Ophir Bruck, US Network Manager, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

Ophir Bruck is a US Network Manager at the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), overseeing the PRI’s network and initiatives in the western US. Prior to joining the PRI, Ophir was an Analyst at the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer, where he co-led the development and implementation of a responsible investment framework for the university system’s endowment, pension and working capital assets. Read his full bio here.

 

Verity Chegar, Vice President, BlackRock

Verity Chegar, Vice President at BlackRock, is a member of the Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment (CGRI) team. She is a global ESG analyst responsible for researching fundamental ESG trends and their implications for investment and engagement on a global basis. Her work informs the CGRI team's extensive ESG engagement program, as well as the integration of ESG factors into investment decision-making within BlackRock's active investment strategies. Read her full bio here.

 

David Dinerman, Trustee, Hampshire College

David Dinerman is a trustee at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he is Vice Chair, and heads the Finance and Investment Committees. David is an attorney who has worked in financial services, software, manufacturing, and real estate, principally as the CFO of companies in which he has worked. Most of his work has been in lower middle market companies. Read his full bio here.

 

Georges Dyer, Principal, Intentional Endowments Network

Georges Dyer is a principal of the Intentional Endowments Network and Executive Director of the Crane Institute of Sustainability. For over 20 years he has been engaged in solutions-based, whole-system approaches to sustainability. From 2006-2014, Georges served as a Senior Fellow, Vice President of Programs, Vice President, and Strategic Advisor at Second Nature to develop and support the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) network. Read his full bio here. 

 

Don Gould, Trustee, Pitzer College 

Don Gould is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Pitzer College and also chairs the Board's investment committee. Don has been on the front lines in implementing the college’s recent decision to divest its endowment from fossil fuel stocks and incorporate ESG factors into its portfolio construction. Don Gould is also the president and chief investment officer of Gould Asset Management, which he founded in 1999. Based in Claremont, California, the company manages more than $500 million for individuals, families and non-profit institutions. Read his full bio here.

 

Lisa Hayles, Vice President, Institutional Investment Services, Boston Common Asset Management

Lisa is responsible for client relationship management and business development focusing on foundations, endowments and their consultants. She coordinates Boston Common's shareowner engagement work around inclusion- focusing on dialogues with portfolio companies and policy initiatives supporting gender equality in the workplace. Lisa serves on the institutional investors committee of the Thirty Percent Coalition, a national non-profit committed to raising the number of women, including women of color, on public company boards across the U.S. Read her full bio here. 

 

Jessica J. Huang, CFA, Vice President, Blackrock 

Jessica J. Huang is a member of the BlackRock Impact team and works closely with the firm's global investment teams across equity, fixed income and alternatives to develop scalable, innovative investment solutions that address clients' financial objectives alongside their social or environmental objectives. BlackRock’s sustainable investing platform provides investors with a range of sustainable investment strategies across asset classes, investment vehicles, and impact profiles. Read her full bio here.

 

Michelle Levinson, Graduate Student, UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy and Energy and Resources Group

Michelle is a concurrent degree student at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Energy Resources Group. Prior to graduate school, she worked in political, legal, and regulatory advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council and NextGen Climate America. Michelle is currently interested in the financial impacts of climate change, but also likes to keep up with California’s climate and energy policies and is fascinated by models of economy-wide decarbonization. Read her full bio here.

 

Tom Mitchell, Managing Director, Cambridge Associates

Tom Mitchell is a Managing Director in Cambridge Associates’ Arlington, VA office. He leads a number of relationships with colleges & universities, foundations, and private clients ranging in size from $30 million to $4 billion. Tom advises on total investment program management, inclusive of issues such as governance, strategy, portfolio construction, manager diligence and selection, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation. Read his full bio here.

 

Alicia Seiger, Deputy Director, Stanford Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance

Alicia Seiger is Deputy Director of the Stanford Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, a joint initiative of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School. Alicia leads the center’s work to develop and deploy financial innovations for philanthropic and long-term sources of capital to catalyze a rapid decarbonization of the global economy. In 2015, she created Investing in a New Climate, an investor workshop series that aims to help asset owners manage climate risk and capitalize on innovation opportunities. She also oversees the center’s programming, operations, and market engagement. Read her full bio here. 

 

Rev. Kirsten Snow Spalding, Director, Investor Network, Ceres

With members of the Investor Network on Climate Risk and Sustainability Kirsten leads Ceres' investment practices initiatives and represents Ceres on the West Coast for all investor programs. She is part of Ceres’ new California office. Prior to joining Ceres, she served as Chief Deputy Treasurer under California Treasurer Phil Angelides and Director of the Treasurer’s environmental financing authorities. Prior to her government service, Kirsten worked in the labor movement as Chief of Staff for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. With the California Sierra Club and the Ella Baker Center, Kirsten co-founded the California Apollo Alliance. For six years, she chaired the Center for Labor Research and Education at University of California, Berkeley and taught at Boalt Hall School of Law. Read her full bio here.

 

Robert Strand, Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Business, University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business

Dr. Robert Strand is the Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Business and member of faculty at the University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business. He is also Assistant Professor of Leadership & Sustainability with the Copenhagen Business School Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility. His research and teaching focuses on the strategic aspects of sustainability that includes the role of the Chief Sustainability Officer, comparing global approaches to sustainability with particular focus on the U.S. and Scandinavia, and theory of the firm with a focus on ethics of the corporation and considering the role of corporations in society. Read his full bio here.

 

Carl Vance, CIO, Lewis & Clark College

Carl Vance currently serves as Lewis & Clark College's Chief Investment Officer. Carl joined Lewis & Clark College on August 1, 2006 as Vice President of Business and Finance. Mr. Vance had been Linfield College’s vice president for finance and business since 1996. Prior to Linfield, Vance served for ten years as the vice president for business and finance at Occidental College, where he directed legal, administrative and financial operations. Read his full bio here.