NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Institutional investors are increasingly looking to understand the big picture, or “system-level,” context of their portfolio decisions. This is important because “system-level” events, such as economic crises, ecosystems under stress, and societies in turmoil can disrupt the best-laid plans of investors and cost them dearly. Even seemingly “local” issues are now having much greater impact than they once did as the world becomes increasingly interconnected.

The Investment Integration Project (TIIP) — a growing global platform bringing together asset owners, managers, and advisors to leverage market analysis, data, and tools to accelerate system-level investing—will host an event that explores the intersection between efficiency and intentionality, and how the alignment of the two leads to effective investing.

This event will build on the findings from TIIP’s previously published

Tipping Points 2016: Summary of 50 Asset Owners’ and Managers’ Approaches to Investing in Global Systems

and will draw from its forthcoming publication

Effective Investing for the Long Term: Intentionality at Systems Levels.

During the session, William Burckart, TIIP’s President from New York, will examine this new thinking as it becomes a part of the investment industry. He will be joined by:

Prof. Robert Eccles — Visiting Professor of Management Practice at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, the Founding Chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and one of the founders of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)—and other leading investors to explore why asset owners are increasingly demanding the integration of impact and ESG factors and are extending this interest to influence system-level considerations.

Louise Dudley, Portfolio Manager, Hermes Global Equities – Louise joined Hermes in March 2009 in the Hermes EOS team, transferring to work on the Global Equities strategy later that year. She fulfils the role of ESG specialist and champions responsible asset management within the team. Prior to Hermes she worked for Coca Cola in Australia. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Durham in 2007 specialising in Design, Manufacture and Management.

The discussion will also unpack the challenges and opportunities that asset managers face when attempting to bridge the divide between portfolio decision-making and system-level thinking.