Jagdeep Singh Bachher, Chief Investment Officer, University of California, Regents
Jagdeep Singh Bachher is responsible for managing the UC Endowment, Pension and Retirement Savings and Working Capital investments. He reports directly to the Board of Regents on investment matters and the President on administrative issues related to managing a group of 60 investment professionals and staff. Before joining the UC system, Bachher was Deputy CIO and COO for one of Canada’s sovereign wealth funds, Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo). Prior to his position at AIMCo, he worked in the U.S. Wealth Management, Canadian, and Investments divisions of Manulife Financial. Bachher received his Ph.D. and M.A.Sc. in Management Sciences and B.A.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Waterloo.Read more...
Ira Ehrenpreis, Managing Partner, DBL Partners
Ira Ehrenpreis is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners, a leading impact investing venture capital firm, currently investing out of a $400M fund. Ira is a recognized leader in both the venture capital industry and the energy innovation sector. In 2007, Ira was named one of the “Top 50 Most Influential Men Under 45" and in 2014 was inducted into the International Green Industry Hall of Fame. Read more...
Leslie E. Wong, President, San Fransisco State University
Dr. Leslie E. Wong serves as president of San Francisco State University, one of the nation’s premier urban comprehensive universities offering baccalaureate degrees in 123 academic areas; 27 credential programs; 35 certificate programs; 62 master’s degrees; and 4 doctoral degrees. He leads more than 3,000 faculty and staff as they serve a student population of over 30,000. Read more...
Robert J. Nava, Vice President University Advancement, San Francisco State University; and President, San Francisco State Foundation
Robert Nava is vice president for university advancement at SF State and is president of the San Francisco State University Foundation. Prior to coming to SF State, Nava held various senior leadership positions at the University of California, Riverside and served as the university's lobbyist in Sacramento and Washington D.C. During much of his 19-year UC Riverside career, Nava also taught as an adjunct faculty member in CSU Fullerton's Chicano Studies program and worked in advocacy for the Orange County Human Relations Commission. Nava served as the associate vice president for institutional advancement at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) from 2005 to 2010, during which time he organized the university's centennial campaign, which raised almost half of its $200 million goal in a down economy before its public launch in September 2010. Read more...
Alice DonnaSelva, Consultant, Prime Buchholz
Alice DonnaSelva joined Prime Buchholz in 2005 and has 13 years of industry experience. Prior to becoming a Consultant, she served as a Consulting Analyst and an Investment Analyst for seven years. Alice serves as Chair of the Firm’s Sustainable Investment Committee and is a member of the Fixed Income and Defined Benefit Committees. She provides advice, analysis, asset allocation modeling, and portfolio development support to endowments, foundations, and other types of clients. Read more...
Amy Myers Jaffe, Executive Director, Energy and Sustainability, University of California, Davis
Amy Myers Jaffe is a leading expert on global energy policy, geopolitical risk, and energy and sustainability. Jaffe serves as senior advisor, energy and sustainability to the Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the Regents, University of California, and as executive director for Energy and Sustainability at University of California, Davis. She is associate editor (North America) for the academic journal Energy Strategy Reviews and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Economics and Energy and Environmental Policy. Jaffe’s research focuses on sustainable investment, corporate investment strategies in the energy sector, and oil and gas geopolitics. Read more...
Betty Cremmins, Senior Manager, CDP Supply Chain , CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project)
Betty Cremmins, Senior Manager of CDP’s Supply Chain program, works with leading organizations including Walmart, Dell, Microsoft and the U.S. government to support the integration of climate change and water disclosure and action into standard purchasing practice. She has recently relocated to the Bay Area to launch CDP’s first west coast office. Previously, she offered guidance and support to thousands of companies responding to CDP’s annual Climate Change, Water and Forests information requests. She has a background in carbon footprinting, green-building and environmental policy. Betty has worked on climate change mitigation projects around the world, from the US Gulf Coast to sub-Saharan Africa to Antarctica. She holds a BA from New York University, a MPA in Environmental Science & Policy from Columbia University and is a LEED Accredited Professional. Read More...
Brian J. Sharpes, Certified Investment Management Analyst ; Managing Director, Investments, Senior Institutional Consultant, UBS Institutional Consulting
Brian has served his clients’ investment management needs since 1994. Since starting his career, he has specialized in nonprofit organizations. He has built a reputation and client base over that time that has led to national recognition and over $3 billion in group assets, of which $1.4 billion are nonprofit client assets under management. In an ongoing effort to continue professional development, Brian earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst designation under the joint auspices of the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, and the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA). Read More...
