SPEAKERS

Will Wilson

ESG Analyst, Apex Group

Will’s background is in Earth Sciences, specialising in climate sciences and oceanography. He has previously published peer-reviewed innovative research on contrasting metal uptake strategies in marine phytoplankton. At Apex, Will is focussed on ESG data collection, rating and reporting and product development. Most recently, he created Apex ESG’s Invest Check tool, which helps investment managers assess how they integrate ESG into the investment decision-making process and quantifies alignment to the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and also best-in-class ESG standards.   

Will Fox-Robinson

Director, UK & Ireland Institutional Business and & Head of LGPS, Natixis Investment Managers

Will Fox-Robinson joined Natixis Investment Managers in January 2011, is a Director of UK Institutional Business and Head of LGPS. Will is responsible for growing the UK business whilst developing the Natixis brand and its affiliate’s brands across the institutional market; the focus being on Pension Funds, Local Authority Schemes and large Financial Institutions. Will has 18 years of experience working in asset management. Prior to joining Natixis, Will worked for Fidelity with Sovereign Wealth funds, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management with UK Pension Funds and Local Authority Schemes: focused on investment solutions and strategies. Will graduated in 2001 with a BA in International Studies from Leeds University, in 2006 with an MA in International Conflict Studies from King’s College London and in 2019 with an MBA from CASS business school.  

Victoria Barron

Head of Sustainable Investment, BT Pension Scheme Management

Victoria joined BTPS as Head of Sustainable Investment June 2020. She leads the Scheme’s stewardship and sustainable investment strategy. Prior to joining BTPS, Victoria was a responsible investment analyst at Newton Investment Management. Before Newton, Victoria worked for Hermes Equity Ownership Services, the FTSE Group and CCLA Investment Management. She has previously sat on a number of investor-related advisory bodies including the Investment Association Climate Change Working Group, 30% Club Investor Group, UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association Analyst Committee, the QCA Corporate Governance Expert Group and the Science Based Targets Financial Institution Expert Advisory Group (SBTI). She has an Environmental Technology MSc from Imperial College and has also studied at Manchester University and Oxford Said Business School.

Sonia Gogna

Global Head of Client Solutions, Aberdeen Standard Investments

Sonia leads the Client Solutions business globally, with her teams in Pensions, Insurance, Wealth & Assisted CIO ensuring client engagement is highly tailored and the solution design harnesses the full breadth of the investment, technological & operational expertise. She has over 20 years of fund management and consulting experience, with a deep understanding of building customised investment solutions across UK, Europe, US & Asia for DB & DC pension funds, insurers, wealth platforms and other asset owners ranging from £50m to £25bn in assets. Sonia has previously held senior roles at Aon Investments and State Street Global Advisors specialising in fiduciary, multi-asset solutions, asset allocation, tail risk management and LDI.  She has an Executive MBA from London Business School, and two further degrees in Actuarial Mathematics and Economics. 

Sindhu Krishna

Head of Sustainable Investment, Phoenix Group

Sindhu Krishna is the head of Sustainable Investments team at the Phoenix Group, and her team is responsible for integrating ESG considerations within the investment portfolios of the Group. She has been part of the Group for over nine years having held various investment team roles and prior to that, she worked within investment teams at Zurich Insurance Group. Sindhu is a CFA charter holder and also holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Sébastien Thévoux-Chabuel

Head of ESG, Comgest

Sébastien Thévoux-Chabuel joined Comgest in 2013 and is an ESG Analyst and Portfolio Manager, responsible for the ESG coverage of developed markets including Europe and the USA. Starting his career as a buy-side Analyst at Deutsche Bank in 1998, Sébastien later became a Portfolio Manager at BFT Gestion before moving to Oddo Securities where he was initially a technology Analyst before assuming the role of Sustainable and Responsible Investment Analyst, a position he held for five years before joining Comgest. He graduated from the ESCP business school in Paris in 1997 before completing a post-graduate degree in Financial Engineering at the Sorbonne University.

