Ethical Finance Global 2024: Progress or Procrastination?

Chair, BlackRock UK

Sandra Boss

Sandra Boss, Senior Managing Director, is the Chair of BlackRock UK. She is a leader in the firm’s mission to serve wealth and institutional clients with the solutions they need to meet their investment objectives. She serves as a strategic advisor to the Head of the International Business, and is a member of BlackRock’s Global Operating Committee and co-Chair for the firm’s Global DEI committee.

Sandy brings deep client experience and global orientation to this role. In May 2020, Sandy joined BlackRock as Global Head of Investment Stewardship. In that role, she was a member of the firm’s Global Executive Committee and was responsible for leading BlackRock Investment Stewardship in all its activities, including launching the firm’s pioneering Voting Choice program. In 2023, Sandy became the Chief Operating Officer for the Global Client business, responsible for systematizing key aspects of the firm’s primary commercial businesses.

Prior to BlackRock, Sandy served at the Bank of England as an external member of the Prudential Regulation Committee and the senior independent member and risk committee chair of the board that oversees the UK’s high-value payment and settlement system. She is a former senior partner at McKinsey & Co. where she was a strategic advisor to executives and boards of global companies in financial services and other industries.

Sandy has served as non-executive director at two public companies: Elementis Global and Enstar Group. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and previously served as a
member of board for Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC).

Sandy received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Stanford University

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.

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.

Senior Fellow at The Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific. (BRICAP).

John Pang

John Pang is a Senior Research Fellow, Belt and Road Caucus for Asia Pacific. John has served in policy and thought leadership in government, business and academia with a focus on ASEAN. He has held fellowships and research positions at Columbia University, New York University and the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, where he helped start the Center for Multilateralism Studies. He was founding CEO of an ASEAN research institute and of a council of Southeast Asian business leaders. As a senior executive at McKinsey and Company and other international consulting firms he advised decision makers in government, telecommunications and aviation, energy, infrastructure, tourism and financial services.

He served in Malaysia’s Ministry of Education as Special Advisor to the Minister, where he led policy work on education reform and technology, and in the Prime Minister’s Office on track II diplomacy, media and communications. He chaired the Global Agenda Council for Southeast Asia of the World Economic Forum from 2013-2015 and was a member of the Global Board of Open Society Foundations from 2016-2019.

In postgraduate study and research at the London School of Economics and Stanford University he worked on issues in the Philosophy of Economics and in Political Philosophy. He works on the re-framing of international relations discourse, especially as it applies to China and Southeast Asia towards the emergence of a multipolar world order. His commentary appears regularly on CGTN, Beijing Review and Global Times. He is based in Hangzhou.

CEO, Fintech Scotland

Nicola Anderson

Nicola has years of experience in financial services regulation where her focus was on conduct regulation and supporting the delivery of good consumer outcomes in retail markets. She worked for the FCA across a range of financial sectors with experience supervising firms such as Retail Banks, Credit Unions, Building Societies and smaller Intermediaries.

Nicola started her career in the retail and hospitality industry! She understands the challenges of being a start up through previous experiences of running her own business. She’s an advocate for the consumer and a believer in diversity of thought, fairness and inclusion.

Nicola became CEO at FinTech Scotland in January 2021 after a 6 months secondment from the FCA.

Chief Executive, Scottish Power

Keith Anderson 

As Chief Executive, Keith Anderson is a member of the Board of Directors and has responsibility for all ScottishPower businesses, the financial performance of the Company and the leadership of ScottishPower internally and externally.

Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive, Keith was CEO of ScottishPower Renewables and led Iberdrola’s international offshore business.

Prior to joining ScottishPower, Keith worked with some major financial institutions including The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Life, as well as working as a management consultant with E&Y.

Keith is an Honorary Fellow of the Energy Institute and a Visiting Professor of Strathclyde University.

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.

Senior Wealth Manager, MASECO

George King

As a senior investment professional with 30 years of financial markets experience, George works with high net worth families on their cross-border financial needs. He has experience advising a broad range of investors from around the world on investment strategy and portfolio construction, across all major asset classes and multiple currency regimes. He joined MASECO in 2015, with a focus on investors with UK/US jurisdiction exposure, reflecting his own status as an American in the UK.

