Jeff Shafer

 Links:

Co-Founder and CEO | CommonGood Capital

Bio:

Prior to co-founding CommonGood Capital, Jeff Shafer served as a Managing Partner and member of the Executive Team at TriLinc Global, a leading retail-focused impact investing fund sponsor.  At TriLinc, Jeff leveraged his relationships, experience and knowledge to help Broker Dealers, Registered Investment Advisors and family offices meet their clients’ financial goals while also connecting their investment capital with their values and passions through Impact Investing.

Before joining TriLinc, Jeff spent nearly 19 years at CNL,  a leading alternative investment asset manager that has formed or acquired companies with more than $34 billion in assets over its 44 year history.  At CNL, Jeff served in multiple senior leadership roles, and in the role of President, Jeff led the strategic direction for capital raising and product development within CNL’s growing multi-product platform for eight years.  During his time,  Jeff and his team raised nearly $9 billion in capital, including $1.5 billion in 2014 alone, which represented CNL’s highest single-year capital raise in the previous 10 years.

Jeff began his financial industry career at Van Kampen American Capital, a division of Morgan Stanley Group. 

Jeff graduated from Wheaton College with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Biblical Studies. He also received a Master of Business Administration from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College. In addition to his undergraduate and graduate degrees, Jeff holds the Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Financial Consultant designations, as well as FINRA Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 licenses.

Jeff serves on the board of overseers at the Crummer Graduate School of Business, the board of directors of The Geneva School and the advisory board of National Christian Foundation Orlando. He previously served on the board of directors for the Heart of Florida United Way.

Life:

Jeff and his wife of 20 years, Shelly, settled in Winter Park, Florida, where they love doing life together, whether around the dinner table, at the beach or traveling. When not with his wife and two teenage kids, Jeff enjoys reading non-fiction books, cycling, cheering on his beloved Oregon Ducks, and working on house projects.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR

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Stewardship Isn't Just About Money

Stewardship Isn’t Just About Money

Does this sound familiar? Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. But why don’t we do it? Probably many reasons, but fear of risk and loss of control often keep us from moving forward and taking the next right step.


Podcast Episode 37 - The Land of OZ with Jeff Shafer and Jerome Garciano

Podcast Episode 37 – The Land of OZ with Jeff Shafer and Jerome Garciano

Jeff Shafer and Jerome Garciano talk Opportunity Zones—what they are and why they matter for Faith Driven Investors.

Jerry Bowyer

 Links:

Author | Columnist and Regular Contributor at Forbes

Bio:

Jerry Bowyer is a Forbes contributor, contributing editor of AffluentInvestor.com, and Senior Fellow in Business Economics at The Center for Cultural Leadership. Jerry has compiled an impressive record as a leading thinker in finance and economics. He worked as an auditor and a tax consultant with Arthur Anderson, as Vice President of the Beechwood Company which is the family office associated with Federated Investors, and has consulted in various privatization efforts for Allegheny County, Pa.

He founded the influential economic think tank, the Allegheny Institute, and has lectured extensively at universities, businesses and civic groups. Jerry has been a member of three investment committees, among which is Benchmark Financial, Pittsburgh’s largest financial services firm. Jerry had been a regular commentator on Fox Business News and Fox News. He was formerly a CNBC Contributor, has guest-hosted The Kudlow Report, and has written for CNBC.com, National Review Online and The Wall Street Journal, as well as many other publications. He is the author of The Bush Boom and more recently The Free Market Capitalist’s Survival Guide, published by HarperCollins.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR

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Parable Of The Rich Fool: Was He A Farmer Or A Ruler?

Parable Of The Rich Fool: Was He A Farmer Or A Ruler?

I have heard many references in speeches and sermons to the Parable of the Rich Fool. Many of them were aimed at business people, probably most of them were aimed at middle-class to upper middle-class workers.


Herod's Philosophy Of Economics

Herod’s Philosophy Of Economics

One of the frequently overlooked little details of the Gospel is that when the wise men from the East announced that the birth of the Messiah, Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem was troubled with him.


