2025 Summit Speakers

Ben Thornley is Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Tideline, where he leads the firm’s client-facing strategic and impact management advisory practice. Since Tideline’s inception in 2014, Ben has advised over 120 institutional asset owners and managers globally on the launch of new products and platforms that comprehensively integrate impact and sustainability into each stage of the investment process, from sourcing and screening, through to value creation and reporting. These investors have deployed over US$200 billion of impact capital.
Prior to Tideline, Ben directed the pioneering research and consulting practice at Pacific Community Ventures (PCV), evaluating the social and economic impact of targeted investments totalling over a billion dollars for clients including the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). Ben also created the Impact Investing Policy Collaborative at PCV, a network of researchers, investors and policymakers from over 30 countries, including Australia, leading to a White House invitation to make the first expert presentation to the Social Impact Investment Taskforce, convened under the UK’s G8 Presidency in 2013. Ben cultivated numerous research and convening partnerships at PCV, including with Harvard University, Duke University, the World Economic Forum, and the UK Cabinet Office.

Ben started his career as a financial journalist, working as the New York correspondent and Managing Editor for several publications covering Australia’s superannuation industry. He later moved into government, directing Australia’s efforts to promote trade and investment in financial services out of the New York Consulate-General.

Ben holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked as a teaching assistant in political economy to the former US Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich. He also holds a Bachelor of Communications from University of Technology, Sydney. Ben is the co-author of The Impact Investor: Lessons in Leadership and Strategy for Collaborative Capitalism (Jossey-Bass, 2015), and sits on the Mission Alignment Committee of Azolla Ventures, an early-stage investor in climate tech. Ben was born in New Zealand, raised in Australia, and now resides in Portland, Oregon.