Pensions for Purpose, in partnership with the cio investment club, is delighted to invite you to an exclusive in-person masterclass event unveiling our first-ever research into insurers’ appetite for ESG, sustainable and impact investing. With insights from our groundbreaking research, interactive panel discussions and targeted networking with industry leaders, this event offers a unique opportunity to help shape the conversation and future direction of sustainable investment in insurance portfolios, featuring perspectives from our research sponsors: Federated Hermes Limited, Fidelity International, Gresham House, Mercer, SAIL Investments and Solas Capital. We are delighted to be holding this event at Mercer's Head Office in London offering a superb space with spectacular views of Tower Bridge.
Who is this event for?
This event is for chief investment officers, senior investment professionals, and heads of sustainability/responsible investment/ESG, working within the insurance market.
Venue: Mercer Head Office, Tower Place West, 50 Lower Thames St, London EC3R 5BU
Register here
Agenda:
Welcome & scene setting - Why Insurers for Purpose, why now
Charlotte O'Leary, Pensions for Purpose
Research findings & key themes - First insights into Insurers’ appetite for ESG & impact
Charlotte O'Leary & Bruna Bauer, Pensions for Purpose.
Panel discussion: bridging the gap - Aligning insurance portfolios with sustainable outcomes
Moderator: Charlotte O'Leary, Pensions for Purpose
Panellists:
Vanessa Hodge, Partner, Mercer,
Paul Kearney, Partner and Co-Founder, Solas Capital
Michael Schlup, Chief Sustainability Officer, SAIL Investments
Panel discussion: from risk to resilience – How ESG and impact can strengthen insurance portfolios
Moderator: Sean Thompson, cio investment club
Panellists:
Ghislain Perisse, Global Head of Insurance Solutions, Fidelity,
Peter Bachmann, Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure Division, Gresham House
Doug Anderson, Executive Director, Head of International Consultant Relations, Federated Hermes
Speed networking – Turning ideas into collaborations
Closing remarks & drinks reception – Impact Lens research partnership proposal
Douglas Anderson, Head of Consultant Relations, Federated Hermes Limited
Douglas joined in February 2017 as Head of Consultant Relations. Prior to this, he was a consultant relations manager at Lazard Asset Management Limited for five years from 2011 and at Capital International for 11 years from 2000. He has also worked in consultant and actuarial roles at Bacon & Woodrow (now Aon Hewitt) and Hymans Robertson. Douglas holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) qualification and a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics from the University of St Andrews.
Ghislain Perisse, Global Head of Insurance Solutions, Fidelity International Professional bio:
Ghislain Perisse joined Fidelity in February 2022 as the Head of Insurance Solutions and is responsible for overseeing the firm’s global insurance client strategy.
Ghislain has worked at Credit Lyonnais, Societe Generale, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley in derivatives and quant research. Ghislain then worked at AXA Investment Managers as Head of Insurance Solutions Business Development where his role was to build the third-party insurance solutions business. Most recently, Ghislain worked at Schroders as Head of Insurance Strategy EMEA with a remit to grow their European Insurance Solutions business.
In parallel, initiated the European Working Group which created TPT for Solvency II, EPT for PRIIPS, EMT for MiFID, and then became coordinator at FinDatEx to create the EET for European Insurance ESG/SFDR regulations.
Michael Schlup, Chief Sustainability Officer, Member of the Investment Committee, Sail Investments
Michael Schlup is the Chief Sustainability Officer of SAIL Investments, and a member of SAIL’s investment committee. He is a sustainability professional with over 25 years of experience, having previously worked for Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of chocolate and cocoa products including managing the Cocoa Horizons Foundation. As global agribusiness and food company Bunge, he oversaw Africa for their asset management and environmental markets team. He was the founding CEO of the Gold Standard Foundation, an NGO that established quantification and impact maximisation standards. Michael’s career began by advancing sustainable energy financing at the United Nations and working as a management consultant. Michael is a trained scientist and holds a M.Sc. in Geography from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and a M.Sc. in Industrial Environmental Economics from Lund University, Sweden.
Paul Kearney, Partner & Co-Founder, Solas Capital
Paul is Partner and Co-founder of Solas Capital, managing all aspects of the business, with a focus on business development, industry outreach and investment structuring. He has worked in energy efficiency financing for over 10 years and has structured a number of innovative energy efficiency investments. He is a CFA and CAIA charterholder, and holds an MSc in Finance from Trinity College Dublin.