Passionate about the critical importance of the intersection of wealth planning and investment management, George often advises people going through significant ‘wealth events’ such as selling a business, divorce, or retirement, as well as step-function career milestones such as achieving partner status. For George, providing wealth advice requires a comprehensive approach, incorporating clients’ quantitative goals and needs, ensuring thoughtful decisions can be made involving key trade-offs. Beyond balancing risk and return, this includes weighing short-term vs long-term objectives and consideration of the broad impact of investment decisions in relation to a client’s finances, the social and environmental world they care about, as well as family and philanthropic goals.

Partner, PwC

Amal Larhlid

Amal spent the last 25 years working with governments and International institutions to design and implement public policy. Over the last 10 years, she led this area for PwC UK. She also developed the ESG value proposition for tax, legal and people from scratch.

Amal’s clients include government departments across the world and a range of international development and finance institutions, including the European Commission, EuropeAid, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank, and the Islamic Development Bank. She also works with multinational companies as well as private businesses to navigate the regulatory and tax changes driven by ESG and net zero, andmake the most of green grants and funding.

Prior to joining PwC she worked at the OECD as a Senior Policy Advisor and led the dissemination of OECD best practice in different areas of public policy. Before that she spent ten years at the Moroccan Finance Ministry as the Chief Inspector in charge of monitoring public expenditures on education and social development.

Amal leads teams to deliver international projects on public policy, implementation support and capacity building in the areas of taxation, domestic resource mobilisation, public financial management, climate change and ESG, economic development and reducing the informal economy. Amal is also fluent in English, French and Arabic.

Education:

PhD studies in PFM -University Paris 1 Sorbonne-Pantheon, Paris (France)

Masters in European Policy, Public Administration and International Relations

Masters in Public Policy and Governance

Bachelor’s degree in Information Science

Group CEO, MBSB

Rafe Haneef

Chief Executive, Offshore Energies UK

David Whitehouse

As an established industry leader with 30 years of experience, David has been a longstanding champion of OEUK. He is respected across the sector for his strategic and hands-on leadership in the North Sea and around the world, including the USA, Netherlands and Philippines.

His passion for energy, engineering and innovation is built on a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from Cambridge University and a first-class degree in Chemistry from Manchester University. He is currently studying at the University of Aberdeen for a Masters in Renewable Engineering, an area of key growth and significance for OEUK and its members.

David Whitehouse is responsible for strategic and day to day running of OEUK.

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.

Head of Social Strategy & Impact, NatWest Group

Thom Kenrick

Thom is Head of Social Strategy and Impact at NatWest Group. Part of the Sustainable Banking function, Thom’s team lead and coordinate the bank’s approach to social issues and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Focus areas include financial capability, human rights & modern slavery, vulnerable customers, and ‘controversial’ sectors.  The team also lead and deliver the bank’s flagship MoneySense financial education programme.

Thom is the Chair of NatWest Social & Community Capital, a bank-supported social finance charity which lends money to community businesses and social enterprises. He is also a Trustee of the Coutts Foundation and a Fellow of the RSA. He holds a First Class Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering & European Studies from the University of Edinburgh. At GEFI, with NatWest Group being the host Thom has been guiding the Ethical Finance Global Summit since 2017.

Author & Economist

Professor Tim Jackson

Tim Jackson is an ecological economist and writer. Since 2016 he has been Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP). From 2004 to 2011 he was Economics Commissioner for the UK Sustainable Development Commission where his work culminated in the publication of his controversial and ground-breaking book Prosperity without Growth (2009/2017). Tim holds degrees in mathematics (MA, Cambridge), philosophy (MA, Uni Western Ontario) and physics (PhD, St Andrews). In addition to his academic work, he is an award-winning dramatist with numerous radio-writing credits for the BBC. His latest book Post Growth—life after capitalism was published by Polity Press in 2021 and won the 2022 Eric Zencey Prize for Economics.

Governance & Legal Counsel, United Nations Environmental Programme Finance Initiative

Laura Lightbody

Laura is a sustainable governance professional with over 14 years’ experience of providing legal, governance and regulatory advice to financial institutions.  She supports and advises the UNEP FI Banking Board and the Principles for Responsible Banking Civil Society Advisory Body.  She also manages the UNEP FI Banking Team’s relations with civil society and acts as Legal Counsel to UNEP FI.