Daniel P. Nielsen , Managing Director, Great Lakes Advisors
Daniel P. Nielsen is a Managing Director at Great Lakes Advisors overseeing the firm’s sustainable and responsible investing initiatives. Dan works closely with the client service and portfolio management teams to promote investment solutions that align with clients’ values and performance goals and identify sustainability themed investment opportunities. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, Dan was the Director of Socially Responsible Investing at Christian Brothers Investment Services where he developed and implemented investment screens, directed corporate engagement activities, and managed proxy voting. Read More...
David Dinerman, Chief Financial Officer, ZoMazz, Inc.; Hampshire College Trustee
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. As part of his work on the Hampshire board, David has been active in encouraging foundations and endowments to align their mission and principles with how they invest their endowments, and has spoken at over fifteen conferences on the subject. He holds a BA from Hampshire College, a JD from the University of Oregon Law School, and a LLM from Boston University. David lives in northern California with his wife and two sons. Read More...
Douglass Cogan, Vice President, ESG Research, MSCI
Doug Cogan has devoted his entire career to serving institutional investors who wish to integrate environmental,social and governance (ESG) factors in corporate engagement, risk management, proxy voting and investment decisions. His expertise includes energy and environmental topics and fiduciary responsibility. His 1992 book, "The Greenhouse Gambit," was one of the first to examine how climate change would influence business and investment practices. At present, he is a Vice President for MSCI ESG Research and an asset owner consultant to pension funds, foundations and endowments. Read More...
Garrett P. Ashley, Vice Chancellor, University Relations and Advancement, The California State University
Garrett P. Ashley is vice chancellor of University Relations and Advancement for the California State University, providing oversight for systemwide fundraising, governmental affairs, community relations, alumni relations, communications and public affairs since November 2008. His division highlights the system’s positive role in California while advocating for public higher education interests.Ashley is president of the California State University Foundation, which enhances the educational excellence of the system through public and private support and partnerships. Additionally, he serves as vice chair of the St. Mary Medical Center Board of Ambassadors to which he was appointed in 2009. Previously, Ashley was undersecretary for international trade in the Business Transportation and Housing Agency for California. Read More.
Ian Monroe, founding President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Etho Capital and Lecturer, Stanford University
Ian Monroe is the founding President and Chief Sustainability Officer of Etho Capital, where he's pioneered the links between sustainability and financial outperformance with the ETHO ETF. Ian's approach to sustainable investing has come from his role as the Founder and CEO of Oroeco, the world's leading web and mobile personal sustainability tracking platform. Ian is also a Lecturer at Stanford University, where he created the first course focused on evaluating tradeoffs linked to climate change solutions. Ian has received many awards for his work, including selection as an Echoing Green Climate Fellow, an Institutional Investor "Rising Star," and one of TechRepublic's top 8 leaders in cleantech. Ian engages policy-makers on climate and energy issues through numerous industry and government associations, such as the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, UNESCO Netexplo, and UNEP Finance Initiative. Read more...
Jameela Pedicini, Director, Asset Management, Perella Weinberg Partners
Prior to joining Perella Weinberg Partners, Ms. Pedicini was Vice President of Sustainable Investing at the Harvard Management Company, where she was responsible for developing and leading its sustainable investment strategy. Prior to that, Ms. Pedicini was an Investment Officer at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, where she led the development and implementation of a variety of strategic ESG integration initiatives. Before working in the US, Ms. Pedicini worked in London for the UN supporting Principles for Responsible Investment as Manager of Investor Engagements, and Global Risk Analyst at Verisk Maplecroft. Ms. Pedicini currently serves on the Standards Council of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board in San Francisco. Read More..
James J. Rantanen, Jr. , Head of ESG and Sustainable Investments, Americas, Global Client Group
Jamie joined Deutsche Bank in December 2008. He is Head of ESG and Sustainable Investments, Americas - Global Client Group. Before joining Deutsche, Jamie spent over 18 years at both UBS and Smith Barney in as a Senior Private Wealth Manager, working with high net worth investors and family offices with investment and risk management, asset allocation, estate planning, alternative investments, executive financial services, Jamie currently serves as representative for Deutsche Bank to several outside affiliates such as the United Nations Environmental Program- Financial Institutions Task Force, Ceres, World Economic Forum Impact Investing Initiative and others. Jamie is a frequent speaker and panellist, and also contributor to leading financial news publications on ESG , Sustainable, and Impact investing. Read more...
