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Podcast Archives: Shareholder Advocacy

Episode 92 | August 10, 2020

Companies that Prioritize Diversity & Transparency Outperform Peers

Yusuf George, Managing Director of Corporate Engagement, JUST Capital

George talks about the results of JUST Capital’s recent surveys on racial equity and workforce diversity, including how companies in the Russell 1000 Index disclose their workforce demographics. Strikingly, a small group of companies that disclose their demographics by race/ethnicity, gender, and job category have outperformed their peer groups by 6% (May 31, 2019 – […]

Episode 90 | July 27, 2020

Bruce Herbert: Using Shareholder Engagement to Change Corporate Behavior

Bruce Herbert, CEO of Newground Social Investment, SPC & Investor Voice, SPC

Herbert is an independent shareholder advocate, and a pioneer in the field beginning in the 90s when he served on the national governing board with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). He talks in detail about the engagement process and how to convert an adversarial approach into a conversation that brings results, including working […]

Episode 75 | April 6, 2020

Morningstar’s 2019 Sustainable Funds Landscape Report

Jon Hale, Global Head of Sustainability Research at Morningstar, Inc.

A couple of the most encouraging findings from this report are the strong performance of sustainable funds compared to the total mutual fund universe and the dramatic increase in asset flows to sustainable funds during 2019, especially during the record-breaking 4th quarter.

Episode 66 | December 15, 2019

Impax approaching $20B AUM in Low Carbon Economy Investments

David Richardson, Executive Director of Business Development at Impax Asset Management

After two decades and with almost $20 billion in AUM, Impax’s investment thesis is driven by cost reductions in renewable energy technologies and government commitments to reduce CO2 emissions by the UK and the EU, as well as by “We Are Still In” member states, cities, and companies in the US.

Episode 52 | July 9, 2019

30 Years of ESG Investing at Neuberger Berman

Jonathan Bailey, Head of ESG Investing at Neuberger Berman

Bailey, Neuberger Berman’s second generation leader of ESG investing, talks about the firm’s 30 years of competitive performance in active portfolio management.

Episode 49 | June 17, 2019

Allianz Global Investors Combines Active Management and Shareholder Advocacy

Christian McCormick, CFA, Director and Senior ESG Specialist with Allianz Global Investors

McCormick shares his experience of shareholder advocacy–in 2018 the firm participated in 8,500 shareholder meetings. Alliance GI reported poor links between executive pay and company performance and voted against 74% of compensation proposals in the U.S.

Episode 45 | May 20, 2019

Generating Alpha Through Active Portfolio Management at Brown Advisory

Karina Funk, Partner, Portfolio Manager, and Head of Sustainable Investing at Brown Advisory

Funk shares her three criteria for choosing companies with sustainable business advantages (SBAs) for the Brown Advisory Large Cap Sustainable Growth Portfolio, which invests in companies that will thrive in a resource-constrained world.

Episode 43 | May 8, 2019

How Nuveen Is Addressing the Responsible Investing Taxonomy Problem

Amy O'Brien, Head of Responsible Investing at Nuveen, a TIAA company

How do advisors and asset managers integrate portfolio strategies, shareholder activism and other investor motivations? O’Brien describes Nuveen’s rigorous, platform-wide approach.

Episode 37 | March 16, 2019

ESG Metrics and Shareholder Advocacy Drive Appleseed’s Top Performance on Morningstar World Allocation

Matt Blume, Portfolio Manager and Head of ESG Research, Appleseed Capital

APPLX ended 2018 with performance in the top 5% of Morningstar’s World Allocation category for 1, 3 and 10 years. Blume tells us how shareholder advocacy can influence the integration of ESG metrics into the long term value creation of companies owned in the Appleseed Fund (APPLX), for which his firm is the adviser.

Episode 26 | December 6, 2018

Customized ESG Data Incorporation & Proxy Voting

Jennifer Sireklove, Director of Responsible Investing, Parametric

Join us as Sireklove explains how she has built Parametric’s Responsible Investing practice over two years, including customized ESG data incorporation on $20 billion AUM, and firm-wide proxy voting on $100 billion AUM.

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