| Katie Beith Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation Katie is a Senior Investment Strategist in the Responsible Investment team for the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation (Guardians). She is involved primarily in supporting our portfolio monitoring and engagement programme, our exclusion lists and on ESG training and support for our internal teams. Prior to joining the Guardians, Katie spent 8 years at Newton Investment Management (London) initially in the role of Assistant Fund Manager on the multi-asset desk. After 4 years, she moved into the Research Team as the Socially Responsible Investment Officer and worked towards establishing an environmental and social analysis capability which was integrated into Newton's investment process. Katie also worked for 3.5 years with the United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Investment as Head of Implementation Support, developing tools for signatories to implement the Principles across all asset classes. In addition, she has spent 1.5 years at the Responsible Investment Association Australasia as ESG Research Manager for the RI Academy, creating and generating content for the Academy. Katie holds a BSc from Auckland University. | |
| Nicolette Boele Manager Policy and Projects, RIAA Nicolette is RIAA’s Manager Policy and Projects, leading the RI Certification Program, industry research projects and contributing to RIAA’s policy agenda. She has 25 years’ experience delivering engagements, collaborations and accountability solutions for and with Australian and international companies, governments, unions and NGOs. She has worked at the Australian Conservation Foundation and Investor Group on Climate Change and has held executive roles at The Climate Institute, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Banarra and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority. Nicolette is lead judge for NSW’s GREEN GLOBE Awards and Banksia Foundation’s Award for Circular Economy. She is also an interim Board member on Brand Ethics, an internationally reaching research institute promoting ethical shopping choices by providing labour, environmental and animal rights ratings on over 1,000 brands. | |
| Chris Di Leva Senior Associate, Mercer Chris Di Leva is a Senior Associate in Mercer’s Investments business. Chris is a member of Mercer’s Dynamic Asset Allocation and Portfolio Management teams, which are respectively responsible for the asset allocation positioning and portfolio management offering for Mercer’s diversified fund range in New Zealand. Chris’ passion for investor education sees him present regularly at education seminars and videos. Chris also has some client consulting responsibilities. He is based in Wellington. Prior to joining Mercer in November 2011, Chris worked at AXA within the KiwiSaver and the State Sector Retirement Savings Scheme teams. Chris holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (Accounting and Commercial Law) from Victoria University of Wellington. Chris is a holder of the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. | |
| Clive Pedley CFRE FFINZ, Director and Chief Executive at Giving Architects Limited Clive has been an advisor to the non-profit sector since 2000. His direct personal experience from harnessing incredible acts of generosity, many millions of dollars over the years, has given insights and experience that help social profit organisations in New Zealand every day. Clive has been presenting, training and teaching on fundraising in New Zealand and Australia for over 10 years and for the past two years has been at the forefront of developing social impact investment models for the social profit sector. Clive was the first New Zealander appointed to the Board of CFRE International in 2014, a global accreditation organisation for over 5,500 senior fundraisers worldwide. In December 2015 Clive was appointed to the International Advisory Panel of the Rogare think tank on international fundraising ethics, part of the Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy at Plymouth University in the UK. This level of international engagement has led to a sound understanding of traditional and emerging international best practice. Clive is a former President of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand (FINZ) from 2011 to 2013 and was a member of the FINZ National Council from 2009 to 2015. Clive was named a FINZ Fellow in May 2014. | |
| Malcolm Rands Executive Chair of Fairground Foundation & Founder of ecostore When Malcolm and Melanie Rands started ecostore in 1993 they had a dream to create business that would fund a not-for-profit arm that they started at the same time called Fairground Foundation. Since 1994, ecostore have researched and brought to market, New Zealand’s leading range of healthier, eco friendlier household cleaners, body care and baby products with a focus on looking after the health and wellbeing of people as well as the planet. While small for some time, the profits were used to fund small community projects that supported the environment. Today, Fairground Foundation is Malcolm and Melanie’s total focus. Fairground Foundation tackles social and environmental challenges that need feet on the ground and practical action. Projects that help speed up the creation of the future it imagines – one with healthy people, healthy communities and a healthy planet. From bringing snow to the streets of Whangarei to setting up organic gardens in schools, to its current project working with others to protect flora and fauna, and its urban eco neighbourhood initiative, Fairground Foundation is challenging the status quo. Malcolm has been active in the sustainable scene for over 33 years. He co-founded New Zealand’s first permaculture eco-village in 1986, and was a foundation member of the New Zealand Sustainable Business Network. He has been awarded the Green Ribbon Award from the Ministry for the Environment, plus two environmental awards from the Auckland Regional Council and most recently Malcolm has been added to the World Class New Zealand International Network. ecostore won two awards at the 2014 NZI National Sustainable Business Network Awards, the Mega Efficiency Innovation category and Malcolm was the joint winner of the Sustainability Champion award. It has been voted by Kiwis as leading the way in sustainability in Colmar Brunton’s Better Business, Better World survey for three years running, (2014, 2015, 2016). In 2013 he released his book called ‘ecoman’ which encompasses his personal and entrepreneurial life, the 20 years of ecostore’s remarkable development and his courage to take on the multinationals and create safer plant based products for our health that really work. In September 2014 ecostore launched a world first by being the only manufacturer to convert all of its proprietary bottles to a plastic made from sugarcane. ecostore calls it their Carbon Capture™ Pak because as sugarcane grows it captures CO2 from the atmosphere, that is then stored in the plastic. This natural process actually reduces their carbon footprint, which can help to reduce climate change. On 31 December 2015 Malcolm was awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit as part of the New Year’s Honours for services to business, conservation and philanthropy. | |
| Rebekah Swan Head of Distribution, AMP Capital Rebekah heads up the Distribution team and has responsibility for managing the relationships with AMP Capital’s clients. Her primary focus is on managing and enhancing those relationships, through providing a clear understanding of AMP Capital’s funds and explaining the broader issues which impact client portfolios. Rebekah has over 15 years’ financial services experience. She joined AMP Capital in 2002 and has been part of the relationship management team since 2004. Before joining AMP Capital, Rebekah spent five years overseas working in various accounting roles for Credit Suisse First Boston, Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation and Rabobank International. | |
| Dr Ian Woods Head of ESG Research, AMP Capital Dr Ian Woods joined AMP Capital in December 2000, and since that time has focussed on how the issues of sustainability and ESG relate to financial investment and investment risks. Dr Woods’ background is in environmental and risk consulting both in the Asia/Pacific region and Europe. Ian assesses the management of intangible assets of companies on the Australian Securities Exchange through the assessment of governance ESG issues and in engaging with these companies in the areas of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Dr Woods also undertakes assessment of greenhouse gas risk issues for the wider AMP Capital Investment teams and has undertaken a number of studies in this area. | |