Laura joined UNEP FI from an international law firm where she was a senior ESG lawyer. Prior to that, she spent 6 years at NatWest Group where she designed, implemented and advised on the bank’s sustainable governance model.  Her early career was spent at UK-based insurer and asset manager Standard Life where she was an in-house lawyer.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Laws with Honours, Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a Certificate in Climate Change Transformation all from the University of Edinburgh.  Laura also attended Syracuse University in New York as a Rene-Crown Honours Programme Scholar, reading arts and business courses.

Sustainability Director, Business at BT

Sarwar Khan

Sarwar Khan is Sustainability Director, Business at BT and is responsible for developing digital products, propositions and services that help business customers across the globe transition to net zero. Prior to joining BT, he spent nearly 10 years working in the energy sector developing sustainability solutions to help customers decarbonise. He holds an MSc in Renewable Energy from Loughborough University and an Executive MBA from Cranfield University. Sarwar’s mission is to build a more equitable society

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.

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.

CEO, Chartered Banker Institute

Joanne Murphy

Joanne Murphy began her career in the early 1990s in London, working in television before transitioning into finance. She spent a decade at General Electric, becoming qualified in training and Six Sigma, and a further 10 years at RBS (now known as NatWest) in various roles.

Joining the Chartered Banker Institute post-financial crisis, Joanne developed and led the implementation of the CB:PSB Foundation Standard, helping over 340,000 individuals globally achieve a common standard of knowledge and behaviours. She also collaborated with Nottingham University to create a professionalism index for banking resilience and with YouGov to produce detailed research on perceptions of UK banking.

In 2014, Joanne became the Institute’s first Operations Director and the first female member of the Leadership team. She introduced the Core Values—Collaboration, Integrity, Innovation, and Excellence—and established the Member One Forum, leading to ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) recognition for the Institute. Joanne also heads their global membership forum, aligning member views with the Institute’s strategy.

After earning her MBA in Banking and Finance in 2016, Joanne pursued studies in Artificial Intelligence impact on Business Strategy with MIT Sloan School of Management. Her leadership and inclusive personality were pivotal during her tenure as COO and as Deputy CEO, especially during the global pandemic in 2020.

Joanne recently won the Accomplished Leader, Women in Leadership Award at the CCA Global Excellence Awards. This prestigious honour recognises her exceptional leadership skills, visionary impact on business and people, and unwavering dedication during her tenure as COO.

Joanne was appointed as Interim CEO of the Institute in May 2024.

Chief Sustainability Officer, Phoenix Group

Dr James Wilde

James is Chief Sustainability Officer at Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement group with 13 million policy holders and over £300 billion assets under administration.

James has over 18 years’ experience in climate change and sustainability. Joining Lloyds Banking Group in 2018 as Group Head of Sustainability, he developed a sustainability strategy focused on supporting and financing the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy, his efforts raising the bank to second in ShareAction’s climate change rankings for the top 20 European banks.

Prior to this, James was Managing Director at the Carbon Trust, where he worked for 15 years with business and governments around the world on climate change and sustainability related issues, as well as leading their UK business units focused on government policy, market developments and innovation.

James previously worked for McKinsey & Company. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge in Nanotechnology and a first-class undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford, in Metallurgy and the Science of Materials.

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.

Global Intellectual Capital Leader for Sustainable Investment, Mercer

Kate Brett

Kate Brett is Mercer’s Global Intellectual Capital Leader for Sustainable Investment and sits on the Global Sustainable Investment leadership team. In this role, Kate is responsible for developing innovative and implementable approaches to sustainable investment. She was previously Head of Sustainable Investment for UK & Europe where she provided advice to pension funds, charities, endowments and insurers on strategic asset allocation, de-risking strategies, manager selection and portfolio structuring analysis, performance monitoring, ESG integration and active ownership practices.

