Brennan Lake
I help organizations succeed by creating positive social impact. Going beyond traditional Corporate Social Responsibility, I focus on leveraging existing core competencies, developing strategic partnerships, and tapping new markets in order to create value for society, while improving organizational performance and competitiveness.
I've led projects across six continents (one of these days, Antarctica!) and spent the first four years of my career living and working in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I've held the titles of Co-Founder (SaaS startup), Co-Director (International development NGO), MBA graduate (Cornell University), and I currently serve as Vice President of Research Partnerships & Data for Good at Cuebiq, a venture-backed big data company specializing in location data and analytics.
Outside of work, I serve on the Advisory Board of the World Bank's Development Data Partnership, and I've begun a new venture importing wine from Patagonia.
Why "notch" social impact?
Growing up in coastal New England, I have always marveled at the deep reverence that local lobsterers hold for the ocean and the sustenance it provides. When Lobsterers come across an egg-bearing lobster in their trap, they will cut a "V" shaped notch in the tail of the lobster before returning it to the wild. That way, if others catch the same lobster when it is not actively bearing eggs, they will know to return the lobster to the ocean, where it will lay hundreds of thousands of eggs over its lifetime.
In foregoing short-term gain, Lobsterers preserve biodiversity while also supporting sustained lobster stocks and long-term value creation for the industry, and their own livelihoods.
As I continue to implement new models for technology-enabled social impact in the private sector, I am always reminded of the elegant pragmatism of shared-value approaches, like the V-Notch practice.