Shelley Alpern is Director of Corporate Engagement at Rhia Ventures, whose mission is to drive a more equitable and vibrant market for women’s sexual, reproductive and maternal health care. Prior to Rhia Ventures, she led shareholder advocacy and research for the leading sustainability firms Clean Yield Asset Management and Trillium Asset Management, where she led and participated in shareholder advocacy efforts to advance more progressive corporate environmental and social policies. Shelley received the SRI Service Award in 2005 for “outstanding contributions to the socially responsible investment community,” the Silent Spring Institute’s first Rachel Carson Award, and national recognitions for her work to advance LGBTQ rights in the workplace. Her work has been covered in numerous publications.

Read article: Record Number of Proposals Address Threats to Reproductive Health Care

Susan is the Board Chair of The Thirty Percent Coalition, a pioneering advocate for increased gender, racial and ethnic diversity on corporate boards and in senior leadership. The Coalition includes over 90 member organizations representing over $8 trillion in assets under management, including institutional investors, state treasurers, private equity firms, corporations, professional services firms, and individuals. In her day job, Susan is a Senior Advisor at KPMG’s Board Leadership Center, where she is a frequent writer, speaker, and advisor on board oversight of topics including strategy, innovation, technology, risk, DEI, climate change, leadership, culture, and board effectiveness. She is a lawyer and former Fortune 500 executive by background, with 25+ years in the branded consumer products industry. She was honored to be included in NACD’s Directorship 100 list in 2020 for governance professionals and institutions.

Read article: Board Diversity Disclosure Identifies Leaders and Laggards

Meredith Benton founded Whistle Stop Capital, LLC, a consultancy focused on increasing the expression of social and environmental best practices in investment portfolios. Meredith has directed the impact investment parameters of more than $2 billion in assets, led numerous successful shareholder engagement programs, and conducted extensive analyses of corporate human rights and environmental practices.

She has worked across asset classes and developed investment strategies for funds seeking to incorporate environmental and social themes into their existing investment approaches. Her leadership of shareholder advocacy initiatives has included building investor coalitions, facilitating corporate dialogues, drafting shareholder resolutions, soliciting proxy support, and benchmarking best practices. Her clients have included institutional investors, asset managers, advisors, foundations and high-net-worth individuals.

Read article: Increase in EEO-1 Data Reporting Shows Positive Link Between Diversity and Financial Performance

Grant Bradski coordinates As You Sow’s 401(k) Sustainability Scorecard, which rates corporate retirement plans based on their exposure to environmental and social issues. He works to empower employees with the tools and resources to invest in a climate-safe retirement. The Initiative is part of As You Sow’s Invest Your Values program, which creates interactive climate-related financial transparency tools.

Grant is also the Creative Content Coordinator at As You Sow. In this role, Grant works to develop digital media strategies that inspire action and captivate a variety of audiences by creating video content and graphics for marketing campaigns and social media.

Prior to joining As You Sow, Grant worked as a grassroots environmental advocate on campaigns to strengthen protections of our nation’s air and water. He holds a B.A. in Business with a focus in Entrepreneurship and Management from California State University of Chico.

Read article: Employees Unaware of Climate Risk in Retirement Plans

Amy Carr is the Senior Shareholder Advocate at Friends Fiduciary Corporation, a Quaker faith-based socially responsible investment firm that serves more than 430 Quaker meetings, churches, and organizations across the country. FFC’s investment philosophy is grounded in the beliefs of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), including peace, simplicity, integrity, and justice. As long-term investors, FFC engages portfolio companies to witness to Quaker values and to protect and enhance the long-term value of investments. As part of this work, Amy engages companies on environmental, social, and governance issues, working with fellow investor networks. She holds a BA from Duquesne University, and a MSI from University of Michigan.

