OZ MAGAZINE 2022 Top 25 Influencers issue 2.2 | Page 43

TOP 25 POLICY INFLUENCERS
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HOWARD W . BUFFETT

PRESIDENT , GLOBAL IMPACT

Howard W . Buffett is the President of Global Impact LLC , an advisory firm utilizing a new data analytics technology called Impact Rate of Return ®. iRR ® enables organizations to measure , analyze , and report on societal impact of any kind , and is currently in use by dozens of Opportunity Zone investors across the U . S . Buffett is also a professor at Columbia University , is an author , and advises or is on the boards of Case New Holland Industrial , Toyota Motor North America , Inari Agriculture , REEF Technology , and S2G Ventures . He also chairs the Advisory Council for Harvard ’ s International Negotiation Program .

WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD BE CHANGED WITH THE OZ LEGISLATION TO FURTHER IMPROVE THE INDUSTRY ?
The practice of Opportunity Zone investing would be greatly improved if standards were established and mandated for the measurement , analysis , and reporting of community impact . Any such standards should allow for a measurement system that is easy enough to implement and rigorous enough to serve as a sound management practice , and we often recommend that OZ projects utilize the Impact Rate of Return approach . Such standards could have been applied to the selection and approval of OZs at the outset of the legislation , and could also be used to tie tax breaks to proven impact in the future .

ALFONSO COSTA JR .

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT , FALCONE GROUP

Alfonso Costa Jr . serves as Executive Vice President of the Falcone Group , where he is responsible for leading the company ’ s workforce housing division and publicprivate partnership opportunities . The Falcone Group is a real estate development and investment firm that has developed and acquired more than 20,000 multifamily apartments and 15 million square feet of commercial space throughout the country . Costa previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff & Opportunity Zones lead for the U . S . Department of Housing and Urban Development , where he was responsible for overseeing policy and held the title of Chairman ’ s delegate on the Federal Government ' s inter-agency Opportunity and Revitalization Council . He is a graduate of Harvard University ( JD ), the University of Oxford ( MSc ), and Yale University ( BA ).

WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD BE CHANGED WITH THE OZ LEGISLATION TO FURTHER IMPROVE THE INDUSTRY ?
Governors should be given the chance to increase their respective states ’ Opportunity Zone census tracts , but the eligibility for incremental or newly designated OZs should be circumscribed to low-income community tracts and areas that have been hardest-hit by COVID from an employment standpoint . Also , developers should be further motivated to create either workforce or affordable housing .
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