Michael Brownrigg

Michael Brownrigg co-founded Total Impact Capital in 2010, one of the first impact-focused merchant banks in the United States. Alongside co-founders Arthur Wood, John Simon, and Derek Saleeby, the firm has directed close to $400 million since inception into clean water, healthcare, and regenerative agriculture projects around the world. Michael's role centers on structuring blended-finance vehicles and advising the leadership team on strategic growth.

His career began in public service: he spent roughly 13 years as a US diplomat in the Foreign Service, with postings in Hong Kong, Syria, and Washington, DC, including work at the Office of the US Trade Representative focused on trade negotiations. He then moved into private equity, spending about a decade (roughly 1997–2009) at ChinaVest — described as the oldest US private equity firm operating in China — where he rose to Managing Partner, sat on the Investment Committee, managed growth-company investments across logistics, manufacturing, consumer services, and IT, and led investor relations with the firm's US institutional limited partners.

In 2020, Michael co-founded Apis & Heritage Capital Partners, where he is Senior Managing Director overseeing opportunities in the Western US. Apis & Heritage runs an "employee-led buyout" (ELBO) strategy that converts lower-middle-market businesses owned by retiring founders into 100% employee-owned companies, with an explicit mission of closing the racial wealth gap in the US.

Michael holds a BA in Economics and German from Williams College. He is also a long-serving public official in his home community, elected to the Burlingame, California city council since 2009 and serving as Mayor (twice, including in 2023). He has chaired San Mateo County's affordable-housing finance agency (HEART) and the Zero Waste Group of the county's regional waste management agency.

• Invests in enterprises and funds that produce measurable social and environmental outcomes while remaining financially sound and capable of meaningful scale.
• Through Total Impact Capital, structures and backs impact vehicles across healthcare, regenerative agriculture, clean water/sanitation, clean energy, and financial inclusion — often via blended finance and fund-of-funds structures rather than single startups.
• Through Apis & Heritage, targets stable lower-middle-market businesses (with concentrated Black and Brown workforces) suitable for conversion to employee ownership — a wealth-building thesis rather than a high-growth-tech thesis.
• Personally acts as an angel investor and board advisor for mission-aligned health and impact companies (e.g., ConsejoSano).
• Values his diplomatic and cross-border PE experience: comfortable with emerging-market execution risk in Africa and Latin America where many purely commercial investors will not go.