Cherith Harrison has over 30 years of financial services marketing, sales, and distribution experience, including eight years in the SRI field with The SRI Conference and Community, ImpactUs Marketplace and Calvert Investments, where she helped introduce the Calvert Green Bond Fund, the Calvert Emerging Markets Fund, and worked closely on the Calvert Global Water Fund.
Prior to entering the SRI field, she owned her own financial communications consultancy, and was the head of defined contribution marketing at Diversified Investment Advisors, and worked for Oppenheimer Funds, Dreyfus, and Merrill Lynch. She is the author of the book: Total Wealth Management, and her work has also appeared in More, Mergers & Acquisitions, Employee Benefit Review, Atlanta Woman, and other publications. She holds a B.A. in economics from Michigan State University.
Barbara Roper is director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization where she has been employed since 1986. A leading consumer spokesperson on investor protection issues, Roper has conducted numerous studies, testified before Congress, and supported federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives on a broad range of investor protection issues. A primary focus of her work has been strengthening protections that apply when investors rely on financial professionals for investment recommendations and advice. Roper is a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee, FINRA’s Investor Issues Group, and the CFP Board’s Public Policy Council. She is the 2019 recipient of the Fiduciary of the Year Award from the Committee for the Fiduciary Standard, 2018 recipient of an Investor Champion Award from the North American Securities Administrators Association, the 2017 recipient of the Frankel Fiduciary Prize, and was named as one of 40 Money Heroes by Money Magazine in 2012.
Joe Keefe is President and CEO of Pax World Funds (“Pax”) and President of its investment adviser, Impax Asset Management LLC, formerly Pax World Management LLC, as well as CEO of its majority-owned subsidiary, Pax Ellevate Management LLC.
Under Joe’s leadership, Pax has become one of the leading innovators in the rapidly growing field of sustainable investing. Prior to joining Pax, Joe was President of NewCircle Communications, a strategic consulting and communications firm specializing in corporate social responsibility and public policy-oriented communications. He served as Senior Adviser for Strategic Social Policy at Calvert Group from 2003-2005 and as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Citizens Advisers from 1997-2000. He is a former member of the Board of Directors (2000-2006) of US SIF, the trade association representing asset managers and investors engaged in sustainable investing throughout the United States.
Joe is a leading advocate for investing in women and the critical role that gender diversity plays in business success. He was one of the founders of the Thirty Percent Coalition and the first chair of its institutional investor committee, whose work has led to women joining over 100 previously non-diverse boards. He is Co-Chair of the Leadership Group for the Women’s Empowerment Principles, a joint program of the United Nations Global Compact and UN Women, and in 2014 was honored at the United Nations as one of five recipients of the Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Award. He also served on the Board of Directors of Women Thrive Alliance, a global network of over 300 member organizations working to achieve gender equality. Joe has been named by Ethisphere magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics” five times, was recognized in 2012 by Women’s eNews as one of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” (where he was the sole male honoree,) and in 2015, Financial Times named him one of its 10 “top feminist men” for his work helping women succeed in business and beyond. In 2016, Joe was named the University of New Hampshire’s “Social Innovator of the Year” and received the Global Leadership Award from the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire. He also serves on the board of New Hampshire Public Radio.
He is a former Democratic Nominee for United States Congress in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District and a former Chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party and member of the Democratic National Committee. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the College of the Holy Cross, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to entering the investment management industry, he was in private law practice for 16 years.
Geoffrey W. Whaling is Co-Founder and President of Hemp Development LLC, a wholly owned division of Canopy Growth Corporation and Strategic Advisor, CBD and Hemp to Canopy Growth USA, the world’s largest Hemp and Cannabis Company, with operations in 12 countries, based in Smith Falls Ontario Canada. In these roles, Geoff leads CGC’s expansion into the Hemp and CBD industry in the United States.
He has volunteered for five years to advance the hemp crop and serves as Chairman of the National Hemp Association, the nation’s largest Hemp advocacy group based in Washington D.C. Whaling has worked with more than 18 States, stakeholder groups such as NASDA, COGR, NFU, Farm Bureau and American Farm Association, US Senators, Members of Congress and their staff to pass federal legislation legalizing hemp as a commodity crop. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Farmers Union Pa Chapter, and Founding Board Member of the Coalition for Access Now and Athletes 4 Care, the two largest CBD advocacy groups in the United States.
Born in Canada, a duel citizen Geoff Whaling’s areas of expertise are wide ranging given the diversity of his government, business, entrepreneurial and philanthropic work. A profound sense of “wanting to serve” remains an integral part in his life.
Warrick Dunn is a former NFL running back and a three- time Pro Bowl selection, known for his success both on and off the field.
Dunn’s football career began at Florida State University. In 1997, Dunn was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played for the Bucs for five years before signing with the Atlanta Falcons in 2002. Six seasons later, in 2008, he re- turned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his final season.
After a 12-year career, Dunn retired and in 2009 was ap- proved by NFL owners to become a limited partner of the Atlanta Falcons.
Dunn is as well known for his philanthropic endeavors as he is for his success as a professional football player. Warrick Dunn Charities, established in 2002, improves lives through innovative programming inspired by Dunn’s life journey.
Warrick started Homes for the Holidays, a program of the Charities, in 1997 during his rookie year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The program is a tribute to his mother, Betty Smothers, a Baton Rouge police officer who as a single-mother of six worked tirelessly to achieve the Ameri- can dream of owning her own home. While working a second job as a security guard, she was killed in the line of duty and was never able to realize that dream.
To date, the program has rewarded over 172 single parents and over 465 dependents for achieving first-time homeownership nationwide, including in Atlanta, Georgia; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Baltimore, Maryland; Dallas, Texas; Topeka, Kansas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Jacksonville, Tampa and Tallahassee, Florida.
In 2013, Dunn graduated with his EMBA from Emory University and also was selected to join the first class of NFL Legends.
Sheryl Grant helps executives, entrepreneurs, and ambitious women achieve more! According to Sheryl, “Just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you have to look like it, feel like it or let it slow you down!” After winning the international Ms. Olympia fitness championship over the age of 50, Sheryl realized transforming her body began with transforming her mind. She since has developed and launched a proprietary program, F.I.T. for Business, that helps leaders get more out of business, career, and life: (F)aith helps you believe the right things, (I)ntuition helps you make the right decisions, and (T)enacity gives you the strength to keep improving.
Sheryl is the Founder and CEO of Sheryl Grant Enterprises, LLC, a company focused on transformation from the inside out through its three programs: Manage Up - which focuses on helping women advance their careers by transforming themselves, Kinect Dots - soon to be the Bay Area’s leading networking incubator launching in January 2019, and F.I.T. for Business which is launching a global tour that includes stops in Atlanta, Toronto, Charlotte, London, Kuwait, Philadelphia, Oakland, and Cairo in 2019.
