Derek Handley is a New York-based New Zealander and social entrepreneur. He is the founder of Aera, a charitable trust investing in causes and companies addressing social issues in imaginative ways.
Derek is the Chief Innovation Officer for New York-based company builder, Human Ventures; the current Social Innovator in Residence at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania; an Adjunct Executive Professor at AUT in Auckland and a founding General Partner in Aera VC, a community of investors backing for-profit, social-venture startups around the world.
He was formerly the Founding CEO of The B Team, co-founded with Sir Richard Branson as a global leadership collective advancing better ways of doing business for people and the planet. He has helped found multiple digital media and technology companies, was a former New Zealand Ernst & Young Young Entrepreneur of the Year and serves on the board of directors for Sky Television New Zealand and the Sustainability Advisory Panel of Air New Zealand.
He is an aspiring astronaut with Virgin Galactic.