Sarita Gosrani

Director, ESG Advisory, bfinance

Sarita Gosrani leads bfinance’s new ESG advisory unit and has more than a decade of experience in financial services, pensions and investments. Sarita was formerly Head of ESG Research at XPS Pensions Group where she led the firm’s approach to responsible investing and ESG research alongside supporting UK DB and DC pension schemes with the integration of ESG and climate change considerations into their investment strategies. Sarita holds a Bachelors degree with a double major in Economics and Human Geography from University of Toronto, Canada.

Sally Bridgeland

Chair and Non-Executive Director, Local Pensions Partnership Investments

Sally is an actuary with extensive experience in innovation and risk management across investment management and pensions. She was CEO of the BP Pension Scheme in 2007-14 after twenty years with Aon Hewitt working as a consultant and in investment research.  Her non-executive portfolio has included roles at the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, NEST Corporation and the Lloyds Bank pension schemes. External appointments: Chair at Impax Asset Management Group plc, non-executive director at insurers Royal London and Pension Insurance Corporation, and at Local Pensions Partnership (LPP) Limited, where she chairs its regulated investment company.  

Ryan Smith

Fund Manager, Artemis Investment Management

Alongside Craig Bonthron, Neil Goddin and Jonathan Parsons, Ryan is part of Artemis’ impact equities team and co-manages global equity funds focusing on positive impact, a field he has specialised in since 2000. Ryan joined Artemis in 2020 from Kames Capital, where he worked extensively on a range of ESG strategies, including the Kames Global Sustainable Equity Fund. Following an MSc and a BSc, in 2000 Ryan joined what was then Aegon Asset Management as a SRI (socially responsible investing) analyst. In 2002 he was promoted to be Kames’ Head of Corporate Governance & SRI; and then from 2015 Kames’ Head of ESG Re

Robert Adamczyk

Senior Environmental Advisor, EBRD

Robert is a senior ESG Advisor within the EBRD’s Environment and Sustainability Department (ESD). He is the sector co-ordinator for Power Projects and Heavy industry and focal point for ESG, PR 3 - including Best Available Techniques (BAT). As part of the Bank’s mandate, Robert is involved in project appraisals and due diligence. He has worked on the Bank’s financing of Sustainability Linked Bonds and Green Bonds in the region.   He is member of the EC Platform for Sustainable Finance on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD). For the past five years, Robert has been a juror for the Polish Foundation for Responsible Business in Poland and Green Frog/Deloitte in CEE in selecting best integrated and CSR/Sustainability annual disclosure reports from listed companies in the CEE."  

Rebecca Craddock-Taylor

Director of Sustainable Investment, Gresham House

Rebecca joined Gresham House in July 2020 in the newly created role of Director, Sustainable Investment. Previously, Rebecca worked as an ESG Strategist at Univest where she was responsible for setting a leading sustainability framework across Univest’s investment approach, as well as setting their sustainability objectives for the next five years. Prior to this, she worked at Hymans Robertson as an Investment Consultant and Responsible Investment (RI) adviser where she designed and developed their client RI proposition whilst working closely with a range of clients to enhance their approaches to RI and ESG.

Raphaël Lance

Head of Energy Transition Funds, Mirova

Raphaël joined Mirova (100% affiliate of Natixis IM) in 2009 as Managing Director of the renewable energy funds (Fideme , Eurofideme 2, Eurofideme3, Eurofideme4) with around 1.3 Bios€ assets under management, representing 200 projects across Europe, and 5GW of capacity. He is leading a team of close to 20 professionals Raphaël started his career at Crédit Lyonnais in the Project and Asset Finance division before joining General Electric where he has worked for 12 years. Raphael held several finance and M&A management positions in GE healthcare, GE Oil & Gas and GE Energy Financial Services.  Raphael holds a Master’s degree and a DESS in Finance from Paris IX Dauphine and the International Executive Program at INSEAD. He has an extensive international experience having lived in Vietnam, Hungary and Italy for a total of 10 years.

