Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Committees
Purpose
The ESG Technical Committee and ESG Examination Subcommittee are responsible for developing and maintaining the Global ESG Disclosure Standards for Investment Products. The ESG Working Group, which was active from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020, was also instrumental in the development of these standards.
ESG Technical Committee members
Former Managing Director, Head of Sustainability in Active Equities, UBS Asset Management, United States (Retired)
Bruno Bertocci, retired, was the former Head of Global Sustainability in Active Equities at UBS Asset Management, where he led the development of the team's positive screening process. He managed the global equity investment group at Stein Roe & Farnham and worked as a regional portfolio manager and global equity portfolio manager at Rockefeller & Co. Mr. Bertocci represented UBS on committees that include the US Social Investment Forum, the Institutional Advisory Group for the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. He was also a member of the UBS Sustainability Council. Mr. Bertocci holds an AB degree from Oberlin College and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School.
Senior Director, Wealth Management Solutions, Ameriprise Financial, United States
Ben graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia with a B.A. in Political Science. He also received his M.B.A. with an emphasis in Finance from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) designations.
Senior Risk Specialist, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), Australia
Prior to joining APRA, Ms. Chang held several roles within Westpac Banking Corporation's institutional division across financial markets trading and corporate advisory areas.
Ms. Chang’s volunteer work with CFA Institute includes exam question reviews and engagement on online member education initiatives. She holds a Commerce degree majoring in Accounting and Finance from Macquarie University (Sydney) and a GARP Financial Risk Manager designation.
Anthony actively advocates sustainability governance best practice. In addition to the CFA Institutes’ ESG Technical Committee, he serves as Supervisory Board member of the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), and Steering Committee member of the World Economic Forum Climate Governance Initiative (CGI) Hong Kong. With his deep ESG expertise, coupled with his experience serving in various industry positions and board directorships, Anthony works closely with financial industry and asset owners to promote ESG best practices and initiatives in Asia.
Senior ESG DirectorFounder and Managing Partner, Petra Funds GroupClose Group Consulting Inc., United States and Canada
Tamara is Senior Director, ESG Advisory for the Petra Funds Group. Prior to Petra she founded Close Group Consulting, a global boutique ESG strategy and due diligence advisory firm for financial and capital markets. She has over 25 years of combined experience in capital markets, risk management, and ESG strategy, and previously spent 10 years in senior leadership roles at PSP Investments as well as various investment management positions for global investment firms. Tamara is an experienced board director, investment committee member and strategic advisor for various firms and foundations.
Consultant, United Kingdom
Clive Emery was Head of Multi Asset Strategies at Invesco, where he focuses on sustainable multi-asset solutions, and he was one of two Net Zero investment champions at the firm. He launched the Summit Responsible Range, five risk-targeted responsible multi-asset funds, for which he pioneered Responsible Asset Allocation (RAA), a separate and additional step to the traditional tactical and strategic asset allocation processes. He is a member of the Sustainability and Responsible Investment (SRI) committee of the Investment Association, a contributor to the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association’s policy vision, a member of TISA’s SRI committee, and a member of the Disclosure & Labelling Advisory Group developing sustainable disclosure regulation for the UK fund industry with the Financial Conduct Authority and Her Majesty’s Treasury.
Managing Director, Sustainable Finance Americas, S&P Global Ratings, United States
Michael Ferguson is a Managing Director and the Team Leader for the Sustainable Finance group at S&P Global Ratings. He manages a team of 20 North American and LatAm Sustainable Finance Analysts. He has been involved in the development, roll-out, and updating of our Climate Transition Assessment, and is responsible for the inclusion of ESG risks into our credit ratings. He also supports our efforts on Second Party Opinions (SPOs). He is responsible for developing the learning curriculum on ESG throughout S&P Global Ratings. Much of his thought leadership research revolves around energy policy and labor issues, especially in the United States.
Michael joined S&P Global Ratings in December 2011 and was in the North American Energy Infrastructure practice as a credit analyst for approximately seven years, covering project financings and power companies. Previously, he worked as a forensic accounting consultant with FTI Consulting in Washington, DC. He worked on a wide array of cases, ranging from stock option backdating and revenue recognition to embezzlement and Ponzi schemes. Michael also worked in the Financial Services Assurance practice at Ernst & Young LLP; he audited hedge funds, insurers, and banks, as well as government agencies.
