mallowstreet University Digital Investment Focus: Sustainability

Speakers

• Andrew Parry

  Andrew oversees the sustainable investment business at Newton, as well as communicating the firm’s approach to purposeful ownership to its global client base. He joined Newton in 2019, prior to which he was head of sustainable investing at Hermes Investment Management where he gained a deep knowledge of responsible investment, sustainability and impact investing. Andrew has over 30-years of investment experience operating at a senior level previously working at Northern Trust, Julius Baer Investment Management, Lazard Brothers Asset Management and Baring Asset Management. Andrew is a volunteer member of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee of the CFA UK and a trustee and member of the investment committee of the Trafalgar House Pension Trust. He also acts as mentor and advisor on a range of sustainability activities.

  Andrew has an MA in Mathematics from the University of St Andrews. Outside of work, Andrew enjoys walking his dogs.

• Oliver Fairfull

  Oliver is a member of the UK institutional business development team, where his responsibilities are focused on managing consultant relationships. He joined Newton in February 2011 after spending 6 years working at BNY Mellon Investment Management, responsible for supporting wholesale and third party business relationships.

  Oliver began his career in broker support at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing and holds a MEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering.

• Pooja Daftary

  Pooja Daftary is a research analyst at MFS Investment Management® (MFS®). Her primary role involves working with the firm’s analysts and portfolio managers to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into the investment decision‐making process. She is also responsible for developing thought leadership regarding the role that ESG integration plays in a long‐term investment process.

  Pooja joined MFS in 2009 as an investment research associate. In 2012, she left the firm to complete her Master of Business Administration degree before returning in 2014 as a global equity research analyst. She served in that role until 2018, when she assumed her current position.

  Pooja earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Mount Holyoke College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.

• James Lindsay

  James Lindsay is Head of UK & Ireland Institutional Business at MFS.

  James joined MFS in 2007 from Columbia Threadneedle Investments where he held the roles of Institutional Sales Manager and Head of Consultant Relationships. He previously spent four years as Institutional Marketing Executive at Fidelity Investments.

  James earned a BA (Hons) from Nottingham Business School and also holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) from CFA UK.

Program

1. 8:45 AM Login & Access Meeting

   The Investment Focus will take place online via a ‘Zoom’ meeting (a widely used webcast meeting provider). We will provide further information, including an access link and password, to all attendees in advance of the event.

2. 9:00 AM Welcome & Introductions

3. 9:10 AM Rotating Investment Masterclass I: Winning the Covid peace: Why corporate purpose must be more than empty words

   Virtue is easy in the midst of a crisis and while there were notable exceptions, we saw most companies behave well as coronavirus erupted into our lives, creating a very human crisis. Andrew Parry discusses whether, as the economy rehabilitates, that initial sense of corporate solidarity with customers, staff, suppliers and communities will endure, or will we see the maximisation of profit come to denominate board room agendas once more? With $10 trillion of fiscal and monetary stimulus propelling stock markets higher, we are already seeing a disconnect between the experience of the real economy and that of markets. As redundancies mount and some companies use the cloak of the pandemic to restructure workforces, shareholders need be vigilant that the opportunity to hold companies to account for their actions is not lost. Promotion of ‘corporate purpose’ and a recognition of the benefits of the multi-stakeholder model were on the rise last year. Andrew asks whether shareholders can use their influence to ensure that real change is on the agenda rather than mere ‘purpose washing’.

   Speaker

   Andrew Parry, Head of Sustainable Investing, Newton Investment Management

4. 9:50 AM Questions & Break

5. 10:00 AM Rotating Investment Masterclass II: Plastic fantastic? The value evolution of a much maligned product

   Single use plastic packaging has provided many economic benefits to society but has created environmental impacts in the form of ocean pollution, carbon emissions and potential health risks. Public perception and regulation are rapidly moving against single use plastic consumption, which could redistribute the environmental costs of plastic packaging across the entire value chain. Although there is no silver bullet to solving this problem, in this session, MFS evaluates the efficacy of regulatory and technological solutions and assess their financial impact on a wide range of sectors including chemicals, packaging, consumer brands and waste management.

   Speaker

   Pooja Daftary, Research Analyst, MFS Investment Management

6. 10:40 AM Questions & Close of Investment Focus

7. 11:00 AM End