2nd Sustainable Finance Forum

Following the legislative elections of 14 October 2018, Pierre Gramegna was re-appointed Minister of Finance in the coalition government formed by the Democratic Party (DP), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (déi gréng). Pierre Gramegna first joined the government as Minister of Finance in 2013.

As Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna has initiated major reforms to balance the budget and to align Luxembourg’s tax rules with international transparency standards. Thanks to these efforts, Luxembourg’s AAA rating has been consistently confirmed by all major rating agencies and, in 2015, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes upgraded Luxembourg to “largely compliant”. Pierre Gramegna is also a promoter of the diversification of Luxembourg’s financial centre, in particular with regard to FinTech and sustainable finance. He is the initiator and president of the LHoFT Foundation, which runs the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology. He has also further developed bilateral relations with China in the financial sector.

Pierre Gramegna puts particular emphasis on Luxembourg’s role in multilateral development banks. In 2014, Luxembourg became a member of the African Development Bank and, in 2015, Luxembourg was the first non-Asian country to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Currently, he is the chairman of the board of Governors of the AIIB. In May 2016, Pierre Gramegna was elected chair of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a one-year mandate. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the European Investment Bank and on that of the European Stability Mechanism. He is also Luxembourg’s governor to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Pierre Gramegna studied law and economics at the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), where he was awarded a master’s degree in civil law in 1981 and a degree in economic sciences in 1982. He completed his post-university education with a DEA (postgraduate diploma of advanced studies) in European Union law.

As a career diplomat, Pierre Gramegna joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983. From 1996 to 2002, Pierre Gramegna was Luxembourg’s ambassador to Japan and South Korea. From 2003 to 2013, Pierre Gramegna held the position of Director General of the Chamber of Commerce.

Nicolas Mackel is CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the Development of the Financial Centre, since July 2013.

Nicolas is a career diplomat. He has graduated with a law degree from the University of Aix-en-Provence, and holds two post-graduate diplomas in European law from the Sorbonne University, respectively the College of Europe in Bruges where he then also served as a teaching assistant in the Law Department. He worked as a legal clerk at the European Court of Justice before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. His assignments focused on the successive EU Treaty negotiations (Amsterdam, Nice, Constitution, Lisbon).

Nicolas was consecutively posted at Luxembourg’s Permanent Representation to the EU (2002-07), as Deputy Chief of Mission at Luxembourg’s Embassy in Washington DC (2007-11) and as Consul General in Shanghai (2011-13) where he was in charge of promoting Luxembourg’s economic interests throughout China as the Executive Director of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office.

Judith Bogner is a television presenter, event facilitator and commentator for international finance, business and geopolitics based between the UK and Germany. For more than ten years she was one of the main European anchors of the financial news channel Bloomberg Global Television in London. Since 2012 Judith runs her own business, offering event and business facilitation, client advisory boards and strategic consulting. She is also a UK accredited mediator.

Judith regularly leads public and private events for corporate and institutional clients in the financial sector and beyond. Her list of clients include the Federation of German Industries, the Euro Finance Week (Frankfurt), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of New York Mellon, The Brewers of Europe, Luxembourg for Finance, the Dutch Development Bank FMO, Ergo Insurance, State Street, Scope Ratings, the Institute of Culinary Art, Allianz Global Assistance, Wacom and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Born in Germany, Judith has lived in Switzerland, China, Ukraine, France and Italy. Currently she divides her time between Munich and London. She is bilingual in English-German and also speaks Italian, French and Mandarin Chinese. Judith holds a degree in International Business Management and Chinese from the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen.

Stephen Barrie is Deputy Director of Ethics and Engagement at the Church of England Pensions Board, and serves as Secretary to the Church of England’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group, which advises the three Church Investing Bodies (combined AUM of approx. £12 billion) on ethical investment matters.

Previously a Fellow at the UK’s Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, and a member of staff (now on the governing board) of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford, his background is in Applied Moral Philosophy and Christian Ethics.

Hortense Bioy, CFA, is Director of Passive Strategies and Sustainability Research within the Morningstar Manager Research team in Europe. Based in London, Hortense leads a team that provides independent research on ETFs and index funds.

Since 2017, Hortense’s responsibilities have expanded to include sustainability research in Europe. Hortense is spearheading Morningstar’s ESG thought-leadership agenda in the region, with the objective of educating investors and providing them with the tools they need to evaluate funds through an ESG lens.

Hortense joined Morningstar as an equity ETF analyst in 2010 from Bloomberg where she was a financial journalist. She began her career as an M&A analyst at Société Générale in Hong Kong.

