Managing Director, GEFI

Omar Shaikh

Omar is the Managing Director of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) and Board Member of the UK Islamic Finance Council (UKIFC)

A Chartered Accountant by profession, he specialises in ethical/responsible finance, Islamic finance, and private equity. He has extensive experience in financial services and has advised multiple governments and regulators on ecosystem building as a leading advocate for sustainable and Islamic finance. His background includes working with EY London, where he qualified as a CA and was the former Head of Islamic finance.

Through his GEFI work, Omar has established a number of initiatives, including the Path to COP, the SDG Financial Products platform with UNDP, which promotes innovative financing structures for the SDGs, the Global Islamic Finance and UN SDGs Taskforce launched with the UK Government and IsDB, and the award-winning interfaith Edinburgh Finance Declaration—the world’s first shared values approach to finance between Islamic finance and the Church. He also served on the Board of the University of Oxford Faith-Aligned Impact Finance Project

Omar received a BAcc and a PhD from the University of Glasgow along with an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University conferred for his work in developing ethical finance. Beyond finance, he is actively involved with Colourful Heritage which works with Glasgow Museums to preserve and celebrate South Asian heritage in Scotland, The King’s Trust Scotland and Olivewood Primary School.

Author

Dr Sarah Ivory

Dr Sarah Ivory is the former Director of the University of Edinburgh Business School’s Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability (B-CCaS). She is a regular contributor to BBC Scotland on climate change issues. Dr Ivory has taught on topics of climate change, sustainability, leadership, and strategy to undergraduates, postgraduates, and MBAs, and leads climate change executive education programmes. In 2019 Dr Ivory was awarded a prestigious Aspen Institute ‘Ideas Worth Teaching’ education award.

Dr Ivory has an established research career in sustainability and climate change, social enterprise, and critical thinking pedagogy including in leading publications such as the Journal of Business Ethics and Business Strategy and the Environment. Her book ‘Becoming a Critical Thinker: for your university studies and beyond’ was recently published with Oxford University Press.

Prior to joining academia, Dr Ivory spend a decade in senior strategy and operational roles in the private sector in Singapore and Australia. She has a PhD and MSc (by research) from the University of Edinburgh, an MBA from Melbourne Business School, and a B.Com(hons) from the University of Melbourne.

Chief Economist, Triodos Bank

Hans Stegeman

Hans Stegeman is the Chief Economist at Triodos Bank, where he oversees economic and sustainability research, as well as Triodos’ impact strategy. His work centres on the fundamental belief that our economic system requires significant changes, with the financial sector playing a pivotal role in this transformation. Prior to joining Triodos, he held various positions at Rabobank, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB), and started his career at a the labour union. In addition to his role as Chief Economist, Hans is an avid writer, contributing columns and essays to various media outlets and maintaining his own blog.

Chief Economist, Triodos Bank

Hans Stegeman

Hans Stegeman is the Chief Economist at Triodos Bank, where he oversees economic and sustainability research, as well as Triodos’ impact strategy. His work centres on the fundamental belief that our economic system requires significant changes, with the financial sector playing a pivotal role in this transformation. Prior to joining Triodos, he held various positions at Rabobank, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB), and started his career at a the labour union. In addition to his role as Chief Economist, Hans is an avid writer, contributing columns and essays to various media outlets and maintaining his own blog.

Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic

Kate Forbes MSP

Kate Forbes is the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency (which includes Dingwall, the Black Isle and the Great Glen). She is the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary (designate) for the Economy and Gaelic in the Scottish Government.

Kate is from Dingwall, although she spent part of her upbringing in Glasgow and India. Until she was elected as MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Kate was employed as an accountant in the banking industry. Prior to that she studied History at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh.

First elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2016, she was re-elected as the constituency MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in May 2021.

Kate first joined the Government in June 2018, as Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy. She subsequently served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy from February 2020 to March 2023.

Global Steering Group, Scottish Green Finance Taskforce, Global Ethical Finance Initiative

David Pitt-Watson

David is a leading thinker and practitioner in responsible investment, and serves as a Member of GEFI’s Global Steering Group and Chair of the Scottish Green Finance Taskforce. Born and brought up in Scotland, he was co-founder, and CEO of Hermes Focus Funds & Equity Ownership Service. These became the largest responsible investment group of any fund manager in the world. Throughout his career he has been deeply involved in policy, particularly in the field of corporate governance and financial market regulation. He has led numerous initiatives to improve the performance of the financial system. At GEFI, David is the Chair of the Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services, for which GEFI is the secretariat.

