Joël PROHIN (56) heads the investment management department of Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) within the Asset Management Division. He is responsible for ca. 225 bn€ of AuM, invested in fixed income, equities, real estate, private equity, infrastructures and forestry, mostly managed internally. He manages 5 asset management teams (85 people in staff). He is also member of the French institutional investors association (Af2i) Strategic Committee on behalf of CDC and head of the Responsible investment commission of this association.

Before joining CDC in 2011, Joël was head of investment strategy division in Allianz France. He worked beforehand in ALM, both in the insurance sector (AGF) and in the banking sector (Crédit National).

Joël studied economics, finance and statistics; he graduated in 1988 from ENSAE (Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique) and from University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Liesel van Ast is Deputy Head of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), which works with a network of banks, insurers and investors to accelerate the economic transition towards a sustainable and inclusive economy. Ms van Ast oversees financial sector engagement, regional coordination and capacity building for financial institutions to implement global sustainability frameworks and the UN-convened net-zero alliances for banks, insurers and asset owners. Ms van Ast also supports Ligia Noronha, the UN Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office at UNEP, to help align the financial system with the goals of UN Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. She is also a member of the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures Stewardship Council.

Martin Spolc is the Head of the Sustainable Finance unit in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Financial Services. Prior to his current role, he was the Head of the Capital Markets Union unit, the Economic analysis unit, Deputy Head of the Banking unit and Assistant to the Director General, directly involved in developing the Banking Union and other key projects in the area of financial services aiming at restoring financial stability since the crisis. Before joining the Commission, he had worked at risk management consultancy and the banking sector. He is the holder of the CFA and FRM designations and member of the CFA Institute and Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Olivier Rousseau is executive director at Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), France’s pension reserve fund, where he also chairs the asset manager selection committee. Before joining FRR in 2011, he was attached to the French Embassy in Sweden as an economic advisor, a position he took up after two years on the board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Rousseau began his career at the French Treasury, eventually joining BNP Paribas where he spent 11 years working in international banking and finance in Paris, Tokyo, London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney offices. He graduated from the French National School of Administration (ENA) in 1986. He also holds a degree in political sciences and master degrees in law and economics from the University of Aix-en-Provence.