About

Louis Berger is co-founder and partner of Washington Square Capital Management, a NY-based independent investment advisory firm specializing in socially responsible investing. At WSQ Capital, Louis constructs and oversees customized investment portfolios for individual, institutional and corporate clients. Prior to co-founding WSQ Capital in 2009, Louis worked as a financial advisor in the wealth management division of UBS, the Swiss bank where he specialized in socially responsible investing. Prior to his position at UBS, Louis worked for several years in the film industry (in both New York and Los Angeles) covering acquisitions, development, international distribution and film financing for production companies and financiers housed at the following studios: Warner Brothers, Walt Disney Company, Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema. Louis holds a B.F.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and an M.F.A. from the New School. Louis grew up in East Hampton, NY and is a graduate of the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ. How did you first get involved in the green industry? When I switched careers from film to finance, I decided to focus on socially responsible investing. Social responsibility and environmental conservation are very important to me and I decided that if I was going to work in finance, I wanted to do something that would have a positive impact on the world. This was in 2006, when green investing was starting to transition from a fringe movement to something more mainstream. What interests you most about being green? I think living a green and eco-conscious lifestyle can be very empowering. Unfortunately, we live in a country where manmade climate change (despite all evidence to the contrary) is still up for debate and our elected officials haven’t done much to address it. Living a green lifestyle allows you to confront the issue head-on and, ideally, influence those around you to think about and change their own consumer habits. What is your biggest “green” pet peeve? When I see companies use greenwashing to capitalize on the green movement for financial gain without necessarily being interested in addressing climate change or meaningfully change their own environmental impact. What green trend is most exciting to you or your industry? The rise of green bonds and crowd-sourced clean-energy investments.