Paul Black

Trustee Director, Pi Pension Trustees and DC Investment Manager, Hargreaves Lansdown

Paul has many years experience in the design and implementation of default strategies for members of DC pension schemes.  Having previously worked at several major Employee Benefit Consultancies, he now combines two roles.  He is responsible for the design and monitoring of the investment solutions that are offered to Workplace clients at Hargreaves Lansdown, and also acts as a Professional Trustee to a number of trust-based DB and DC schemes through Pi Trustees.

Pádraig Floyd

Contributing Editor, Freelance Journalist

Pádraig is an award-winning business and financial journalist with more than two decades of experience of institutional pensions, investments and employment issues.   As a freelance, he contributes to many consumer and trade titles while working with a wide range of corporate clients on various media projects.   Between 2013 and 2017, he was a member nominated trustee of the Pearson Group Pension Plan.

Nikesh Patel

Independent Trustee,

Nikesh Patel is an independent trustee director and chair of the investment sub-committee for Smart Pensions, a leading DC mastertrust. He is also a director of the Church of England Pensions Board, which is responsible for the DB and DC pension schemes of the Church of England. Nikesh is also directly responsible for designing and developing the strategic and tactical asset allocation strategies for a number of UK pension schemes as their fiduciary manager with Kempen Capital Management. He is a Fellow of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary.

Nicholas Wheeler

Chairman of Trustees, Volvo Group UK Pension Schemes

Nick has many years of experience in professional trusteeship, concentrating in the main on the management and administration of schemes. During his career Nick has been actively involved in all areas of Defined Contribution pension provision. Among his appointments, he has been Chairman of the Trustees for the Volvo Group UK Retirement Plan since its inception. Nick is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences and the author of articles in the pensions technical press.

Neil Acres

Managing Director, Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs, MSCI

Neil is the Global Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs at MSCI. Neil and the team seek to anticipate and understand the impact of legislative and regulatory developments on MSCI and our clients. Through his engagement in global policy advocacy, Neil is constantly in search of opportunities to drive growth and innovation for a sustainable economy. Neil is based in London and joined MSCI from Moody’s where he initially served as a securitisation analyst before transitioning to head the global regulatory affairs function. Prior to this, he worked in various roles at the South African Reserve Bank and at the Financial Services Board. Neil holds an LLM cum laude from the University of Johannesburg, an LLB cum laude from the University of Pretoria and a BCom from the Rand Afrikaans University.

Michele Bellabarba

Investment Analysis and ESG Investing, Technical Specialist, Insurance Directorate, Prudential Regulation Authority, Bank of England

Michele leads the analysis of investments and investment strategies of UK regulated insurance firms; this also includes Prudent Person Principle reviews, corporate governance reviews, security analysis and Liquidity Risk Management reviews. Michele also leads the Directorate activity on ESG Investing. Prior to his current role, Michele started his career at JPMorgan where he worked for several years in the Investment Banking and Asset Management divisions. Michele has a longstanding experience on equity and equity strategies as well as on the alternative assets space, in particular Private Equity, Private Debt and Hedge Funds. He is a graduate in finance and holds an MBA from the London Business School and an MSc in Science from the London School of Economics. He is a recurrent visitor at the Centre for Graham and Dodd Value Investing at Columbia Business School.  

Michael Clarke

Director, CBC Pension Services and Professional Trustee, Capita Trust Company

Michael is the founder and owner of CBC Pension Services, an independent company specialising in providing professional trusteeship and secretariat roles since 2012. Since then, Michael has worked with a wide range of companies including FTSE 100, Master Trusts and SME’s.   Michael is a professional trustee with a particular interest in investment, administration and governance. trustee secretariat and providing trustee induction courses. In April 2020, Michael became the first Professional Pension Trustee to be accredited by the Pensions Management Institute. 