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. BlackRock leverages its differentiated investment platform, proprietary technology, data analytics, deep environmental social and governance (ESG) expertise and culture of innovation to offer sustainable solutions to the firm’s institutional and retail clients. Read More...
John Gumas(’84) Immediate Past Chair, President, Gumas Advertising
John Gumas is the President of Gumas Advertising, a San Francisco-based full-service branding, advertising and interactive marketing agency. A veteran of the advertising and marketing industry, Gumas founded Gumas Advertising in 1984. Today, the award-winning firm serves a host of regional, national and international clients. Gumas currently sits on many boards, including the San Francisco Giants Community Fund, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Elios Society. He is also the author of the popular book "Marketing Smart." Mr. Gumas received a B.A. in marketing in 1984 from SF State, where he was named 2008 Alumni Advocate of the Year and inducted into SF State's Alumni Hall of Fame in 2010. His wife, Janice, graduated from SF State in 1985, also with a bachelor's degree in business. Janice Gumas is serving as founding president of the newly established SF State Parents Council. Their son studies opera at SF State. Read More...
Keith Johnson, Chairman, Reinhart Boarner Van Deauren
Keith L. Johnson chairs the Institutional Investor Services Group at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. He represents pension funds, foundations and other institutional investors globally on fiduciary, investment, governance and litigation matters. He is a member of the International Corporate Governance Network's Shareholder Rights Committee, the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board's Education Review Committee and the American College of Investment Counsel. Before joining Reinhart, Mr. Johnson served as Chief Legal Officer of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), the ninth largest public pension fund in the United States. At SWIB, he headed investment legal services and was a member of the Risk Committee. He served on the Executive Board of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys (NAPPA) and was President of the organization. Read more.
Ken Locklin, Managing Director, Impax Asset Management
Mr. Locklin currently serves as the North American Managing Director for Impax Asset Management LLC. Impax manages $3.6 billion of public and private equity investments for major institutional clients around the world. With more than a decade of experience, it is the global investment leader in the FTSE-tracked environmental sector, investing in clean energy, resource recovery/waste management, and water processing/distribution. Previously, Mr. Locklin was the Director of Finance and Investment with the Clean Energy Group (CEG), the private organization, which supports and advises clean energy investment efforts worldwide. Read more...
Martha Shear, Director, Commonfund
Martha is responsible for the development of asset management mandates across endowments, foundations, healthcare organizations, and public pensions in the western United States. Prior to joining in 2016, she was a Vice President at BlackRock within their Institutional iShares business. Over the five years Martha was with BlackRock, she worked as a business development officer and investment strategist focusing on endowments, foundations, and public and corporate pension plans across the central and western United States with the objective of providing multi-asset portfolio solutions addressing a complete range of investment objectives. Read More...
Kevin Crook, Director of Private Wealth, Principal Global Investors
As Director of Private Wealth, Kevin works with prominent RIAs and family offices across the country, representing the investment solutions of Principal Global Investors, the asset management arm of The Principal Financial Group, with 14 investment boutiques and $380 billion in assets under management. These boutiques include Principal Real Estate Investors and its Responsible Property Investing Initiative (RPI), a program integrating ESG with commercial real estate. Kevin began his career with Merrill Lynch in New York in 1983. Before joining Principal, he was Executive Vice President of W.P. Stewart Asset Management, responsible for institutional business development and consultant relations. He also served as Senior Vice President and National Sales Manager at Cohen & Steers, Inc. in New York. Kevin is a graduate of Brown University and holds the Chartered Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation. Read More...
Leona M. Bridges, ('79) Director, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Leona Bridges is a director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board. Formerly, Bridges was the managing director for Barclays Global Investors. Bridges serves on numerous community and nonprofit boards, including the West Bay Local Development Corporation, the American Baptist Seminary of the West and the Advisory Council of Golden Gate University's Ageno School of Business. She has also been involved with the Saint Mark's School Inc. (trustee) and the San Francisco Alumni Delta Community Foundation (chief financial officer and treasurer). Bridges was named the 2006 Citizen of the Year by the National Council of Negro Women. Bridges received a B.A. in business administration from SF State in 1979 and was inducted into the SF State Alumni Hall of Fame in 2011. Read More...
