ESG Summit 2024

Nico is a sustainability advocate, focused on communicating Newton’s approach to responsible investment and sustainability both internally and externally. Nico joined Newton in July 2023 and has previously held several roles in pensions investment for consultants, asset owners and asset managers, including being the first chief investment officer of The People’s Pension, a leading UK defined contribution (DC) master trust.

Nico holds a Master’s degree in Natural Sciences specialising in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge and is a qualified actuary.

Nico volunteers extensively for the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, contributes to research papers, and is currently the deputy chair of the Institute’s Finance and Investment Board.

In his free time, Nico co-hosts VFM pensions, a podcast about DC pensions.

Archie Cage is an Impact Analyst at Tribe. Archie’s role focuses on analysing fund and company non-financial disclosures and sustainability performance. Archie joined Tribe from Planet Tracker, a non-profit financial think tank where he focused on the financial implications of ecological collapse.

Sara studied law at the University of Cambridge and has spent much of her career working in the media sector for both publishing and television companies and as a writers’ agent. In recent years she has worked with professional bodies in the built environment and construction sectors as managing director of the Homebuilders Federation and the Royal Town Planning Institute. She was appointed Chief Executive of the Association for Project Management in 2015, which was awarded a royal charter in 2016 and launched its new chartered standard for the profession in 2018.

Sara is an Honorary Fellow of Kingston University, a board member of the Quality Assurance Agency and holds non-executive directorships in the private and charity sectors.

Emily Ford is a Policy Adviser at the Chartered Governance Institute, working with government, regulators and stakeholders to promote good governance. Her two priority areas are the role of governance in successful ESG strategies across all sectors, and the effective governance of not-for-profit organisations, incorporating the charity and educational sectors. In her role, she conducts and produces research on sector trends, publishes practical guidance for governance professionals, and engages with government and regulators on key issues.

She has a background in corporate communications, think tanks and third-sector campaigning. She graduated with an MPhil in International Development from the University of Cambridge and a First-class BA in French and German from King’s College London.

Jasmin Fraser is a UK-qualified lawyer focussing on the corporate and financial law implications of climate change at the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI), particularly in relation to directors' and investors' duties and corporate governance.

Before joining CCLI, Jasmin worked at Allen & Overy LLP in London, where she practised corporate law specialising in environment, regulatory and international trade.

Mark Freed, a trailblazer in diversity and inclusion, co-founded E2W over two decades ago when he left a successful fintech career to become the type of husband and father that he always wanted to be.

Mark grew E2W to become a community with a reach of more than 15,000 women in Financial Services, aiding institutions with best-practice recruitment and retention of diverse talent.

Wishing to accelerate change, Men for Inclusion was born, and Mark shares his own lived experience as to why inclusion benefits all men, providing more opportunities and breaking free from outdated stereotypes.

Mark's distinctive voice is not just heard within this community. He’s a vocal advocate for workplace inclusivity, and recently provided evidence to the UK Government Treasury Select Committee during their 'Sexism in the City' inquiry, and collaborates on initiatives like the Women in Finance Charter and the Diversity Project.

Mark brings a refreshing perspective to the industry, making him an engaging and insightful commentator for journalists seeking a fresh take on diversity, allyship, recruitment, and workplace culture.

Simon has been General Counsel and Company Secretary of United Utilities since 2011 and has overall responsibility for any legal, governance and compliance issues affecting United Utilities. United Utilities has won or been shortlisted on numerous reporting rewards over the years, including at the PwC Building Public Trust Awards and CGI/ICSA. Simon also leads the legal and company secretariat functions and is also responsible for cyber and physical security governance and compliance across the group.

Simon completed a law conversion course having graduated from Cambridge University in Modern Languages. He joined United Utilities as head of group legal in 2002 from global engineering group GKN, having previously qualified as a solicitor at law firm Osborne Clarke. Since January this year, Simon was elected Chair of GC100, the association for the general counsel and company secretaries of companies in the UK FTSE 100.