Former Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, Malaysia.

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad is a Member of Parliament for Setiawangsa and Former Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, Malaysia.

A law graduate from King’s College London, he was Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Private Secretary before being elected as Selangor State Assemblyman for Seri Setia in the 2008 General Elections. He was appointed as the Political Secretary to the then Selangor Chief Minister.

He then became Deputy Speaker for the Selangor State Legislative Assembly and then State Executive Councillor (State Minister).

In the 2018 General Elections, he was elected to Malaysia’s Parliament, representing Setiawangsa.

With the formation of the Unity Government, he was appointed Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change in 2022.

He is the author of several books, including Malaysian Son: A Progressive’s Political Journey in the Heart of Southeast Asia and Saving the Planet: Climate and Environmental Lessons from Malaysia and Beyond.

Non Executive Director & Strategic Advisor, Tribe Impact Capital

Amy Clarke

former First Minister of Scotland

Humza Yousaf MSP

Humza Yousaf is the former First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the SNP, currently serving as Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow Pollok constituency.

He was the first Muslim leader of a Western democracy, the youngest person to be appointed as First Minister, as well as the first Person of Colour to hold the Office.

Born and raised in Glasgow, he studied politics at the University of Glasgow, before working as a parliamentary assistant for the late Bashir Ahmad MSP, the first Muslim elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2007.

Humza was first elected as an MSP for the Glasgow region in May 2011, aged only 26, and became the youngest Minister ever appointed to the Scottish Government.

He was also the first Minister from an ethnic minority background, when he was appointed as Minister for External Affairs and International Development in 2012.

Since then, he served as a Minister for Europe, Transport, as well as Cabinet Secretary for Justice and most recently for Health & Social Care.

In 2016, he was elected to serve Glasgow Pollok – becoming the first ethnic minority Member of the Scottish Parliament to be directly elected to a constituency.

Outside of politics, Humza has been involved in community work, from youth organisations to charity fundraising for most of his life.

He also volunteered for community radio for 12 years and on a charitable project providing food packages to homeless people and asylum seekers in Glasgow.

Founding Fellow, Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC), University of Oxford

Lord Alderdice FRCPsych

In the last thirty years, John Alderdice has been involved in almost every aspect of the Irish Peace Process. As Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from October 1987, he played a significant role in the talks between the political parties and the British and Irish Governments on the resolution of the historic conflict in Ireland right through to the negotiation of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He then retired as Alliance Leader and became the first Speaker of the new Northern Ireland Assembly, leading the establishment of the new legislature. He retired as Speaker in 2004 on his appointment to the Independent Monitoring Commission, tasked by the British and Irish Governments with closing down terrorist operations and overseeing normalization of security activity in Northern Ireland. Later the First, Deputy First, and Justice Ministers of Northern Ireland invited him to work with two colleagues to develop a new strategy to bring an end to the remaining paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland. He also established  and for some years chaired the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building in Belfast which works on the cultural and attitudinal changes that will complete the Irish Peace Process and gives support to colleagues working in other conflict regions.  He continues to be Emeritus Chairman of CDPB and works on the Irish Peace Process both publicly and privately from the House of Lords at Westminster and through his leadership of The Concord Foundation.

Lord Alderdice has also been committed to liberal politics outside Northern Ireland. From 1995 to 2003 he was Treasurer and then Vice-President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. From 2000 until 2009 he was Deputy President and then President of Liberal International (the world-wide network of more than 100 liberal political parties) and now as a life-time Presidente D’Honneur of Liberal International he continues to be an active member of the Bureau of LI. In 1996 his contribution to liberal politics at home and abroad was recognized when he was appointed one of the youngest ever life members of the House of Lords, the Upper Chamber of the Westminster Parliament. From 2010 to 2014 he was the elected the Chairman (Convenor) of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party in the House of Lords. In August 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron appointed him to the UK Committee on Standards in Public Life, reappointing him for a further term in 2013. After the 2015 Westminster Election, the Liberal Democrat Leader, Tim Farron MP appointed him Liberal Democrat Party Spokesman on Northern Ireland, but he retired from that role in late 2016 in order to carry out an Independent Review on Culture, Race and Ethnicity within the Liberal Democrats. This was completed and submitted in early 2018 and the ‘Alderdice Report’, as it has become known, has been welcomed at all levels in the Party, officially adopted, and is being implemented.  From 2020 to 2021 he was a member of the COVID-19 Committee of the House and from January 2024 a member of the Select Committee of the House on International Relations and Defence.  In February 2025 he undertook a new role when the government appointed him as UK Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan and Central Asia. Lord Alderdice’s professional background is as a clinical and academic physician and psychiatrist (see Medical and Psychiatric Career). He was a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in Belfast and senior lecturer in psychotherapy at The Queen’s University of Belfast (UK) from 1998 to 2010. He was also a Visiting Professor, at the Department of Psychiatry and Co-Chairman of the Critical Incidents Analysis Group, at the University of Virginia (USA), and for some years a Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore (USA). Lord Alderdice’s main focus now is at the University of Oxford, where he is an Honorary Fellow at Pembroke College and a Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College. He concentrates, with colleagues in the colleges and at the Department of Politics and International Relations and the School of Anthropology, on analysing, understanding and engaging with the problems of religious fundamentalism, political radicalization and violent community conflict, including the intractable difficulties between first nation populations and incoming people.  He is also a Visiting Fellow at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, a Professor of Practice at the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast, and also a Professor of Practice at the Global Humanity for Peace Institute at the University of Wales Trinity St David. Lord Alderdice is President and Director of ARTIS (Europe) Ltd, a registered UK company that he set up in 2009 to work on Research, Teaching and Intervention Support in a range of major psychosocial challenges worldwide, and is Chairman of The Concord Foundation (CLG), a registered company in Ireland whose purpose is to address in a non-partisan way the religious, psychological and political aspects of communal conflict.

Author

Dr Sarah Ivory

Dr Sarah Ivory is the former Director of the University of Edinburgh Business School’s Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability (B-CCaS). She is a regular contributor to BBC Scotland on climate change issues. Dr Ivory has taught on topics of climate change, sustainability, leadership, and strategy to undergraduates, postgraduates, and MBAs, and leads climate change executive education programmes. In 2019 Dr Ivory was awarded a prestigious Aspen Institute ‘Ideas Worth Teaching’ education award.

Dr Ivory has an established research career in sustainability and climate change, social enterprise, and critical thinking pedagogy including in leading publications such as the Journal of Business Ethics and Business Strategy and the Environment. Her book ‘Becoming a Critical Thinker: for your university studies and beyond’ was recently published with Oxford University Press.

Prior to joining academia, Dr Ivory spend a decade in senior strategy and operational roles in the private sector in Singapore and Australia. She has a PhD and MSc (by research) from the University of Edinburgh, an MBA from Melbourne Business School, and a B.Com(hons) from the University of Melbourne.

Chief Executive, Federated Hermes Limited

Saker Nusseibeh CBE

Saker is Chief Executive of Federated Hermes Limited and is also a member of the Federated Hermes, Inc. Executive team. He was appointed CEO in November 2011 having joined the firm in June 2009 as CIO. Prior to this, Saker was Global Head of Equities at Fortis Investments, having initially been appointed to the firm as CIO Global Equities in 2005. Before this, he was CIO of Global Equities and Head of Marketing for SGAM UK. He started his career at Mercury Asset Management in 1987.

In 2015, Saker was named CEO of the Year at the Global Investor Investment Excellence Awards and, in 2018, was named CEO of the Year at the Financial News Asset Management Europe Awards. More recently, Saker was named as European Personality of the Year for 2020 at the Funds Europe Awards. He has a BA and PhD in Medieval History from King’s College, University of London.

Saker was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s 2020 New Year’s Honours list for services to Responsible Business and Finance.

Director, Global Inclusion, CFA Institute

Lauran Halpin

Lauran has long been passionate, both in her role as an investor and in private life, in sustainability, social issues, and making an impact in her community. Lauran is the former Head of Impact Equities at Martin Currie and lead a newly established investment capability for the business bringing together all her experience and passion for sustainability and impact. Before joining Martin Currie, Lauran was a member of the portfolio construction group managing ESG-related products at Franklin Templeton Global Equity Group including the Templeton Global Climate Change Fund.

Lauran has nearly 20 years of investment experience beginning her career in 2007 at Baillie Gifford where she was Global Healthcare Analyst and managed the Glenfinlas Global Healthcare Fund. Lauran continued her research of the Global Healthcare sector when she joined Edinburgh Partners as an Investment Manager in 2013 and also co-managed a number of EAFE accounts. With an M.Sc. in Ecological Economics from University of Edinburgh (2005) and a B.S.in Biology from Davidson College (2003), Lauran spends her spare time enjoying outdoor life in the Highlands with her two dogs.

Head of Climate Change, NatWest Group

James Close

James is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Advisory Group for the ICAEW and a trustee for the Trust for Sustainable Living. He is committed to working on some of the most challenging global issues focusing on sustainable development and climate change. Prior to this, he was the head of the circular economy programme for London.

James has spent his career working at the interface of the public and private sectors with a focus on mobilising finance. Before returning to the UK, James spent five years in Washington, DC as the Director for Climate Change at the World Bank.

Prior to joining the World Bank, he was a partner in the Corporate Finance Practice of the accounting firm, EY, and also worked for HM Treasury. James has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Durham and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

Secretariat Lead, Net-Zero Banking Alliance

Sarah Kemmitt

Head of Business Ethics, ING Bank

Arnaud Cohen Stuart

Arnaud is Head of Business Ethics at ING Bank where he guides sustainability trend analyses, stakeholder engagement and ESG reputation management associated with a broad range of banking transactions. The team contributes to the bank’s sustainability strategy, engages in dialogue with key stakeholder groups such as government, civil society organisations (NGOs), clients and investors, and conducts transaction-based reputation risk analyses. As such, Arnaud contributed to the development of multi-stakeholder Responsible Business Conduct agreements, represented ING in OECD mediation dialogues, and managed ING’s response to public concern expressed over the financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Representing the Dutch Banking Association, Arnaud is a member of the Responsible Business Conduct Committee at the Dutch Social and Economic Council advising the Dutch government and Parliament on RBC policy.

Arnaud is a guest lecturer at VU University Amsterdam (Institutional Identity) and Utrecht University (Economic Ethics). He holds a master’s degree in Law, a master’s degree in Marketing and a master’s degree in Applied Ethics.

Head of Responsible Investment, Scottish Widows

Eva Cairns

Eva is Head of Responsible Investment at Scottish Widows where she leads the responsible investing and stewardship strategy for one of UK’s largest asset owners. Her focus is on embedding RI into the investments proposition and leading efforts to engage companies, asset managers and wider industry to shape best practice. She joined Scottish Widows from Aberdeen Investments where she was the Head of Sustainability Insights and Climate Strategy, responsible for leading research and strategy across key sustainability themes, including climate change, nature and social issues. Before joining Aberdeen in 2010, Eva worked at Halcrow Group (now CH2M Hill), a global engineering consultancy, where she was an Economist focused on environmental and socio-economic impact assessment of energy and transport projects globally. Eva is a member of the UKSIF Board and Investment Association Sustainability and Responsible Investment Committee in the UK. She graduated with an MSc in Economics with Distinction from the University of Edinburgh where her dissertation focused on the social cost of carbon.

Director of Stewardship and Head of Environmental Issues, PRI

Paul Chandler

Paul Chandler is an experienced professional in environmental stewardship and responsible investment, currently serving as the Director of Stewardship and Head of Environmental Issues at Principles for Responsible Investment since March 2014. Prior roles include Manager and Senior Manager in Environmental Issues at the same organization, and ESG Analyst at Regnan from January 2012 to March 2014. Earlier in their career, Paul Chandler worked as a Business Development Consultant at Colonial First State. Academic qualifications include a Master of Environment with a specialization in Climate Change from the University of Melbourne, an exchange program in Environmental Studies at Københavns Universitet – University of Copenhagen, and a Bachelor of Business with a focus on Finance from the University of Technology Sydney.

Founder and Senior Advisor to Global Canopy, Vice Chair of the Stewardship Council of TNFD and founder of Equilibrium Futures

Andrew Mitchell

Andrew W. Mitchell is an international thought leader on natural capital finance and tropical forests. Founder of Equilibrium Futures, he provides strategic advice on natural capital to the finance sector; he is also Senior Adviser to Oxford think tank, Global Canopy, which he founded in 2001.

Andrew Mitchell is currently the Vice Chair of the Stewardship Council of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. He engages with banks, investors, and insurers worldwide on risks and opportunities in sustainable finance.

He has forty years’ experience in conservation. He is the Emeritus Rufford Fellow in Environmental Understanding at Oxford University and for seven years was a Research Fellow in its Zoology Department.

In 2023, he received the Founders Medal, from the UK’s Royal Geographical Society, a Royal Medal approved by King Charles III. Andrew is also an award winning author and editor of the “Little Book of Investing in Nature” series.

COO, Indonesian Business Council

Dr William Sabandar

Dr. William Sabandar has extensive professional experience in both public and private sectors, covering various development fields that include transportation, renewable energy, forest and climate, debottlenecking development issues, disaster recovery, rural development, and corporate management. He is always challenged to embark on missions that break through a new frontier.

He currently serves as the COO of Indonesian Business Council (IBC), an association of Indonesian business and industry leaders working to strengthen the nation’s competitiveness and prosperity through public policy advocacy and public-private partnerships. He is also serving as the President of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Indonesia and has promoted the organization to play a role at various international forums, hosting the annual ITS Asia-Pacific Forum in 2024. He is currently the Chairman of 5P Global Movement, a global initiative focused on fostering collaboration for Peace, Prosperity, People, Planet, and Partnership. He also holds board memberships at Indonesia Climate and Growth Dialogue (ICGD) and World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia, and serves as chairman for two private companies in electric mobility and logistics.

Dr. Sabandar led the establishment of the first metro system in Indonesia through his role as the CEO of MRT Jakarta (2016-2022). During that time, MRT Jakarta started to operate and serve the public with 100% on-time performance, surviving the pandemic of Covid19. He initiated the development of first transit-oriented development projects along the line of MRT. Afterwards, he joined the Board of Commissioners of MRT Jakarta.

Following the catastrophic Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, Dr. Sabandar successfully led the reconstruction of Nias Islands, 2005-2009, as the Chief of Nias Islands Recovery, the Agency of Reconstruction of Aceh and Nias (BRR Aceh-Nias). After the success of rebuilding Nias Islands better, he was assigned as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of ASEAN concurrently Chief of Operation for the Reconstruction of Myanmar after the other large-scale disasters, Cyclone Nargis, in Ayeyarwady Delta (2009-2010). He was able to set a new mechanism for ASEAN to engage actively in addressing crises faced by the member countries. He then worked for the ASEAN Secretariat as Director of Corporate Affairs (2011-2012).

Dr. Sabandar has also served several high-level government positions: as Chief Assistant at the Presidential Unit for Development Supervision and Control, UKP4 (2012-2014); Chief Operating Officer of the National Agency on Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Land Degradation, REDD+, (2014-2015); and Senior Advisor to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, concurrently Chairman of the National Task Force on the Accelerated Development of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (2015- 2016). During his duties, he actively promoted international cooperation among governments, private sector and civil society in various fields including the global initiative on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2030).

Dr. Sabandar gained a Ph.D in geography from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 2005. He also earned a degree of master of engineering science from the University of New
South Wales, Australia (2000), and bachelor in civil engineering from Hasanuddin University of Indonesia (1990).

Senior Advisor, GEFI

Amanda Young

Amanda was the Chief Sustainability Officer for the Investments business at abrdn, where she led the sustainable investment strategy for the firm and the Investment Sustainability Group.  She has over two decades of experience in responsible investment. Previously, Amanda held positions at Newton Investment Management, CCLA Investment Management and Rabobank International. Amanda graduated from Lancaster University with a BSc in Psychology and has completed the University of Edinburgh Business School’s Executive Women’s Leadership Programme. She is the Chair of the Sustainability and Responsible Investment Committee of the Investment Association, a board director for Social Investment Scotland’s SIS Ventures fund and represented abrdn on the Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services. Previous appointments include Chair, workstream for the UK Government’s Taskforce on social impact investment, co-Chair of the Scottish Purposeful Business Commission, Board Director of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) and Chair of the FTSE Russell ESG Advisory Committee.  Amanda has appeared on the Financial News top 100 most influential women in European Finance for 6 years.  She was the inaugural winner of Women in Investment Awards Sustainable & ESG Investment Woman of the Year in 2021 and was on Financial News’ inaugural Fifty Most Influential in Sustainable Finance list in 2022.

Head of Sustainability, Lloyds Corporate Markets

Hannah Simons

Hannah joined LCM in 2023 as Head of Sustainability. In her role, Hannah supports LCM’s clients to build sustainable financing solutions relevant to their individual needs. She also works closely with colleagues across the wider Lloyds Banking Group to support the delivery of our own sustainability objectives. Hannah joined from Schroders where she was Head of Sustainability Strategy. She supported clients in embedding sustainability into their investment strategy and developed a cohesive range of sustainable investment products to meet client needs. Earlier in her career, Hannah worked at BlackRock, PIMCO and Schroders supporting institutional investors in designing bespoke investment solutions, aligned to their long-term objectives.

Head of Sustainable Finance, Capital Markets, London Stock Exchange Group

Claire Dorrian

Claire is responsible for leading the portfolio of sustainable finance related projects across London Stock Exchange Group’s Capital Markets business which includes equities, fixed income and ETFs. Claire has played an important role in the development of model ESG disclosure and reporting guidance for London Stock Exchange listed companies and initiatives such as an ESG Disclosure Tool, the publication of a guide to green finance and Green Economy Mark for AIM and Main Market companies.  

Claire’s background is in the fund management industry and in equity capital markets, working with private and listed companies and in particular with a sustainability focus. Claire is a member of an industry Taskforce on the Scaling of Voluntary Carbon Markets. 

Positioned at the heart of global financial markets, LSEG works across the investment and finance chain from issuers to asset owners, and across the financial, banking, trading and advisory ecosystem. As such LSEG is uniquely positioned to support clients in achieving the transition to a sustainable and net-zero economy and was the first exchange group to commit to net zero emissions. 

Senior Advisor, GEFI

Amanda Young

Amanda was the Chief Sustainability Officer for the Investments business at abrdn, where she led the sustainable investment strategy for the firm and the Investment Sustainability Group.  She has over two decades of experience in responsible investment. Previously, Amanda held positions at Newton Investment Management, CCLA Investment Management and Rabobank International. Amanda graduated from Lancaster University with a BSc in Psychology and has completed the University of Edinburgh Business School’s Executive Women’s Leadership Programme. She is the Chair of the Sustainability and Responsible Investment Committee of the Investment Association, a board director for Social Investment Scotland’s SIS Ventures fund and represented abrdn on the Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services. Previous appointments include Chair, workstream for the UK Government’s Taskforce on social impact investment, co-Chair of the Scottish Purposeful Business Commission, Board Director of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) and Chair of the FTSE Russell ESG Advisory Committee.  Amanda has appeared on the Financial News top 100 most influential women in European Finance for 6 years.  She was the inaugural winner of Women in Investment Awards Sustainable & ESG Investment Woman of the Year in 2021 and was on Financial News’ inaugural Fifty Most Influential in Sustainable Finance list in 2022.

Head of Sustainability, Lloyds Corporate Markets

Hannah Simons

Hannah joined LCM in 2023 as Head of Sustainability. In her role, Hannah supports LCM’s clients to build sustainable financing solutions relevant to their individual needs. She also works closely with colleagues across the wider Lloyds Banking Group to support the delivery of our own sustainability objectives. Hannah joined from Schroders where she was Head of Sustainability Strategy. She supported clients in embedding sustainability into their investment strategy and developed a cohesive range of sustainable investment products to meet client needs. Earlier in her career, Hannah worked at BlackRock, PIMCO and Schroders supporting institutional investors in designing bespoke investment solutions, aligned to their long-term objectives.

Head of Sustainable Finance, Capital Markets, London Stock Exchange Group

Claire Dorrian

Claire is responsible for leading the portfolio of sustainable finance related projects across London Stock Exchange Group’s Capital Markets business which includes equities, fixed income and ETFs. Claire has played an important role in the development of model ESG disclosure and reporting guidance for London Stock Exchange listed companies and initiatives such as an ESG Disclosure Tool, the publication of a guide to green finance and Green Economy Mark for AIM and Main Market companies.  

Claire’s background is in the fund management industry and in equity capital markets, working with private and listed companies and in particular with a sustainability focus. Claire is a member of an industry Taskforce on the Scaling of Voluntary Carbon Markets. 

Positioned at the heart of global financial markets, LSEG works across the investment and finance chain from issuers to asset owners, and across the financial, banking, trading and advisory ecosystem. As such LSEG is uniquely positioned to support clients in achieving the transition to a sustainable and net-zero economy and was the first exchange group to commit to net zero emissions. 

Executive Director, TISFD

Simon Rawson

Founder Scotland Against Modern Slavery, Director Brightwork Recruitment, Board Member Refugee Survival Trust

Shan Saba

Director of Sustainability, ICAS

Fiona Donnelly

Fiona Donnelly CA is Director of Sustainability at The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) since 2023. She produces sustainability resources to help the some 24,000 members navigate the changing sustainability landscape and represents ICAS on various advocacy groups. Fiona’s career began in Scotland as a Big 4-trained Chartered Accountant, before transitioning into broader strategy and engagement roles in Hong Kong for 28 years.  She is a board member of Australian charity, Altiorem, a community and resource hub for sustainable finance.

