Michael Kramer

After 10 years as a client, Michael joined Natural Investments as its third financial advisor in 2000. He was a Managing Partner of the firm from 2007-2023, at which time he became a Trust Steward and Manager. Known within the responsible investing community as a proponent of higher standards for the industry, he oversees the criteria of the firm’s 30-year-old Heart Rating of sustainable and responsible mutual funds, and he coordinates its shareholder activism and public policy activities. For over 10 years he has served on the Public Policy Committee of  US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing and is a former Vice-Chair of this trade association’s board of directors. Michael regularly engages corporate management, elected officials and federal agencies to adopt responsible practices, policies, laws, and regulations. He is co-author of the firm’s third book, The Resilient Investor: A Plan for Your Life, Not Just Your Money and coined the term “regenerative investing” in the 2008 edition of Worldwatch Institute’s “State of the World”.

At home, Michael helped pass legislation to establish a new corporate structure in Hawai`i, the Sustainable Business Corporation, and has been a board member of the West Hawai`i Community Kitchen, Sustain Hawai`i, and the Sustainability Association of Hawai`i. In 2005, Michael founded the Kuleana Green Business Program of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce and the West Hawai`i Fatherhood Initiative, and was a Governor-appointed commissioner at the Hawai`i State Commission of Fatherhood.

Michael earned a Master’s degree from Harvard University in 1990, after which he served as Executive Director of Permaculture Drylands Institute and taught permaculture for over 25 years, usually with co-Manager Christopher Peck. He also founded Youth Ecology Corps, a program dedicated to youth leadership, service, and sustainability, and helped spawn two others, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps and the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps Leadership Program. He was National Service Fellow during the Clinton Administration and has served on numerous commissions and boards over the decades that promote renewable energy, youth leadership, community service, and sustainability.