Matt Simms

Trustee Director and Chair of the Investment Implementation Committee, Hermes Group Pension

Matt is a Trustee Director of the Hermes Group Pension Scheme and a Principal in Mercer’s Investment Solutions business.   He has spent 15 years within the pensions and investment industry. His experience spans actuarial, asset management, investment consulting and fiduciary management. He has also been an Independent Trustee for UK DB pension schemes and a large DC Master Trust.    Matt studied Mathematics at Sheffield University, has a Masters in Finance from London Business School and was awarded the Sir Joseph Burn prize by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, where he is a Fellow. He was recently selected as one of Financial News European Asset Management Rising Stars.  

Mark Manning

Technical Specialist, Sustainable Finance and Stewardship, Financial Conduct Authority

Mark Manning leads the FCA’s policy work on sustainable finance and investor stewardship. In this role, he is responsible for several initiatives, including the FCA’s implementation of the TCFD’s recommendations and the FCA’s work with IOSCO on corporate reporting standards on sustainability. Prior to joining the FCA in 2018, Mark spent fifteen years as a central banker with the Bank of England (BoE) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). He held a number of senior roles, with a particular focus on policy, research and supervision in the field of financial market infrastructures (FMIs). Before joining the official sector, Mark spent several years as a fixed income and currency fund manager with Kleinwort Benson Investment Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Mark holds Master’s degrees in Economics and Finance, from University College London and London Business School, respectively

Mark Hedges

Trustee, Nationwide Pension Fund

Mark is CIO of the Nationwide Pension Fund with responsibility for the implementation of the investment strategy and the day to day management of a £6.8bn pool of assets.  The assets are  invested across a range of asset classes including: LDI, equities, credit, real estate, private equity, infrastructure and private debt.  

Maria Rapin

CEO, Nephila

Maria is CEO of Nephila Climate and a member of the Climate advisory board and firm ESG Committee. She is responsible for the strategy and overseeing the investment process for our climate strategies which aim to move scalable capital to support sustainable development. Before joining us in 2015, she was a portfolio manager at SCOR Alternative Investments in Paris, where she worked on insurance-linked investments. Maria began her career with Swiss Re capital markets team working on the structuring, distribution and trading of catastrophe bonds in New York and London, working with institutional investors in North America, Asia and Europe. She has a BBA in International Business/Information Systems from The George Washington University.

Maria Nazarova-Doyle

Head of Pension Investments, Scottish Widows

At Scottish Widows, Maria is responsible for defining the investment offering across workplace savings, individual and longstanding customer segments and for incorporating sustainability in the investment design. She has previously held senior DC investment roles at Mercer and JLT.  She is a spokesperson on investment matters, a regular contributor to DC industry events and a professional awards judge.

Maria Long

Research & Content Director, Standards Board for Alternative Investments

Maria Long joined the SBAI as Content and Research Director in August 2020 and is responsible for the SBAI’s Working Groups and Toolbox publications. Prior to joining the SBAI, she was an Operational Due Diligence Analyst at Man FRM (‘FRM’) a Fund of Hedge Fund and Managed Account Provider based in London. Prior to joining the Operational Due Diligence Team in 2015, Maria was the Head of FRM Middle Office. Her responsibilities included oversight of valuation production, expense payments, FX hedging and reconciliations. Prior to joining FRM in 2008, Maria worked for Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services in Dublin running the Fund of Hedge Fund Accounting Team and also held operational roles at Unigestion SA and Thames River Capital (UK) Limited, both hedge fund managers based in London.   Maria received first class honours for a BSc in Physical Sciences from the Open University in June 2017.