Managing Director, Chartered Banker Institute

Dr Giles Cuthbert

Giles Cuthbert is currently the Managing Director at the UK’s Chartered Banker Institute, where he has had over 30 years’ experience developing and delivering international education strategies. He has successfully deployed education and training to domestic and internationally oriented banks, building societies, credit unions, microfinance institutions and a wide range of public and private sector education bodies on subjects including responsible banking, green and sustainable finance, professional ethics, responsible lending and bank strategy, management and leadership across the globe.
Giles has worked in all areas of professional education design and delivery, having developed face to face training, online courses, university executive courses and blended delivery approaches. He has developed these for all types of audiences, from executive and Board training in major banks to volunteers in credit unions, alongside all other levels of employees in banking and allied professions, including financial and residential lending advice and insurance. Giles has a depth of experience in working with the UK’s financial regulator in developing education programmes that supported regulatory objectives and has additionally been closely engaged with a range of UK Government initiatives concerned with apprenticeships and sector skills development.
Giles has substantial experience developing and delivering learning at scale. He has developed programmes for over 1,000 organisations across 120 countries, in several cases developing programmes to support diverse audiences of over 100k learners. The largest programme he worked on was an ethics and professional standards programme for approximately 240k individuals in the UK and globally. In addition to building education strategy and solutions, Giles leads the innovation aspects of the Institute’s activities and has built mutually beneficial propositions for a wide range of partners in banking, academia and professional education.
He has worked in partnership with a broad range of bodies, including top ranked universities, such as Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities to deliver undergraduate, postgraduate and executive courses.
One particular area of specialism for Giles is accreditation frameworks, where he has worked with a range of partners to benchmark their learning needs to internationally agreed standards.
Since 2021, Giles has split his time between the Chartered Banker Institute and a secondment with the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative. Giles has played a leading role in the development of the curriculum and supporting learning launched in 2022 under the Principles for Responsible Banking Academy.
Giles’ first degree is in Law, he also holds a Masters in Education, a Masters in Professional Ethics and has recently completed his Doctorate in banking ethics in a digital environment.

The Rubin Chair in Sustainability in Business, Director of the Pentland Centre

Professor Jan Bebbington

Professor Jan Bebbington focuses on research that emerges at the intersection of sustainable development concerns and organisational operations. As an accounting scholar she focuses on the use of accounting technologies to create organisational control as well as reporting activities that might discharge accountability relationships. Her work includes a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals; how reporting norms emerge and carbon acounting/accountability.

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 Nature Based Solutions, MSCI

Dr Theresa Bodner

Theresa Bodner is MSCI Carbon Markets’ Head of Nature-Based Solutions. Her team leads the R&D and deployment of nature-based solution data products on the voluntary carbon market, covering forest carbon, blue carbon, and soil carbon. Product users include project developers, corporates retiring credits, as well as institutional investors and funds pursuing investments in nature/natural capital/biodiversity.

Theresa has obtained two MSc degrees and a PhD in sustainable forest and nature management researching forest expansion, agroforestry, and sustainable farming strategies. Prior to joining Theresa worked as a net-zero strategist for businesses, advising them on how to calculate, reduce and offset their carbon footprint. She also managed a range of green tech related start-ups, as well as interdisciplinary climate data research projects.

Director of Research, PlanetTracker

John Willis

John has over 30 years of experience in the financial industry having worked in a variety of roles including research, portfolio management and trading. He has also had management roles on both the buy-side and sell-side. Prior to joining Planet Tracker, John held the position of Global Head of Research at Deutsche Asset Management and co-founded Sustainable Insight Capital Management, an asset manager of a range of equity funds for sustainability-conscious investors.

Director of GFI Hive and Nature Programmes, Green Finance Institute

Helen Avery

Helen leads the Institute’s nature team, whose work supports the transition of the economy to one that values and invests in nature. The team works across nature market development in the UK and internationally, and across nature-related financial risk, focusing on mobilising private sector finance into nature restoration and nature-positive outcomes. Prior to joining GFI in 2020, Helen was Global Sustainable Finance Editor with Euromoney Magazine.

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.