Claudia Bolli is responsible for the development and the implementation of the Responsible Investing strategy with Swiss Re since 2014. As such, she was instrumental in the transition of Swiss Re’s investment portfolio to ESG benchmarks as one of the first re-/insurance companies.

Before Claudia Bolli moved to the insurance business, she held several functions in the international banking business. In June 2018, she was selected by the European Commission to join the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. Specifically, she participates in the development of the requirements for the “Climate Transition and Paris-aligned” benchmarks as well as the benchmark ESG disclosure.

Claudia Bolli holds a master degree in corporate finance and banking from the University of Zurich, and is a Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA).

Royston Braganza joined Grameen Capital in 2007 to launch and head the organisation in India. Grameen Capital is a first of its kind social business enabling Microfinance Institutions and Social Enterprises gain wider access to the capital markets. Grameen Capital is part of the global Nobel Peace Prize-winning Grameen family.

In a banking career spanning over two decades Royston worked in Citibank and then HSBC across both the Consumer Bank and the Corporate Bank, including setting up and heading HSBC’s SME Business, Microfinance & Priority Sector Lending business. In addition to being the Chairman of Sa-Dhan, whose members have over 30 million women micro-entrepreneurs, he serves on many boards and advisory bodies.

Recently, in September 2018, Royston addressed a high-level event at the 73^rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York on the Sustainable Development Goals. He is globally regarded as an expert on impact investing and blended finance as a sustainable tool to eradicate poverty and to achieve the SDGs.

The London-based Finance Monthly publication named Royston among the Top 50 Global CEO Award Winners and among the Top 4 CEOs in Asia. He has also been awarded the Global CSR Leadership award by World CSR Congress.

Anne Canel is Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of HLD Europe, a Luxembourg private equity fund, investing mainly in Europe. HLD’s shareholders are famous European entrepreneurial families, such as Decaux, Dentressangle, Bich, Crombach and the De Agostini group.

She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Luxembourg Private Equity Association (LPEA), and Chair of its ESG Committee.

In addition Anne Canel is a member of the Supervisory Board of Tessi (a listed company in France), and a member of the Audit Committee of Kiloutou and Tessi.

After a successful career in Paris at IGS and then KPMG, she became Chief Financial Officer of the “Fondation de France”.

She arrived in Luxembourg in 2007 and worked at PwC and then at Banque de Luxembourg, where she was involved in launching the “Fondation de Luxembourg”.

Véronique Chapplow is Investment Director at M&G, supporting a range of ESG labelled equity funds as well as impact solutions.
Prior to joining M&G in September 2016, Véronique was product specialist at Zadig Asset Management and marketing analyst at Deutsche Bank. Before that, she was deputy fund manager of GAM’s European equity funds.
Véronique graduated from French business school EPSCI and obtained an MBA from Heriot Watt University.

Denis Childs began his career at Société Générale in 1978. In 1981, he moved to Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking to develop Export Credit Department as a leader of the industry. In 1993, he created the Commodity and Trade Finance Worldwide Business line and further on Mining Oil and Gas and Power Project Finance were added to his responsibility. In 2008, he started a new challenge both heading the Emerging and Sustainable Development Department of the Corporate Investment Banking. As a result, he is in charge of all CIB Positive Impact Finance including Environmental and Social Advisory (Transactions & Clients). From there, he created the Positive Impact/Green/Social Bonds, Positive Impact Structured Notes, Green and Impact Loans activity.

His main focus today is to develop: i) Impact based finance in such areas as Smart Cities, Energy Efficiency, Mobility, Food Security, Healthcare and Social inclusion; ii) A Positive Impact Market Place and associated Services.

On January 2015 Denis Childs joined the Board UNEP-FI Banking Commission, he initiated the UNEP-FI “Positive Impact Initiative” and acts as its co-chair.

Christopher Clubb has 25+ years of experience financing projects in more than 80 countries – ranging from large infrastructure projects to small financial inclusion programs. In the past 15 years, Christopher has focused on investing in projects with dual financial and development objectives in developing projects; since 2015 known as Sustainable Development Goals investing.

He is currently Managing Director at Convergence – an organisation dedicated to mobilising investment to developing countries through blended finance.