Previously, Sheryl served as the Executive Director for The Global Women’s Leadership Network (GWLN), which has graduated over 300 women social entrepreneurs from over 30 countries and delivered Transformational Leadership Training Programs that focus on creating gender equality and economic empowerment for women and girls around the globe. Sheryl currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce.
Sheryl has also served as the President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., Oakland/Bay Area Chapter where she wrote the curriculum for the Positive Steps Girls Program (girls 12-17) which focuses on mentoring, and leadership development in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). In this leadership role she raised over a $500K to support the organization's advocacy work around women and girls which included Positive Steps, Sistah’s Getting Real About HIV/AIDS and Financial Literacy Awareness. These programs helped to promote and pass legislation to support the rights of women and girls nationwide.
Antonio Davis was born and raised in Oakland, CA, he attended Texas El Paso under the famed Don Haskins on a basketball scholarship.
Antonio played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 13 years in Toronto, Indiana, Chicago and New York. His best year in 2000 – 2001 season brought NBA All-Star honors. Throughout his playing career he was active in substantial roles in the NBA Players Association (NBPA), as the elected team representative, to a leadership role as the NBPA President.
Post NBA, Antonio continued his work within the National Basketball Players Association serving in several different capacities including Career Development counselor and currently, as the Director of the Off the Court program which assists transitioning athletes in their life after basketball.
Additionally, in 2010, Antonio started to explore broadcasting on NBATV and worked sparingly during the following 2 years. In 2012, he signed on to work for ESPN as an NBA Analyst until October of 2017.
Antonio is an active investor in real estate projects across Arizona, California, Colorado and Nevada as well as several private equity ventures from telecommunications to athletic apparel. He created Eminence Consulting to serve his Impact Investing initiatives in providing the underserved market with business creation assistance, management support, early-stage and seed funding, procurement and technology implementation.
Antonio recently partnered with Prevail Water Company as the CEO/President of their transportation and logistics arm. Through his transportation company, AI Transport, Inc., he will oversee the logistics of delivering bulk water, bottled water and all other products produced by Prevail Water to its target customer communities.
Born and raised in North Minneapolis, Devean George developed a strong drive to succeed at an early age. His parents worked two jobs to send their son to high school at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, and he pushed himself physically and mentally to become a college basketball player. Devean went on to become a standout at Augsburg College, and was named MIAC Most Valuable Player for two consecutive years (1997-98, 199899). In 1999, George made history and overcame enormous odds when he became the first-ever NCAA Division III basketball player selected in the first round of the NBA draft, by the Los Angeles Lakers.
In his first three seasons with the Lakers, the team won the NBA Championship. Throughout his 11-year NBA career, Devean played seven seasons with the Lakers, three with the Dallas Mavericks, and one with the Golden State Warriors. During his career in the NBA, Devean demonstrated his dedication to making a positive impact on children and families. In each city he lived, Devean became involved in programs serving inner city youth. It was during this time that Devean developed the vision for his own nonprofit, and in 2011 he founded Building Blocks with the mission of combatting generational poverty by creating high-quality and self-sustaining housing, business, and recreational opportunities.
Today, George’s post-NBA career combines this dedication to service with his passion for real estate. In 2009, he established George Group North, a company that specializes in both affordable and market-rate multi-family residential development, mixed use projects, and property redevelopment. He serves as the company’s President and C.E.O. and the President of Building Blocks. Past and current development projects include Marketplace & Main in Hopkins, featuring 63 apartments and 7 townhomes; Commons at Penn, a 47-unit mixed-use apartment complex in North Minneapolis; Penn Avenue Union, a 64-unit mixed-use apartment complex. And numerous single-family properties in the Twin Cities area.
Dr. Jeffrey Steiner is associate director of the Global Hemp Innovation Center at Oregon State University. He previously served as division director for plant production at the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture in Washington, DC. Jeff has broad experience in government and academic settings conducting and administering food and agriculture, natural resources, and bioenergy systems research. He was the NIFA technical lead for hemp, helped establish policies for hemp research at USDA, and served as the agency representative to the first nation-wide multi-state research project for industrial hemp. As a science expert, he has advised political appointees and government officials on food and agriculture production, and recently helped the USDA Office of the Chief Scientist organize the first department-wide symposium to update employees on the status of hemp science. Jeff is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America.
Ms. Burlock is the Lead ESG Strategist at Boston Advisors, an investment management firm in Boston, Massachusetts. As the firm’s resident specialist on ESG issues, she keeps the investment team up-to-date on industry trends and leads the development of Boston Advisors’ approach to responsible investing. She is also a fundamental analyst for the firm’s international equity strategies. Prior to working in the finance industry, Ms. Burlock worked as a medical interpreter, professional musician and United Methodist pastor. This diversity of experience gives her unique insight into the responsible investing space, complementing her investment experience and education. She earned a B.A. in Portuguese & Brazilian Studies and English Language & Literature from Smith College and a Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology. She holds her Series 65 FINRA license and is a Level II CFA Candidate.
Lauren Compere is a Managing Director and the Director of Shareowner Engagement at Boston Common Asset Management (www.bostoncommonasset.com), a majority-employee-owned and woman-led investment management firm specializing in U.S. and international responsible investing. Ms. Compere heads Boston Common's shareholder engagement program. She has worked in the responsible investment industry for almost 30 years and has 17 years of experience in global responsible investing. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences in the US, Europe, and Asia and a guest contributor to the Huffington Post and Medium.
Ms. Compere sits on the Governing Board of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and previously served as Treasurer. She also sits on the board of the Access to Nutrition Foundation (Netherlands). In addition she serves on the Steering Committee for the Investor Alliance for Human Rights (an ICCR project), the Business Ethics and Systemic Risk Committee for the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and was previously a board-alternate for the Global Network Initiative. Ms. Compere was Co-Chair of the Emerging Markets Disclosure Project (EMDP) and co-lead for the EMDP Korean team (2009-2012).
Since 2014 Ms. Compere has led a multi-year global investor engagement “Banking on a Low Carbon Future” which has benchmarked the performance of 60 banks on climate risk, strategy, and funding climate adaption and mitigation through the creation of new metrics, reports, and active engagement. Lastly she sits on the Strategy and Design Team of the Climate Safe Lending Network.
Ron Shapira, CFA, founded Mosaic Advisory Partners (“MAP”) to connect disparate insights, professionals and organizations in the growing legal cannabis industry. His firm is focused on Actionable Research to identify opportunities. MAP also seeks out Innovations across and outside the cannabis industry. And for companies seeking Alliances, MAP provides strategic introductions - acting as a “bridge” for traditional industries to leaders in cannabis/hemp.
