Partner Highlight: Big Path Capital
From Profit to Purpose:
Big Path Capital CEO Michael Whelchel on Redefining Capital
In 2007, Michael Whelchel left a successful career in private equity to co-found Big Path Capital, the first B Corp certified investment bank. His goal was simple but bold: prove that capital could generate strong financial returns while also creating positive social and environmental impact. Nearly two decades later, Michael has helped more than 100 mission driven companies and funds find values-aligned investors and built platforms like the Impact Capitalism Summit and the MO Summit to push the field forward.
As Premiums for the Planet works to unlock insurance as a lever for climate impact, Michael’s perspective is especially timely. He sees imagination, connection, and new expectations of capital as the keys to transforming finance — and insurance as part of the broader shift to align money with solutions. In this conversation, he shares why impact investing is a superior way to deploy capital and what keeps him hopeful about the road ahead.
Premiums for the Planet: Looking back to 2007, you left a successful career in private equity to launch Big Path Capital. What first showed you there was a better way to use capital?
Michael Whelchel: It was the summer of 1993 when I did a summer internship with Shorebank. Shorebank was one of the first triple bottom line banks in the US. They were for-profit and had a mission focused on social justice. It was the first time that I had seen purpose and profit intermingle in that way. By seeing that up close, I knew then that there was a better way to use capitalism.
PFP: You talk about the need to “raise the expectation of capital.” What does that mean in practice for investors who want to do more than just avoid harm?
MW: The majority of investors have one expectation of capital and that is to achieve a financial return. That is such a low bar, an even harmful bar when it is done in blind pursuit of the other negative environmental and social effects that capital has. If an investor just uses a little imagination and creativity and expectation, this opens up other benefits to a broader set of stakeholders. Just a simple question of ‘what would I like my capital to do’ can open up possibilities that were hidden before.
PFP: You created gatherings like the Impact Capitalism Summit and the MO Summit. Why are these events so important and how do they differ from a typical finance conference?
MW: Connections help all of us create the platform for our future. It’s norm-setting. The more we connect, the more we redefine what’s acceptable and what’s not. These events bring us together to help us connect in a broader way.
We started our events also because people and investors need to see examples of what is possible. We highlight those examples at our events, like the MO Summit and the Impact Capitalism Summit. We’ve inspired people to move their entire careers from traditional finance into impact work after seeing how you can create a broader set of returns for a broader group of stakeholders.
PFP: Premiums for the Planet is focused on unlocking insurance as a lever for impact. How do you see insurance fitting into the broader impact finance landscape?
MW: We have to rethink our relationship with capital and risk across the continuum. Premiums for the Planet is doing just that. You are reconfiguring and re-engineering how insurance can be a bigger and better force for good.
PFP: On a personal note, what keeps you most hopeful in this work and what advice would you give to leaders trying to align their capital with their values?
MW: Actually doing the work and seeing the work that others are doing is what makes me most hopeful. We are the majority. The majority wants a better world and knows we can do better than what is happening today. My main advice is to engage. And if you are unsettled during these times, that is a healthy response. Engagement is a good reaction.