Prior to joining Convergence, he was the Director leading European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) financing/investment activities in its early transition countries where EBRD increased its annual investments five-fold to become the largest investor in these developing countries. While at EBRD, Christopher innovated and implemented in partnership with more than 20 donors many of EBRD’s blended finance programs – including the leading local currency program for SME finance and development. Prior to EBRD, Christopher provided long-term financing to strategic European infrastructure projects while at European Investment Bank, provided cross-border financing to international buyers while at Export Development Canada, and started his banking/financing career in corporate banking at Toronto Dominion Bank. Christopher has held senior strategic risk management positions at EBRD and EDC, including the design and implementation of an enterprise-wide risk management framework.

Damien Degros is the Head of Wholesale Banking and a member of the Executive Committee at ING Luxembourg.

After a first experience in the industry, Damien’s entire career has been devoted to ING in Belgium and Luxembourg (mainly in corporate and wholesale banking). After graduating as a business engineer from the Catholic University of Louvain and completing an M.B.A. at Peruvian business school E.S.A.N., he joined ING Belgium in 1996 as an advisor for small and medium-size enterprises. He held different roles up to director of a Business Center serving large corporate clients.

2007 saw Damien move to ING Luxembourg, initially as the Head of Corporate and Financial Institution Clients. The international environment he found in the Grand Duchy allowed him to thrive, and especially to create and implement the commercial banking strategy for ING Luxembourg known as the Boost Plans. He also started representing ING Luxembourg at various associations and official organisations, in addition to working as a member of the local business committee and assets & liabilities committee. He moved to his current role in January 2017.

He is also vice president of ABBL’s C3 cluster.

Gregory H. Kats is President of Capital E – which works with governments, corporations and financial institutions to design, scale and implement clean energy and decarbonisation. He is CEO of the Smart Surfaces Coalition accelerating city investment in resilience.

Gregory served as Managing Director of Good Energies, a several billion-dollar global clean energy PE/VC fund and for 5 years as the Director of Financing for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the US Department of Energy. He was the Founding Chairman of IPMVP and built it into the global energy and water efficiency design and verification standard for $50 billion in building upgrades. Gregory chairs the congressionally established advisory board guiding the greening and energy efficiency of 430,000 federal buildings and served on a National Academy of Sciences board on strengthening US global competitiveness. He is a founder of both the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and the country’s first green bank.

Gregory earned an MBA from Stanford University and received the US Green Building Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alliance to Save Energy.

Farrukh H. Khan is Senior Director of Business Development at Acumen where he is responsible for global business development and fundraising activities.

Previously, Farrukh was the Country Director and CEO of Acumen Pakistan. He is the founding partner and former CEO of BMA Capital Management Limited. He is an experienced entrepreneur and a leading business and financial advisor who has advised on many landmark transactions, including Etisalat’s $2.6 billion acquisition of Pak Telecom. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and has served on various private and public sector boards.

Farrukh qualified as a Chartered Accountant from the UK and received a BA (Hons.) in Economics and Finance from the University of Manchester.

Jingdong Hua is the Vice President & Treasurer of the World Bank (WB) Treasury (TRE), responsible for the WB’s US$200 billion debt portfolio & asset portfolio of nearly US$200 billion managed for the World Bank Group (WBG) and 68 clients including central banks, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds.

He oversees a derivatives portfolio of US$600 billion for hedging & risk management, payments & annual cashflows of over US$7 trillion equivalent. He is also responsible for the debt issuance of the WB International Bank & Reconstruction Development (IBRD) & International Development Association (IDA) & oversees capital markets operations for the International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFm). He leads the TRE’s capacity building & advisory services in financial analytics, debt management, asset management, & innovative financial solutions for its clients.

Prior to his current post, he was Vice President and Treasurer of International Finance Corporation for 7 ½ years, served as Deputy Treasurer at the Asian Development Bank in Manila & previously held several positions in the treasury departments of ADB, the United Nations Development Program in New York, and the African Development Bank in Abidjan.

Michael has been a staff writer at Environmental Finance since May 2017. He writes with a special focus on how pension funds are changing their investment strategy to transition to a low-carbon economy.

He also covers developments in the green bond and carbon markets, and has a special interest in sustainability-related policymaking.

He was previously a freelance writer, covering a wide range of subjects including technology, music, food and literature.

Michael graduated from the University of Kent in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in English & American Literature.

Frank Krings is the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A.. He is also a Member of the Supervisory Board of DWS Investment S.A. and a Member of its Audit and Risk Committee. Further, he is the Chairman of Istanbul-based Deutsche Bank A.Ş.. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Luxembourg Bankers’ Association and chairs its Audit Committee. He is also an elected member of the plenary assembly of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and a Member of its Audit Committee.

