Impetus Trust brings on Goldman veteran

Venture philanthropy firm Impetus Trust, which focuses on growth potential in charities, has brought on former Goldman Sachs executive director Meredith Niles as an investment manager.

London-based Impetus, which was created in 2003, provides a packet of funding and expertise to the 11 charities in its portfolio, including Camfed International, Leap Confronting Conflict and St. Giles Trust. Niles will be responsible for researching and assessing investment opportunities, as well as helping scale up existing portfolio charities.

For the past seven years, Niles has managed mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs, and before that had done not-for-profit work for the Junior League of London. Impetus chief executive Daniela Soares said in a statement that Niles’ hiring would help the firm’s goal of doubling its portfolio size in the next four years.

The firm has most recently added Street League, which uses sports to engage socially excluded men and women to build their skills, to its portfolio and has invested $554,000 since 2004 in Cambridge-based charity Speaking Up.

Niles’ departure from Goldman Sachs comes more than two weeks after veteran Goldman banker Charlie Bott, who helped establish ties with private equity firms such as Apax Partners and Cinven, left the bank after 22 years to join buyout house BC Partners as co-head of investor relations.