Andrew has over 30 years of experience as a global risk and finance specialist and was recently appointed to lead a new cross sector global team to develop and expand Fitch’s analysis of ESG and sustainable finance. Andrew is responsible for developing Fitch’s sustainable finance strategy, both within the ratings business and across the broader Fitch group, by determining investor and banker needs, and driving the development of new teams to provide products and services for this rapidly growing area. Initially the sustainable finance team is based in London, New York and Beijing, but will expand in size, scope and location dependent on identified constituent needs.
Andrew has held several senior management roles within Fitch over the last 14 years. In Europe from 2004 to 2010 he ran the energy, utilities, project finance and regulated transportation analytical groups. From 2010 to 2017 he was based in Singapore and led the development of Fitch’s Asia Pacific Corporate Ratings Group. Then on his return to Europe in 2017 he was regional head of Fitch’s EMEA Corporate Ratings Group, and also successfully ran a global executive project to transform and improve Fitch’s overseas office network.
From 2000 to 2004, Andrew was head of ABN Amro’s structured industry finance, power and utilities group for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He also previously worked for Edison Capital Europe as a private equity investment director in infrastructure, for the energy company PowerGen plc (now EON) as a senior project finance manager, and in the banking sector as a mezzanine, leveraged buy-out and cross-border M&A lender and advisor.
From 2006-2010 Andrew actively assisted the United Nation’s Economic Council for Europe advising on energy and risk issues, and was a member of the UNECE Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Sustainable Energy Developments. Andrew speaks regularly at conferences and forums on a wide range of risk based issues. He is currently a trustee of the Great Ormand Street Hospital based children’s charity CLEFT.
Andrew graduated with a BSc Hons in Psychology from Bristol University in 1989, and has a postgraduate diploma from INSEAD business school (CGEM 2016).

Dr Ben Caldecott is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme. He is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, a Supernumerary Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford, and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. Ben is also the COP26 Strategy Advisor for Finance based out of the UK Cabinet Office.

Ben specialises in environment, energy, and sustainability issues and works at the intersection between finance, public policy, and academe, having held senior roles in each domain. Ben has authored and edited a substantial number of publications related to sustainability and is an experienced media commentator and public speaker. He is also a regular peer reviewer and has a number of board and advisory panel appointments, including with the University of Oxford Socially Responsible Investment Review Committee, The Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability Project, ATLAS Infrastructure Partners Ltd, Impact Lens Ltd, the British Standards Institution (BSI), and the Green Alliance.

Ben currently serves on the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee and the UK Department for International Trade’s Export Guarantees Advisory Council. In his capacity as a Member of the UK Green Finance Taskforce, he chaired its Workstream on Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures (TCFD) Implementation. He also chaired the International Green Finance Coordination Group on behalf of the UK Green Finance Institute and the UK Government.

Dan is responsible for increasing GRESB’s international scope and impact by engaging institutional investors throughout the Americas; expanding GRESB participation among REITs, private equity firms and multi-national lenders; establishing industry partnerships; and driving capital market demand for ESG data.
Since 2014, Americas revenue expanded over 800% to represent approximately 40% of total GRESB revenues. Regional membership exceeds 260 accounts including leading US and Canadian pension plans, private equity firms, listed property companies, industry associations, data and technology partners, and industry media outlets. During his tenure, Americas’ participation in the GRESB Real Estate assessment is up over 200% accomplished by leveraging peer competitiveness alongside LP investor pressure.
As the sole representative of GRESB in the Americas region, he covers multiple roles including accelerating market adoption for ESG data; acquiring new GRESB investor members; promoting increased GRESB participation; maintaining existing GRESB member accounts; fulfilling North American speaking engagements; and developing new capital market / product opportunities. He previously served the U.S. Green Building Council as Senior Fellow for Business Strategy and Finance by providing leadership on a range of topics including green bond underwriting guidelines, asset valuation, and related business topics.  Additional professional experience includes tenures at Russell Real Estate and CBRE, and participation in several start-up technology companies.

Daniel Zarrilli is New York City’s Chief Climate Policy Advisor and OneNYC Director. Under Daniel’s leadership, New York City released its newest strategic plan, OneNYC 2050, a Green New Deal to confront our climate crisis, achieve equity, and strengthen our democracy.

In the past six years, he has positioned New York City as a global climate and resilience leader among cities. Successes include aligning the city’s greenhouse gas reductions with the Paris Agreement, launching a comprehensive $20 billion climate adaptation program, and committing to divest the City’s pension funds from fossil fuel reserve owners.

Previously, he served on NOAA’s advisory committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment and FEMA’s National Advisory Council, and he advised Louisiana on its 2017 coastal master plan.