Marcus Hooper

Director of Business Applications, BNY Mellon

Marcus Hooper joined BNY Mellon Data and Analytics Solutions as Product Manager for the Data and Analytics team in January 2020. Marcus has worked in capital markets and broader financial services for over 30 years, and his expertise includes launching capital markets businesses, as well as managing and improving operational divisions of financial services firms.  Marcus has authored papers on financial markets behaviour and has contributed to a number of books and articles, including pieces for The Economist, Financial Times, and BBC Radio.  As a regular speaker at industry conferences, Marcus is a firm believer in improving the public’s knowledge and understanding of capital markets.  Marcus is honoured to have lectured at executive MBA programs in the UK and US and was a nominated speaker for the US Association of Investment Management and Research regulatory education program.

Manuel Coeslier

Portfolio Manager and SRI Analyst, Mirova

Luis Torres-Farrell

Responsible Investment , Redington

My responsibility revolves around designing and building our responsible investment reporting function at Redington. Our purpose is to help large asset owners measure, monitor and manage climate risk, in order to meet climate-related regulations as well as aid in the transition towards a carbon-free economy. My work builds upon 3 years of experience in fund manager monitoring and investment commentary writing for institutional clients as well as climate finance study and working on ad hoc Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) projects.

Lucy Acton

Associate Director and Senior ESG Analyst, HSBC Global Research

Lucy Acton joined the ESG team in June 2017. She started working for HSBC as part of the Global Research Graduate Programme in July 2016, spending nine months on the Pharmaceuticals team. Before taking up her graduate role, she had spent a year working with the Global and the UK Economic Research teams. Lucy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Bath and is a CFA charterholder.  

Lindsey Matthews

Chief Risk Officer, Universities Superannuation Scheme

Lindsey Matthews CFA CIPM is the Chief Risk Officer of Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and its investment manager (USSIM).  It is the largest pension scheme in the UK by assets and recently announced its ambition to be Net Zero for carbon by 2050, if not before.  He was previously at UBS for 28 years, latterly as the Chief Risk Officer of UBS Asset Management UK.   At USS he oversees the investment risk and performance of the investment management business, the enterprise, operational and information security risk teams and the in-house actuaries.    He is also the Chair of the CFA UK Exams and Education Committee overseeing the development of the Certificate in ESG Investing.

Kroum Sourov

Lead ESG Analyst – Sovereign Sustainability, Candriam

Kroum Sourov joined Candriam as Lead Sovereign ESG Analyst in 2018. Most recently, he was the Director of Sustainable Investment Management at a sustainable investments startup. His previous roles include a global macro portfolio manager at Mako Global, a Director of foreign exchange market strategy at UBS, an Assistant Vice President in the Strategic Transactions Group of Barclays Capital, and a bond trader at Goldman Sachs.   Kroum holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs with a specialization in Environment, Resources and Sustainability from The Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland; a Master of Finance from the University of Cambridge, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Colgate University, United States.

Kirsty Green-Mann

Member Nominated Trustee, Imperial Tobacco Pension Fund and Head of Corporate Responsibility, Burges Salmon

Kirsty Green-Mann is a senior CR & Sustainability professional currently Head of Corporate Responsibility at the independent commercial UK law firm Burges Salmon LLP. Kirsty leads on responsible business strategy including ESG reporting, social impact, human rights and Net Zero.    Kirsty was previously Group Head of CR at Imperial Brands PLC undertaking investor dialogue across a range of ESG issues. Kirsty is a Trustee of the Imperial Tobacco Pension Fund, holds a MBA from the Cranfield School of Management and is a Fellow of both the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability.

Kirill Savrassov

Chief Executive Officer, Phoenix CRetro

Seasoned (re-) insurance industry professional & company executive with extensive connections in Central, Eastern, Southern Europe, London, Bermuda & the United States. Since 2013 leading Phoenix CRetro as specialist company dealing with all aspects of Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) and focusing on ILS solutions and opportunities in the ECIS region. Speaker at international events with particular speciality to Catastrophic Bonds, Insurance-Linked Securities and Alternative risk transfer. Particular interests comprise: ILS, Sovereign Disaster Risk Transfer, ECIS insurance market development, Parametric solutions in catastrophe reinsurance and Risk transfer to private capital markets, Chinese Belt & Road Initiative and its critical infrastructure protection solutions.