He is a CFA charter-holder, former CPA, and has held senior roles at UBS, Merrill Lynch, Centurion Holdings and CMS Technology. This included working for the Chairman & CEO, and as Chief of Staff to the President & COO of UBS Wealth Management USA.
Ron was Chairman of the Private Wealth Management Committee at the New York Society of Security Analysts and a Board Member at the Association of Community Employment for the Homeless. He graduated early with honors from NYU’s Stern Undergraduate School of Business.
Sarah Greenberg is an Executive Director in MSCI’s ESG Client Coverage organization where she manages a team of relationship managers who support the asset management, wealth management, sell side and hedge fund segments across the East Coast. She also manages relationships with strategic asset and wealth management clients leveraging MSCI ESG Research for ESG integration, UNPRI implementation, and ESG product development. Sarah is responsible for educating market participants on ESG investment trends and portfolio implementation options. She serves as the lead ESG client coverage representative on MSCI’s ESG wealth management and retail strategy group.
Prior to her current role, Sarah was the Head of ESG Account Management at RiskMetrics, and the Manager of Business Development at Innovest. She holds a Master of Business Administration from New York University, Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the State University of New York at New Paltz.
Tim is a long-time innovator in new financial instruments in the social enterprise sector, which he now applies as the head of ImpactAssets, the $1 billion boutique donor advised fund and investment note offerer for impact investments. While previously at Calvert Foundation for 12 years, he conceived of and launched the donor advised fund. He was also instrumental in building the $250mm Community Investment Note with more than $1 billion invested into 300-plus nonprofits and for profits globally.
He co-founded and serves as Managing Partner for Good Capital that, in addition to its flagship Social Enterprise Expansion Fund LP, founded the 2,500-person annual Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) conferences in San Francisco and four Impact Hubs in the US; co-working, meeting and community space serving approximately 2,000 social innovators.
Tim is a sought-out industry speaker and regularly featured and quoted in media such as ThinkAdvisor and WealthManagement and has appeared on TheStreet and Forbes. He received a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. Tim and his wife, Julie, live in San Francisco with their sons, Milo and Gus.
Deborah Momsen-Hudson has worked at Self-Help Credit Union since 1995. Self-Help is a family of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that works to create ownership and economic opportunity for low-wealth families nationwide. Self-Help has many programs, including: environmental lending, home loans to immigrants and national advocacy on fair lending.
Deborah leads Self-Help’s national affordable lending program that works with lenders, large and small, to provide home loans to low-moderate income families and families of color. To date, more than $5.5 billion in financing has been provided to more than 50,000 families. The program provides information to Self-Help’s affiliated advocacy organization, Center for Responsible Lending, to prove the importance of home ownership. Deborah has served on Fannie Mae’s Regional Advisory Board for the Eastern US. She was on the Social Investment Forum (the predecessor to US SIF) Board. Deborah currently serves as Vice Chair of Green America’s Board of Directors.
Nicolai Lundy is the Director of Education and Partnerships. He helps asset owners, asset managers, and data and analytics firms that are using the SASB standards in their work. In his role, Nicolai oversees SASB’s research licensing, membership, and education programs as well as the annual SASB conference and the SASB Navigator research platform. He led the development of SASB’s credential program – the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA). He's been with SASB since 2013 and before that he had a variety of client management and operations roles in Norway and the U.S.
Alex serves as the Regional Director of Distribution of the East Coast Region. Previously, Alex was at the law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, where he worked with the public finance group on multifamily affordable housing. Alex holds a BA in Political Science from Boston College.
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Nicolai Lundy is the Director of Education and Partnerships. He helps asset owners, asset managers, and data and analytics firms that are using the SASB standards in their work. In his role, Nicolai oversees SASB’s research licensing, membership, and education programs as well as the annual SASB conference and the SASB Navigator research platform. He led the development of SASB’s credential program – the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA). He's been with SASB since 2013 and before that he had a variety of client management and operations roles in Norway and the U.S.
Michael Passoff is the founder and CEO of Proxy Impact, a shareholder advocacy and proxy voting service for sustainable, responsible, and impact investors. He currently leads shareholder engagement on board and workplace gender diversity and the gender pay gap for the Women’s Inclusion Project. He is also the founder and co-author of an annual Proxy Preview on social and environmental shareholder resolutions. The Proxy Preview was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “Bible for socially progressive foundations, religious groups, pension funds and other tax-exempt organizations.” Michael previously served as a Senior Program Director for As You Sow. Michael has led and participated in more than 400 shareholder dialogues and resolutions and achieved the first ever majority vote for an environmental or climate resolution. His shareholder advocacy work led him to be named as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics” by Ethisphere Magazine as well as receiving a Climate Change Business Journal award and several awards and nominations from the Business Ethics Network. Michael also consultants to foundations and nonprofits on grant making and campaign strategies on issues ranging from environment and energy to food safety and human rights.
An impact investor and strategist, Julia Enyart is an Officer on the Impact Investing team at Glenmede, an investment and wealth management firm with $40 billion AUM. She is responsible for strategic oversight of Glenmede’s sustainable and impact investing efforts, with a focus on public equities, shareholder engagement, and gender lens investing. Prior to joining Glenmede in 2018, Julia served as an investment associate for the Palladium Group’s impact investing team, through which she advised the International Finance Corporation on scalable business solutions for low-income countries. Previously, Julia also worked in international development for four years and spent two years as a management consultant. An emerging markets specialist and French speaker, she brings experience conducting in-market due diligence in over 15 developing countries across sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asia. Julia holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a Master’s of International Studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.
Guusje Bendeler is the CEO and Co-Founder at the branding and communications agency, thinkPARALLAX. Over the past 15 years at thinkPARALLAX, Guusje has been integral in the development and implementation of strategies for more effectively communicating a company’s corporate narrative, sustainability initiatives, and citizenship to key audiences. Her expertise in brand strategy, communications, and design has enabled her lead the charge and best serve clients including, Southwest Airlines, Qualcomm, International Paper, and Scotiabank.Prior to co-founding her own agency, Guusje created award-winning identities, campaigns, and reports for more than ten years at renowned branding agencies in The Netherlands and US, after graduating from the Royal Academy of Art in The Netherlands. Sharing her talent and love for design, Guusje also worked as an adjunct faculty member at San Diego State University teaching graphic design for six years.With a passion for using business as a force for good, Guusje genuinely loves applying her strategic thinking and European-inspired approach to design to help companies better amplify their impact.