Strategic Investment Advisor, Player Research & Consulting

Kimberley Player

Kimberley is a passionately curious thinker who has spent her career turning sector research into actionable business plans and positive economic, environmental, and community impacts. She leveraged an extensive background as an economic and real estate advisor in a shift to the development of sustainable investing strategies and is happiest finding opportunities at the intersection of the built environment, climate, and nature. Her work comprises in-depth sector research and market sizing; feasibility studies and due diligence; sustainability reporting and impact evaluation, and connecting stakeholders with capital markets. Areas of thought leadership include:

Agriculture & Food
Oceans & Aquaculture
Natural Capital
Renewable Infrastructure
Housing & Community Development
For a list of typical projects, please see Services.

Kimberley has complemented her career with non-profit work and board memberships. She currently sits on the board of the Resource Innovation Institute (RII) and is a former Futurewise board member, both roles reflecting a dedication to healthy communities and natural resource protection. She is currently a member of, and advisor to, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and a consultant to the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST). Her education credentials include a Finance degree from the University of British Columbia, a Certificate in Sustainable Destination Management from The George Washington University, and certificates in Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility and Measuring Impact for Sustainability.

Regional Representative for Europe, Global Alliance for Banking on Values

Ugo Biggeri

Ugo (Italy) is the first contact person for the European region. He has a long and strong connection with the banking on values movement and the GABV in itself. He is the Co-founder of Banca Etica and the former CEO and President (2010 to 2019). Until 2023, he has been President of Etica Sgr (2011-2023), the asset management company of Banca Etica Group, and a Board member of the GABV (2017-2023).

Ugo has always been committed to the issues of social justice and ecology, both personally and at the family level, and professionally, promoting actions and proposals for change with some Italian NGO. Lecturer in Ethical Finance and Microcredit at the University of Florence and author of books about ethical finance. He has a degree and PhD in Physics, with a specialization in Sustainable Development (Trento) and Business Management (Bocconi).

Founder and Chairman, Naisbitt King and Sheriff and Alderman of the City of London

Alastair King

Alastair is the Founder and Chairman of Naisbitt King Asset Management Limited, an independent, FCA-regulated fund management firm, headquartered in the City of London.  He started his career as a lawyer and practice­­­d as a solicitor at a leading international law firm.

Alastair was first elected as a Common Councilman of the Ward of Queenhithe (where he resides) in 1999 and was then elected Alderman in 2016.

He serves on a wide range of City of London Corporation Committees, including the Finance and Culture, Heritage and Libraries committees.  Alastair sits on the Governing Bodies of the Bridewell Royal Hospital, the Samuel Wilson Loans Trust, Morden College and Emanuel Hospital.

A Liveryman of five City Livery Companies, Alastair also serves as Vice-Chairman of Breast Cancer Haven Trust and Chairman of Onside Youth Zone, Haringey Project.

Global Climate Solutions Lead, Aegon Asset Management

Anne Scott

Anne Scott is Global Climate Solutions Lead at Aegon Asset Management, where her focus is to promote Aegon AM’s Climate Transition approach, supporting the consistency and delivery of their climate research process, embedding climate solutions within fixed income products. Anne works alongside the fixed income specialist and responsible investment teams.

Anne joined Aegon Asset Management in 2005 and has held a variety of roles across the business. Working in the investment department since 2012, she developed their front office oversight and relationship management with key counterparties, including managing corporate access and investment research provision across all asset classes. She led the design to manage, monitor and evaluate research consumption in line with MIFID II and has chaired Aegon Asset Management’s Global Investment Management Risk Control Committee and Investment Research and Execution Oversight Committee.

Anne has over 25 years’ experience in financial services and has also held positions at HSBC and Financial Times Information.

Head of Responsibility and EOS, Federated Hermes Limited

Leon Kamhi

Leon Kamhi, Head of Responsibility and EOS, Federated Hermes Limited

Reporting to the CEO of Federated Hermes Limited, Leon has led the firm’s Responsibility Platform since 2014. In this role, Leon leads EOS, Federated Hermes’ stewardship service for institutional investors and all the firm’s advocacy, stewardship and ESG integration activities. This includes ensuring that investment teams across all asset classes are aware of and integrate ESG performance in investment decisions and that engagement is effectively incorporated alongside investment activities. Led by Leon, the Responsibility Office also feeds into, and challenges, the firm’s responsibility-related policies and delivery, including those relating to governance, the environment, and colleagues.