Katie Zolnierz

Environmental, Social, Governance Analyst, DSAM Partners

Katie Zolnierz joined DSAM Partners, an equity long short hedge fund, in March 2021, responsible for ESG strategy.   Prior to joining DSAM, Katie served as a Vice President at Brown Brothers Harriman, the oldest private bank in the U.S.   In her 14 years at Brown Brothers Harriman, Katie held various risk and operations roles, including oversight of the firm’s securities lending programme and institutional proxy team.  Katie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology & Communications (summa cum laude) from Boston College, College of Arts & Sciences, and a Master of Business Administration (with distinction) from Boston College, Carroll School of Management.   Katie is working towards the CFA UK Certificate in ESG Investing. 

Julia Manning

Associate Director, Senior Environmental Advisor, EBRD

Julia Manning is a Senior Environmental and Social Advisor with over 15 years of experience in development projects and policy advisory, environmental and social impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation of infrastructure projects with focus on transport, municipal, energy and mining sectors. Julia is the EBRD’s lead on Blue Economy responsible for policy dialogue and identification of opportunities in Sustainable Blue Economy. She is an active member of the UNP FI BEFP working group. Julia is also technical lead on ports and maritime at EBRD Environmental and Social Department  where she develops technical and investment tools incorporating good international sector and ESG practises, liaising with industry associations and assuring consistent approach to appraisal and monitoring of maritime investment projects. Julia is nominated member of the EU Platform for Sustainable Finance where she is developing technical screening criteria for transport sector industries and is passionate about mainstreaming sustainability in financial sector.  

Jennifer Bishop

Head of Responsible Investment and Asset Allocation, Coal Pension Trustee Services

Jen Bishop is Head of Responsible Investment and Asset Allocation at Coal Pension Trustees which managers around £20bn in assets. Before joining CPT Jen spent 13years at Willis Towers Watson where she was a portfolio manager for the firm’s flagship multi-asset strategy, The Partners Fund, and was part of the Global Portfolio Management Group where she was a key influence on responsible investment.

James Leiman

Commerce Commissioner, North Dakota

Dr. James Leiman is an executive professional, change agent, professor, mentor and small business owner that has successfully completed several governmental transformation efforts across the United States. As the North Dakota Commerce Commissioner, James overseas economic development, tourism, marketing, workforce development and community development efforts for the state.  James recently served as the Director of Economic Development and Finance for the North Dakota Department of Commerce. Prior to joining Commerce in May 2018, James was a City Administrator in Minnesota. Before arriving in the Midwest, James managed a significant transformation portfolio at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs in Washington, DC resulting in a 30% reduction in the national claims backlog. As the lead for Integration and Synchronization, James oversaw a $140 million per year program and hundreds of employees which revamped the business process for thousands of employees.   

James Lawrence

Head of Investment Proposition, Smart Pension

James is the 'Head of Investment Proposition' for Smart Pension. He is responsible for building and running Smart Pension’s £2bn investment solution for its master trust. As part of this role, James and the investments team will be delivering Smart Pension’s net zero pledge for its members, using leading and innovative ESG investment products. Prior to joining Smart Pension, James spent nine years at Mercer, where he was the lead investment strategist for Mercer’s UK DC delegated investment business, including the Mercer Master Trust. In this role he was responsible for the strategic direction of the delegated investment solution, Mercer SmartPath, which included a £700m investment in a newly built ESG fund, as well as building a net zero transition pathway.   James is also a CFA Charterholder