Carrie Christopher brings over a dozen years of sustainability strategy, program development and reporting experience to her role as Director, Internal & External Sustainability Reporting at Newmont Goldcorp. Carrie is a member of the firm’s ESG Strategy Working Group and leads the company’s enterprise-level ESG investor ratings and rankings responses; non-financial materiality assessments; and global sustainability data collection, quality and external assurance efforts for the firm’s sustainability reporting practice. Ms. Christopher sits on the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Extractives & Minerals Processing Sector Advisory Group. Prior to her current role, Ms. Christopher founded and co-owned Concept Green, a women-owned certified B Corp that provided sustainability reporting and training from 2008-2016; served as Environmental Sustainability Coordinator for a publicly traded utility; and provided investor research and communications support for leading San Francisco private equity and institutional asset management firms. Ms. Christopher currently lives in Denver, Colorado and enjoys music, the arts, and the natural, rugged beauty of the region.
Nicholas Dunlap is a Senior Vice President at Irvine-based Avanath Capital Management. He is the Immediate Past President at the Apartment Association of Orange County and served as the Chair of the California Rental Housing Association's Legislative Committee for 2019. As a volunteer, he is also active in the community, including the city of Fullerton where he is candidate for City Council. He is a nationally published author and has written several books about commercial/residential real estate investments. A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Dunlap has more than 20 years of progressive real estate experience.
Theresa Gusman is chief investment officer of First Affirmative Financial Network and chair of the firm’s investment committee. Ms. Gusman is passionate about enabling the firm’s clients to achieve their dreams by reaching both their financial and impact objectives.
Prior to joining First Affirmative, she founded ENDURANCE LLC to build and enhance the power of capital markets to accelerate the flow of money and ideas to investments for both purpose and profit. Before this, Ms. Gusman held a series of leadership positions at Deutsche Bank including senior portfolio manager, global head of equities, head of U.S. equity research, and global head of commodities. For more than 17 years, she led Deutsche Bank’s global proxy voting committee, where she set the firm’s corporate assessment and engagement strategy.
Ms. Gusman is also the co-founder of the RelateID Foundation, has taught an MBA course on sustainable finance, and served on the SIFMA Securities Industry Institute board, the Financial Women's Association’s directorships and corporate governance committee, and Après Group’s advisory board.
Geoff has worked with Folio Financial on developing analytics for more than twelve years. Geoff has worked in finance for more twenty years, including a stint trading energy and weather derivatives. He has worked broadly in quantitative portfolio and risk management and has worked for major energy companies as well as a range of financial services firms. Geoff has written extensively on portfolio management and related topics. Prior to entering finance, Geoff was a research scientist in the Atmospheric Sciences Division of NASA's Langley Research Center. He holds a Ph.D. in Atmosheric Sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a B.S. in Physics from Georgia Tech.
Alex Gallimore is Vice President with ISS ESG, the responsible investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS).
Alex currently leads the US ESG Ratings Team, which conducts research for the ISS ESG corporate rating products. He previously worked with the Specialty Research Team to support ISS’ thematic proxy voting policies. Alex also conducted research and analysis of social and environmental shareholder proposals for the ISS US Benchmark Policy and was the lead US ESG proxy analyst for a number of years. Alex has over 20 years of experience with socially responsible investing and corporate sustainability issues, as well as experience working on related sustainability products and research.
Alex began his professional career with the Investor Responsibility Research Center’s (IRRC) Corporate Benchmarking Service and joined ISS when IRRC was acquired in 2005. He holds a MS from the University of Wyoming.
Michael runs the education programming at US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. He is responsible for their Fundamentals of Sustainable and Impact Investment online course and in-person training, creating educational materials for the US SIF Foundation, and creating new materials and programs that will help advance the field. To that end, US SIF partnered with the College for Financial Planning in 2018 to create the first professional designation for sustainable investment.
Before joining US SIF, Michael spent 16 years working in investment management, primarily with exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, and separately managed accounts. Michael earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Davis.
Victor Orozco is a Registered Representative with and securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment Advice offered through WCG Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Advisor. WCG Wealth Advisors and Bair Financial Planning are separate entities from LPL Financial.
Lisa Woll has been the CEO of US SIF and the US SIF Foundation since 2006. She is responsible for strategic planning, developing a robust policy presence, expansion and diversification of funding, launching the US SIF national conference and creating the Center for Sustainable Investment Education. Before US SIF, Woll was executive director of the International Women's Media Foundation, an organization focused on press freedom and expansion of women’s role in the media. She was the director of the first international study to look at the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and directed the Washington, DC office of Save the Children. She was a member of the Advisory Council of the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, the founder of Suited for Change, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization serving low income women, and was Board President of Women’s Voices for the Earth, a national environmental health organization based in Montana.
Aerica Banks is the Public Policy & Social Impact Manager for Pinterest. Previously, she served on the patent strategy team in Google’s DC office, where she monitored the legislative and legal patent landscape and integrated diversity and equity initiatives into Google’s legal and patent strategy. She was named a 2017 Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine and joined the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Entrepreneurs. She is a cofounder of BEACON: The DC Women Founders Initiative.
She has also served as Google DC’s black small business liaison, a political appointee in the Obama Administration, worked in government relations for The Pew Charitable Trusts, and advanced environmental justice policies in Washington state. She holds a MSc in Environmental Policy from Oxford University and a BA in Environmental Studies and Public Affairs from Seattle University.
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As President of the General Mills Natural & Organic Operating Unit, Carla Vernón leads financial and environmental stewardship strategy for the company’s $1 billion portfolio of Natural and Organic food brands, which include Annie’s, Cascadian Farm, Muir Glen, EPIC, and Immaculate Baking. Under Carla’s leadership, General Mills has become the second largest producer of branded organic foods in the U.S.
Known as a business and culture transformation specialist, Carla has restored growth and category leadership to a wide cross-section of billion-dollar businesses within General Mills including Cheerios, Yoplait and Nature Valley. Prior to her current role, Carla restored growth to the $1 billion Nature Valley brand (the world’s top selling granola bar brand) resulting in the highest level of unit sales in the brand’s history and drove unprecedented results on LÄRABAR, quadrupling growth in six months. Carla’s career with General Mills has also included time in the company’s Corporate Strategy and Mergers and Acquisition teams.
Outside of General Mills, Carla has served on the national Board of Directors for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Advisory Board for the Wisconsin School of Business’s Center for Brand and Product Management. Carla is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of The Alumni Society (for Latino senior leaders). Prior to joining General Mills, Carla worked for U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun and The Nature Conservancy. Carla received her Bachelor’s in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Texas, Austin (as a Consortium Fellow).
Carla can be found on social media at: @CarlaInspired on twitter and Instagram
Carla’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlainspired/
(AIF) designation from Fiduciary360 (fi360) which signifies knowledge of fiduciary responsibility and the ability to implement policies and procedures that meet a defined standard of care.
and a former Merrill Lynch Vice President. He was a two time finalist for PLANSPONSOR’s Retirement Plan Advisor of the Year and a 401(k) Leadership finalist for the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries.
