DURHAM, N.H. -- Joe Keefe, president and chief executive officer of Pax World Funds, has been named the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise 2016 Social Innovator of the Year.

Keefe will be honored at the 4^th Annual Social Venture Innovation Challenge Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, at UNH. The event will coincide with the final round of the challenge and will include a keynote dialogue with Deborah Merrill-Sands, dean of the Peter T. Paul College of Business & Economics, on “The Role of the Financial Markets in Achieving Gender Equality and Economic Growth.”

Following the signature dialogue, the winners of the 2016 Social Venture Innovation Challenge will be announced. Over $32,000 in prizes will be given to winners to fund their ideas. The event is free and open to the public but registration is required at unh.edu/svic.

The dialogue will touch on the role of public policy, the investment community, and business leaders in advancing gender equality, one of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Keefe and Merrill-Sands will discuss the substantial body of research showing that where women are empowered, economies perform better, and where women are better represented in corporate leadership, businesses perform better. A recent McKinsey study shows how advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to annual global growth.

“At Pax World, we’ve been working on gender diversity for some time,” said Keefe. “We know from our experience and our research that where there are more women in leadership positions, companies simply perform better.”

In addition to his leadership of Pax World, Keefe is co-chair of the Leadership Group for the Women’s Empowerment Principles, and the former chair of the board of Women Thrive Worldwide, a leading non-profit organization shaping U.S. international assistance and trade policy to help women in developing countries lift themselves out of poverty.

Keefe was named by the Financial Times in 2015 as one of the top 10 Feminist Men in the World, by Ethisphere magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics, and in 2014 he was honored at the United Nations as one of five recipients of the Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Award.

“We are thrilled to recognize Joe’s lifetime of work in the field of social innovation,” said Fiona Wilson, executive director of the Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise. “His voice has helped change the field to champion both sustainable investing and women’s empowerment, and his influence has been felt across the globe.”

The award recognizes a leader with a demonstrated commitment to social innovation, combining the passion and purpose of a social or environmental mission, with the rigor and accountability of a financially sustainable, scalable model for change. Past recipients have included Gary Hirshberg and Paul Bradley.

Under Keefe’s leadership, Pax World Management has become one of the leading sustainable investment firms, integrating Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) factors (including a gender lens) into the investment analysis and portfolio construction of all its funds based on the strong belief that companies with diverse leadership teams and better ESG performance can deliver lower risk and greater return.

In 2014, Pax World Management launched the first broad-market index of the highest-rated companies in the world in advancing women's leadership through gender diversity on their boards and senior leadership, now with over $100 million in assets.

Keefe received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the College of the Holy Cross, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

The Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise (CSIE) at UNH, a joint venture with the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics and the Carsey School of Public Policy, offers innovative pedagogy, applied research, and meaningful engagement opportunities for students and faculty from across UNH in “social innovation.” Social innovation is any strategy, concept, and idea aimed at solving social issues around the globe.