Silvana joined the Board of The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland in August 2023, having been a co-opted member since March 2022. She joined Keller Group as Group Head of Secretariat in October 2020. She has been working in corporate governance since 2004 and for UK premium listed companies, including FirstGroup, British Land, International Distributions Services (formerly Royal Mail) and Prudential, since 2006. Silvana is a member of the Institute’s Thought Leadership Committee, a member of the Governance Officer Apprenticeship Trailblazer Group, a practitioner member of the European Corporate Governance Institute and a member of the Association of Corporate Secretaries of Latin America.

Lucy Glover is a Company Secretary with nearly 20 years of experience in FTSE 100 and AIM listed companies. She has worked for Smiths Group plc since December 2021, as the Deputy Secretary, where she is responsible for plc and subsidiary governance, listed company compliance, and share plans administration. Lucy is Secretary to Smiths Science, Sustainability & Excellence Committee and Audit & Risk Committee, and recently established the ESG Regulation Oversight Group made up of senior stakeholders to oversee the myriad of ESG regulations that will impact Smiths over the coming years.

Before joining Smiths, Lucy worked for J Sainsbury plc, Land Securities Group PLC and Cape plc. She gained her CGI qualification while working at EY and has a degree in International Business and Economics from Aston University. She is currently enrolled on a Business Sustainability Management course at the University of Cambridge.

Tim Goodman is responsible for our Corporate Governance engagement strategy and voting, having joined Schroders in 2021.

Tim has 30 years of experience across ESG, as well as the responsible investor and corporate communities more broadly.

Prior to joining Schroders, Tim spent 14 years at Federated Hermes, including most recently as Director of Engagement where he focused on the energy, technology, consumer goods and retail sectors. He also previously worked in the insurance industry and held various senior management roles before becoming a company secretary at the UK-listed Domestic & General Group plc.

Tim is a member of the US Council of Institutional Investors Corporate Governance Advisory Council and the UK Investor Association’s Remuneration committee. He is a member of the Corporate Governance Institute, having obtained its prize for the best overall performance when he qualified. He is also a former chair of the UK Quoted Companies Alliance Corporate Governance Committee, where he co-authored several publications.

Krishna is a Director who has worked for KPMG in the UK for over 20 years specialising in marketing and communications. For the last seven years she has focused on inclusion, diversity and equity (IDE) matters at board level for the ‘KPMG Board Leadership Centre’ programme and helped develop ‘KPMG Connect On Board’, a digital platform showcasing diverse candidates for boards roles. Since 2016 Krishna has worked closely with the FTSE Women Leaders Review team (successor to the Hampton-Alexander Review) to improve gender balance in FTSE350 companies, and she is an advisory board member for the Next Generation Non-Executive Director Network. She regularly publishes content and speaks at external events related to IDE matters.

Catherine Howarth has led ShareAction as Chief Executive since 2008. ShareAction is a UK-based non-profit that works to harness the positive potential of the financial system. The organisation promotes ambitious global standards of responsible investment enabling sustainable financial returns alongside healthier societies, decent jobs, and accelerated action to tackle climate change and protect nature.

Catherine serves on the UK government’s Asset Management Taskforce and on the ESG advisory committee to the board of the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial regulator. She served as a member-elected trustee of her pension scheme from 2008-2013. Catherine has a first class degree in modern history from Oxford University and a Masters in industrial relations from the London School of Economics.

Catherine was named as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2014, recognised on the BBC Woman’s Hour Power List in 2020, and awarded an OBE by King Charles III for ‘services to sustainability’ in 2022. She tweets at @ca_howarth and posts on LinkedIn.

Investors on stewardship and corporate governance matters. Andrew also has executive team responsibility for the IA’s Risk and Tax Unit focussing on business risks affecting member firms.

Andrew is responsible for working with members to set the IA guidelines for investee companies and has oversight of The IA's voting research service IVIS, including company consultation and engagement. Andrew also oversees the IA’s work on helping to improve member practices on stewardship and policy development on stewardship and corporate governance matters. Andrew joined The Investment Association in June 2014, through merger of the Investment Affairs division of the ABI with the IMA. Andrew read Economics at the University of Bath.

Andrew is a member of the FTSE Russell Policy Advisory Board and the Advisory Panel to the FTSE Women Leaders Review.