Michael graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2005 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He also received an International Business Certificate. He received a Master of Science degree in Accountancy from the University of Virginia in 2006 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Duke University in 2011, as well as a Masters of Liberal Arts in Sustainability from Harvard University in 2023. Michael is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a Certified Public Accountant, a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, and a Certified Fraud Examiner. He also holds the CFA Institute ESG Investing Certificate.
Director of ESG Research, Breckinridge Capital Advisors, Inc., United States
Rob is director, environmental, social and governance (ESG) research. He is also a member of the firm’s Stewardship Committee. In his role, Rob leads Breckinridge’s ongoing ESG integration and engagement efforts, regularly contributes thought leadership and performs corporate credit analysis. Rob has been with the firm since 2010 and has over 26 years of research experience. Prior to Breckinridge, Rob was a senior research analyst at Opus Investment Management. Rob began his career in credit research at State Street Bank & Trust Co. as a participant in its commercial loan officer development program. Rob is a member of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, a member of the Board of Overseers for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay, a member of the
CFA Institute’s ESG Technical Committee and a Town Meeting Member for the Town of Needham, MA. He holds a B.S. from Boston College, an MBA from the Boston University School of Management and a Master of Liberal Arts in Sustainability from the Harvard University Extension School. He is a CFA® Charterholder and is an FSA Credential holder.
Head, Global Industry Standards, CFA Institute, United States
Chris Fidler is a Head in the Global Industry Standards department at CFA Institute. Mr. Fidler leads the promotion of CFA Institute industry codes and standards globally and helps to identify areas where new standards are needed. He currently leads the development efforts for the CFA Institute ESG Disclosure Standards for Investment Products. Prior to joining CFA Institute, Mr. Fidler was a management consultant at Thought Logic Consulting, LLC, and served in a number of management roles at Capital One Financial Corporation. Mr. Fidler holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of Illinois and a Master of Business Administration from the Darden School of Business at University of Virginia.
She has over 17 years’ professional experience in the investment industry with a focus on quantitative strategies and equities. Before joining Mercer, she was the CEO for Singapore and Head of Equity Quant Investments (formerly Rosenberg) for APAC at AXA Investment Managers. She was responsible for developing the strategy and driving the business, research, sustainability and investment agenda for Rosenberg in the region. She was a member of regional and global leadership teams including Asia Executive Committee and Rosenberg Global Management Committee and worked on multiple complex client and business projects.
Prior to this, she served as the Head of Portfolio Management and Deputy Chief Investment officer for the region. During that period, the business delivered several important milestones, developed complex new investment capabilities, undertook leading-edge platform-wide ESG integration and completely overhauled the portfolio construction process.
Anubhuti is an active contributor on investing, leadership and ESG related topics. She advocates for diversity, mentoring and knowledge-based volunteering to advance the investment industry. She has served on the global CFA Institute Education Advisory Committee as a member and Vice-chair for a term of 6 years. She is a member of the Nominating Committee for CFA Institute Board of Governors. She has been appointed as a member of the CFA Institute ESG Technical Committee starting September 2022.She sits on the Advisory Board of Singapore Chapter of CAIA Institute. She is a mentor and champion at Financial Women’s Association of Singapore and supports LGBT Great.
Anubhuti holds a Master’s degree in Financial Engineering and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (First class Honors) from Nanyang Technological University and a Certificate in Computational Finance from Carnegie Mellon University. She is a CFA and CAIA Charterholder and has Certificates in ESG Investing and Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM).
Amanda is a non-actuary member of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Sustainability Board, advising the profession on policy and regulation of environmental and social issues. She is also a charity trustee and currently holds the Vice Chair role on the board of Age UK West Sussex, Brighton & Hove; using her time and expertise to support the community.
