Derek Handley created the Aera Foundation first and then spun out Aera VC as the foundation's "first financial project," making his fund structurally rooted in a charitable studio focused on long-horizon societal questions like wisdom and polarization rather than just returns-driven climate investing. Before becoming an investor, he donated two years to co-found and serve as the first CEO of The B Team with Sir Richard Branson to shift business from profit-only to "people, planet and profit," and he maintains a distinctive life-design discipline of spending roughly half his week disconnected from email to preserve focus and reflection. Derek Handley created the Aera Foundation first and then spun out Aera VC as the foundation's "first financial project," making his fund structurally rooted in a charitable studio focused on long-horizon societal questions like wisdom and polarization rather than just returns-driven climate investing. Before becoming an investor, he donated two years to co-found and serve as the first CEO of The B Team with Sir Richard Branson to shift business from profit-only to "people, planet and profit," and he maintains a distinctive life-design discipline of spending roughly half his week disconnected from email to preserve focus and reflection.