Previously, Leon was responsible for the development and delivery of EOS at Federated Hermes’ global corporate and public policy engagement programme from 2012-2014 and acted as its commercial director from 2009-2012. Prior to that, Leon worked within the Hermes UK Large Cap Focus Fund for seven years, where he was responsible for executing the fund’s engagement programmes. He also has 12 years of strategy consulting and operational industry experience.

Relationship Manager, UK, Principles for Responsible Investment

Yulia Bull

Yulia Bull is a Senior Responsible Investment Manager within the UK & Ireland RI Ecosystems team at the PRI and has been part of the team since July 2022. The team’s remit is to support signatories in progressing their practices, engage in regional policy debate and regulatory change, and build strong responsible investment ecosystems, by focusing on convening investors, policy makers and other stakeholders.

Yulia has 10+ years of experience working with institutional investors, consultancy firms and organisations engaged in ESG policy and standard setting. Yulia joined the PRI in 2010 and led PRI’s work in Canada between 2013 and 2016, in the Nordics between 2013 and 2020 before PRI appointed a local team, and undertook grass-roots work into the emerging Central & Eastern Europe and CIS regions between 2017 and 2021.

Yulia came to the PRI from Pensions Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) where she worked in a proxy voting team conducting analysis of companies’ corporate governance practices and consideration of social and environmental issues into their business strategies. Yulia worked for Deloitte in Moscow between 2005 and 2008 before pursuing her postgraduate degree in London, where she graduated from the Kingston University Business School in 2009 with an MA in Corporate Communications.

Young Banker of the Year 2023

Craig Herd

Craig started his career in banking at the age 17 through Tesco Bank’s modern apprenticeship scheme. Craig worked a number of analyst roles at Tesco Bank within customer operations, financial crime and digital customer experience before joining Sainsbury’s Bank in January 2023 as a Product Analyst in Credit Cards Commercial leading Sainsbury’s Banks persistent debt programme. Craig has recently started a new role in July 2024 as a Proposition Analyst at Royal London in the Customer Experience team. Craig is also a committee member of the Scottish Financial Enterprise Young Professionals Network, working within the Changing Customer Needs workstream which looks to “Empower Scotland’s financial services sector to support customers’ evolving needs.” Craig recently won the 2023 Chartered Banker Institute Young Banker of the Year competition with his proposal to support customers living with dementia.

Co-founder and Senior Advisor, Host of Ethical Finance Roundtable

Graham Burnside

Graham is Co-founder and senior advisor of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative. He is host of the Ethical Finance Round Table.

Graham is a recognised expert in banking and finance law, who over his working career with a number of senior Scottish law firms specialised in particular in structured finance and capital markets, along with debt trading and financial product documentation. He is the co-founder and now Senior Advisor at GEFI and chairs the Edinburgh Ethical Finance Roundtable series, successfully running since 2010. He pioneered the legal development of Islamic finance within Scotland, on which he became the country’s leading expert, having structured and documented the first (and so far only) Islamic mortgage products operating under Scots law and the first fully Sharia-compliant commercial real estate financing in Scotland. He chairs the Advisory Board of the Islamic Finance Council UK. Chambers & Partners ‘Guide to the Legal Profession’ conferred on Graham the accolade of “Senior Statesman” in banking and finance law in Scotland, the only lawyer so recognised.

Managing Director & Social Development and ESG Advisor, Tugo Cwiny Management Consulting L.L.C

Rachel A. Aron

Rachel A. Aron is the Managing Director & Social Development and ESG Advisor of Tugo Cwiny Management Consulting L.L.C. Rachel is a seasoned practitioner and thought leader in social development and sustainability. She has more than 20 years of expertise and experience in social due diligence, gender mainstreaming, and in identifying, analyzing, managing, monitoring and evaluating, and reporting on a vast range of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and sustainability aspects in projects, programs, and policies/ strategies. Her professional expertise has been gained primarily at international organizations, such as the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), environmental and social consulting firms, and civil society organizations. She worked for over 12 years at AfDB and last served as a Principal Social Development Specialist. Her consulting work has covered clients in different regions of the world.

Rachel holds a Master of Arts in International Development with specializations in community development and gender from American University, Washington, DC, United States. She is also fluent in French.