Before, Krings was the General Manager of Deutsche Bank in Thailand where he also served as the Chairman of the Association of International Banks, the Kingdom’s foreign bankers’ association. Krings had rejoined Deutsche Bank in 2011 after serving as Member of the Management Board of Munich-based Hypo Real Estate Holding and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank from October 2008 through 2010, mandated to assure their restructuring. Previously, he spent twelve years with Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt and New York, holding various senior roles and serving on the boards of several regulated Deutsche Bank subsidiaries across Europe.

Markus Löning founded Löning – Human Rights & Responsible Business at the start of 2014. He and his team consult global corporations in implementing a meaningful human rights due diligence.

Markus Löning was the German government’s human rights commissioner from 2010 to 2013, and between 2002 and 2009 he was a member of the Bundestag with a focus on European and development policy. He was chairing the parliamentary friendship group with Luxembourg and Belgium. He has visited 70 countries, working with governments and civil society around the world on human rights issues. Given his political background, he is an expert in strategic communication with various stakeholders and advises boards of various companies and organisations on this issue.

Currently, he is also chairing Liberal International’ Human Rights Committee, vice president of Renew Europe (previously known as ALDE) and a member of UNICEF’s German committee. Prior to his political career, Markus Löning worked for 15 years in advertising and communications.

Greg Medcraft was appointed Director of the OECD’s Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs in November 2017, where he leads the Organisation’s work on markets policy and business conduct. Prior to his current role he had a distinguished career in banking and financial sector regulation.

Mr Medcraft begun his professional life at accounting firm KPMG, before moving to Société Générale, where he worked in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Americas, and finishing a 30 year private sector career as Managing Director and Global Head of Securitisation. During this time he also served as CEO of the Australian Securitisation Forum, and Chairman and Co-Founder of the American Securitisation Forum. From 2009 to 2017, Mr Medcraft was Commissioner and then Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Australia’s corporate, markets, financial services and credit regulator. Mr. Medcraft was also Chair of the IOSCO Board and a member of the Financial Stability Board from 2013 to 2016. He has also held elected public office, including as mayor of cities in Melbourne and Sydney.

Flavia Micilotta is Director at the Luxembourg Green Exchange, the leading exchange for listing sustainable bonds and funds.

A member of EFRAG’s EU reporting Lab and of the EIOPA Occupational Pension Stakeholder Group, Flavia has supported the work of the European Commission to devise a sustainable finance framework as member of the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (HLEG).

With 18 years of experience in sustainability, Flavia was previously Executive Director of Eurosif, the pan-European sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) membership organisation whose mission is to promote sustainability through European financial markets. As a sustainability consultant and qualified environmental auditor at EY and Deloitte, she assisted companies embed sustainability in their business models and go beyond the remits of social and environmental compliance. Focused on issues ranging from climate change and adaptation, to supply chain management and responsible investments, Flavia worked with several European banks and asset managers to help them streamline their Responsible Investment approach.

A founding member of the UN Global Compact in Belgium, Flavia has developed much of her career working with companies to improve their transparency and accountability through material and forward-looking sustainability reporting.

Corinne Molitor is a Partner at Innpact, an advisory company dedicated to impact finance, providing expert consulting services for the set-up and management of impact investment funds.

Corinne has an experience of more than 20 years in the financial sector, especially related to corporate and institutional clients as well as investment funds. Being passionate about impact finance, she has co-developed numerous initiatives to promote the sector. She co-chairs the ALFI Responsible investing committee and sits on the Board of several impact funds, inclusive finance associations as well as the ICFA – International Climate Finance Accelerator Luxembourg.

Corinne holds a Master in Business management and a Bachelor in Law from Universités de Strasbourg, France as well as a Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD, Singapore.

In her capacity as the Responsible Investment Strategist, a role she has held since 2012, Ophélie Mortier is in charge of driving sustainable initiatives, projects and methodologies relating to Responsible Investment (RI) throughout the investment process. Furthermore, she guides and implements all actions regarding Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues within the asset management company DPAM. She is a member of Responsible Investment Steering Group.

As DPAM being a responsible shareholder, Ophélie is also member of the Voting Advisory Board, in charge of the voting policy implementation throughout the investment funds managed by DPAM. Finally, Ophélie is member of the Fixed Income Sustainability Advisory Board in charge of the proprietary sustainability country model.

Ophélie joined Petercam in 2005 as a Sales and Account Manager and, in 2009, became Macro coordinator within the Fixed Income team. Her contribution in helping develop in-house macro-economic models is highly recognized.