Head of ESG Stewardship, Managing Director, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company UK Limited, United Kingdom
Ms. Mariotti is the Head of ESG Stewardship, Managing Director on Cerberus’ Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) team. Ms. Mariotti joined Cerberus in 2022 and works across our portfolio companies, desks, and investments to help implement evolving ESG and sustainability initiatives. Ms. Mariotti was most recently a Managing Director in the Portfolio Operations Group at Blackstone, where she helped develop the Firm’s global emissions reduction program. Prior to Blackstone, Ms. Mariotti held leadership roles in management consulting at Accenture and IBM Business Services, where she sold and delivered performance improvement programs for industrial clients across North and South America, Continental Europe, and the United Kingdom. Earlier in her career, Ms. Mariotti worked as an engineer in several technical and hands-on operational roles and gained experience working in diligence at DNV GL. Ms. Mariotti has previously served on the boards and in leadership roles for numerous energy organizations, including the World Energy Council and the Energy Institute. Ms. Mariotti received a bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, with specialization in Sustainability and Safety Management Systems, and a Master of Engineering, with a focus in Solar Technology, from La Sapienza University in Rome. She also earned a Master of Engineering, with a focus in Operational and Business Risk Management, from the University of Bologna and an Executive M.B.A., with distinction, from the University of Oxford Saïd Business School.
Prior to MSIM, Kate worked at BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) where she primarily advised private equity firms on ESG integration, including impact investing and ESG due diligence. Kate also worked with consumer goods and food and agriculture companies to design and implement supply chain sustainability and women’s empowerment programs. Before working at BSR, Kate was the lead ESG Analyst for the Materials sector at Sustainalytics where she conducted company and sector-level research, advised clients on ESG integration and contributed to the firm’s research methodology development.
Kate holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of British Columbia.
ESG Product Specialist and Co-Chair of ESG Strategic Steering Committee, Western Asset Management, United Kingdom
Brishni Mukhopadhyay, CFA is the ESG Product Specialist and Co-Chair of the ESG Strategic Steering Committee for Western Asset Management, which is a Specialist Investment Manager of Franklin Resources, Inc, the holding company for Franklin Templeton Investments and its subsidiaries. Prior to this, Brishni worked at Lazard Asset Management, J.P. Morgan Asset Management and J.P. Morgan Investment Bank.
Brishni is currently the Chair of the ESG Working Group responsible for the Certificate in ESG Investing, having previously served as the Vice-Chair of the working group with CFA UK since inception in 2017. Brishni holds a M.S. in Operations Research (Finance) from Columbia University, M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield and is a CFA charterholder.
Head of Sustainability Operations, LuxFLAG, Luxembourg
Ahmed joined LuxFLAG in 2020 where he is Head of Sustainability Operations. He is responsible for the operational translation of LuxFLAG's strategy, the label developments and leads the team that reviews label applications. Prior to joining LuxFLAG, Ahmed spent his career in asset management in Luxembourg and in the United Arab Emirates, where he held business implementation and product management and development roles. Ahmed also intervened as guest teacher in Sustainable Finance at NEOMA Business School (France) in the M.Sc. International Finance - Real Estate and Wealth Management track.
Head – Sustainable Investment, DSP Asset Managers, India
At GMO, Hardik was responsible for building its global ESG capability across investment product areas and asset classes. His efforts included creation of GMO’s proprietary country ESG model as well as the company-level GMO ESG Score, helping various investment teams with their ESG integration and engagement efforts, and designing Fund level ESG reports for GMO strategies.
Prior to joining GMO in 2017, he led a global team of analysts focused on ESG ratings and thematic research at Sustainalytics. Previously, he was an ESG Ratings associate at MSCI and, as a senior climate change consultant with Ernst & Young, has helped register a wide variety of carbon credit projects with the UNFCCC under the Clean Development Mechanism defined in the Kyoto Protocol.
An engineering graduate, Hardik also holds a post-graduate diploma in management (Finance), the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) credential issued by the SASB, Sustainability, the Climate Risk (SCR) credential by the GARP, and the CFA charter.
ESG Examination Subcommittee members
Claudia also chairs the PRI Sovereign Debt Advisory Committee, having previously been a PRI Fixed Income Advisory Committee member and chaired the PRI Sovereign Working Group. She is a member of the CFA UK ESG Working Group, which developed the first professional ESG qualification. In addition, Claudia sits on the CFA Institute ESG Verification Subcommittee.