Mr. Elliott Harris is the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Chief Economist of the United Nations. He served previously as Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Office in New York of the United Nations Environment Programme, from 2013-2018. Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Harris spent 25 years as an economist at the International Monetary Fund IMF), working in the African and Fiscal Affairs Departments, including as IMF Mission Chief in Togo, Chad and Guinea. He served from 2008-2012 as the IMF Special Representative to the United Nations, in parallel to his role as Assistant Director of the Strategy Policy and Review Department.

Eric Usher currently heads the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, UNEP FI, a global partnership bringing together the UN with 230 banks, insurers and asset managers working to develop the sustainable finance and responsible investment agendas. Eric oversees governance, strategy and day-to-day management of UNEP FI’s work programme and global network development. Over the years UNEP FI has established some of the most important sustainability oriented frameworks within the finance industry, including the Principles for Responsible Investment (2006), the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (2012) and work now underway on the establishment of Principles for Responsible Banking. Since joining in 2015, Mr. Usher has focused on accelerating the deep integration of sustainability risks into financial practice, including addressing climate change, natural capital loss and human rights abuses, as well as building out the frameworks for positive impact finance needed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Eric sits on several industry bodies including as UN representative on the Board of the Principles for Responsible Investment, as a member of the Evaluation Council of the French sovereign green bond, as Director for the impact fund REPP Africa and founder of the Seed Capital Assistance Facility.

Prior to leading UNEP FI, Mr. Usher has over twenty years of experience in the low carbon sectors, spanning technology commercialisation in Canada, solar rural electrification in Morocco and financial sector development across emerging markets. During 2011, Mr. Usher worked on the establishment of the Green Climate Fund and led efforts to create its Private Sector Facility. Eric has been an editor of the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment report published annually with Bloomberg and was lead author for finance of the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources. Before joining the UN, Eric was General Manager of a solar rural electrification company based in Morocco.

Guenther Thallinger joined Allianz Group in May 2009.

He has been a  Member of the Board of Management of Allianz SE since January 2017, responsible for Investment Management and the Center of Competence Life & Health. In January 2018 he additionally assumed responsibility for steering ESG topics within Allianz.

Until his appointment to the Board of Management, Guenther Thallinger acted as CEO, and before CFO, of Allianz Investment Management SE and was Chairman of the Allianz Investment Management Board.

Before joining Allianz, he was principal at McKinsey&Company.

Guenther Thallinger, born in Austria, graduated with a BSc from the Technical University Graz and a MSc from the Technical University Vienna in technical mathematics. He holds a PhD in applied mathematics from the Technical University Vienna.

Heike Reichelt is Head of Investor Relations and Sustainable Finance at the World Bank Treasury. The World Bank Treasury manages the funding programs for the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), and the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). Her team is responsible for managing relationships with bond investors, rating agencies and the financial media, and developing new bond products. These include products to raise awareness for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change mitigation and adaptation – like World Bank Green Bonds and World Bank Sustainable Development Bonds. Heike also manages outreach to the sustainable and impact investing community and works with other issuers and market participants to encourage the growth of sustainable capital markets focused on making a long-term positive social and environmental impact through integration of environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) in investment decisions. She has 20+ years of experience in finance – including as an engagement manager for the World Bank Treasury’s Reserves Advisory Management Program for central banks and in the areas of export finance and capital markets, during her career at KfW, the largest German development bank. Heike was recognized for her role in building sustainable capital markets as the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Joan Bavaria Award.

Ivan Frishberg is the Director of Impact Policy for Amalgamated Bank. Ivan leads Amalgamated Bank’s impact including Amalgamated Bank’s carbon and climate commitments, innovative approaches to measurement of the bank’s social and environmental impact, and engagement initiatives on behalf of shareholders and Amalgamated Bank’s clients. Ivan is the Chair of the PCAF North America, serves on the Global Steering Committee for PCAF Global, and is the Co-Chair of a UNEP FI working group on target setting for the Collective Commitment for Climate Action.

Ivan has more than 25 years of public interest advocacy, organizing and policy experience. Previously he was Senior Advisor and Climate Change Campaign Manager for Organizing For Action, a senior advisor to the Climate Action Campaign. He serves on the board of directors for DC Water, the public water and sewer utility for Washington, D.C.

Lauren is Managing Director, Global Head of ESG Commercial at Trucost, part of S&P Global. A leader in carbon and environmental risk analysis, Trucost assesses risks relating to climate change, natural resource constraints and broader ESG factors, enabling companies and financial institutions to understand their ESG exposure to these factors, inform resilience and identify transformative solutions for a more sustainable global economy.

Lauren is an expert in sustainable finance and, over the last decade, has advised leading fund managers, pension funds, banks and DFIs globally on how to integrate climate change and natural capital analysis into their investment decision making.

Prior to joining Trucost, Lauren was a Senior Investment Associate in Global Equity Research at Putnam Investments specialising in Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals and Aerospace & Defence. She was also a consultant at DFID (UK Department for International Development), working on the Millennium Development Goals for Girls’ Education.