She started her career 17 years ago as a Consultant to Institutional Portfolio Managers at Pragma Consulting.

Jennifer Reynolds is the President & CEO of Toronto Finance International (TFI), a public-private partnership whose mission is to promote and develop Toronto’s financial services sector, and to establish its prominence as a leading global financial centre.

Jennifer’s 20-year career in the financial services industry has included senior roles in investment banking, venture capital, and global risk management. Prior to joining TFI, Jennifer was the President & CEO of Women in Capital Markets (WCM), Canada’s largest industry association and advocacy group for women in the financial sector.

Jennifer is a Director on the Board of Citibank Canada, Director on the Board of the Canada Development Investment Corporation (“CDEV”), Director on the Board of Women’s College Hospital Foundation, and Director on the Board of Tourism Toronto. In 2015 and 2017, she was named a Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner.

Iain Richards joined the company in 2012 and is currently Head of Responsible Investment, EMEA.

Before joining the company Iain was Regional Head of Corporate Governance at Aviva Investors. His career in the City has also included roles at Schroder Investment Management, the Policy Group of the UK’s Listing Authority and the London Stock Exchange. Iain has also worked at the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry (now BIS) in various roles in the European and competition policy units.

He has written papers on a range of issues including Auditing, Sovereign Wealth Funds and, in 2006, on the impending risk of a systemic banking crisis. He was responsible for leading the UK investment industry’s successful lobbying to re-establish the overarching ‘True & Fair View’ principle of accounting in revised UK Company Law. He has also appeared as an expert witness before the UK House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs to give evidence on Audit Market concentration and the role of auditors.

Constantine Rinn is Head of Capital Markets & Advisory Solutions at UBS in Luxembourg where he is responsible for advising wealth management clients on their investment strategy, delivering bespoke and in many instances outcome oriented solutions. Before joining UBS, Constantine worked for a major single family office and was in London Head of HQ Capital (then Auda), the Harald Quandt family’s alternative investment advisor. Constantin started out his career in institutional asset management, most recently at what today is Columbia Threadneedle.

Constantine was educated at U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and University of Cologne. He holds a Master’s and Diploma degree in Business Administration, is a CFA charterholder and a CEMS Alumni.

Aldo Romani oversees EIB’s Climate and Sustainability Awareness Bond (CAB&SAB) issuance in all currencies. His team was created in 2018 in response to growing investor demand as well as increasing public attention in the context of the Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth.

A graduate in monetary and financial economics of Bocconi University, he started his career in investment banking at Commerzbank AG. He joined EIB as assistant to the Deputy Director General of Finance and then as member of the EUR-funding team.

Aldo began to integrate social responsibility into EIB’s funding strategy in 2007, shaping the first Green Bond ever and overseeing EUR Green Bond issuance since. He structured the upgrade of CAB-administration in 2014, coordinated the IFI- and GBP- groups on impact reporting harmonisation from 2015 to 2016, managed first KPMG-audit of EIB’s CABs in 2016. In 2017-18, he coordinated the EIB-team that co-authored with the China Green Finance Committee White Papers on the Need for a Common Language in Green Finance.

Market recognition includes awards with Global Capital (“Overall Most Impressive Green/SRI Bond Funding Official” in 2015, 2016 and 2017) as well as with Environmental Finance (“GB Personality of the Year” in 2018).

Filipa Saldanha is an economist, a senior sustainability manager and a trusted adviser to top-level decision-makers. Her specialities include the topics of sustainable management strategies, sustainable business models, circular economy, blue and green (bio)economy, and (blue) natural capital. During her career, she has worked and been closely engaged with multiple stakeholders from business, academic and non-profit sectors as well as national and European public institutions. This broadening her vision, consolidated her knowledge and strengthen her institutional relations skills.

Filipa is currently managing all innovation and tech related projects at the Gulbenkian Sustainability Program such as i) blue bioeconomy business acceleration programs; ii) circular economy strategies within businesses and society; iii) sustainable value chains in the agri-food industry; iv) acceleration of social enterprises; among others. In addition, she leads the internal sustainability management strategy of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Marie-Laure Schaufelberger is Head of Stewardship for the Pictet Group. She began her career at Pictet in 2007 within the media relations and public affairs team where she was also responsible for CSR.

In 2014, she moved to Pictet Asset Management’s Thematic Equities team as a Product Specialist, covering business development and client-servicing for several environmental and social impact strategies. She coordinates the Pictet Group’s Sustainability Board and sits on the Board of Pictet’s Philanthropic Foundation.

