Speakers
Rick Alexander is a global expert on systems-level investing. He proposes a shift from focusing on comparisons and benchmarks to understanding how investee companies externalise costs. In his keynote address, Rick will call upon investors to look beyond alpha in order to optimise overall market returns.
Panel: Investing in an interconnected world: Systems thinking for long-term value
Risks and opportunities in areas like AI, climate change, inclusive economies and human rights have caused investors to take a holistic approach to portfolio construction. More and more, investors are approaching stewardship through a systems lens and seeking to understand and influence the array of external influences that impact asset and portfolio value.
In this panel, leading systems thinkers and investors will examine real world examples of system stewardship focused on the financial return of systems. We will dive into how a system focus can be maintained if incentives centre on alpha, as well as the intersection of externalities, regulation and licence to operate, and practical strategies for integrating systemic risk considerations into investment approaches.
General Manager, Responsible Investment at HESTA
Kim Farrant is the General Manager Responsible Investment at HESTA. She leads the fund’s responsible investment program as part of HESTA Impact – HESTA’s approach to creating positive returns and outcomes for the planet and society by investing with purpose, advocating with influence, and leading by example.
Kim is focused on delivering investment excellence with impact, by integrating impact measurement into the investment process, developing engagement programs that focus on managing system level risk and seeking opportunities to invest in positive impact aligned to priority Sustainable Development Goals.
She has more than 15 years experience as a responsible investment and sustainability professional and holds degrees in Engineering, Economics and Environmental Policy.
Chief Executive Officer of The Shareholder Commons
Rick practiced law for 30 years at Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell in Wilmington, Delaware, including four years as managing partner. During that time, he was selected as one of the ten most highly regarded corporate governance lawyers worldwide and as one of the 500 leading lawyers in the United States. In 2015, Rick became Head of Legal Policy at B Lab, where he worked to create sustainable corporate governance structures around the globe. He left that position in 2019 for a fellowship that led to the creation of The Shareholder Commons.Rick serves as Director and Treasurer of the American College of Governance Counsel, and is a member of the Advisory Board of Beren Pharmaceuticals, P.B.C., the Council of Institutional Investors Markets Advisory Council, and the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Delaware Corporation Law Council, the body responsible for maintaining the premier corporate statute in the United States, where he previously served as Vice-Chair and Chair and drafted legislation, including provisions prohibiting mandatory arbitration, enabling proxy access, implementing majority voting and authorizing benefit corporations.Rick has testified before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Delaware General Assembly; he also served as consultant to the United States Department of Justice in Purdue Pharma bankruptcy matter. He is the author of Benefit Corporation Law and Governance: Pursuing Profit with Purpose (Berrett Koehler 2017).