Investing IN Change

Dasarte Yarnway and Emlen Miles-Mattingly, two highly successful financial advisers, join Steve on this episode to talk about their newest venture: the Onyx Advisor Network. Onyx is a new company that aims to help underrepresented advisers with tools, support and community so they can thrive. Emlen and Dasarte share their stories, and the trio discuss why underrepresented advisers need affirmation and a place to call home, and how Onyx will change the complexion of wealth.

Women advisers still only make up about 20% of the American advisory industry, despite years of work being done to increase their presence. On this episode, Kacie Swartz and Haleh Moddasser, both financial advisers, join Steve for a conversation about how integrating ESG practices can be a huge opportunity to pull in new women to the field, retain and grow those who are already here, and help all women advisers thrive. As Kacie summarizes, the industry needs to get women to understand that it's not about greed and helping the rich get richer, it has a higher purpose, and ESG helps women tell that story.

ESG stalwart Amy O'Brien, who's Nuveen's global head of responsible investing, joins this week's pod to talk all things ESG.

Steve and Amy discuss the most interesting findings from the sixth annual responsible investor survey by Nuveen, such as past trends, reasons why investors are flocking to ESG in droves, the importance of measuring social risk and DEI, adviser opportunities and more. They also get into ESG in 401(k) plans and Amy's outlook on responsible investing for 2022.

Dickon Pinner, co-leader of McKinsey Sustainability, joins the podcast again to chat with Steve about his experience at COP26 as well as fallout from the negotiated Glasgow Climate Pact. They have a deep and wide-ranging conversation about climate finance, the role the private sector will need to play, net-zero commitments from finance institutions, the $100 billion international commitment, phasing out coal power, carbon markets and why Dickon believes we are living in a time that matters.

Here's the story of one woman's 15-year journey to create a wildly successful Impact focused venture capital firm. Sarah Cone joins Steve to chat about her unique story of building Social Impact Capital, how we can get more women into leadership roles in VC, and why she feels she can do more good in the world through a for-profit company than through philanthropy.

Traditional companies are built to serve their shareholders, whether public or private, by providing a service or producing a good. This exclusive focus on generating wealth for the end recipient has had devastating consequences for our natural environment, climate and the people who get left behind at best, or subjugated at worst. A core principle of sustainable business is shifting companies so that they serve everyone and everything they touch. From the ground on which their buildings or factories sit to their supply chain companies, their own employees and of course, the communities in which they operate, these are all of the stakeholders to which businesses must be responsible. B-Lab, a nonprofit organization, is providing a structured way for companies to undergo this transition. Joining us to share this amazing story are Katie Hill, CEO of B Lab Europe, and Marcel Behar, vice president of sustainability and group affairs at Natura & Co, a Brazilian cosmetics conglomerate and the largest public B Corp in the world.

This week InvestmentNews put on its annual ESG Film Festival alongside its ESG Summit. We created this film festival to bring to life the impact that sustainable investing can create for people around the world. I wanted to explore the power of storytelling in this episode, so I brought on one of the storytellers I know, my former boss Matt Ackermann. We talk about the genesis of the festival, what makes good storytelling and why it's so critical for our industry.

One in three women will experience gender-based violence or harassment in their lifetime. Like climate change, the #MeToo movement, and the social justice protests after George Floyd's murder, Teresa Wells and Joy Anderson want to bring mainstream attention to this critical and longstanding problem. They've co-authored an important paper about how to use investments to address the underlying issues that cause and allow the continual sweeping-under-the-rug of gender-based violence, and they join Steve for a conversation about it.

Steve is joined by Craig Jonas, the CEO and founder of CoPeace, for a high-level discussion on the infrastructure bill that has passed the House of Representatives and is making its way through Congress. They chat about the current status of the bill, what might change before it becomes law, what it does for sustainability and what opportunities it creates for investors. Steve also shares his recent experience with a much smaller infrastructure project: the opening of a Little Free Library in his hometown and why that matters to us all.

Natasha Turner, deputy editor of ESG Clarity, calls in live from Scotland to walk Steve through Week 2 of COP26. The conversation focuses on the announcements made during Finance Day and the Investment COP sessions. Natasha details what's been promised, and what should be expected as the summit wraps up.