Sermon On The Mount vs. Sermon On The Plain: Different Messages For Different Economies

Sermon On The Mount vs. Sermon On The Plain: Different Messages For Different Economies

As we have seen there were major differences between the Galilean political economy and that of Judea. This difference in economic base was partly due to providence as expressed in the geographical differences.


Jesus And Zacchaeus' Ill-Gotten Gains

Jesus And Zacchaeus’ Ill-Gotten Gains

In our ongoing series about Jesus’ model for economic engagement during His earthly ministry, we look next at the encounter with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector.


Podcast Episode 20 - The Danger of Hanging Your Best investing Ideas on Scripture with Jerry Bowyer

Podcast Episode 20 – The Danger of Hanging Your Best investing Ideas on Scripture with Jerry Bowyer

We’re so excited to share a conversation today that we think is long overdue. If you’ve been following the website, you’ve no doubt seen the name Jerry Bowyer as we’ve featured several of his blog posts (including “Jesus’ Terrible Financial Advice,” “How God’s Work is the Model for Your Work” and others)—all of which are must-reads.


Are Christians Allowed To Participate in a Pagan Economy?

Are Christians Allowed To Participate in a Pagan Economy?

I wrote several months ago about New Testament scholar (read here and here), Ben Witherington III, and his book, A Week in the Life of Corinth. What I find most fascinating about the book is the degree to which Christians were integrated into the economic life of the city.


What Does Jesus Teach About Investing?

What Does Jesus Teach About Investing?

The first thing Jesus says about investing is something which He doesn’t explicitly say, but implies: that is, that investment is permitted, and even good. This is implied by the fact that Jesus tells parables in which the investor is ‘the good guy’.


God in Economics

God in Economics

“Before we can even ask how things might go wrong, we must first explain how they could ever go right.”

These words from Friederich August Hayek, the Australian-born economist who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974, set us on our path.


Jesus vs. The Money Changers

Jesus vs. The Money Changers

The confrontation with the moneychangers has been used to enlist Jesus into an ideological war against finance. There are many examples, but probably the best known of them is FDR’s inaugural address in which he extensively referenced this text.


Yes, Even the Poor Can be Greedy by Jerry Bowyer

Yes, Even the Poor Can be Greedy by Jerry Bowyer

Our friend Jerry Bowyer recently interviewed Ron Blue and Karen Guess to discuss the relationship between greed and material wealth. While Western culture tends to view materialism as something that only wealthy people experience, Ron Blue’s trip to Africa pointed to the fact that it is more of a human problem than a social one. See what else they had to say in the full interview below.


Restoring Trust Through Trusts: Hobby Lobby CEO is a Steward not an Owner by Jerry Bowyer

Restoring Trust Through Trusts: Hobby Lobby CEO is a Steward not an Owner by Jerry Bowyer

Hobby Lobby founder David Green’s new book is both memoir and message. The message is that God owns everything, including David Green’s multi-billion dollar business. He applied that principle first in the form of personal generosity, eschewing the CEO lifestyle for one of high and growing philanthropy.


How God's Work is the Model for Your Work by Jerry Bowyer

How God’s Work is the Model for Your Work by Jerry Bowyer

We talked about the creation account in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. I spent 5 years in almost daily study of the Hebrew text of the early chapters of Genesis and then spent another year writing up that research into a 240 page thesis for which I was awarded the Sacred Licentiate in Theology degree (STL) by the Collegium Augustinianum. In other words, I’ve spent a lot of time on this: I’m not winging it.


Jesus' Terrible Financial Advice by Jerry Bowyer

Jesus’ Terrible Financial Advice by Jerry Bowyer

Jesus’ terrible financial advice is that you cannot serve two masters. If you serve money, then you cannot possibly be serving God. God and Mammon are incompatible poles around which to orient a life; therefore, a life serving money puts you at odds with God.


The Theology of Financial Accounting by Jerry Bowyer

The Theology of Financial Accounting by Jerry Bowyer

The first treatise on double-entry bookkeeping came from the mind and pen of Luca Pacioli. If you’ve ever wondered why there is a system of accounting software named after a Renaissance era mathematician, now you know.

