Brian Axelrad is chief investment officer at Beyond Capital Fund, a nonprofit social impact fund that invests in social enterprises in India and East Africa. At Beyond Capital, he oversees investment decision-making and advises on portfolio and overall fund strategy. At the same time, Brian is also a partner at Horwood Marcus & Berk Chartered (HMB), a Chicago-based law firm, and serves as a member of HMB’s firm-wide executive committee. He leads the HMB’s regionally recognized venture capital practice; is active in the firm’s private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and technology practice groups; leads its search fund (entrepreneurship through acquisition) subpractice; and helped launch its philanthropy and social impact practice.
Brian is deeply committed to developing the field of impact investing, both locally in Chicago, as well as abroad. From 2014 to 2018, he worked closely with the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business where he was appointed as its first impact investor in residence, a post he held from 2015 to 2018. He also taught a course on impact investing as an adjunct associate professor of entrepreneurship. Brian holds a BA in Economics and History from the University of Michigan, a JD from the Northwestern University School of Law and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.