Sallie is an experienced executive director and communications professional with deep expertise in company-investor relations, corporate disclosure and stakeholder engagement. She combines strategic and practical experience with a solid understanding of corporate governance and stewardship, ESG and sustainability, and financial and non-financial reporting.

Currently, Sallie is a senior advisor to The Investor Forum, a not-for-profit, practitioner-led membership organisation, set up by institutional investors in UK Equities focused on positioning stewardship at the heart of investment decision-making. There she leading on an initiative to improve dialogue between Boards and Investors and encourage a more meaningful debate on long term value creation, laying the groundwork for the evolution of the Investor Forum to the Investor and Issuer Forum.

She is an Advisory Panel and Stakeholder Insight Group Member of the FRC, Communications Group Member of the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), and fellow of the Investor Relations Society. Until recently she was an owner and Executive Director of Black Sun plc a Stakeholder Communications Business where she ran a global advisory and research team, of Investor, ESG, Sustainability, and Communications specialists to deliver a more holistic view of corporate performance.

Charlotte Rees-John is the Head of Retail, Leisure & Hospitality Sector at Irwin Mitchell. She is also an employment Partner with over 20 years’ experience and advises on all areas of employment law but is particularly recognised for her commercial advisory work, advising on large scale restructures involving collective consultation, multi-jurisdictional project work, TUPE and matters involving potential brand damage/media interest. Charlotte also leads much of Irwin Mitchell’s work on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and supports a number of clients in creating and implementing clear ED&I strategies as part of their overall ESG commitments.

Rachael is Deputy Director of the Institute and is responsible for our research programme, and our advisory and training services. She is most interested in how research can generate insights that inspire action.

Rachael has collaborated with senior leaders across business, charities, communities, local and central government. After gaining her first degree in Politics and History from the University of Durham, and a Masters in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics, Rachael worked in Westminster, then for Carers UK, for UNISON, the public sector trade union, and for the TUC, on skills policy. She was at Business in the Community for over ten years, as an expert in workplace diversity and then in education business partnerships. As a Director at BITC, she worked closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the then Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and business leaders from Aviva, Barclays, Nationwide, UBS, McKinsey and many more.  Her most recent role was on the SLT of Speakers for Schools as it scaled its delivery of opportunities for young people.

She has held a number of trustee roles including on the board of the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation, the Bromley by Bow Centre and East End Homes. She is currently chair of a charity called Sister System.  She was an elected local councillor for ten years and served as leader of the Labour Group on Tower Hamlets Council. In 2019 Rachael gained an MSc from Birkbeck, University of London, in Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, with a dissertation focussed on how boards communicate their community engagement.

Joanne is a specialist regulatory lawyer with a particular focus on helping clients to comply with the ever-expanding range of ESG regulatory requirements.

Joanne qualified as a barrister in 2005 and spent the early part of her career in independent practice. She defended and prosecuted criminal cases in the Magistrates, Crown and appeal courts. She then worked for the Environment Agency and has a particularly specialised knowledge of environmental law, including waste, water pollution, batteries and producer responsibility legislation.

As well as providing compliance advice, she has significant experience of investigations and prosecutions by various regulatory agencies including the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, the Health and Safety Executive and Local Authorities.

Zaneta Sedilekova is a director of climate and biodiversity risk consultancy firm Planet Law Lab. She has also been appointed as a Biodiversity Risk Advisor for a global think tank Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative, where she carries out research and provides strategic advice on how biodiversity loss can pose a material risk to financial institutions and corporations across multiple sectors. She is also a practising lawyer with a strong focus on climate and biodiversity liability risk in corporate sector. Zaneta has co-authored several reports on biodiversity risks, including Addressing biodiversity loss – revolution or evolution of English law? and Biodiversity Risk: Legal Implications for Companies and their Directors. She is also a co-founder of (re)purpose law, an online five-week personal development course for forward-thinking lawyers who want to find purpose in their work with the focus on the current ecological crisis (see LinkedIn profile and website). She regularly speaks about climate and biodiversity risk and litigation at conferences, webinars and other events.