Daryn Dodson

Lecturer in Management
Alumni Profile
Daryn Dodson

Bio

Daryn is a passionate advocate of social and economic justice, especially for disadvantaged and marginalized groups. His work with impact investors, private equity funds, Fortune 100 companies, universities and foundations has been viewed through the lens of addressing the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems.

Daryn is the Founder and Managing Director of Illumen Capital, an impact fund of funds that seeks to address gender and racial bias within the financial markets. Illumen Capital invests in the top growth, private equity, and venture impact funds, and then provides coaching and tools to fund managers designed to reduce implicit bias.

Daryn previously led the Special Equities Program as a consultant to the Board of the Calvert Funds, a $15 billion pioneer of the impact investing field. Through this vehicle, Calvert maintains a portfolio of more than 40 funds on five continents, representing over 350 underlying portfolio companies.

Prior to serving as a consultant to Calvert, Daryn served as Director of University and Corporate Partnership for The Idea Village, where he created a platform engaging leading private equity firms, business schools, and Fortune 500 companies to invest over 100,000 hours into more than 1,000 New Orleans entrepreneurs post-Hurricane Katrina.

Daryn is the co-author of published research that examines the influence of race in financial judgments of asset allocators, and currently serves on the board of Ben and Jerry’s, the CFA Institute’s Future of Finance Advisory Council, New Venture Fund, and is an investment committee member of Impact Assets.

He earned his MBA from Stanford, where he served on the Dean’s Management Board, and his AB from Duke University.

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Research Interests

  • Racial and Gender Bias
  • Asset Management
  • Impact Investing
  • Experiential Learning
  • Applied Learning
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Stanford GSB Affiliations

  • GSB Management Board Stanford GSB 2017–21
  • Alumnus Stanford GSB MBA ’07

Academic Degrees

  • MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2007
  • AB in Public Policy, Duke University, 2002

Awards and Honors

  • Impact Agent of Change Award, ImpactAlpha
  • Tapestry Award, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2016

Journal Articles

Race Influences Professional Investors’ Financial Judgments
Sarah Lyons-Padilla, Hazel Rose Markus, Ashby Monk, Sid Radhakrishna, Radhika Shah, Daryn Dodson, Jennifer Eberhardt
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
 August 2019 Vol. 116 Issue 35 Pages 17225–17230

Teaching Statement

Daryn is passionate about working with students to get below the surface of narratives and trends through applied learning, independent investigation, analysis of historical context, and learning frameworks. This is in order to advance impact business models and measurement to transform society and the world.
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Degree Courses

In the Media

School News

How Stanford GSB Alumni Are Helping an Appalachian Town Move Beyond Coal
April 05, 2019
Social entrepreneurs Daryn Dodson, MBA ’07, and Jenna Nicholas, MBA ’17, are building a more just, sustainable, and prosperous world — one community at a time.
Black Business Students Association, Alumni Celebrate Empowerment at Annual Gala
March 15, 2016
Annual gala unites student group and Black alumni chapter to celebrate diversity, impact of students and alumni.
  • Council on Institutional Investors, Race and Investor Bias: Reducing Bias Unlocking Returns

    Presented with Dr. Eberhardt key findings on peer reviewed study we authored published in PNAS on Racial Bias in investing. 

  • Keynote: Cambridge Associates Impact Summit: Addressing Racial and Gender Bias in Asset Management

    Speech to 100 + Cambridge clients and consultants.

  • Panel: RFK Human Rights w/ Sue Toigo, Treasurer Frerichs, Xavier Gutierrez

    Presentation to pension fund leaders on Illumen Capital & Stanford SPARQ research on Implicit Bias and interventions.

  • Fireside Chat: Kindling the Flame of Impact and Inclusion within Life and Career

    150 Berkeley-Haas MBAs and broader community.

  • The Power of Trustees: Addressing Hidden Biases in Impact Portfolios
  • Keynote: Seeing the Underestimated: Suboptimal Impact Investing Asset Allocation Related to Gender and Racial Bias

    Audience of 100 + Duke MBA students and undergraduates.

  • Keynote - Rand Corporation and Pardee Rand Graduate School
  • Nexus Global Presentation

    Intergenerational wealth transfer as a catalyst for justice.

  • Speaker: Implicit Bias in University Endowment Asset Allocation, and Resource Allocation

    Duke University Provost and President, TIAA Institute, and Council on Foundation, Durham, NC

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