, the first and only open-ended mutual fund target date offerings that are broadly ESG in the marketplace. Mr. Roach has over 17 years of investment industry experience and has spent the majority of his career in sales leadership roles. He served most recently as Head of Sales for Natixis Canada and previously as Sales Desk Manager at Natixis US headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Roach holds an undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Connecticut.
Jon Hixson is a Vice President, at Yum! Brands. Prior to assuming this role, he was an executive with Cargill for 12 years. Jon served in various roles in government relations, sustainability and communications including assignments living in Asia Pacific, and leading Corporate Affairs in Latin America and Cargill’s government relations team for North America.
Jon began his career on Capitol Hill in 1994. He spent nine years working for Congressional Members in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, including Senator Nancy Kassebaum, Senator Pat Roberts, and was Chief of Staff for Congressman Jerry Moran. Mr. Hixson began his professional career with ConAgra Flour Milling in Denver, Colorado and continues to maintain an active interest with his family farm in Kansas.
Jon has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Kansas State University and a Master’s in Business Administration from George Washington University in Washington, DC.
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Troy Murphy is a former NBA basketball player and founder of Sweven Wealth (Sweven), a unique Registered Investment Advisory firm serving high-net-worth individuals and families. Troy’s interest in becoming a financial advisor began while he was in the NBA and struggling—along with his fellow athletes—to find a financial advisor he could trust to help him manage his newly-acquired wealth. That interest led Troy to earn a degree in sociology from Columbia University and establish Sweven in 2019 after 12 seasons in the NBA. Sweven donates all of its profits to nonprofit organizations teaching financial literacy.
Gary is the CEO and Co-founder of Water.org and WaterEquity, nonprofit organizations dedicated to empowering people in the developing world to gain access to safe water and sanitation. (Water.org is the resulting organization of the July 2009 merger between WaterPartners, co-founded by Gary in 1990, and H2O Africa, co-founded by actor Matt Damon). Gary developed Water.org’s WaterCredit Initiative, creating new financing options for poor populations to meet their water supply and sanitation needs. Gary also developed and now leads WaterEquity, the first-ever impact investment manager dedicated to ending the global water crisis in our lifetime, with an exclusive focus on raising and deploying capital to water and sanitation businesses throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Over the past 25 years, Gary’s entrepreneurial vision has driven innovations in the way water and sanitation projects are delivered and financed, innovations that now serve as a model in the sector.
Gary is a leading advisor in the water and sanitation space, counseling organizations such as the Skoll Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and the Caterpillar Foundation on responses to the global water crisis. Gary is a founding board member of the Millennium Water Alliance and Water Advocates.
Gary was selected as a Skoll Foundation Social Entrepreneur in 2009 and a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur in 2012. In 2011, he was named to the TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people. In 2014 he was named to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water. In 2017, Gary was awarded the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
Gary’s educational credentials include three degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Missouri University of Science & Technology.
Amy is responsible for aligning Voya’s corporate responsibility (CR) with the company’s business objectives, integrating them into the brand, and disseminating them throughout the enterprise by developing and implementing Voya’s corporate responsibility strategy, methodology and policies. Amy’s background encompasses the corporate, public, non-profit and political sector, and a roster of select clients including General Electric (GE), PepsiCo, Deloitte, IBM, The Princeton Review, the New York State Department of Banking, the New York City Agency for Child Development, Benjamin for U.S. Senate, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Boys Choir of Harlem.
Amy is a member of the Junior Achievement of New York board of directors and holds the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights/Columbia University Sustainable Investing, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Kaplan EduNeering Sustainability Professional certifications. She earned both her bachelor’s and M.S. degrees from The Florida State University.
Jennifer leads the company's corporate responsibility strategy and disclosure, including the annual Corporate Responsibility Report and responses to the RobecoSAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment, CDP climate change and supply chain disclosures, and other stakeholder inquiries regarding CBRE’s environmental, social and governance practices. She advances CBRE’s corporate responsibility platform through stakeholder engagement and relationship management. Prior to joining CBRE, Jennifer managed corporate responsibility programs at Prologis for five years. Earlier in her career, she worked in sustainability consulting, marketing and management consulting.
Jennifer holds her MBA and MS in marketing from the University of Colorado Denver, and her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and a SASB FSA Credential holder. Jennifer was trained by Al Gore in 2017 as a Climate Reality Leader.
Jennifer chairs the Advisory Council for the Managing for Sustainability program at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. She serves as the Vice Chair of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Stakeholder Council, representing business enterprise while advising the GRI Board on strategic issues. Jennifer was named to the Denver Business Journal 40 Under 40 in 2014 and is a graduate of the Leadership Denver Class of 2015.
Jeff West is leads IBM’s global corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy, managing IBM’s annual Corporate Responsibility Report, engagement with socially responsible investor analysts and global sustainability reporting. He also leads the IBM working group on corporate responsibility, which involves stakeholders from IBM’s Corporate Citizenship, environment, governance, supply chain, public policy, human resources and research functions.
Prior to joining IBM, Jeff served as director of corporate philanthropy at the Council on Foundations where he led the organization’s corporate philanthropy portfolio. Jeff is an expert in developing public private partnerships and spent eight years at the Peace Corps, the last five as the agency’s lead on strategic partnerships with the private sector. During his tenure, Jeff designed and implemented the Peace Corps' first ever strategic partnerships with global corporations including Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, and IBM with programs spanning multiple countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Jeff also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine.
Dr. Schultz has 20 years of experience in climate and global change research, management, decision support, and communication. He analyzes the impacts of climate change on a broad array of sectors and helps clients prepare for the threats and opportunities presented by climate change. Dr. Schultz manages or contributes to projects on climate-resilient development, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), coastal energy impacts for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and climate risk screening for the World Bank (WB).
Dr. Schultz’s research has been in the fields of climate and carbon cycle modeling, the economics of climate change, and remote sensing of vegetation. He has led or contributed to the framing and development of dozens of global change assessments at the National Research Council, U.S. Global Change Research Program, and ICF.
Dr. Schultz has a Ph.D. and an M.S. in geosciences from Pennsylvania State University and a B.S. in geology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Dr. William W. Towns is a scholar, activist, and practitioner, dedicated to helping solve civic and urban issues at the structural level. He is the Executive Director of Benefit Chicago, a collaboration between The Chicago Community Trust, The MacArthur Foundation, and Calvert Impact Capital, mobilizing $100 million in impact investments targeting the social enterprise sector in the Chicago region.
He came to Benefit Chicago from the University of Chicago, where he was an Assistant Vice President and led the Office of Civic Engagement’s Anchor Strategy, which looked to understand how a university could support equitable economic change.
