NEW YORK, Jan. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Impact Capital Managers (ICM), the trade association of leading private capital impact funds, is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 Impact Awards: Daniel Pianko of Achieve Partners, Noelle Laing of Builders Vision, and Emma Sissman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Winners in each category – GP, LP, and Emerging Leader – were nominated by peers across ICM’s network of 150+ funds, then selected through an internal process led by ICM staff and Board.
Established in 2022, the annual Impact Awards honor excellence in market-rate private capital impact investing. The awards recognize individuals whose work advances superior financial performance alongside meaningful, measurable social or environmental impact, scaling impact investing with integrity in line with ICM’s mission. The awardees are exemplary of ICM’s thesis but go beyond impact and returns by making distinguished contributions to the impact investing field. The 2026 honorees will accept their awards and deliver keynote remarks at the ICM Impact Awards Gala, convening over 200 industry leaders, on February 5, 2026, in New York City.
ICM's Executive Director, Marieke Spence, spoke about this year’s awards winners, “I am thrilled to announce this year’s winners. Our GP award winner Daniel Pianko has been an effective and trusted champion of ICM and everything it stands for. He has been a valued mentor to many individuals in the ecosystem and a relentless advocate for crowding traditional capital into impact-driven strategies through competitive financial performance.”
Spence continued, “Our LP honoree Noelle Laing, at the helm of one of the most influential family offices, has built an extraordinary track record, anchoring and scaling many of today’s top funds. Finally, Emma Sissman as our Emerging Leader of the year, has consistently impressed colleagues with her intellectual rigor, nuanced understanding of impact management, and commitment to building the field for the benefit of all. Together, these investors have catalyzed extraordinary momentum. Many in the impact investing field stand on their shoulders.”
The 2026 Impact Award: Daniel Pianko, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Achieve Partners
Daniel Pianko is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Achieve Partners, a private investment firm focused on human capital, workforce development, and education. His work has helped position talent and workforce outcomes as a core investment thesis within private equity and growth-stage investing.
Beyond his investment work, Daniel has played a meaningful role in building the impact investing field. He was an early advocate for the creation of a dedicated community for impact investors, an effort that ultimately led to the formation of Impact Capital Managers where he served as a founding association Board member. He spearheaded and is the host of the rapidly growing Better Money, Better World podcast, where he speaks with impact investors at ICM member funds and other industry leaders from around the world, sharing hard-won lessons learned and real-life stories about driving market-leading returns while advancing sustainability and work with dignity. The podcast and newsletter together reach more than 10,000 subscribers and are available on major platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Across his career, Daniel has supported the next generation of impact investors through mentorship and hiring, including by welcoming ICM Mosaic Fellows into summer associate and subsequently full-time roles at Achieve Partners. He is widely recognized for bridging capital, strategy, and talent development in ways that strengthen both financial performance and long-term impact.
Reflecting on the recognition, Daniel Pianko said: “Being present at the creation of impact investing and helping Impact Capital Managers become a strong, thriving, member-led organization represents one of the highlights of my career. Every day, our work at Achieve Partners is proving out the thesis that it’s possible to generate industry-leading returns with a focus on impact. I’m humbled to be recognized by ICM and grateful for the work my partners and colleagues do every day to move the field forward.”
The 2026 LP Leader Award: Noelle Laing, Chief Investment Officer, Builders Vision
Noelle Laing is the Chief Investment Officer at Builders Vision, a team of investors and philanthropists harnessing innovative capital, from grantmaking to market-rate investments, to accelerate promising solutions in three sectors: food & agriculture, energy and oceans.
In her role as Chief Investment Officer, Noelle oversees a team of investors who are managing more than $15 billion across seven global, multi-asset portfolios that have delivered strong financial performance and advanced sustainable market opportunities. One of her key successes is guiding the Builders Vision Foundation’s $3 billion endowment to nearly 100% mission-aligned investments while ensuring the portfolio continues to meet its long-term return targets.
Noelle brings over two decades of investment experience. Across her career, she has helped demonstrate how investing can successfully drive innovation, generate competitive returns, influence markets, and support durable impact across a myriad of sectors, including food & agriculture, energy, and oceans. She is widely respected as an investment leader and enjoys engaging with other investors who align portfolios with impact goals.
On being named LP Leader, Noelle Laing shared: “I’m honored to be recognized by Impact Capital Managers alongside two other respected leaders in the space. ICM’s work brings investors together to demonstrate that impact and financial performance are both essential to building resilient, diversified portfolios. At Builders Vision, we see the transition to a more sustainable economy as a key driver of long-term growth. This recognition underscores our commitment to using our capital in ways that will catalyze markets, generate compelling returns, and drive positive outcomes. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with ICM, learning from other investors, and advancing the field.”
The 2026 Emerging Leader Award: Emma Sissman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Emma Sissman is a Vice President within Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Sustainable Investing Group. Emma works specifically on the Inclusive Growth investing effort with a focus on education & workforce development, healthcare, and financial inclusion. She is a recognized leader in impact investing with specific experience spanning portfolio value creation and impact measurement and management (IMM), working closely with management teams and peer investors to help companies scale and translate mission and impact into long-term business value.
Previously, Emma worked at SJF Ventures, joining as an analyst and ultimately serving as Director, Portfolio Acceleration. Her work bridged impact and commercial value creation, and while at SJF, Emma partnered closely with Dave Kirkpatrick, SJF co-founder and managing director, and other leading GPs – including fellow honoree Daniel Pianko – to lay the early groundwork for what later became Impact Capital Managers. Before joining SJF, Emma spent time in Community Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Emma has helped drive how rising talent enters and grows within the field, deeply involved in building programming and connections for impact investing professionals, and a trusted collaborator within the Impact Capital Managers community. She was a founding co-chair, along with Adrianna Alterman at Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund, of ICM’s Emerging Leaders Committee, focused on supporting investors below the partner level. In that role, she also stewarded the publication of ICM’s first report focused on professional development and career pathing in private capital impact investing, Paths to Partner: Empowering Emerging Leaders for Firm-Wide Success.
Emma Sissman noted: "It is an honor to receive this recognition alongside Daniel and Noelle. Being acknowledged by the industry is a powerful reminder of the role we each play in building a stronger impact investing ecosystem – one that promotes collaboration and cultivates emerging talent. With ICM serving as connective tissue, I’ve both witnessed and experienced introductory conversations turn into valuable relationships, and new ideas convert to real action focused on bettering opportunities for the next generation of impact investors. I am proud to join the ranks of this award’s previous recipients and look forward to continuing our work for the benefit of emerging leaders to come.”
About Impact Capital Managers: Impact Capital Managers is a network of private capital fund managers investing for superior financial returns and meaningful impact, with a mission to accelerate the performance of its members and to scale the private capital impact investing market with integrity and authenticity. Membership is by invitation only. Today, the network includes 150+ funds collectively representing more than $70 billion in impact-focused capital. ICM is a 501(c)(6) organization with an affiliated 501(c)(3), the ICM Institute. For more information, visit impactcapitalmanagers.com.
Press Contact: Garrett Jaso, Director, Communications & Policy, Impact Capital Managers gjaso@impactcapitalmanagers.com
There is no geographic focus for the ICM Impact Awards. For GPs and Emerging Leaders, individuals at all ICM member funds are eligible. Self-nomination is allowed. Nominations are anonymous; the ICM staff and Board conduct diligence on prospective winners and choose recipients from the nominee pool. To view previous recipients of the Impact Awards, please visit this link.
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