Jewel Burks Solomon

Links: 

Managing Partner | Collab Capital

Jewel Burks Solomon is an advocate for representation and access in the technology industry. As co-founder of Partpic, a startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision, Jewel and her team built groundbreaking technology poised to change the way people everywhere locate products. Partpic raised over $2 million in seed funding from notable investors like AOL co-founder, Steve Case, and Comcast Ventures, and integrated its software into mobile apps/websites of large parts distributors and retailers. Partpic was acquired by Amazon in late 2016 and the technology now powers visual search for replacement parts in the Amazon Mobile Shopping app. 

Jewel is a proud board member at Goodie Nation and the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project, and spends much of her free time mentoring startup founders and angel investing. 

Jewel has been featured in notable publications such as Forbes, Wired, TechCrunch, Essence, Glamour, and Business Insider. Prior to founding Partpic, Jewel served in management, enterprise sales, and strategic diversity roles at McMaster-Carr Industrial Supply and Google, Inc. Jewel is a native of Nashville TN, and graduate of Howard University. She is a member of the 2019 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA with her husband, Zekarias.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR

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Episode 61 - Equitable Equity with Jewel Burks Solomon


Episode 61 – Equitable Equity with Jewel Burks Solomon


Jewel Burks Solomon, Head of Startups at Google, shares how Collab Capital is creating generational wealth for black founders and communities.


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Supporting the Whole Entrepreneur

Supporting the Whole Entrepreneur

Jewel Burks Solomon, managing partner at Collab Capital, shares about the power of community in supporting entrepreneurs both mentally/emotionally and in tangible ways in business.


The Mission of Collab Capital

The Mission of Collab Capital

Jewel Burks Solomon, managing partner at Collab Capital, shares about the power of community in supporting entrepreneurs both mentally/emotionally and in tangible ways in business.

Jim Anthony

 Links:

CEO and Principal | Colliers International in Raleigh

Bio:

Jim’s responsibilities include: company vision and strategy, client representation, business development and chief investment strategist. Prior to founding Anthony & Co. in 1987, Jim served as a consultant with the Grubb & Ellis Company in Los Angeles, California, from 1979 to 1983, winning the “Rookie of the Year” Award in 1980. In 1983, Jim moved to Raleigh to be Leasing and Management Director for Carolantic Realty. In 1998 he acquired Allenton Commercial in Durham, NC and merged it into Anthony & Co. Project offices were opened in Myrtle Beach, SC, Atlanta, GA, Niagara Falls, NY and Burlington, NC. The company headquarters is in Raleigh, NC.

Jim has one of the most diverse and distinguished commercial real estate track records in the Southeastern, US. For over 30 years he has worked with nearly every property type in ten states. His expertise is highly sought after by institutions, businesses, investors, developers and government.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR

Jimmy Song

Links: 

Bitcoin advocate, Developer and Author

Previously working as a software developer in a number of industries, Song joined Monetas, a crypto-finance software company, in 2014. After a one-year stint, Song joined Armory Technologies, an open-source bitcoin wallet management platform, to develop a bitcoin wallet intended for enterprise business. He then became the principal architect for Paxos, a New York-based financial institution and stablecoin issuer.

In January 2018 Song joined Blockchain Capital, a company focused on funding projects based on blockchain technology, as a bitcoin fellow. In 2019 he published “Programming Bitcoin,” a book that aims to teach readers the basics of bitcoin. In addition to his book, he runs a for-profit company, Programming Blockchain, that instructs students around the globe on different techniques to develop bitcoin.

In January 2019, Song began lecturing as a professor of two graduate-level courses at the University of Texas at Austin. He also began serving as an expert witness in certain events involving bitcoin.

Song is well known for arguing that blockchains have limited use cases. More specifically, he has argued that the blockchain’s sole use case is for “sound money” – which is how he characterizes bitcoin. He has been a vocal critic of permissioned blockchains, alternative cryptocurrencies and the argument that Ethereum will decentralize the internet.

