Host Kevin Gallagher speaks with Executive Director Derek Denchla of Slow Money New York
Derek Denchla is an investor and social entrepreneur with a unique focus on environmental sustainability. As the founder and co-chair of NYC LION (NYC Local Investing Opportunities Network), Denchla and his investors concentrate on funding small, sustainable food and farm businesses in and around New York. He is an advocate for urban agriculture and impact investing.
Denchla serves on many boards that invest in environmental sustainability, including King of the Ghosts, a holding company for farm-to-table restaurants and farms, and Mouth Foods, an online store for local, small batch artisanal foods made in and around NYC. He is also the co-chair of Slow Money NYC, a non-profit chapter of Slow Money Alliance, whose motto is “Everyone is an investor in food.” Slow Money NYC’s goal is to build an elaborate network that focuses their investments into local, sustainable food businesses.
In 2010, Denchla also founded Farm City, an action-research project that enlisted artists, agrarians and food justice advocates to create events and activities that explore the social, cultural and economic possibilities for enhancing urban agriculture in NYC. From 2009 to 2010, Denckla also blogged for Thegreenest.net, a forum dedicated to business policy and solution for sustainability.
Denckla also has his hand in green real estate in a significant way. He was the founder and former principal of Propeller Group, a sustainable consulting firm with a focus on green real estate and economic development. He has taken many other active parts in community improvement and development as well. Denckla attended Columbia University as an undergraduate, and he received his law degree at Fordham.