Harry Elliott

CFA, Associate, MV Credit

Fraser Priestley

Managing Director of EMEA Global Risk Solutions Team, BNY Mellon

Fraser Priestley has been with BNY Mellon Asset Servicing for over 30 years and was appointed as Managing Director for the Global Risk Solutions in EMEA at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing in August 2006. More recently Fraser is also responsible for Global Risk Solutions in APAC and for Financial Institutions clients globally and is playing a lead role in BNY Mellon’s ESG offering. In addition, Fraser led BNY Mellon’s response to our UK regulator on the impact of climate change on Financial Institutions. Prior to this, Fraser held a number of roles within the organization, including managing teams of performance analysts and working as a Client Manager. Before his appointment to MD, Fraser was Operations Manager with responsibility for all day-to-day client service from collection of data and calculations through to report delivery.  Fraser is a member of BNY Mellon’s EMEA Operating Council, the EMEA Digital Council and a Director of BNY Mellon Performance & Risk Analytics Europe Ltd.  He is also on the UK Investment Performance Committee (UKIPC) run by The Investment Association.  

Eimear Palmer

Responsible Investing Officer, ICG

Eimear joined in 2018 as ICG’s Responsible Investing Officer and is responsible for further integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors across all fund strategies. She works closely with ICG’s business and investment teams as well as portfolio companies to add value to fund investors.   Prior to joining ICG, Eimear spent seven years at The Carlyle Group, where she undertook a similar role in Europe implementing an enhanced ESG framework for Carlyle Europe Partners. Previously, she spent seven years at KPMG where she was a manager in the Private Equity Audit and Assurance division.   Eimear is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and holds a BSc in Business Information Systems.  

Duncan Willsher

Trustee & Trustee Director, 20-20 Trustees

As a professional trustee at 20-20 Trustees, Duncan combines his investment background with his passion for improving governance, translating complexity in to simple explanations and driving better outcomes through innovation, efficiency and pragmatism. Duncan chairs or sits on 8 trustee boards, sits on 20-20’s Sole Trustee Oversight Committee and is part of the management team. Before joining 20-20 Trustees, Duncan spent 14 years in senior investment consultancy positions at Willis Towers Watson, including Head of the global custody and operational efficiency research and consulting team. Outside of work, Duncan can be found spending time with his family, travelling the world or training for endurance sports; in particular, long distance triathlon.  

Dr. Zeynep Hizir

Head Of Strategic Development, EMEA Institutional Business Development | SS&C

Doctor In Digital Transformation And Head Of Strategic Development, Insurance EMEA Dr. Zeynep Hizir is a scholar and influencer on digital transformation. Zeynep’s career has seen her in investment management, business development and client relationship teams at Goldman Sachs, MetLife and SS&C Technologies. Zeynep has sought to increase awareness of the benefits of digital transformation. She addresses elements of current ESG challenges by bridging them to effective digital transformation strategies and solutions. A graduate of New York’s Fordham University (BS) and New York University (MBA) and the LSC/University of Wales Trinity St. David (DBA), Dr Hizir’s academic work has focussed on RPA implementation in client services of global institutional investment management firms.    

Dr Henrik Pontzen

Head of ESG, Union Investment

Dr Henrik Pontzen has been responsible for the ESG department in portfolio management at Union Investment since 2019. He previously worked at HSBC. As Head of the Institutional Client Group, he was responsible for the cross-product and global support of German asset managers. Beforehand, Henrik supported insurance companies and asset managers in HSBC’s custodian business as Head of Custody Sales. Prior to that, he was Head of Business Risk Control Management in eight European countries. He began his career as a management consultant in the financial industry for Capco. He studied philosophy, economics and history at the University of Bonn and Copenhagen.

Craig MacDonald

Head of Fixed Income, Aberdeen Standard Investments

Craig MacDonald is Global Head of Fixed Income at Aberdeen Standard Investments. Craig’s role encompasses Credit, EMD and Aggregate bond investing. Money Markets and Rates. He is also the lead portfolio manager for a number of global credit mandates. Craig joined Standard Life Investments in 2002 from Standard & Poor’s where Craig was a Director and team leader responsible for non-local government European public finance. This encompassed areas such as Private Finance Initiative and other project finance, and structured bonds in areas such as healthcare, housing, education and social housing.Craig graduated with a BA from University of Durham. He also holds an MBA from London Business School and is a member of The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).