Read article: Russian Military's Reliance on Dual Use Components Exposes Companies to Human Rights Risks

Dan Carroll is the Center’s Vice President for Programs. Prior to joining the Center, Dan spent six years on Capitol Hill, advising a senior House member on campaign finance issues, the judiciary, and tax policy. Dan also tracked judicial nominations, researched and analyzed federal appellate court decisions, and created advocacy materials for a national non-profit advocacy organization, and served in the chambers of a federal magistrate judge. He earned a degree in Public Policy from Hamilton College and a J.D. from William & Mary Law School, where he was a fellow at the Institute of Bill of Rights Law.

Read article: A Framework for Evaluating Goals and Risks of Corporate Political Spending

Alka Chandna is the Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Cases at PETA. Since joining PETA’s staff in 2003, Alka has liaised with PETA’s research, legal, and investigations teams to cultivate expertise on the use of animals in experimentation. She has submitted dozens of complaints, spotlighting violations of U.S. federal animal welfare laws, guidelines and policies. In 2010, after she wrote PETA's complaint against a North Carolina–based contract animal-testing facility, the laboratory surrendered nearly 250 dogs and cats and shut its doors. More recently, she worked on PETA's successful campaign to end a series of maternal-deprivation experiments on monkeys at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. She has had original research published in peer-reviewed journals on policies pertaining to problems with oversight of animal experimentation; and has presented some of this work at scientific conferences. Before coming to PETA, Alka served as a tenured professor of mathematics at Memorial University.

Read article: Illegally Captured Primates Used in Animal Testing Pose Health and Investor Risks

Robert G. Eccles is a leading authority on how companies and investors can create sustainable strategies through the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in resource allocation decisions. The focus of his work is on how the capital markets can contribute to ensuring a sustainable society for generations to come.

Currently Eccles is a Visiting Professor of Management Practice at the Said Business School, University of Oxford where he is engaged in research projects focused on corporate purpose, corporate reporting, engagement and stewardship, and private equity. Eccles has been a Visiting Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management and was a Berkeley Social Impact Fellow at the Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley. He was a Professor at Harvard Business School and received tenure in 1989.

Eccles is the first Chair of KKR’s “Sustainability Expert Advisory Council.” He was the founding Chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and was one of the founders of the International Integrated Reporting Council. In 2011, Dr. Eccles was selected as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior – 2012 for his extensive, positive contribution to building trust in business. In 2013, he was named the first non-accountant Honorary Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), one of only nine since 1999. In 2018 he was named by Barron’s as one of the top 20 influencers in ESG investing and cited for being an “ESG research trailblazer.” Also, in 2018 he received “The CSR Lifetime Achievement Award” at
“The 8th International Conference on Sustainability & Responsibility” in Cologne, Germany.

Dr. Eccles received an S.B. in Mathematics and an S.B. in Humanities and Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an A.M. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University. He currently resides in Lexington, MA with his wife Anne Laurin Eccles and their two dogs Basil and Rowan. They have four children (Charlotte, Philippa, Isabelle, and Gordon) and eleven grandchildren (Scout, Russell, Thomas, Thora, Frederick, Dashiell, Philip, Maple, Celeste, Wilde, and Nessa). His main outside activity is weightlifting where he is quite good at the dead lift (achieved his personal goal of 400 pounds with a 410 lift on December 28, 2020—putting him at the 99.8th percentile for his age group), credible at the squat, and pathetic at the bench press.

Read article: The Path to a Peaceful Settlement in the ESG Culture Wars

Bruce F. Freed is president and co-founder of the Center for Political Accountability, a Washington, D.C. based NGO whose mission is to bring transparency and accountability to corporate political spending. Founded in 2003, CPA is successfully reshaping how companies engage in political spending.

Under his leadership, CPA produces the annual CPA-Zicklin Index that benchmarks the S&P 500 on their political disclosure and accountability policies and practices and TrackYourCompany.org, a searchable, sortable database on company political spending. He helped develop CPA’s innovative strategy of using corporate governance to address the risks companies face from political spending. As a result of CPA’s efforts, political disclosure and accountability is recognized as the norm.

He draws on his long experience in journalism and on Capitol Hill. Bruce speaks widely and co-authored major CPA reports including Collision Course, the first examination of the heightened risks to companies of conflicted political spending.

