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How Syndicated Crowdfunding Can Be Leveraged for Direct Community Investment

In Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, as George Bailey tries to prevent a run on the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan, the audience receives a lesson in community banking and the economic multiplier effect. Customers deposit their...
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Kristen Fanarakis

Associate Director, Small Business, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Growth
Kristen Fanarakis leads the small business, entrepreneurship, and economic growth initiative within the Milken Institute’s Finance pillar. She focuses on macroeconomic and systemic trends affecting American small businesses and startups, and their implications for the economy and innovation.
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Fostering Productive Dialogue Is in Our DNA

In my travels around the world since the last Global Conference, I’ve seen the mood pendulum swing from tentative optimism to trepidation about what comes next. The geopolitical, economic, and emotional headwinds that confront each of us...
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Richard Ditizio

CEO, Milken Institute
Richard Ditizio is the Chief Executive Officer of the Milken Institute, responsible for all pillars and departments across the organization's global footprint. Under his leadership, the Institute expanded its staff and programmatic work to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.