Dr. Raj Thamotheram, CEO
Dr. Raj Thamotheram is a serial entrepreneur and acknowledged expert in the field of responsible investing. He worked in this role with USS and AXA IM, before becoming a freelance consultant and founder of Preventable Surprises. He is recognised as a thought leader on how companies and investors can adapt to put people and planet on par with profit and so deliver long-term value to their clients/customers and society. To contact Raj, please email [email protected] |
Carolyn Hayman OBE, Chair
Through a varied career, Carolyn’s focus has been on innovation and startups. She joined the Cabinet Office Think Tank in her twenties, transitioning to technology investment as Joint MD of the Korda Seed Capital Fund, which after eleven years returned 5.5 times capital to investors. She then joined the Foyer Federation as CEO and expanded its membership from 40 to 130 independent Foyers enabling 10,000 homeless young people each year to rejoin mainstream society. During this time she was a board member of the Commonwealth Development Corporation. In 2004 she co-founded and became CEO of Peace Direct, supporting frontline peacebuilding in conflict areas, from which she retired in 2015. In 2003 she was awarded an OBE for services to young people. To contact Carolyn, please email [email protected] |
Our Board Members John D. Rogers is an investment professional and company director with nearly 30 years of experience in global leadership roles. He currently serves on the board of directors of SWM International and OM Asset Management, both listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Rogers is the former president, chief executive officer and a member of the board of governors of CFA Institute, the world’s largest association of investment professionals. Mr. Rogers, a Chartered Financial Analyst, received a B.A. in history from Yale University and an M.A. in East Asian studies from Stanford University. He has appeared on Bloomberg Television, CNBC, National Public Radio, and other media outlets, and has written and spoken widely about corporate government, financial market structure and sustainability, and the future of finance. Rich Pancost is a US citizen and director of the Bristol-based Cabot Institute, which employs 350 scientists working on different aspects of energy/climate change. His research uses a combination of organic geochemical tools to characterise organic matter in a variety of natural materials. Topics of interest range from the East Asian monsoons to rapid changes in the global carbon cycle. Raghavan Selvaratnam is the co-founder of Turtle Capital, a firm which is launching a new investment account which shares success with its customers and educational charities. He has experience in asset management, finance and housing. He is a chartered accountant with a first class degree in economics. |
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Our Team of Advisers |
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Bill Baue, Senior Adviser
As an internationally recognised expert on sustainability issues, Bill Baue designs systemic transformation at global, company, and community levels. A serial entrepreneur, he’s co-founded a number of companies and initiatives, including the ThriveAbility Foundation, Reporting 3.0, Sustainability Context Group, and Convetit. He has co-authored and co-edited many books and reports, including most recently A Leader’s Guide to ThriveAbility, and Hairshirts, Rattlesnakes, and Shoelaces: Toward a Net Positive Movement. Baue has consulted with companies including Allstate, Cabot Creamery Cooperative, GE, and Merck, among others. And he has worked with organizations across the sustainability ecosystem, including AccountAbility, Audubon, Ceres, Global Compact, UNCTAD, and Worldwatch Institute. |
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Howard Covington, Senior Adviser
Howard Covington is the chair of the Alan Turing Institute in London, the UK’s national institute for data science. He is also the chair of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge University, the UK’s national research institute for mathematical sciences. He is a fellow of the British Institute of Physics. Howard graduated from Cambridge University with a double first in natural sciences and a distinction in post graduate mathematics. He had a career in financial services as a director of SG Warburg, European chief executive of US investment bank Wasserstein Perella, and co-founder and chief executive of London-listed New Star Asset Management. He is a trustee of the Science Museum in London and chairman of its Science Advisory Board. He is vice-chair of ClientEarth, Europe’s leading environmental law NGO. |
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Thomas O. Murtha, Senior Adviser, USA
Thomas (Tom) Murtha is an active practitioner of corporate stewardship and sustainable investment based in New York City. Currently, Tom is a managing director of investment bank Source Capital Group, where he leads renewable energy initiatives. After retiring from the Nature Conservancy (TNC), Tom continues work initiated at TNC on energy, mining, and infrastructure issues related to energy and resource development. Post TNC, Tom advises pensions and endowments on sustainable investing issues related to resource extraction and renewable energy. Earlier in his 30-year career in finance, Tom worked as an analyst and investment banker in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and New York for the investment bank Jardine Fleming. At T. Rowe Price Associates, Tom was a portfolio manager for the International Stock Fund and the Global Technology Fund. Tom is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and earned an MPA degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University and, MA and BS degrees, in economics and mathematics, respectively from Ohio University. To contact Tom, please email [email protected] |
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Margaret Heffernan, Senior Adviser
Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur, CEO, writer and keynote speaker. Her most recent book A Bigger Prize was the joint winner of the Transmission Prize. She is a Trustee of the London Library and sits on the Council of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as well as the boards of several private companies. She first came to our attention when we read Wilful Blindness which connects directly with the Preventable Surprises model, highlighting in particular the importance of “organisational learning disabilities” and “over-dominant leadership.” Her TED talk on respecting the role of whistleblowers is a must-watch. Roger Martin, Senior Adviser Professor Roger Martin is a writer, strategy adviser and the former dean and current director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in Canada. He has published eight books including Fixing the Game, a powerful critique of shareholder value maximisation theory, and Playing to Win, written with A.G. Lafley, which won the award for Best Book of 2012-13 by the Thinkers50. Roger is a trusted strategy adviser to the CEOs of companies worldwide including Procter & Gamble, Lego, IDEO and Verizon. Our Staff Casey Aspin, Communications Director Casey Aspin worked as a senior writer and editor for 18 years at two U.S. financial companies, most recently at the Vanguard Group. She worked with senior executives on thought leadership pieces, presentations, podcasts, webcasts, and social media. The first 12 years of her career were spent as a newspaper reporter at two daily newspapers and one weekly business paper. Ms. Aspin received a B.A. in political science and English from the University of Delaware and an LLM from Queen’s University, Belfast, focused on business and human rights. Cristina Puntaru, Communications Officer Cristina Puntaru has worked in sustainable development for several organisations, including AccountAbility and the Institute for European Studies in Brussels. She has done research on energy security in Europe, and has a particular interest in the relationship between environment and development in Southeast Asia. Currently, she is enrolled in an MSc in Anthropology, Environment, and Development at University College London. |