Geeta Sankappanavar

Geeta Sankappanavar is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and community leader. She is the founder and CEO of Akira Impact, an essential assets investment firm that invests to support UN Sustainable Development Goals 5,6,7, and 12.

Sankappanavar began her career as a consultant with McKinsey and Company out of the New York Office and is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Prior to Akira, Sankappanavar was co-founder and president of Grafton Asset Management, a ~$1B energy investment firm based in Calgary Alberta. Prior to co-founding Grafton Asset Management, she was at New Vernon Capital, a $3B blue-chip asset management firm focused on India and the Emerging Markets. Her previous positions include Vice President, Head of Strategic Global Outsourcing for Cambridge Solutions, a leading cross-border financial services outsourcing firm in the US-Asia corridor, and founding partner at Marincorp Solutions and IRI.

Sankappanavar is recognized as an international thought leader, an unrelenting advocate for women’s equality and a committed philanthropist. She has been honoured as one of Canada’s “Top 100 Most Powerful Women” (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, Hall of Fame), Alberta’s “50 Most Influential People” and Calgary’s “Top 40 Under 40”.

Sankappanavar serves as the Chair of the Board of Governors for the University of Calgary, and a board member of UNICEF Canada, to help the world’s most vulnerable; AXIS Connects a non-profit organization focused on advancing women in Calgary; and the Palix Foundation supporting the Alberta Family Wellness initiative in the areas of early childhood development, addiction, and mental health. Sankappanavar also serves as a member of the Calgary Foundation Investment Committee.

In addition to her non-profit boards, Sankappanavar serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Green Impact Partners, Chair of the Board of Directors for Daytona Power Co., as well as serves on the Board of Directors of Northbase Finance. She has also served as a Board Member for OCIF — the city of Calgary’s $100 MM investment fund, attracting and supporting transformative investments as catalysts for economic growth and diversification and as a Director of Pipestone Energy Corp.