Conduit Conversations

Paul's guest in this episode is Paul Polman. Paul is a business leader, campaigner and co-author of “Net Positive: how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take”, a Financial Times Business Book of the Year.

Paul works to accelerate action by business to tackle climate change and inequality. As CEO of Unilever for a decade, he demonstrated that business can profit through purpose, delivering shareholder returns of 290% while the company consistently ranked 1st in the world for sustainability. Today he works across a range of organisations to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which he helped develop. 

Welcome to The Conduit’s podcast series on Humanising Investment. Inspired by Gillian Tett’s book, Anthrovision, this series will focus on inspiring the next generation of investors to recognise the value of responsible investing.

Hosted by Asha Lad, each episode will be talking to a leading responsible investor in the institutional responsible investing space, getting to grips with each of their stories, understanding what led towards a career in the space and how they feel we can begin to humanize the finance industry.

In this episode Asha is joined by Liesel Pritzker Simmons.

Liesel and her husband Ian co-founded Blue Haven Initiative, a single family office managing a diversified global investment portfolio. Blue Haven Initiative is considered the largest impact-focused family office in the U.S and is likely among the largest investment funds in the world dedicated solely to impact investing.  

Liesel oversees an impact investing portfolio structured to generate competitive financial returns and effect positive social and environmental change. The portfolio spans asset classes, from public equities and fixed income holdings to private equity, direct investments and philanthropic programs.

Liesel also works closely with organizations that support and advance the field of impact investing. She was a co-founder of The ImPact, a network of families committed to the conscientious stewardship of wealth. She also serves on the board of Toniic, which provides tools for investors to evaluate impact investments, and on the board and the investment committee of ImpactAssets. Liesel is also co-founder of IDP Foundation, focused on achieving universal primary education.

Welcome to The Conduit’s podcast series, Service Please. This series will be focusing on ethical and sustainable hospitality, engaging with a diverse range of industry experts and a variety of individuals across different sectors, disciplines, roles and levels. From supply chains to sourcing, waste management to wellbeing and welfare – what problems need tackling and what does the future of hospitality look like?

As part of our series The Conduit has teamed up with the brilliant Design Hotels on a series spotlighting some amazing individuals who have created incredible, responsible places to stay around the world. For 30 years Design Hotels has been at the forefront of a movement in travel, by curating a global collection of independent, design-driven hotels that function as social hubs and spaces for purposeful experiences, connection and curiosity.

In this episode we are joined by Veronica Reed, the co-founder and architect behind Carlota hotel in the UNESCO-protected old town of Quito, Ecuador.

Set inside the house where Veronica’s partner was born, Carlota became Ecuador’s first certified B Corporation hotel in October 2019.

Welcome to The Conduit’s podcast series on Humanising Investment. Inspired by Gillian Tett’s book, Anthrovision, this series will focus on inspiring the next generation of investors to recognise the value of responsible investing.

Hosted by Asha Lad, Chief Investment Officer at Conduit Capital, each episode will be talking to a leading responsible investor in the institutional responsible investing space, getting to grips with each of their stories, understanding what led towards a career in the space and how they feel we can begin to humanize the finance industry.

In this episode Asha is joined by Rosa Sangiorgio. 

Rosa’s career represent in some ways the evolution of Responsible Investments over the past twenty years from seemingly conventional investing role to an intentional one. She is currently Head of ESG at Pictet Wealth Management. She previously held leadership roles at several European banks, from IMI Bank (now part of BNP), Societe Generale, Capitalia (now part of UniCredit) and  most recently leading the Sustainability and Impact Investing effort for Credit Suisse Investment Management.

Rosa strongly believes that the wealth management industry is currently in an imbalanced position, between an investments’ mission and monetary objectives. 

This year, The Conduit has partnered with the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation to create a podcast series that explores the meaning of care in different communities around the world. From physicians to directors, community workers to advocates, we will be talking to individuals on the ground to discover answers to the question, “what is the point of care?” 

In this episode the conversation will focus on the role of Community Health Workers across sub-Saharan Africa who are responsible for delivering care to approximately 40% of the continent’s population – that’s 916,000 active Community Health Workers treating over 400 million people across 24 different countries. Though they are often not formally recognized as professionals, Community Health Workers may be responsible for at least a dozen different types of preventive, promotional, and curative services depending on the country and local context. 

Paul’s guests in this episode are Prossy Muyingo and Dr. Madeleine Ballard. Prossy is a Community Health Worker in Mityana District, Central Uganda and since 2019, Prossy has been providing reproductive, maternal, and child health services to 120 households. Madeleine is the co-founder and executive director of the Community Health Impact Coalition, a global alliance of community health implementers working to ensure that Community Health Workers receive fair pay, field support, and the official recognition they deserve so everyone can access high quality healthcare.