Dr. Towns serves on numerous boards and committees, within the housing, health care, banking and education sectors, including the Chicago Community Land Trust Board and the Advisory Council on Agriculture, Small Business and Labor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from impact investing, corporate social innovation, women in the workplace and civic engagement.
Dr. Towns is an Adjunct Lecturer of Social Impact at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He received a BA from Loyola University Chicago, an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D., from Benedictine University.
Nicole Torrico is program manager at the Intentional Endowments Network. Nicole manages working groups on key topics including student-managed investment funds, sustainable investing curriculum, clean energy, and gender lens investing; coordinates and curates educational content including the monthly webinar series, weekly news round-up and bi-monthly newsletter; and contributes to writing reports and researching topics related to SRI and ESG investing at college and university endowments.
Prior to IEN, held several pivotal roles at Green Mountain College’s sustainability office, including interim director of sustainability, where she supported the development and execution of campus-wide strategic sustainability initiatives. These included renewable energy procurement, waste diversion, student education, and sustainable investing through the endowment.
Nicole graduated Magna Cum Laude from Green Mountain College with a B.A. in Institutional Sustainability and Economic Policy, as well as a B.A. in Renewable Energy and Ecological Design.
Daniel has held the position of vice president and general counsel at TerraCycle, Inc. since June 2016 after having spent the previous six years as its vice president for global administration responsible for overseeing the company’s expansion into 20 foreign markets. Prior to joining TerraCycle, Inc., Daniel worked at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., studying monetary policy. He holds a BA in government from Cornell University and a JD from the University of Miami (FL) School of Law.
Marija Kramer is managing director of ISS ESG, the responsible investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. She leads the ISS-ethix business unit, which enables investors to develop and integrate responsible investing policies and practices, engage on responsible investment issues, and monitor portfolio company practices through in-depth research and screening solutions. Marija also heads ISS-climate, which provides data, analytics and advisory services to help financial market participants understand, measure, and act on climate-related risks across all asset classes. She is responsible for new ESG product development, working closely with industry constituents and partners to advance ESG solutions for the benefit of institutional investors.
A member of ISS’ Leadership Team, Marija has been instrumental in identifying and securing external growth opportunities, globally, for the ISS ESG business.
Before joining ISS in 2003, Marija was with Thomson, where she was responsible for the design and implementation of Thomson’s flagship investment management and banking portals. She holds an M.B.A. from American University’s Kogod School of Business.
Todd Kading has been serving retirement plan clients for over 20 years. He is the president and co-founder of LeafHouse Financial (“LeafHouse”), a national discretionary investment manager for retirement plans. LeafHouse partners with advisors in providing fiduciary investment services, and integrates technology and industry knowledge to provide a layer of protection to plan sponsors and advisors. The firm manages over $5 billion in retirement plan assets, and serves retirement plans that range from start-up to large institutions (both public and private clients) across the U.S.
Todd is one of the most credentialed and experienced advisors in the retirement fiduciary field in the country. He has become a sought-after national speaker and authority in the retirement plan arena. Todd has been interviewed by Fox Business News and spoken for numerous groups such the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Texas Association of Business, and over a dozen SHRM chapters.
Mr. Bernhardt is a noted expert in sustainable finance and is often quoted in financial industry press. In 2017, he was ranked as one of the “top 20 most influential individual consultants globally” in the Sustainable and Responsible Investing category by Independent Research in Responsible Investment.
At Mercer, Alex leads ESG integration exercises for the boards and investment committees of a range of institutional investors. Alex was a lead contributor to Mercer’s “Investing in a Time of Climate Change” research and has since (co)-led related consulting arrangements for North American institutional investors representing more than $800B of assets.
Prior to joining Mercer, Alex was a senior vice president at Guy Carpenter, another Marsh & McLennan operating company. Here he co-led the “Flood Insurance Risk Study”, an in-depth year-long project for the U.S. National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) focused on researching the global capacity for catastrophic flood reinsurance, options for flood insurance privatization in the U.S., and the NFIP's capital adequacy.
Mr. Bernhardt holds a BA from the University of Puget Sound, is a board member for Earth Economics and holds FINRA Series 7 and Series 63 licenses.
Steven Wallman is founder and CEO of, Folio Financial, Inc. (formerly FOLIOfn, Inc.), the parent company of The SRI Conference and Community, Folio Investing, Folio Institutional, First Affirmative, and VIA Folio. Together, these Folio brands deliver innovation that benefits investors and those who serve them.
In 2016, FOLIOfn, Inc. (now Folio Financial) acquired First Affirmative and The SRI Conference as part of the company’s ongoing mission to transform the way people invest for the better. Folio Financial’s commitment to SRI greatly widens the scope of possibilities for responsible investors with new technology, tools, and investment opportunities, including private impact investing. In 2017, Mr. Wallman established The SRI Conference and Community to help grow the SRI ecosystem even further, by including all those who have a stake in a healthy, safe, equitable, and prosperous future, and by providing a forum for year-round collaboration and communication.
Mr. Wallman is currently a member of the FINRA FinTech Committee and recently served on the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee, where he chaired the market structure subcommittee. Before founding Folio, Mr. Wallman was an SEC Commissioner from 1994 to 1997. His tenure there was characterized by advocacy on behalf of individual investors. Previously, he was a partner at the law firm of Covington & Burling. He holds his Juris Doctor degree from Columbia University, and two degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
George R. Gay CFP, AIF is chief executive officer of First Affirmative Financial Network and a member of the firm's investment committee.
Mr. Gay grew up on a family farm near what was then a heavily polluted Lake Erie. He recalls being admonished to “keep his head out of the water” when swimming to avoid getting sick. He credits that lasting memory as one of his inspirations for embarking on a career in SRI.
After graduating from West Point, and after handling the financial management of the “city part” of an army base for six years, he earned his Certified Financial Planner designation. Here his lifelong interest in environmental protection intersected with his passion for investing, and he became the portfolio manager of an environmentally-focused mutual fund in the early 1990s.
He has produced and hosted The SRI Conference since 1990, and has served on the board of directors of the Social Investment Forum for more than a dozen years. He was also the recipient of the industry's 1997 "SRI Service Award."
Mr. Gay is a 1974 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point; he served on active duty for nine years in various command, staff and faculty assignments as an Armor officer.
Danielle M. Burns is head of business development for CNote. Prior to CNote, Danielle was vice president of sales and marketing for First Affirmative Financial Network, LLC. Her background emphasizes technology training and practice management development for financial advisors.
Danielle began her financial services career in 1994 at the Wachovia Corporation where she worked for both Wachovia Bank and Wachovia Securities performing a variety of management duties over her nine-year tenure. Danielle serves on the board of Green America, a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1982, whose mission is to harness economic power to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Danielle is a certified trainer for Walking On the Glass Floor which promotes Diversity and Inclusion for Women in Leadership.
