Three Questions With an Alum: Amar Nigam ’16

The alumni office recently checked in with Amar Nigam, Class of 2016, who brought us up to date on life since graduation, including launching an investment fund focused on social investing in emerging economies, Ringing the Bell for LGBTQ+ equality at several global exchanges in partnership with three UN agencies, and a myriad of memories from their time at Greenhills.

What was your experience at Greenhills like?

As a 6th grade survivor, I spent seven years at Greenhills. It was at GH where I made many lasting relationships that genuinely feel familial regardless of how often I see or speak to them again in the future, as well as mentorships that to this day I continue to cherish like the day I left. I was a closeted kid back then, which did hold its interpersonal struggles and brought out versions of me I’m still improving on. However, it is without question that my time at GH was one of the most formative experiences of my life, in many ways more than the cliche of college. The educational and intellectual space that the truly gifted teachers provided and the peer expectations around excelling pushed me (for better or worse) to aspire to be my best. I chose full course loads over free periods and was honored to participate in five state championships—three Multiple wins in forensics, one doubles win in tennis, and one team win in ethics—as well as many clubs and being student council VP. Of course, my hindsight recommendation now being that doing less or at least putting less pressure on success is the healthier option (a comment I heard and failed to listen to over and over again by my lovely teachers at GH).

Greenhills fueled my commitment to achieve interesting and important things beyond myself. I look up to so many individuals at Greenhills who molded me, tore me to bits, and healed me in distinct ways to become who I am today, including but not limited to (in no particular order of favoritism I promise): Dr. Williams, Mr. Allen, Ms. Seo, Dr. Randolph, Ms. Rocci, Mr. Monte-Santo, Mrs. Ebeling, Laoshi, Caroline and Gary, Mr. Friedlander, Mr. Zellers, Ms. Maher, Mr. Powers, and onward but there are too many teachers to thank!

How has your career in finance/banking evolved?

For several reasons in my child state of mind, I set an expectation to enter into investment banking around the 5th grade. In high school, I was drawn to several related topics to finance like economics, politics, and English/language. After graduating from U-M in 2020 with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics (focused on economic inequality) and business, I started out at Goldman Sachs, looking to make a difference through institutional investing, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) research, and community engagement work with the bank. In a few years, however, I realized that the childhood expectation was not going to fulfill me in the way I originally imagined – I wanted and needed to do more for people, and my interests, motivations, and understanding of the world had changed in a decade (go figure). Today I’m an economic inclusion strategist and a developing fund manager, with the goal of enhancing economic empowerment by moving capital towards people in international economies who don’t traditionally have substantial access due to historic and present marginalization factors (e.g. disability, migrant, and LGBTQ+ communities). Ultimately the goal is to build out a new lens of impact investing that considers systemic risks (and opportunities) attached to social exclusion. I’m calling it Liminal Lens Investing.

Can you share a couple recent personal/professional highlights?

Last year I partnered on a pilot international stock exchange initiative to “Ring The Bell for LGBTQ+ Equality” with three UN agencies and over a dozen stock exchanges worldwide. I personally rang the bell at the London Stock Exchange and two other major European exchanges. I also developed the first Inclusive Finance Forum, which took place last fall at Deutsche Bank in New York and brought together senior leaders from the Global North and South to start discussing the premise of LGBTQ+ economic empowerment in the current era. Some big names across finance, civil society, philanthropy, and more were in the room to consider how venture capital, policy, data, and more can create scaled outcomes globally. Personally, I’ve been enjoying getting back into various forms of art, fitness, and mindfulness (on a journey to what they—the vague they—call “adulting”)!

Koppa’s Amar Nigam Rings The Bell in London with Julia Hoggett, CEO, London Stock Exchange; Fabrizio Campelli, Head of the Corporate Bank and Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank; António Simões, CEO, Legal & General, and Juha Järvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic.