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.

Chair, GEFI Global Steering Group

Dame Susan Rice

With a career that spans medical research, leadership roles in higher education and then banking, Dame Susan chairs the Global Steering Group of GEFI (Global Ethical Finance Initiative). She also chairs the boards of Scottish Water, Business Stream, North American Income Trust.

The first woman to head a UK or European clearing bank as Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland plc, she was also a director of the Bank of England, Senior Independent Director of both J Sainsbury’s plc and SSE plc and lay member of Court at Edinburgh University. She was founding chair of Scotland’s Fiscal Commission, the country’s official, independent economic and fiscal forecaster and recently became a non-executive director on the board of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility.

Focused on the creation of long-term value in business and enterprise, she works with the UK’s Place-based Climate Action Network and previously led a business-focused collaboration on carbon reduction and a sustainable Scottish economy. A leading voice on ethics in finance, she chaired the Financial Services Culture Board and supported the Chartered Banker Institute by leading her industry to support the creation of professional standards for bankers. Susan also helped develop numerous social finance and impact investing entities in the US and the UK.

Alongside several honorary degrees and professional fellowships, Dame Susan is a Freeman of the City of London.

Group Director of Sustainability, Lloyds Banking Group

Khadija Ali

Chief Investment Strategy Officer, SDG Impact Japan

Sasja Beslik

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.

Chair, GEFI Global Steering Group

Dame Susan Rice

With a career that spans medical research, leadership roles in higher education and then banking, Dame Susan chairs the Global Steering Group of GEFI (Global Ethical Finance Initiative). She also chairs the boards of Scottish Water, Business Stream, North American Income Trust.

The first woman to head a UK or European clearing bank as Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland plc, she was also a director of the Bank of England, Senior Independent Director of both J Sainsbury’s plc and SSE plc and lay member of Court at Edinburgh University. She was founding chair of Scotland’s Fiscal Commission, the country’s official, independent economic and fiscal forecaster and recently became a non-executive director on the board of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility.

Focused on the creation of long-term value in business and enterprise, she works with the UK’s Place-based Climate Action Network and previously led a business-focused collaboration on carbon reduction and a sustainable Scottish economy. A leading voice on ethics in finance, she chaired the Financial Services Culture Board and supported the Chartered Banker Institute by leading her industry to support the creation of professional standards for bankers. Susan also helped develop numerous social finance and impact investing entities in the US and the UK.

Alongside several honorary degrees and professional fellowships, Dame Susan is a Freeman of the City of London.

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.

Group Director of Sustainability, Lloyds Banking Group

Khadija Ali

Secretary General, Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet

Satya Tripathi

Satya S. Tripathi is Secretary-General of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet. A development economist, lawyer and changemaker with over 40 years of varied experience, Mr. Tripathi is the Chancellor of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences – the world’s largest academic institution dedicated exclusively to indigenous people and cultures. He is also a Senior Distinguished Fellow on Innovative Finance at the World Agroforestry Centre. He has served with the UN for more than two decades in key positions across the planet and was most recently the UN Assistant Secretary-General, Head of New York Office at UN Environment and Secretary of the UN Environment Management Group. His other strategic engagements with the UN include: Head of Human Rights Investigations for the UN in post-war Bosnia (UNMIBH); Chair of the Committees on Laws, Treaties and Administrative matters for the UN-mediated Cyprus unification talks in 2004; UN Recovery Coordinator for Aceh and Nias where he facilitated international cooperation and funding of over US$ 7 billion for post-tsunami recovery efforts in support of the government and affected populations; and Executive Head of UNORCID, a UN System Office established by the UN Secretary General in 2011 to facilitate the implementation of a US$ 1 Billion REDD+ partnership between Indonesia, Norway and other stakeholders. Mr. Tripathi was instrumental in establishing the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF) in Indonesia in 2016 and the Sustainable India Finance Facility (SIFF) in 2017 to leverage ‘private finance for public good’ at mega-scale to achieve transformative social and environmental impact for millions of people in developing countries. He previously served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Forests.

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 Investment Strategy Officer, SDG Impact Japan

Sasja Beslik

Global Head of Sustainable, FTSE Russell

Stephanie Maier

Stephanie Maier is Global Head of Sustainable and a member of the Leadership Team at FTSE Russell. She is responsible sustainable index product line globally, collaborating closely with clients to evolve our solutions in the index space.

Stephanie joined FTSE Russell in September 2024 from independent Swiss listed asset manager GAM Investments, where she was their Global Chief Sustainability Officer, responsible for leading GAM’s sustainability strategy. This included ESG integration, stewardship, product and client solutions and corporate sustainability. She brings over 21 years’ experience in sustainable investment, with previous roles as Director for Responsible Investment at HSBC Global Asset Management, Head of Responsible Investment Strategy and Research at Aviva Investors and formerly Head of Research for EIRIS, an ESG research and consultancy firm.

Group CEO, MBSB

Rafe Haneef

Visiting Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School

Lord David Pitt-Watson

David is a leading thinker & practitioner in responsible investment, and serves as a Member of GEFI’s Global Steering Group. Born & 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.

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.

Author & Economist

Prof Sir John Kay

John Kay is an economist whose career has spanned the academic world, business and finance, and public affairs. He has held chairs at the London Business School, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and is a Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford, the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. John is a director of several public companies and a contributing editor of the Financial Times. He chaired the Review of UK Equity Markets and Long-Term Decision-Making.

He is the author of many books, including The Truth About Markets, The Long and the Short of It and Obliquity. His latest book, Other People’s Money was a book of the year for Bloomberg, The Economist and the Financial Times, winner of the Saltire Literary Prize for non-fiction, and was short-listed for the Orwell Prize for political writing. His next book, Radical Uncertainty, jointly written with Mervyn King, will be published in March 2020.

Chairman, INCEIF University

Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar

Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar is currently the Chairman of Lembaga Tabung Haji Malaysia (Hajj Pilgrims Fund Board), the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), the Chairman of INCEIF (The International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance) and the Chairman of the Leadership Council of the Malaysia International Islamic Finance Centre (MIFC). Between June 2004 and July 2018, he was the Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad (“Khazanah”), Malaysia’s strategic investment fund. His other current affiliations include as a member of the Global Future Council on Investing of the World Economic Forum (Davos), a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) based in Edinburgh and as a board member of MERCY Malaysia, a humanitarian relief organization. Azman was the Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge (February 2019 to February 2021) and a Bye-Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge (February 2019 to February 2022). His research interest is in the area of Finance and its impact on Society.

He is also currently a member of the Majlis Kebangsaan Hal Ehwal Agama Islam Malaysia (National Council for Islamic Affairs, Malaysia) and until recently, the Majlis Pemulihan Negara (National Recovery Council (for Covid-19)) and the Majlis Kemakmuran Bumiputera (Bumiputera Prosperity Council) in Malaysia. Azman is also a member of the Board of Governors of The Malay College Kuala Kangsar, an Adjunct Professor at UTM, a trustee of the Wawasan Education Foundation in Penang, Malaysia, a member of the Finance Advisory Committee of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, a board member of VB Asset Management LLC, a Venture Capital Fund investing in Life Sciences in the United States and an Advisor to The Hive IV, a Silicon Valley based Technology Venture Capital fund. In early 2020, he co-founded Fitrah Capital Associates, a financial and strategy advisory firm incorporated in the United Arab Emirates.

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.

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.

CEO, Royal London Asset Management

Hans Georgeson

Hans Georgeson is responsible for the Royal London Asset Management business. Prior to this, he was Chief Executive Officer of Architas. His career started at Barclays where he held executive roles at Barclays Wealth, Gerrard Investment Management and Barclays Stockbrokers. Hans is a Board member of the Investment Association and a member of the UK Government Asset Management Task Force.

Author of "How to Think Like an Economist"

Dr Robbie Mochrie

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.

Director, Head of Climate and Sustainability Strategy, Lloyds Banking Group

Sophie Dejonckheere

Global Chief Investment Officer, Aegon Asset Management

Stephen Jones

Stephen Jones is Aegon AM’s global chief investment officer. He joined Aegon AM in 2002 as a fixed income fund manager and held senior portfolio management roles across the debt and multi asset classes early in his career. In addition to portfolio manager, Stephen held previous roles as joint head of fixed income, chief investment officer and chief executive officer at Aegon Ltd.’s affiliate Kames Capital, now known as Aegon Asset Management UK plc, European chief investment officer at Aegon AM and more recently has overseen and coordinated investment activity globally as a member of the Management Board. Stephen was previously an investment manager with Britannic Asset Management and before that spent ten years at the City of London working as Executive Director and Head of Debt Syndication at Greenwich NatWest. He has been in the industry since 1990 and joined Aegon AM and or its affiliates in 2002. Stephen studied law and economics at the University of Newcastle. Stephen is executive sponsor of Aegon AM’s Social Mobility Inclusion & Diversity Community.

Director, Accuracy

Julie Malzac

Julie Malzac is a director at Accuracy and has over ten years of professional experience. Prior to joining the firm in 2013, she worked as an equity research analyst at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking in London.

Julie has developed a strong expertise in driving sustainability-related engagements on behalf of large companies and investment funds. She supports companies’ top executives in taking critical strategic decisions based on financial and extra-financial criteria.

She gained specific knowledge on sustainable financing through a one-year experience as an Investment officer at Proparco (Groupe AFD) supporting low income and conflict-affected countries.

Julie also has extensive experience in providing transaction advisory services, such as financial due diligences, business plan assessment or ad-hoc vendor assistance.

Julie speaks French and English.

Vice President, Sustainable Solutions Group, ING

Carolin Horn

Carolin is a Vice President in ING’s Sustainable Solutions Group, based in the UK. She has over seven years of experience in sustainable finance and financial and non‑financial reporting. In her current role, Carolin supports clients in both an advisory and structuring capacity, providing sustainable and green financing solutions across various sectors and products.

Carolin represents ING in the Circular Economy Finance Group hosted by the UK and Dutch governments and is actively involved in Women in Carbon, a global, women‑led networking initiative connecting the voices of women working across the carbon industry. Carolin holds an MSc in Finance from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a BSc in Economics & Business Administration from Goethe University Frankfurt.

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.

Nobel Peace Prize (IAEA) 2005, CEO at Honest Management Consultancy, ex UN Diplomat and founder of 100 ideas café

 Muhammed Lameen Abdul-Malik 

 Muhammed Lameen Abdul-Malik is a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, with over 25 years of expertise in international development, sustainability, and strategy. An accomplished leader, he has demonstrated a commitment to solving global challenges through innovative solutions and brings strategic oversight, governance expertise, and a results-driven approach to his roles, underpinned by a track record of impactful leadership in healthcare, food security, green energy, and international diplomacy. 

His extensive experience cuts across the UK Government, the United Nations in nuclear science and technology (IAEA), the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute, an International Saudi Think Tank and an entrepreneur, where his proven expertise shows a deep understanding of emerging markets, particularly in Africa and the GCC, with a network spanning governments, NGOs, and private enterprises. 

He has delivered over €100 million in projects advancing global health, agriculture, and sustainability.

He also launched the first ever global infectious disease index and directed the creation of Zambia’s first cancer treatment hospital, setting a benchmark for oncology care in Africa.

Lameen, who loves and writes about coffee, has set himself a goal to impact one billion people’s lives positively over the next 10 years and is subsequently spearheading efforts to support that ethos and is often invited to speak at international conferences on Africa development, AI and Education and leadership.

Non Executive Director & Strategic Advisor, Tribe Impact Capital

Amy Clarke

Amy Clarke is an award‑winning Board and C‑suite leader with three decades of experience shaping sustainable finance, organisational governance and systemic change across publicly listed, privately owned, and non‑profit organisations. She has held senior executive roles including Chief Impact Officer at Tribe Impact Capital, the company she co-founded and where she is now a Non-Executive Director. She has also headed up sustainability teams at Bank of America and Microsoft (UK). She has over 18 years NED and Board experience and currently serves as Co‑Chair at B Lab UK, and a trustee on the Global Board of Client Earth. Previously she has served on the boards of Big Issue Invest, the Blue Cross, and The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise, as well as supporting finance & investment committees at the Blue Cross, B Lab UK and Client Earth.

Her sector experience spans financial services, wealth and asset management, technology, economic development, philanthropy, and global civil society, underpinned by deep expertise in sustainability, investment oversight, risk, and organisational culture. She has worked extensively across the UK, Europe, the US, LATAM, APAC and emerging markets, leading global teams and advising governments, development banks and multinational corporates.

She has been recognised as PAM Top 50 Most Influential (2024), Investment Week ESG Woman of the Year (2022), and a Meaningful Business Top 100 leader, reflecting her long‑standing influence in sustainable finance

Global Head of Responsible Investment, HSBC Asset Management

Andrea Griffin

Andrea Griffin leads HSBC’s AM Responsible Investment Specialist team.  In her role, she leads a global team specialising in developing the firm’s ESG and Sustainability frameworks including the climate and impact.  She along with her team support the evolution of our ESG and Sustainable strategies, as well as aligning these to meet a range of client objectives and preferences.  She has also contributed thought leadership through HSBC’s Centre of Sustainable Finance on the low-carbon transition for hard to abate sectors and climate critical technologies.  Previously, she spent nearly 10 years in emerging market renewable energy and solar energy finance across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, focusing on solar finance for emerging market off-grid/C&I solar projects, enabling impact investors to invest in solar as an impact asset class.  Previous to that, Andrea was an Acumen Fund Global fellow in 2011 (frontier markets impact investor) and spent 4 years at JP Morgan Wealth & Asset Management following Bear Stearns.  Andrea is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds a Masters in Energy/Policy from Columbia University.