Danielle holds an MBA with an emphasis in marketing as well as the AIF designation.
Greg Vigrass is president of Folio Institutional. He joined the company in 2003, and oversees all corporate sales and business development activities with financial advisors, money managers, mutual fund companies and other financial institutions. He is a noted expert on digital advisory services, SRI industry perspectives, brokerage technology, and risk mitigation.
Mr. Vigrass previously served as vice president, sales and marketing for GlobeNet Capital Corp. Prior to that he worked for 10 years at Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., spending significant time in senior level institutional sales and service roles at Schwab Institutional. He holds a BA from the University of Hawaii, and has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry.
Amy Thacker is the chief operating officer for First Affirmative Financial Network, LLC. Sustainable, responsible, and impact investing connects two areas Ms. Thacker is passionate about: helping investors—regardless of economic status—achieve their retirement goals, and creating clean, sustainable, living conditions for all.
Prior to joining First Affirmative, Ms. Thacker was most recently a vice president with T. Rowe Price’s retirement plan services division where she was responsible for directing a successful strategic project team focused on transforming the division’s business model, recordkeeping platform, and ancillary applications.
Ms. Thacker holds the FINRA Series 7, 6 and 63 licenses, and is a certified Six Sigma yellow belt. She earned her master’s degree in organizational leadership from Regis University, and a B.S. in nutrition from the University of Northern Colorado.
Holly manages corporate engagement activities for First Affirmative Financial Network and directs the firm’s proxy voting policy and implementation. She was responsible for developing and launching the firm’s direct advocacy program in 2008 and has since engaged dozens of portfolio companies through dialogue and resolution filing on numerous environmental, social, and governance issues. Holly works with the firm’s advisors and their clients, providing advocacy education and engagement opportunities. Holly has been affiliated with First Affirmative for over 25 years in several capacities, including business development and as an Investment Advisory Representative.
Theresa Gusman is chief investment officer of First Affirmative Financial Network and chair of the firm’s investment committee. Ms. Gusman is passionate about enabling the firm’s clients to achieve their dreams by reaching both their financial and impact objectives.
Prior to joining First Affirmative, she founded ENDURANCE LLC to build and enhance the power of capital markets to accelerate the flow of money and ideas to investments for both purpose and profit. Before this, Ms. Gusman held a series of leadership positions at Deutsche Bank including senior portfolio manager, global head of equities, head of U.S. equity research, and global head of commodities. For more than 17 years, she led Deutsche Bank’s global proxy voting committee, where she set the firm’s corporate assessment and engagement strategy.
Ms. Gusman is also the co-founder of the RelateID Foundation, has taught an MBA course on sustainable finance, and served on the SIFMA Securities Industry Institute board, the Financial Women's Association’s directorships and corporate governance committee, and Après Group’s advisory board.
Srikant leads impact investing at Techstars, where he helps social entrepreneurs make a lasting impact on the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems. Earlier, Srikant was a VC-backed tech entrepreneur (KBkids/eToys and StorePerform, now JDA), a Bill & Melinda Gates foundation philanthropic investor, the founding president of Mount St. Mary’s University Online, Entrepreneur in Residence at two top VC funds (Softbank’s Mobius Ventures and Battery Ventures), a founding team member of MediaOne, and a consultant for McKinsey & Co.
Kate Gordon is a nationally recognized expert on the intersection of climate change, energy, and economic development. Gordon was appointed Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and Senior Advisor to the Governor on Climate by Governor Gavin Newsom on January 7, 2019. She has authored or co-authored numerous publications, including the Fourth National Climate Assessment's chapter on “Reducing Risks Through Adaptation Actions”. Prior to being appointed OPR Director, Gordon was a Senior Advisor at the Henry M. Paulson Institute, where she oversaw the “Risky Business Project,” focused on quantifying the economic impacts of climate change to the U.S. economy, and also provided strategic support to the Institute’s U.S.- China CEO Council for Sustainable Urbanization. She was also a nonresident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.
Earlier in her career Gordon served as Vice President for Climate and Energy at the Center for the Next Generation, Vice President of Energy and Environment at the Washington D.C.-based Center for American Progress, and Co-Executive Director at the national Apollo Alliance (now the Blue Green Alliance).
Gordon earned a J.D. and a masters in city and regional planning from the University of California-Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University.
John Anderson Lanier is Ray Anderson’s grandson and executive director the Foundation created by the Interface founder upon his death in 2011. He’s furthering the work of his pioneering grandfather by writing the rest of his story – literally and figuratively.Mid-Course Correction Revisited (Chelsea Green, May 2019) is a reissue of Ray’s 1998 book with an update on the company’s journey to sustainability, and new chapters by John that capture the lessons learned from the Interface journey and the implications for the next generation in business and industry. John currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Southface, the southeast's nonprofit leader in the promotion of sustainable homes, workplaces and communities through education, research, advocacy and technical assistance. Lanier was a member of the 2014 class of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership (IGEL). He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law, and he holds Bachelor of Arts Degrees in History and Economics from the University of Virginia. He is an Atlanta native married to Chantel, and the two of them have two children, Joseph Ray (J.R.) and Cecilia.
Daniel manages a $50MM private credit impact investment fund that invests in Habitat’s 1,200 affiliates across the country. Daniel has also led the effort to build Habitat Mortgage Solutions, a community development financial institution which provides mortgage origination services and access to the lending and broader capital markets.
Daniel has nearly 15 years of experience in financial service starting as an analyst at Bank of America in on the loan syndication desk. He went on to become a fixed-income research associate with the bank, focusing on the media and telecom sectors. He has also worked for the mission-based investment fund Local Initiatives Support Corporation, where he helped to manage the organization's portfolio and underwriting operations. Prior to his current role Daniel worked at a hedge fund that traded esoteric insurance risk at Lloyd’s of London.
Daniel sits on the board of The Grove Park Foundation and is an advisory board member of The Reinvestment Fund.
Originally from the South Side of Chicago, Patrick moved to Massachusetts at age 14, when he was awarded a scholarship to Milton Academy through the Boston-based organization A Better Chance. After Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he clerked for a federal appellate judge and then launched a career as an attorney and business executive, becoming partner at two Boston law firms and a senior executive at Texaco and Coca-Cola. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick to the nation’s top civil rights post, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In 2006, in his first bid for public office, he became Massachusetts’s first African-American governor. In his two terms as Governor, Patrick oversaw the expansion of affordable health care to more than 98 percent of state residents, launched initiatives stimulating clean energy and biotechnology, won a national Race to the Top grant, and steered the state out of recession to a 25-year high in employment. Patrick currently serves as a Managing Director of Bain Capital Double Impact, where he focuses on investments that deliver both a competitive financial return and significant positive social impact. He is a Rockefeller Fellow, a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and the author of two books, A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life and Faith in the Dream: A Call to the Nation to Reclaim American Values.