Peter Bachmann, Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure, Gresham House
Peter is Managing Director of Gresham House’s Sustainable Infrastructure division and Co-Fund Manager for the firm’s British Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (BSIF) strategy. BSIF invests in real asset-based solutions for the key environmental and social challenges we face. He is also a member of the Gresham House Asset Management Board.
Prior to Gresham House, Peter led the investment and exit of the Sustainable Infrastructure-focused Environmental Capital Fund (ECF) for SEP, one of Europe’s most successful VC firms. With over 24 years of public and private equity investment, development and fund management experience, including two top-decile infrastructure fund exits, he has invested into and exited over 200 infrastructure and technology companies across all sectors with an equity value of over £2bn and capital value of c.£6bn.
Peter has had board member roles on over 90 investee companies and is a Senior Associate of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). Peter is also an active investor in early-stage sustainability companies and has planted his own Miyawaki Forest at home.
Vanessa Hodge, Partner, Senior Investment Consultant, Sustainability Integration Lead, Mercer
Vanessa Hodge is a Partner in Mercer’s investment consulting business and is Mercer UK’s Sustainability Integration Lead, where she is enhancing the delivery of sustainable investment advice to institutional investors. Vanessa has institutional asset owner client engagements ranging in size from £150m to over £50bn. Vanessa has over 23 years of experience within the pensions and investment industry and is a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. She is Chair of the Association of Consulting Actuaries Investment Committee. Vanessa is an active member of the Hart Lions Club and helps with conservation work for the Fleet Pond Society.
Hosts
Sean Thompson, Founder & CEO, cio investment club
Sean has nearly 40 years of experience working in London's financial services sector and the insurance market. After 10 years as Managing Director of CAMRADATA, Sean launched the cio investment club on 1st January 2024.
The cio investment club’s mission is to become the voice of chief investment officers and investment professionals at institutional firms. To help achieve this the club hosts events throughout the year that educate and inform, whilst providing thought-provoking content to its members.
Bruna Bauer, Research Manager, Pensions for Purpose
Bruna Bauer is the Impact Investment Research Manager at Pensions for Purpose, where she leads research on sustainable and impact investing trends among UK asset owners. She focuses on empowering pension funds, advisers, and asset managers to make informed investment decisions that generate positive social and environmental outcomes. She holds a Master of Arts in History of Global Markets from the University of Göttingen and a Master’s degree in Global Political Economy from the University of Glasgow, with an academic focus on sustainable finance, impact investing and the historical dynamics of global markets.
Monique Stephens, Consultant & event Host
Monique is a consultant and works alongside the team to host events for members of the Pensions for Purpose Community.
She has over 27 years’ experience working in asset management, with UK institutional investors, including pension schemes, corporates and professional trustee relationships. Her career included time at Schroders, Fidelity International Invesco and more latterly J.P. Morgan Asset Management which she left last year to pursue her outside interests.
Charlotte O'Leary, CEO, Pensions for Purpose
As CEO and an Executive Director of Pensions for Purpose, Charlotte oversees the running of the business, develops the growth and innovation strategy, and looks for opportunities to build partnerships to achieve their mission. Charlotte is a member of the Sounding Board for the Social Value Portal, the Advisory Board for the Sororum, the pensions expert group for the Global Steering Group for Impact Investing and a member of the Pensions Equity Group.
She has over 15 years of experience in asset management, starting in fund analysis and progressing through to institutional business development, and has worked for some well-known institutions, including Jupiter, Pictet and Cambridge Associates. Through these roles, Charlotte has built a knowledge and passion for sustainable investing. She has demonstrated this by co-authoring a paper with the Society for Pension Professionals on social impact investing, and speaking on topics such as fee and service transparency at Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) and Transparency Taskforce events. She worked in partnership with the Impact Investing Institute to develop the Impact Investing Principles for Pensions.
Pensions for Purpose
Pensions for Purpose exists as a bridge between asset managers, pension funds and their professional advisers, to encourage the flow of capital towards impact investment. Our aim is to empower pension funds to seek positive impact opportunities and mitigate negative impact risks.
Our Community allows members to learn from leaders in the impact investment industry. We provide a trusted environment to interact, collaborate and share knowledge. Members engage in a programme of activity to shape their strategy in ESG, sustainable and impact investments.
For more information, please email the Membership Manager.
Venue Partner
Mercer has advised clients on impact investing since 2011 with extensive experience helping asset owners design and implement impact portfolios across listed and private markets. This is underpinned by our manager research universe covering a growing number of impact, SDG-focused/aligned and sustainable thematic investment strategies. We work with an increasing number of asset owners to implement dedicated impact and sustainable thematic investment strategies across private markets (private equity, private debt, property and infrastructure), both globally and locally
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