•
Problems We’re in the Business of Solving
Talks about Climate Change, Startup and Impact Investing
ZS
Zoe Schlag
Managing Partner at Common Trust
United States
Overview
Zoe Schlag is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Common Trust, specializing in Employee Ownership Trusts, Perpetual Purpose Trusts, and Mission-Aligned Exit Strategies. With a background in social entrepreneurship and impact investing, Zoe has served on boards, led organizations like UnLtd USA, and invested in companies like Omaiven Health and MDaaS Global.
Zoe's career highlights include founding UnLtd USA, serving as an Executive Fellow at Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, and playing key roles in organizations like Techstars and the World Economic Forum as a Global Shaper.
Work Experience
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
2022 - Current
Common Trust is an employee ownership buyout platform that enables small business owners to access liquidity by exiting to their employees. Working directly with selling owners, management teams and investors, Common Trust helps business owners design, finance and execute an employee ownership buyout using a customized purpose trust.
Common Trust is a platform for employee ownership buyouts that allows small business.
Raised $2,600,000.00 from FJ Labs.
Executive Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing
2024
Board Member
2020
Less stress, more joy. JUST is a nonprofit financial platform working to create generational wealth by investing in ambitious Texas women excluded from economic opportunity through capital, peer coaching & community. +$8M lent, 99.3% repayment rate, 800+ entrepreneurs served to date.
JUST Community is a financial platform.
Raised $1,726,589.00 from Truist Foundation and Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
Board Observer
2019
Building Africa's largest network of physical and virtual diagnostic and primary care facilities to provide convenient, high-quality, and affordable healthcare for the continent's next billion, MDaaS is the fastest growing network of diagnostic facilities in Nigeria.
Board Member
2021
Bringing science and technology education into the 21st century with an e-learning platform that combines online courses with hands-on projects. It’s education that’s fun, engaging and more effective than traditional teaching methods.
Entrepreneur in Residence
2020 - 2022
Designed and led Schmidt Futures' Shared Ownership investment strategy, including investments in the Childcare Access Real Estate Investment Trust, Trust Neighborhoods, the Dearfield Fund for Black Wealth, Folks Capital, Obran Cooperative, and others.
Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative, founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, that seeks to improve societal outcomes.
Board Member
2019 - 2020
A better background check for the 1 in 3 Americans living with a criminal history to unlock banking, employment, housing and educational opportunities.
R3 Score is a mobile responsive, collaborative application that enables governments to more efficiently enforce fair hiring legislation.
Raised $170,000.00 from Sum Ventures and Startup Mavericks.
Managing Director
2017 - 2019
Leading Techstars Impact, investing in for-profit, mission-driven founders building technologies to solve our most pressing social and environmental problems.
Techstars is an accelerator that provides pre-seed investment and mentoring for various early stage startups.
Raised $108,919,999.00 from SVB Financial Group and Foundry Group.
Founder & CEO
2014 - 2018
At UnLtd USA we back entrepreneurs tackling our most pressing social and environmental challenges. In 2017, UnLtd USA joined forces with Techstars to launch Techstars Impact.
UnLtd USA backs entrepreneurs tackling pressing social and environmental challenges with seed funding and ongoing venture support.
Global Shaper
2014 - 2017