Regional Council Member, TISFD

Gyöngyvér Fekete-West

Founding Fellow, Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC), University of Oxford

Lord Alderdice FRCPsych

In the last thirty years, John Alderdice has been involved in almost every aspect of the Irish Peace Process. As Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from October 1987, he played a significant role in the talks between the political parties and the British and Irish Governments on the resolution of the historic conflict in Ireland right through to the negotiation of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He then retired as Alliance Leader and became the first Speaker of the new Northern Ireland Assembly, leading the establishment of the new legislature. He retired as Speaker in 2004 on his appointment to the Independent Monitoring Commission, tasked by the British and Irish Governments with closing down terrorist operations and overseeing normalization of security activity in Northern Ireland. Later the First, Deputy First, and Justice Ministers of Northern Ireland invited him to work with two colleagues to develop a new strategy to bring an end to the remaining paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland. He also established  and for some years chaired the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building in Belfast which works on the cultural and attitudinal changes that will complete the Irish Peace Process and gives support to colleagues working in other conflict regions.  He continues to be Emeritus Chairman of CDPB and works on the Irish Peace Process both publicly and privately from the House of Lords at Westminster and through his leadership of The Concord Foundation.

Lord Alderdice has also been committed to liberal politics outside Northern Ireland. From 1995 to 2003 he was Treasurer and then Vice-President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. From 2000 until 2009 he was Deputy President and then President of Liberal International (the world-wide network of more than 100 liberal political parties) and now as a life-time Presidente D’Honneur of Liberal International he continues to be an active member of the Bureau of LI. In 1996 his contribution to liberal politics at home and abroad was recognized when he was appointed one of the youngest ever life members of the House of Lords, the Upper Chamber of the Westminster Parliament. From 2010 to 2014 he was the elected the Chairman (Convenor) of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party in the House of Lords. In August 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron appointed him to the UK Committee on Standards in Public Life, reappointing him for a further term in 2013. After the 2015 Westminster Election, the Liberal Democrat Leader, Tim Farron MP appointed him Liberal Democrat Party Spokesman on Northern Ireland, but he retired from that role in late 2016 in order to carry out an Independent Review on Culture, Race and Ethnicity within the Liberal Democrats. This was completed and submitted in early 2018 and the ‘Alderdice Report’, as it has become known, has been welcomed at all levels in the Party, officially adopted, and is being implemented.  From 2020 to 2021 he was a member of the COVID-19 Committee of the House and from January 2024 a member of the Select Committee of the House on International Relations and Defence.  In February 2025 he undertook a new role when the government appointed him as UK Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan and Central Asia. Lord Alderdice’s professional background is as a clinical and academic physician and psychiatrist (see Medical and Psychiatric Career). He was a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in Belfast and senior lecturer in psychotherapy at The Queen’s University of Belfast (UK) from 1998 to 2010. He was also a Visiting Professor, at the Department of Psychiatry and Co-Chairman of the Critical Incidents Analysis Group, at the University of Virginia (USA), and for some years a Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore (USA). Lord Alderdice’s main focus now is at the University of Oxford, where he is an Honorary Fellow at Pembroke College and a Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College. He concentrates, with colleagues in the colleges and at the Department of Politics and International Relations and the School of Anthropology, on analysing, understanding and engaging with the problems of religious fundamentalism, political radicalization and violent community conflict, including the intractable difficulties between first nation populations and incoming people.  He is also a Visiting Fellow at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, a Professor of Practice at the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast, and also a Professor of Practice at the Global Humanity for Peace Institute at the University of Wales Trinity St David. Lord Alderdice is President and Director of ARTIS (Europe) Ltd, a registered UK company that he set up in 2009 to work on Research, Teaching and Intervention Support in a range of major psychosocial challenges worldwide, and is Chairman of The Concord Foundation (CLG), a registered company in Ireland whose purpose is to address in a non-partisan way the religious, psychological and political aspects of communal conflict.

Founder & CEO of the Institute for Quality

Dr Hayat Sindi

Hayat Sindi, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for STEM and she has been working to help develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Middle East that would. She was one of the first 30 women to be appointed to Saudi Arabia’s highest consultative body, the Shura Council, and was one of the 25 global experts selected to be a member of the UN Scientific Advisory Board. The former Senior Advisor to the President of the Islamic Development Bank for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Sindi was voted one of the BBC’s top 100 Women 2018, a list of inspiring and influential women from around the world. 