Song has made several bets about the future of blockchain with Joseph Lubin, an Ethereum co-founder and the founder of ethereum venture studio ConsenSys.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR

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Episode 201 - Marks on the Markets: Beyond the Bubble: Why This Could Be Venture's Most Explosive Era Yet with Rob Go of NextView Ventures


Episode 201 – Marks on the Markets: Beyond the Bubble: Why This Could Be Venture’s Most Explosive Era Yet with Rob Go of NextView Ventures


The venture capital world can currently feel like chaos—founders are “quietly freaking out” about AI’s explosive impact while trapped in a brutal liquidity crisis that’s left investors without returns for years. Yet beneath the turmoil, top VCs believe we’re at the precipice of the most transformative technological revolution since the Industrial Revolution, with AI reshaping everything from software to hardware investing. In this raw conversation, three battle-tested investors reveal why they’re more bullish than ever on venture capital and how faith-driven founders are stepping up to shape AI’s future where social media let us down.



Episode 200 - Building More Than Returns: 200 Episodes In and Just Getting Started


Episode 200 – Building More Than Returns: 200 Episodes In and Just Getting Started


When investors start asking “What are we FOR instead of just what we’re against?” everything changes—from deal selection to due diligence to the very definition of success. In this 200th episode of Faith Driven Investor, Henry Kaestner, Luke Roush, and Richard Cunningham reflect back at where the movement started and where it is headed. What began with a handful of investors has grown into a global community spanning nearly 100 countries, yet with Christians controlling over half the world’s wealth, the opportunity ahead is staggering—and this milestone conversation exposes why we’re still in the “top of the second inning” of a fundamental shift in how capital gets deployed.



Episode 199 - The Good Investor with Robin John, CEO & Founder of Eventide Asset Management


Episode 199 – The Good Investor with Robin John, CEO & Founder of Eventide Asset Management


What if the biggest mutual funds in America force you to invest in companies that violate your deepest values? Robin John, CEO of Eventide Asset Management, refused to accept that trade-off and built a different path—one where capital flows toward companies that actually make the world better. In this raw conversation about his new book “The Good Investor,” discover why the question isn’t just what you won’t invest in, but what you should be rooting for every single day.



Episode 198 - Marks on the Markets: Credit Downgrades, Trade Wars, and the Magnificent Seven with Matt Monson of Sovereign's Capital


Episode 198 – Marks on the Markets: Credit Downgrades, Trade Wars, and the Magnificent Seven with Matt Monson of Sovereign’s Capital


With the US credit rating downgraded and tariffs reshaping global trade, markets are sending mixed signals about what comes next. Hosts Richard Cunningham and John Coleman welcome Matt Monson, Partner of Public Equity at Sovereign’s Capital, to break down why the Magnificent Seven’s dominance might be masking hidden risks in your portfolio and how massive AI investments from Middle Eastern partners could reshape America’s economic future. From the Federal Reserve’s impossible position to the real impact of trade uncertainty on Main Street businesses, this episode cuts through the noise to reveal what investors actually need to know.



Episode 197 - Nothing to Fear, Nothing to Hide: Brent Beshore's Viral Letter


Episode 197 – Nothing to Fear, Nothing to Hide: Brent Beshore’s Viral Letter


When Brent Beshore penned his annual letter reflecting on lives disassembling around him, he never expected it would resonate so deeply with business leaders and investors across the country. His invitation to step into “nothing to fear, nothing to hide” relationships offers a refreshing counterpoint to the isolation that often accompanies success in today’s achievement-oriented culture. Through his 30-year investment horizon at Permanent Equity, Beshore demonstrates how faith-informed patience might just produce better returns—both financially and humanly—than the standard “buy, lever, strip and flip” model.


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Don't Steal


Don’t Steal


I think at least in the fiat economy, I think we’re all guilty of stealing, whether we know it or not.



Are you for us or for our enemies?


Are you for us or for our enemies?




This Season with Rob West


This Season with Rob West


The love of money has the potential to be one of the most common things that will dethrone God from first position in our lives.



Sanctuary Providers


Sanctuary Providers


Exodus 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.



Gaze on God


Gaze on God


What God called us into and through in some difficult places. It took me a long time. I’m probably like you. I want to change the world where there’s brokenness. And Isaiah 61 is the call of God in my life when there’s brokenness and lack of hope and opportunity. I want to change the world.