Fireside Chat: Protecting Higher Education's Freedom to Consider Environmental and Social Metrics When Investing

• Shivaram Rajgopal, Kester and Byrnes Professor, Columbia University
• Andrew Poreda, Senior Research Analyst, Sage Advisory

Panel: Building Consensus & Establishing the Investment Policy
A Virginia Wesleyan Case Study

• Scott D. Miller, President, Virginia Wesleyan University
• Gary Bonnewell, Trustee, Virginia Wesleyan University
• Rowan Stuart, Student, Virginia Wesleyan University
• Moderator: Ali Bayler, Portfolio Manager, Brown Advisory  

Dialogue at Small Tables: How is your organization thinking about sustainable investing?  What barriers do you face, what tools or solutions might be most helpful?

Panel: Racial Equity in the Investment Process
A Warren Wilson College Case Study

• Anthony Rust, Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee, Warren Wilson College
• Sumali Sanyal, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager, Systematic Global Equities, Xponance
• Jaylen Spann, Senior Associate, Whistle Stop Capital
• Moderator: Judy Chambers, Managing Principal / Private Markets Consultant, Meketa

Dialogue: Where is your institution in integrating JEDI goals and approaching the intersection between climate justice and the just transition in your Investment Policy Statement?

Coffee Break 

Next Level Conversations: 8 labeled topical tables, where one presenter shares about the topic/their work, and proceeds to lead a conversation with table mates for ~20 minutes. Attendees rotate to different tables a total of three times to maximize topical learning, networking, and conversation.

• The nexus between Climate Justice and Just Transition: case studies highlighting Western Sahara, the apparel industry, and Indigenous rights
  TableLead: Whitney Sweeney, Schroders
  
  
• Retirement Readiness: Sustainability as a catalyst to close the retirement gap and drive participant engagement
  Table Lead: Melissa Platner, Impax Asset Management
  
  
• Urban Impact Real Estate
  Table Lead: Tomas Landes, Primestor
  
  
• Incubating Innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  Table Lead: Julian Thompson, UNCF
  
  
• Is Europe Still Leading on Sustainable Investing?
  Table Lead: Anastasia Guha, Redington
  
  
• Return to Diversity: Bringing all Talent to the Table to Drive Outperformance
  Table Leads: Ivy Jack & Ruth Shaber, Diverse Investing Collective, Tara Health Foundation
  
  
• Protecting Higher Education's Freedom to Consider ESG Metrics When Investing
  Table Leads: Andrew Poreda & Shivaram Rajgopal, Sage Advisory & Columbia Business School
       
• The need for caution, investing intentionally and the rise of impact measurement
  Table Lead: Brian Svendahl, RBC Global Asset Management

Debrief, Dialogue & Action Planning: What emerged from your conversations today as collective or individual next steps? Are there topics you’d like to dive into more deeply within the Network?

Reception