Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis is a leading British filmmaker, with credits such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Love Actually, Mamma Mia, and The War Horse and Comic Relief co-founder.
Richard is also passionate about making a difference in the world. He has launched a campaign that aims to give consumers choice and voice over where the £3 trillion in UK pensions goes; the intention being that it’s invested to build a better future. Make My Money Matter describes itself as “a people-powered campaign” that is looking to ramp up public demand for investments that do good and help with the transition towards a zero-carbon world. It’s pushing forward the impact investing agenda, by getting pension funds to commit to ‘net zero’ (reducing the negative impacts) as well as focusing on generating positive impacts
We like to bring fresh perspectives to the IIA which include visionaries from outside, as well as inside, the world of investment. Sometimes it’s helpful for financial planners to be reminded of the significance and potential of the role you have to play in the change required to achieve our shared goals and vision of enabling clients to invest in alignment with their values.
Richard is an influential campaigner and if his previous efforts are anything to go by the MMMM campaign will add even more momentum to the waves of client demand to achieve a safe and secure return with more positive impact from their investments.
At the IIA, Richard will help to provide a perspective from outside the world of investment to enable us to understand the momentum and movement that is happening.
Gillian Tett
Chair of FT Editorial board and Editor-At-Large, (US), co-founder of FT Moral Money, ESG luminary, columnist, author and anthropologist.
Gillian is respected by many as one of the foremost financial journalists in the world. She is famously known for her early warning of the financial crisis in 2007. Gillian is co-founder of Moral Money. The trusted destination for news and analysis about the fast-expanding world of socially responsible business, sustainable finance, impact investing, environmental, social and governance (ESG) trends, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Gillian will be sharing her views on the rising tide of impact, the need for systemic change and why responsible investing has reached a tipping point.
Alex Edmans
Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance, London Business School and author of ‘Grow the Pie’
Alex has over 2 million views on his TED talks (“What to Trust in a Post-Truth World” and “The Social Responsibility of Business”) and spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He is also Mercers School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College, currently giving a public lecture series on “Business Skills for the 21st Century.” His book, “Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit”, headed the list of FT Business Books of the Month for March 2020. He has featured on Poets and Quants Best 40 Professors Under 40 and Thinkers50 Radar.
Alex will be providing an academic viewpoint, his perspective will provide tangible value for those developing their investment philosophy in this area.
Laura Houët
Laura Houët is a partner in CMS’ Financial Services and Products team in London with over 13 years’ experience advising the asset management industry.
She has particular expertise on the product side and advises a broad range of large asset managers on all aspects of their regulated fund ranges, from structuring and authorisation to reorganisation and rationalisation. She routinely advises clients on their preparedness for the impact of ESG regulation across their business as well as on ESG-focused products. Laura has advised many types of fund houses on their ESG strategies at a firm level and product level, and has spoken at many conferences across Europe and the US on this topic, including providing the keynote at the IA’s inaugural responsible investment conference and at the IBA’s globalisation of investment funds conference in New York. Laura sits on the FMLC’s newly formed ESG Scoping Forum.
Laura’s participation at this year’s is extremely important, and her perspective will be invaluable as the regulatory context continues to shift in this progressive market.
Ingrid Kukuljan
Head of Impact Investing and Lead Portfolio Manager, Impact Opportunities, Federated Hermes
Ingrid joined the international business of Federated Hermes in February 2020 with over 22 years’ experience in financial services. As Head of Impact Investing, she is responsible for the construction and management of the portfolios within the Impact Opportunities strategy. Her experience spans asset management as well as capital and private markets. She joins from PDM Capital where she was managing a thematic equity fund. Prior to this, she was at Jupiter Asset Management as Fund Management Director where she managed the EMEA portion of the Global Managed Fund and co-managed Jupiter’s flagship emerging markets fund.
Vicki Bakhshi
Head of Responsible Investment, BMO Global Asset Management
Vicki is a responsible investment specialist at BMO Global Asset Management. Her focus is on advising the firm on climate change and impact investing strategies. She also engages with investee companies in the utilities sector, encouraging best practice in sustainability and governance issues. Prior to working at BMO, she spent five years in the UK Government, including as Prime Minister Tony Blair’s policy adviser on climate change. She spent three years at the Financial Times as a leader writer, and two years as an economist at the Bank of England. Vicki chairs the UKSIF Policy Committee and co-chairs the climate scenarios working group of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change. She holds an MSc in Economics from Warwick University and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.