Lauren holds a BA (Hons) and MA from Cambridge University in Archaeology and Anthropology and an MSc in Anthropology and International Development from the London School of Economics. Lauren is a member of the Decision Maker Panel of the Bank of England and is also a regular speaker and respected commentator on environmental finance issues.

Mamadou is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of
V-Square Quantitative Management, a Valor Equity Partners subsidiary. Mamadou founded V-Square Quantitative Management in 2020 after an accomplished career in asset management whilst working for global financial services company across the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Africa.

His investment firm specializes in financial engineering,  development and management of quantitative portfolios and  processing of sustainability big data.

Industry leader in the field of sustainable investing and financial  innovation, Mamadou’s previous role was global head of  product development and sustainable investing at Northern  Trust Asset Management in Chicago, where he was responsible  for driving innovation and product development across asset  classes. Mamadou spearheaded, developed and led one largest  sustainable investing platform in the industry.

Nathalie Wallace,  ESG Investment Strategist at State Street Global Advisors covering the North America and Asia-Pacific regions. Ms. Wallace works closely with clients to develop ESG and climate strategies that are aligned with their mandates and investment considerations. She also works with ESG research and development, investment research and investment management teams at SSGA to design ESG investment solutions tailored to clients’ needs.

Prior to joining State Street Global Advisors, Ms. Wallace worked with institutional asset owners to design and implement ESG principle statements, integration strategies as well as engagement platforms such as Climate Actions 100+ at Ceres. She also has considerable experience in asset allocation, hedge fund, private and public equity portfolio management in international and emerging markets working at Battermarch Financial Management, Delta Partners, Wellington Management Company, and Barings.

Ms. Wallace holds a BBA from Institut Supérieur de Gestion, Paris and is a Certified International Investment Analyst. She is a trade advisor to the French Government, nominated by the French prime minister, and is a member of the Columbia Sustainable Finance Professionals Network and other key global organizations on climate finance, such as One Planet Fund. Ms. Wallace is also a climate leader in her community and is a member of the Cambridge (MA) Protection Action Committee.

Mr. Peter Davaney-Graham is the Vice President, Head of Open:FactSet Content Strategy at FactSet. In this role, his focus is on off-platform data integration and analysis solutions geared towards fundamental and quantitative investors. He and his colleagues aim to reduce the burden associated with evaluating and integrating new content sets by solving for common challenges such as symbology reconciliation and accelerating the discovery process by exposing detailed analysis and sample code. Mr. Davaney-Graham earned a BA in Political Science from Colgate University and is a CFA charterholder.

With members of the Ceres Investor Network, Kirsten leads Ceres’ investment practices initiatives and represents Ceres on the West Coast for all investor programs. She is part of Ceres’ new California office.

Prior to joining Ceres, she served as Chief Deputy Treasurer under California Treasurer Phil Angelides and Director of the Treasurer’s environmental financing authorities. Prior to her government service, Kirsten worked in the labor movement as Chief of Staff for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. With the California Sierra Club and the Ella Baker Center, Kirsten co-founded the California Apollo Alliance. For six years, she chaired the Center for Labor Research and Education at University of California, Berkeley and taught at Boalt Hall School of Law. As a lawyer with the firm of Beeson, Tayer and Bodine she represented unions and their pension plans.

In her early career she worked as a community and cultural organizer in Durban, South Africa. Kirsten holds a BA from Yale College in music, a JD from Hastings College of Law and an M.Div. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She is an Episcopal priest, wife and mother of two teenage sons.

Stephane Germain is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GHGSat whose technology provides actionable greenhouse gas emissions data and insights to various industries. Stéphane founded GHGSat in 2011 to answer a market need for consistent, high quality measurements of greenhouse gas emissions from industrial facilities worldwide. Mr. Germain has been passionate about applying space technology for the good of the Earth for over 25 years.

Prior to founding GHGSat, he held senior management positions in SMEs and large Canadian aerospace corporations. He started his career as an engineer and project manager at Spar Aerospace, and had then the opportunity to work for several years as a consultant at Bain & Company, a leading international strategy consulting firm, working for Fortune 500 companies in industries ranging from forestry to aerospace.

Mr. Germain holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University in Canada and an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Terry Heymann is CFO at the World Gold Council and has broad experience across the gold supply chain. In addition to his role as CFO, Terry also oversees the World Gold Council’s work on standard-setting for the industry, including development of the Responsible Gold Mining Principles, the Conflict-Free Gold Standard and the Guidance Note on All-In costs, all of which support increased transparency and integrity in the gold industry.

Prior to joining the World Gold Council, Terry was a Principal at Marakon Associates, a leading strategy consultancy, where he helped clients in a number of industries on strategic issues and new product development.