Molly Scott Cato is Green Party MEP for the South West of England and was previously Professor of Green Economics at Roehampton University in London. Molly was the rapporteur for European Parliament’s own initiative report on Sustainable Finance and is the national speaker on finance for the Green Party of England and Wales.

Molly studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University and has a PhD in Economics from the University of Wales, Aberystywth. Molly has written several books including Green Economics (2009), Environment and Economy (2011) and The Bioregional Economy (2012) as well as numerous academic papers on topics including sustainability economics, social enterprise, and co-operatives and mutuals.

Charles Symons is Director and Responsible for iShares in Belgium and Luxembourg at BlackRock. In this current role, Mr Symons is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with both retail as well as institutional clients throughout the Belux region.

Prior to moving in his current role, Mr. Symons was working within our Benelux Institutional team where he was responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with institutional investors, including pension plans, companies, institutions & foundations, and industry consultants within the Benelux region.

Mr. Symons earned an MSc degree in finance and risk management from the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel in 2006.

Wim Van Hyfte, Ph.D., is Global Head of Responsible Investments and Research at Candriam since 2016. He is responsible for research on environmental, social and governance issues, the implications for and the integration into portfolio and risk management across asset classes. Before, he was senior fund manager-quant analyst at Candriam co-managing global ESG quant equity funds and segregated accounts for nearly 10 years. He joined Candriam in 2006 after having worked in the academic world for over 8 years.

Since 2012, he is also Visiting Professor at ULB Solvay School of Economics and Management teaching on Asset Pricing in the Advanced Master in Quantitative Finance. From 2006 until 2012, he was Visiting Professor at Vlerick Business School teaching on portfolio management in an MBA program.

Sachin S. Vankalas is General Manager of Luxembourg Finance Labelling Agency (LuxFLAG). He joined the LuxFLAG in March 2011.

Prior to his appointment as a General Manager in June 2019, Sachin has been leading the operations and sustainability processes at LuxFLAG since 2011, acquiring deep knowledge and expertise in the sustainable investment market.

Prior to joining LuxFLAG, Sachin worked as an Investment Officer for a Swiss Asset Management firm in Zurich and before as a Rating Analyst in an International Rating Agency. During this time, his professional assignments included institutional assessments, ratings of financial institutions, due diligence missions, portfolio audits and investment projects of about 75 financial institutions across continents.

Sachin attended Harvard University & NYU Stern competing executive programs in Finance and Sustainability and holds a MS in Banking and Finance from the Luxembourg School of Finance. He is a member of the ALFI and ABBL Technical Committees and Working Groups on Responsible Investing and sits on the Boards of multiple organisations active in Sustainable Finance viz. International Climate Finance Accelerator (ICFA), Inclusive Finance Network (InFiNe), and European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP).

Hugh Wheelan is Co-founder and Joint Managing Director of Responsible Investor, now part of PEI Media.

A media entrepreneur, Hugh co-created Responsible Investor in 2007 and built the company to become one of the world’s most respected sustainable finance media and events companies. As a journalist, he has written extensively on investment, corporate and sustainability issues for international newspapers including The Guardian and The Financial Times.  He has interviewed some of the biggest names in global finance and sustainability.  Hugh has won many journalism awards during his career.

In 2020, he won the Outstanding Contribution to Institutional Journalism at the State Street Press Awards. He won the respected Aon Consulting award for European Pensions and Investment Journalist of the Year in 2006.  From 2004 to 2007 he was Paris Correspondent and before that Fund Management Editor at Financial News, part of the Wall Street Journal.

Prior to that he was Political and Economic advisor to the Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Daniel Winter is a commissioning editor for the Financial Times’ Special Reports section.

He first joined the FT on the Markets desk, where he produced popular series on the likes of leveraged loans and Mifid II, while leading the charge for creative data-driven financial reporting.

Previously, Daniel covered European companies and markets while working as a reporter for Deutsche Welle television in Berlin, eventually becoming Business Editor and Anchor for the English-language international channel.

Kaiyu Yang currently holds the position as Deputy General Manager of ICBC (Europe) S.A. and ICBC Luxembourg Branch since May 2018.

Prior to that, he was the Deputy General Manager of ICBC Brazil, a full subsidiary of ICBC Group in Brazil. He started his career in Investment Banking Department of ICBC Head Office and has 16 years of banking experience in ICBC, including 7 years in Latin America focusing on M&A, structured trade financing and commodity financing to serve the mutual investments between China and LatAm.