Dr. Sindi is also an Honorary fellow at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. 

Co-Director of the Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI)

Gail Hurley

Gail Hurley is Co-Director of the Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI) at ODI-Global, a leading UK thinktank on international development. She is a senior development finance expert with over 20 years’ experience in research, policy and project implementation. She is specialised in innovative sources of development finance. She has held senior roles at Finance Earth (a UK-based impact investment advisory firm), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and non-profit sector. She works with a wide range of clients, including UN agencies, philanthropies, international organisations and non-profit organisations. She is a member of the UK’s Technical Assistance Platform on Sustainable Blue Economies and a long-serving member of GEFI’s Global Steering Group.   Gail holds an MSc. In Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of London and a BA (Hons.) from the University of Liverpool.

Managing Director, GEFI

Omar Shaikh

Omar is the Managing Director of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) and Board Member of the UK Islamic Finance Council (UKIFC)

A Chartered Accountant by profession, he specialises in ethical/responsible finance, Islamic finance, and private equity. He has extensive experience in financial services and has advised multiple governments and regulators on ecosystem building as a leading advocate for sustainable and Islamic finance. His background includes working with EY London, where he qualified as a CA and was the former Head of Islamic finance.

Through his GEFI work, Omar has established a number of initiatives, including the Path to COP, the SDG Financial Products platform with UNDP, which promotes innovative financing structures for the SDGs, the Global Islamic Finance and UN SDGs Taskforce launched with the UK Government and IsDB, and the award-winning interfaith Edinburgh Finance Declaration—the world’s first shared values approach to finance between Islamic finance and the Church. He also served on the Board of the University of Oxford Faith-Aligned Impact Finance Project

Omar received a BAcc and a PhD from the University of Glasgow along with an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University conferred for his work in developing ethical finance. Beyond finance, he is actively involved with Colourful Heritage which works with Glasgow Museums to preserve and celebrate South Asian heritage in Scotland, The King’s Trust Scotland and Olivewood Primary School.

Group CEO, MBSB

Rafe Haneef

Senior Advisor, GEFI

Amanda Young

Amanda was the Chief Sustainability Officer for the Investments business at abrdn, where she led the sustainable investment strategy for the firm and the Investment Sustainability Group.  She has over two decades of experience in responsible investment. Previously, Amanda held positions at Newton Investment Management, CCLA Investment Management and Rabobank International. Amanda graduated from Lancaster University with a BSc in Psychology and has completed the University of Edinburgh Business School’s Executive Women’s Leadership Programme. She is the Chair of the Sustainability and Responsible Investment Committee of the Investment Association, a board director for Social Investment Scotland’s SIS Ventures fund and represented abrdn on the Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services. Previous appointments include Chair, workstream for the UK Government’s Taskforce on social impact investment, co-Chair of the Scottish Purposeful Business Commission, Board Director of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) and Chair of the FTSE Russell ESG Advisory Committee.  Amanda has appeared on the Financial News top 100 most influential women in European Finance for 6 years.  She was the inaugural winner of Women in Investment Awards Sustainable & ESG Investment Woman of the Year in 2021 and was on Financial News’ inaugural Fifty Most Influential in Sustainable Finance list in 2022.

Author

Dr Sarah Ivory

Dr Sarah Ivory is the former Director of the University of Edinburgh Business School’s Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability (B-CCaS). She is a regular contributor to BBC Scotland on climate change issues. Dr Ivory has taught on topics of climate change, sustainability, leadership, and strategy to undergraduates, postgraduates, and MBAs, and leads climate change executive education programmes. In 2019 Dr Ivory was awarded a prestigious Aspen Institute ‘Ideas Worth Teaching’ education award.

Dr Ivory has an established research career in sustainability and climate change, social enterprise, and critical thinking pedagogy including in leading publications such as the Journal of Business Ethics and Business Strategy and the Environment. Her book ‘Becoming a Critical Thinker: for your university studies and beyond’ was recently published with Oxford University Press.

Prior to joining academia, Dr Ivory spend a decade in senior strategy and operational roles in the private sector in Singapore and Australia. She has a PhD and MSc (by research) from the University of Edinburgh, an MBA from Melbourne Business School, and a B.Com(hons) from the University of Melbourne.