In the third episode of our ESG and sustainability season of Slated to Discuss, we convene two exceptional thought leaders who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in the fields of real estate insurance and climate risk.

Rachel Norris leads the Global Real Estate and Construction Practice ESG offering at Lockton, the world's largest independent insurance brokerage. With an impressive 20 years in Real Estate insurance, Rachel has worked across all industry verticals, collaborating with Asset Managers, Fund Managers, Property Owners, Managing Agents, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and REITs. 

David Whittall is the Head of Climate Risk Practice at Clearsum, a strategic advisory firm focused on climate risk strategy. His expertise spans various sectors, including real estate and finance. With a career that has taken him from Hong Kong to San Francisco, and now Montreal, David brings a meaningful global perspective to investment and risk management.

Join us as we unpack the crucial link between climate risk, insurance, and real estate, and discuss how an evolving climate is creating new risks and opportunities for insurers, real estate owners, businesses, governments, and communities.

Follow our guests on social media:

Rachel Norris: linkedin.com/rachel-norris

David Whitall: linkedin.com/davidwhittall

In our second episode of Slated to Discuss, we convene three leading industry experts to discuss how sustainable architecture is playing a key role in the transition towards a low carbon, climate resilient, and resource efficient built environment.

Steven Paynter is the Global Leader of Building Transformation and Adaptive Reuse at Gensler. Widely regarded as an industry leader, he focuses on unlocking the value of Class B & C buildings by converting them to residential, shaping the future of cities, the design of post-pandemic office buildings, and led high-rise mass timber projects with Google and Sidewalk Labs for five years.

Weston Walker is a Design Principal and Partner at Studio Gang. With over 15 years tenure at Studio Gang, Weston's expertise spans scales and typologies, having designed cultural and educational institutions, complex civic buildings, and towers across the Americas. He is currently leading Slate’s development project – and Studio Gang’s first project in Canada – One Delisle in Toronto.

Todd Douglas is the Senior Landscape Architect at Janet Rosenburg & Studio. As a licensed landscape architect with over 10 years of experience with JRS, Todd has designed and built complex public and private realm landscapes in Toronto. He is also a sessional lecturer and studio course leader at the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.

Tune in to hear how sustainably driven architectural design concepts can create spaces that connect us to nature, the challenges architects face when stiving to implement sustainable design, the ingenious approaches they deploy to overcome them, and what is on the horizon.

Follow our guests on social media:

Steven Paynter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-paynter-87633923/

Todd Douglas: https://www.instagram.com/janetrosenbergstudio/

Weston Walker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weston-walker-79b44595/

In the first episode of our ESG and sustainability season of Slate to Discuss, Bozena Jankowska sits down with brothers Blair and Brady Welch, Slate’s Founding Partners, to discuss their take on ESG in the private equity real estate space. Tune in to hear their perspective on the evolution of ESG within real estate, how it’s accelerated at different paces globally, what they’re hearing from investors on the topic, where they see the direction of ESG headed, and more.