is an incredible example of the values, mission and very purpose of the Center,” said Sorenson Impact Center CEO Geoff Davis. “He took the lessons he learned here at the Center and has grown to become a recognized leader in the impact field. His passion, experience and focus on equitable access is exactly what we need to lead our new Impact Labs practice.“
Impact Labs is a new team at the Center designed to lead special projects that further the Center’s mission to develop the next generation of impact leaders. At the Center, Shay will contribute his inclusive approach and bring an expansive network to his role as the Director of Impact Labs.
“The Sorenson Impact Center has this emerging interest in the intersection of inclusive entrepreneurship and impact investing that is really near and dear to my heart,” said Shay. “The challenges the impact field seeks to address disproportionately impact communities of color, women, and rural communities. We can see early evidence that funds that focus on founders from these communities that are solving these problems are outperforming from an investment perspective. I want the next generation of impact leaders to intuitively understand this and be armed with the tools they need to support impactful, innovative, and investable ideas.”
Outside of the Center, Shay works to tear down social and economic barriers limiting diverse founders as a board member for the Black Innovation Alliance and for the Culture Shifting Foundation. Focusing his work through an inclusive, anti-racist lens, Shay hopes to foster a diverse and collaborative entrepreneurial ecosystem in the impact space.