Lisa Hayes, Business Development, Boston Common Management
Lisa works closely with members of the investment team to liaise with existing institutional clients—as well as support the development of new relationships with investors and consultants. Previously, she was head of Client Services (North America) for EIRIS, a non-profit ESG research firm headquartered in London. At EIRIS, Lisa assisted institutional fund managers and pension funds to implement a variety of Responsible Investment strategies. Lisa's prior work experience includes almost three years as Assistant Director of the Social Investment Organization in Toronto, Canada, as well as research and consulting assignments at the UNDP in Jamaica and the Ontario Women's Directorate. Lisa holds degrees from the University of Toronto (BA hons), University of Guelph (Msc International Development), and the Sorbonne (French Language certificate). Read More...
Meredith Benton, Head of Client Relations, Director, Sonen Capital
Meredith Benton leads Sonen’s client relations function, serving as Sonen’s representative to our client base.Before joining Sonen, Meredith served as a Client Portfolio & Shareholder Engagement Manager at Boston Common Asset Management, where she worked with existing and prospective clients on investment and sustainability strategies. Prior to Boston Common, Meredith was the Associate Director of Social Research at Walden Asset Management, where she coordinated the social research process and led shareholder engagement programs. She has led shareholder advocacy initiatives across a range of topics, including climate change, equal opportunity workplaces, human rights, and corporate disclosure. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Institutional Investor and The Los Angeles Times. Read More..
Michael Pearce, Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
Michael is a Managing Director in Cambridge Associates’ Menlo Park office, advising clients on investment issues such as asset allocation strategy, manager selection, and investment program evaluation. Michael works with a number of foundation, college/university, and private clients in the US ranging in size from $30 million to $2.2 billion. Michael also serves as a member of Cambridge Associates’ Mission Related Investing Group, researching and meeting with institutional quality managers focused on mission-related investing. Read more.
Tanvi Pradhan, Alumna, San Francisco State University Foundation
Tanvi is a sustainable investments professional, and has almost five years of experience in the financial industry. Tanvi began her career in the Hong Kong office of Barclays Investment Bank, where she gained secured funding and synthetics trading experience across Asian markets. She has worked with the San Francisco State University Foundation, where she developed a carbon footprint model for the investment portfolio. Tanvi has presented this work at several conferences, including the Intentional Endowments Network conference, the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference, and the Association of Governing Boards Foundation Leadership Forum. For the past year, Tanvi has worked as an Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) analyst with the SRI Wealth Management Group at RBC Wealth Management, integrating ESG considerations into clients’ investment strategies and portfolios. Read more.
Seren Pendleton-Knoll, Program Director, Berkeley-Haas Center for Responsible Business and Sustainable Investing & Finance Initiative
Seren manages and directs programs within the CRB focusing on sustainable investing and finance. Her content expertise has been key in developing the Berkeley Sustainable Business and Investment Forum, bringing together investors and companies focusing on the evolving concepts of risk management, capital allocation, and sustainable business practices with a focus on long-term value creation, as well as streamlining the Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund, the first and largest student-led SRI fund within a leading business school, currently valued at over $2 Million. She also directs the CRB case studies in partnership with the Berkeley-Haas Case Series, and the Sustainable Solutions Research Program. Prior to the CRB, Seren worked in social services and youth empowerment throughout the Bay Area. She received her Master in Development Practice from UC Berkeley, and her BA with honors in Clinical Psychology and Applied Theater from Whitman College. Read More...
Paul Herman, CEO & Founder, HIP Investor Inc.
An internationally recognized expert in impact investing, Herman invented the “HIP = Human Impact + Profit” ratings system more than a decade ago, in 2004 when investors asked how to create more human impact with their for-profit portfolios. HIP Investor Ratings show that portfolios and companies can realize lower risk, enhanced returns and profit potential, and build a better world — by focusing on the root-cause drivers of value creation, which include human (customers, employees), social (trust, governance) and environmental (energy, water) factors, and their associated impact on profit. Herman is an adjunct professor teaching MBAs at Thammasat Business School in Bangkok, Thailand, and a visiting lecturer for MBAs, including the Presidio MBA Graduate School in S.F. Read More...
Danielle Fugere, President and Chief Counsel, As You Sow
Danielle is responsible for strategic management of the Energy, Environmental Health, and Waste programs. She brings a wealth of experience in achieving broad and lasting change and in-depth knowledge of clean energy, conservation policy, toxic enforcement, and team building. Danielle served most recently as Executive Director of the Environmental Law Foundation. Prior, she was Legal Director and Regional Program Director for national nonprofit Friends of the Earth, where she spearheaded innovative legal strategies to reduce global warming pollution and directed campaigns to reduce pollution and promote sustainable alternative energies and fuels. Read More...