Benedict Constable-Maxwell
Fund Manager, M&G Investments
Ben Constable-Maxwell is Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing, leading M&G’s strategy on impact investing as well as covering sustainability issues such as climate change and the circular economy. He has been central to the development of ESG integration within M&G’s investment processes and has supported the development of ESG solutions for clients across asset classes. Ben plays an active industry role as a member of various sustainable and impact investment initiatives, interacting with companies, policymakers, NGOs and other investors. He is a Trustee at Firefly International youth organisation, which provides educational and mental health support for young people in conflict-affected areas in the Balkans and Middle East. Previous to joining M&G in 2003, Ben spent four years with the Equities team at Invesco Perpetual. Ben has an honours degree in Classics from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Seb Beloe
Partner, Head of Research, WHEB Asset Management
Seb is Head of Research and leads the integration of sustainability analysis within the investment process, as well as overseeing engagement activities. Previously, Seb was Head of SRI Research at Henderson Global Investors where he led on the identification and analysis of sustainability themes and company-level corporate responsibility analysis. Prior to Henderson, Seb was the Vice President of Research and Advocacy at SustainAbility. He has published several reports on sustainable business, and has been a member of numerous corporate advisory boards and awards panels. Seb has two degrees in environmental science and technology, from the University of East Anglia and Imperial College and is a Chartered Environmentalist.
Kate Fox
Partner, Investment Manager, Positive Change, Baillie Gifford
Kate joined Baillie Gifford in 2002 and is an Investment Manager and decision maker in the Positive Change Team, as well as a Partner of the firm. She is a CFA Charterholder and graduated MA in Economics and Maths from the University of Edinburgh in 2001. Kate believes the financial community plays a crucial role in creating a more sustainable world for future generations. Kate’s experience analysing smaller companies has left her with a natural enthusiasm for businesses that address unmet needs or challenge the status quo, as well as an appreciation of their long-term potential.
Pieter-Jan Hüsken
Fund Manager, Triodos Global Equities Impact Fund, Triodos Investment Management
Pieter-Jan Hüsken joined Triodos Investment Management in 2018 as Fund Manager of Triodos Global Equities Impact Fund. Pieter-Jan brings a long track-record of almost 25 years of active fund management, lastly in his position as Senior Portfolio Manager Equities with Actiam. Pieter-Jan holds a Master’s degree in Finance from Tilburg University.
Mike Fox
Head of Sustainable Investments, Royal London Asset Management
Mike Fox is Head of Sustainable Investments at RLAM. Mike has managed RL Sustainable Leaders Trust since November 2003, Sustainable World since launch and Sustainable Diversified since February 2014. Prior to this, he was deputy fund manager on the Co-operative Pension Fund for two years, before which he worked as an investment analyst. Mike is AAA rated by Citywire, he has won a number of industry awards over the years for the strong investment performance of the Sustainable range of funds he and the team at RLAM run.
Hamish Chamberlayne
Head of Global Sustainable Equities, Janus Henderson Investors
Hamish Chamberlayne is Head of Global Sustainable Equities at Janus Henderson Investors. He is also Portfolio Manager of the Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity and Institutional Global Responsible Managed strategies, a role he has had since 2013. He was an investment manager with the firm from 2012. Hamish joined Henderson as an investment analyst in 2011 from Gartmore, where he was an equity analyst with the global equity team. Prior to this, from 2004 to 2007 he worked as a senior auditor at PWC, where he covered a variety of sectors, including energy, technology, and communications. He began his career at Burlington Consultants in 2003 performing commercial due diligence on businesses identified as acquisition targets by private equity houses.
Ruth Sturkey
Client Director, Paradigm Norton
Ruth co-founded and led The Red House, a boutique financial planning firm, which she successfully merged with Paradigm Norton in December 2017. Ruth continues to help grow the merged business to enable Paradigm Norton, an employee owned and accredited BCorporation, to be the leading purpose driven financial planning firm in the UK. A well-known and influential member of the financial planning profession, Ruth is regularly asked to comment and speak at industry and women’s events.
Ruth will chair the panel discussion and will be the representative voice of the advisor community in this session.
David Crozier
Senior Financial Planner and Founder, Navigator Financial Planning
In 2004 David founded Accredited Financial Planning Firm, Navigator, to deliver values-based advice to clients. David has been immersed in the UK Financial Planning community and has sought to help bring about positive change in the profession, for many years. David is also one of the founders of a new, peer-led Impact Portfolio Service for Financial Advice professionals.
Michael Smith
Chartered Financial Planner and CEO, Chamberlyns
Michael is well-known in the UK Financial Advisory community and in addition to being a Chartered and Certified Financial Planner, is a Fellow of both the PFS and CISI. Michael leads Chamberlyns, one of the few firms in the UK to hold both Corporate Chartered and Accredited Financial Planning Firm status, and has been actively involved in helping clients to deploy their capital in accordance with their goals and values for many years. Michael is also a co-founder of the UK’s first independent, peer-led Impact Portfolio Service for Financial Advice professionals.
Gavin Francis
Founder and Director, Worthstone
Gavin has more than 25 years’ experience working in financial services and alongside the advisory community. In 2010, he founded certified B Corp, Worthstone, which was the UK’s first targeted impact investment resource platform for Financial Advice professionals. In addition to co-authoring several ground-breaking reports, Gavin has participated in government working groups to help develop impact investing in the UK. Gavin also co-founded the Impact Investment Academy in 2013 and is a co-founder of the UK’s first independent, peer-led Impact Portfolio Service for Financial Advice professionals.