. In March 2011, Honest Tea was acquired by The Coca-Cola Company, becoming the first organic and Fair Trade brand in the world's largest beverage distribution system. Honest Tea and Honest Kids are sold in more than 150,000 stores in the USA and Europe, including McDonald’s, SUBWAY and Chick-fil-A. Beyond Meat is also rapidly expanding distribution, as the company seeks to expand the availability and accessibility of plant-based protein.
Alexandra McPherson, Principal, Niagara Share. Ms. McPherson has spent the last twenty years scaling environmental solutions through the development of new organizations, projects and partnerships. She co-leads the Collaborative for the Regenerative Economy (CoRE) with the University at Buffalo's Materials Design and Innovation Department and Clean Production Action (CPA). CoRE is investing in a new multi-million dollar material innovation, and clean production program for clean energy technologies. Ms McPherson manages the Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN), a membership-based investor collaborative, based at CPA. Through IEHN, she promotes market development of safer chemicals to enhance shareholder value, public health, and the environment. Prior to her work at Niagara Share, Ms. McPherson launched and co-founded Clean Production Action. There, she assembled a world-class team to deliver environmental tools and services to major corporations, governments and nonprofits worldwide, including Apple, Dell, HP, Kaiser Permanente, the European Union, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
for Safer Chemicals, a globally recognized chemical hazard assessment tool that governments, businesses, and NGOs use to identify chemicals of high concern to human health and the environment as well as safer chemicals. He is the co-founder of the Chemical Footprint Project, a unique initiative to score and benchmark corporations on their overall chemicals management performance. Since becoming Executive Director in 2015, Mark led the launch of GreenScreen Certified, a certification program for products that avoid chemicals of high concern and use safer chemicals, and the integration of the Investor Environmental Health Network into Clean Production Action.
Courteney Keatinge oversees Glass Lewis’ research and vote recommendations for shareholder proposals and covers research on major environmental and social issues in all major markets. Courteney plays a lead role in Glass Lewis’ partnerships with ESG data providers and specializes in issuer and stakeholder engagement, corporate governance and ESG analysis. She is also an active participant in Glass Lewis’ policy and product development. She has written reports for Glass Lewis including Greening the Green: Linking Executive Compensation to Sustainability and Mind the Gap: Board Gender Diversity. She has also contributed to a variety of papers with organizations including the UN PRI and Ceres on issues related to ESG and corporate governance. Before joining Glass Lewis, Courteney worked on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility issues at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association. She has also filled roles including social media manager and scribe and as a featured author in the Yearbook for the International Corporate Governance Network. Courteney holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in business administration, with a concentration in corporate social responsibility from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.
Guillermo Miranda is Vice President & Global Head of IBM Corporate Citizenship. In this role, he leads IBM’s Citizenship Sustainability and Reputation (CSR) and Social Impact initiatives. A global steward of technology, IBM harnesses leading edge talent and technology to change the world, improving education and health and community resilience.
Guillermo is driving the digital transformation of IBM's citizenship programs and initiatives to create the future. This transformation is expanding IBMers participation and engagement across the company. Guillermo is deeply engaged in using digital learning to transform the workforce for the future. He is passionate about the tangible benefits of diversity and inclusion.
Since 1997, Guillermo has served IBM in various leadership roles around the world, beginning in Peru and extending across Europe, Latin America, North America, Africa and the Middle East. He is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese. His previous leadership roles include IBM’s Chief Learning Officer, People & Talent Head for the Digital Business Group, Regional HR VP for Africa & Middle East, among others. He has also served as the Chief Human Resources Officer of the InterAmerican Development Bank and the Peruvian Tax Agency (SUNAT).
Guillermo is the founding Chair of the Digital Learning Consortium, serves on the Board of Directors of IPCOM Global LLC. and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Digital Marketing Institute. He holds an MBA from Deusto University (Spain), and a Law degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. He and his family live near Washington, D.C.
Sarah Grenon is Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Impax Asset Management LLC and Pax World Funds. She is responsible for the strategic development and oversight of all marketing functions for the management company and the funds. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, Sarah held senior positions in public relations, advising clients in the energy, finance, consumer and nonprofit sectors. Sarah graduated summa cum laude from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in communications. She holds a certificate in asset management from The Wharton School.
Institute and has built pioneering environmentally and socially responsible institutional retirement plans.
Jon Hale, Ph.D., CFA, is head of sustainable investing research for Morningstar. He directs the company’s research initiatives on sustainable investing, beginning with the launch of the Morningstar Sustainability Rating™️ for funds in 2016.
In 2018, Jon was named to Barron’s list of the 20 most influential people in ESG investing.
Before assuming this role in 2016, Hale was director of manager research, North America, for Morningstar, where he led approximately 60 manager research analysts based in North America and oversaw the team’s operations, thought leadership, and manager research coverage across asset classes.
Hale first joined Morningstar in 1995 as a mutual fund analyst and helped launch the institutional investment consulting business for Morningstar in 1998. He left the company in 1999 to work for Domini Social Investments, LLC before rejoining Morningstar as a senior investment consultant in 2001. He became managing consultant in 2009 and head of the Investment Advisory unit in 2014.
Hale holds a bachelor’s degree, with honors, from the University of Oklahoma and a doctorate in political science from Indiana University.
Investing Services, which offer individuals and financial professionals investment opportunities in the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) arena. Penelope is an accomplished financial services professional with 17 years of service on behalf of clients across the country. As the Director of Business Development, she successfully integrates both sides of the advisory experience, as a former vendor and a financial advisor.
Phil Glynn is president of Travois—a Certified B Corporation that provides capital and development services throughout Indian Country. Indian Country comprises American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Communities. Travois works with Native community leaders to build social infrastructure and increase energy access. Since 1995 we have worked with our clients to bring $1.4 billion of investment to affordable housing, infrastructure, health care, education, small business and other developments. Phil is a board member of the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition, Kansas City’s Northeast Community Center and chairs the MPA advisory council at the Henry Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). Phil holds an MPA from UMKC and a bachelor’s in English from Wake Forest University. He and his wife Elizabeth are raising three kids and a Golden Doodle in the heart of Kansas City.
Natalie is a climate adaptation specialist and science communicator, distilling technical information into actionable insights on climate risk and resilience across sectors. At Four Twenty Seven, Natalie manages communications and thought leadership initiatives, writing on climate change’s economic impacts, strategies for financial actors to assess and manage risk, and the interconnected nature of climate resilience. Previously, Natalie helped develop an assessment of U.S. cities’ vulnerabilities to climate change and their readiness to adapt, at the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN).
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