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Banking for good with Climate First Bank Founder and Chairman, Ken LaRoe
Ken LaRoe is the Founder and Chairman of Climate First Bank, the fastest growing new bank in the United States.
With approximately 600 shareholders, Ken and his team have grown Climate First Bank in only three years to around $100 million in capital and over $750 million in loans. Specializing in (non-predatory) residential solar lending, especially to the middle class, Climate First Bank is also a leader in business lending to mission-driven businesses and regenerative land stewardship projects. Climate First Bank, named by Ken’s wife, Dr. Cindy LaRoe, is being positioned for an initial public offering (IPO) sometime in 2025 or 2026 in order to grow its capital base more quickly and further scale-up its impact in the environmental and social stewardship arenas.
Inspired by Yvonne Chouinard’s seminal book Let My People Go Surfing, Ken LaRoe is a change-maker in the impact finance space, and has established Climate First Bank as a Certified B-Corp, a 1% for the Planet member, a legal Public Benefits Corporation, a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, and a member in the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative.
According to Ken, “where you bank arguably has more impact on your carbon footprint than anything else you do.” A serial banking entrepreneur, Ken LaRoe has launched three banks, two of which he exited and one of which, Climate First Bank, he’s rapidly growing for maximum environmental and social benefit in the United States and Beyond. Founded a few years ago in Florida (and now scaling nation-wide after “graduating” its initial de novo period with the Federal regulators), Climate First Bank is the only Benefits Corporation bank in Florida, and is part of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values.
About Ken LaRoe
Ken LaRoe is an award-winning sustainability professional and internationally recognized leader in the field of ethical banking who has dedicated his life to environmental activism and building businesses.
After successfully launching, scaling and exiting two banks in Central Florida, LaRoe opened Climate First Bank, on June 1, 2021, the world’s first FDIC-insured digital community bank founded to combat the climate crisis. In just three years, Climate First Bank has grown to over $750M in assets, has provided access to solar power to more than 2,000 households, and has raised $79M in capital, making it one of the fastest growing banks in the United States.
Ken also personally lives out his bank’s mission of environmental sustainability. As a committed environmentalist, he served as the chairman of Preserve Lake, a political action committee that passed a bond referendum for $36 million to purchase public land. He later served the Lake County Commission as Chairman of the Public Lands Acquisition Advisory Committee and was a founding member of the North American Chapter of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV). He also served on the Board of Directors of the GABV from 2014 to 2016. In 2016 and again in 2024, LaRoe was honored with the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® award.
Resources & Related Episodes
- Facebook: @climatefirstbank
- Instagram: @climatefirstbank
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climate-first-bank/
- YouTube: @climatefirstbank
- Linked In: Ken LaRoe
- www.climatefirstbank.com
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