Welcome to The Conduit’s podcast series, Service Please. This series will be focusing on ethical and sustainable hospitality, engaging with a diverse range of industry experts and a variety of individuals across different sectors, disciplines, roles and levels. From supply chains to sourcing, waste management to wellbeing and welfare – what problems need tackling and what does the future of hospitality look like?

As part of our series The Conduit has teamed up with the brilliant Design Hotels on a series spotlighting some amazing individuals who have created incredible, responsible places to stay around the world. For 30 years Design Hotels has been at the forefront of a movement in travel, by curating a global collection of independent, design-driven hotels that function as social hubs and spaces for purposeful experiences, connection and curiosity.

In this episode we are joined by Daniel Lauber, the creator of Cervo Mountain Resort in Zermatt, Switzerland. In a recent renovation, the hotel made adjustments to drastically lower its carbon footprint. Thanks to these efforts, a commitment to the local, and a dedication to “a mindful awareness of life,” the hotel was recently awarded Ibex Fairstay platinum certification.

This year, The Conduit has partnered with the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation to create a podcast series that explores the meaning of care in different communities around the world. From physicians to directors, community workers to advocates, we will be talking to individuals on the ground to discover answers to the question, “what is the point of care?” 

This episode focuses on the role of Community Health Workers in Brazil, also known as Community Health Agents. Unlike some other countries, community healthcare is a verified and formalized field of work in Brazil, thanks to an initiative called the Family Health Strategy that legally recognized Community Health Agents in 2002.

Paul’s guest is Ewerton Nunes, Global Community Impact Manager for Johnson & Johnson. Ewerton has led social impact work at Johnson & Johnson for 8 years, working to uplift the stories and voices of Community Health Agents to better represent the full picture of what community health work looks like in Brazil. He is also the co-creator of A Casa, an organization designed to provide resources, support, and spaces for knowledge-sharing to Community Health Agents throughout Brazil. 

This year, The Conduit has partnered with the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation to create a podcast series that explores the meaning of care in different communities around the world. From physicians to directors, community workers to advocates, we will be talking to individuals on the ground to discover answers to the question, “what is the point of care?” 

In this episode Paul is joined by Corey Feist and Stefanie Simmons.Corey is a healthcare executive with over 20 years of experience and is the co-Founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation. He also served as the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Virginia Physicians Group, a medical group of more than 1,200 physicians and advanced practice providers. Corey has authored numerous publications on the need to support the well-being of the healthcare workforce.

Dr. Stefanie Simmons is a board-certified emergency medicine physician with over 15 years of clinical practice. She focuses on the research, development and implementation of programs designed to strengthen the relational skills of clinicians, enhance professional well-being among clinicians, and engage teams in the practice of medicine.

This year, The Conduit has partnered with the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation to create a podcast series that explores the meaning of care in different communities around the world. From physicians to directors, community workers to advocates, we will be talking to individuals on the ground to discover answers to the question, “what is the point of care?”

In this episode the conversation Paul is joined by Denise Octavia Smith, the founding Executive Director of the National Association of Community Health Workers, and Maria Lemus is the Executive Director of Visión y Compromiso. As a community health worker and health care administration professional, Denise designs and implements community-centred strategies to achieve equitable, diverse and inclusive partnerships, programmes and environments. In Maria’s role at Visión y Compromiso she is helping to transform the role of “promotores” — Community Health Workers specifically focused on meeting the diverse needs of Latinx communities — into a widely accepted profession in the United States as they share the same languages, cultures, and experiences as many native-born and immigrant communities.

Paul, Denise and Maria discuss how Community Health Workers may be a solution to the deep health inequities in the U.S. Community Health Workers and play a key role in connecting communities to healthcare in a trusted and culturally competent way, but they struggle to be recognized and integrated into health systems. This episode will explore how community-based care can change the trajectory of health for people of colour.

This year, The Conduit has partnered with the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation to create a podcast series that explores the meaning of care in different communities around the world. From physicians to directors, community workers to advocates, we will be talking to individuals on the ground to discover answers to the question, “what is the point of care?” 

In this episode Paul is joined by two inspiring women who play different roles within the organization mothers2mothers. Mothers2mothers employs women living with HIV as community health workers called Mentor Mothers. They work at health facilities and provide at-home care to deliver life-changing health services to women, children, adolescents and entire families across ten African countries. What started as just HIV care, mothers2mothers’ services have expanded to include more integrated care for patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension. In many cases, these conditions are both more prevalent and more dangerous for people living with HIV, so this new approach allows mothers2mothers to continue their important HIV care while also expanding their model into new areas.

Paul is first joined by Shombi Ellis. Shombi is both Country Director of mothers2mothers South Africa and Chief of Party for RISE II. Paul’s second guest in today’s episode is Millicent Magwa. After her own journey with HIV Millicent was motivated to join mothers2mothers two years ago. In her current role, Millicent goes door-to-door in her community, delivering care to prevent and treat HIV in adults and children, and provides additional services to identify and manage non-communicable diseases, which are a growing health issue for those living with HIV.