Chris Needham-Bennett

Managing Director, Needhams 1834

Chris is an 'academic practitioner' who has managed a risk consultancy in London for the last 26 years. During this time he has gained an unrivalled insight into the translation of theory into practice.  Has worked with central Government and large companies and professional practices across the globe. The nature of his clients have ranged from banks to butter makers and his experience of the specturm of risk issues is equally wide ranging. He has co authored articles on ESG and risk with University College London and is part of their research group on 'Cascading disasters'. He also lectures on UCLs MSc courses and has supervised students on the course. Prior to his current role Chris served in the Parachute Regiment. 

Chetan Parekh

Head of Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Mindtree

Senior Executive and Business Leader with a strong consulting background and Banking, Capital Markets, and Financial Services domain knowledge, and a proven track record of driving business outcomes.

Charlotte O’Leary

CEO and an Executive Director, Pensions for Purpose

Charlotte is the CEO and an executive director of Pensions for Purpose. In her role, Charlotte oversees the running of the business, develops the growth and innovation strategy and looks for opportunities to build partnerships to achieve Pensions for Purpose's mission. Charlotte is also a member of the Impact Investing Institute's Pensions Expert Panel, an ambassador for the Transparency Taskforce and a founder of 10 Billion World, an end-to-end sustainability project management business aimed at businesses and organisations setting net zero and carbon reduction targets.

Andrew Cole

Trustee Executive, BESTrustees

Andrew has been a pension trustee for over 15 years having served as a company appointed trustee, member nominated trustee and more recently as a professional trustee, on both DB and DC schemes. He Chairs’ a number of DB schemes and acts as a Sole Trustee on a couple of financial institution schemes. He is a member of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees and sits on their ESG Working Group.   Having had a 35-year global career in Financial Markets working for both American and European Investment Banks, he has a strong technical understanding of risk management and investment issues.

Anand Rao

General Manager, Consulting, Mindtree

Anand Rao is a Consulting Partner with Mindtree’s EMEA Consulting Practice, where he works with Inspiring Minds, a team of experienced design & advanced analytics practitioners, and helps senior executives in ideating and accelerating the execution of digital transformation and ESG tech initiatives using strategy, design, cognitive technology, and data.  

Amber Fairbanks

Equity Portfolio Manager, Mirova

Amber joined Mirova in October 2018 and serves as a co-portfolio manager on the Mirova Global Sustainable Equity strategy. Previously, she spent 11 years as a portfolio manager and analyst at Zevin Asset Management. Before Zevin, she worked as an analyst for J.L. Kaplan Associates, a division of Evergreen Investments, and for Delta Partners, L.L.C., a Boston based hedge fund. Amber has 18 years of industry experience. She received her MBA from Boston College and a BS in Environmental Science, Cum Laude, from University of Massachusetts. Amber Fairbanks is a CFA® Charterholder.  

Alexander Stafford

Member of Parliament, House of Commons, Committee Member, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee

Alexander Stafford is the Conservative MP for Rother Valley. In Parliament, Alexander consistently champions the green recovery, having previously worked for both the World Wildlife Fund and Shell. As a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, chair of the APPG on ESG, vice-chair of the APPG on Hydrogen, and vice-chair of the APPG for Critical Minerals, he is a leading voice for the role of hydrogen, green finance, ESG, and critical minerals in Britain’s drive to reach net-zero and to level up communities across the country. Alexander hopes to help Britain stay ahead of the curve on the understanding, assessment, and implementation of ESG, by engaging with a group of cross-party politicians and British business leaders, to highlight the value of a holistic adoption of its principles.