Read article: A Framework for Evaluating Goals and Risks of Corporate Political Spending

Danielle Fugere is President and Chief Counsel at As You Sow. She brings a wealth of experience in achieving broad and lasting change and in-depth knowledge of clean energy, conservation policy, toxic enforcement, and team building. Danielle served most recently as Executive Director of the Environmental Law Foundation. Prior, she was Legal Director and Regional Program Director for national nonprofit Friends of the Earth, where she spearheaded innovative legal strategies to reduce global warming pollution and directed campaigns to reduce pollution and promote sustainable alternative energies and fuels. Through her work, Danielle has been instrumental in securing compliance with environmental laws and industry conversions to environmentally sound technologies, including a settlement with the City and County of Los Angeles resulting in a $2.1 billion sewer system upgrade. Danielle was recognized with the WaterKeeper’s Environmental Achievement Award in 2000 for her outstanding achievements protecting California waters from pollution and compelling polluters to assume the costs of environmental degradation. She holds a JD from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a BA in Political Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Read article: Insurance Sector Leaders and Laggards Emerging on Climate Risk

Mary Beth Gallagher is the Director of Engagement at Domini Impact Investments LLC based in New York, NY. Ms. Gallagher is responsible for leading Domini’s engagement efforts with portfolio companies, broader stakeholder groups and policy makers, as well as developing initiatives and campaigns in areas such as human rights, climate change mitigation, deforestation, racial justice, and health access. Prior to joining Domini in 2021, she was the Executive Director Investor Advocates for Social Justice, worked in international development, and human rights advocacy. Ms. Gallagher holds a B.S. in environmental science from Boston College and a J.D. from the Washington College of Law at American University.

Read article: Independent Audits can Further Worker Health and Safety

Michael Garland is Assistant Comptroller for Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment for New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. The Comptroller serves as investment advisor, custodian and a trustee to the New York City Pension Funds, which have approximately $240 billion in assets under management and a long history of active ownership on issues of corporate governance and sustainability.

Michael and his team are responsible for developing and implementing the Funds’ active ownership programs for public equities, including voting proxies at approximately 11,000 portfolio companies around the world; engaging portfolio companies on their environmental, social and governance policies and practices; and advocating for regulatory reforms to protect investors and promote sustainable capital markets. Michael spearheaded shareholder initiatives that helped to establish proxy access as a fundamental right at hundreds of U.S. companies, and that established EEO-1 Report disclosure as a standard for disclosing workforce racial and ethnic demographics among the largest U.S. companies.

Michael serves on the Grant & Eisenhofer ESG Institute Oversight Board and previously served as Public Fund Co-Chair on the Council of Institutional Investors’ Board of Directors. He also serves as Comptroller Lander’s designated representative to the board of directors of CERES, a non-profit that works with investors, companies, and capital market influencers to take stronger action on the world’s biggest sustainability challenges.

Read article: Supporting Workers' Right to Freedom of Association

Jon Hale focuses on ESG thought leadership and product strategy for Morningstar. Prior to 2021, Jon was Morningstar’s head of sustainable investing research. He directed the company’s research initiatives on sustainable investing, beginning with the launch of the Morningstar Sustainability Rating™ for funds in 2016.

In 2018, Hale was named to Barron’s list of the 20 most influential people in ESG investing, and in 2019, he was included in the InvestmentNews’ 10 leaders of ESG & Impact investing.

Before assuming this role in 2016, Hale was director of research, North America, for Morningstar, where he led approximately 60 manager re­search analysts based in North America and oversaw the team’s operations, thought leadership, and manager research coverage across asset classes.

Hale first joined Morningstar in 1995 as a mutual fund analyst and helped launch the institutional investment consulting business for Morningstar in 1998. He left the company in 1999 to work for Domini Social Investments, LLC before rejoining Morningstar as a senior investment consultant in 2001. He became managing consultant in 2009 and head of the Investment Advisory unit in 2014.

Hale holds a bachelor’s degree, with honors, from the University of Oklahoma and a doctorate in political science from Indiana University.

Read article: ESG Triggers the Right

Elected in 2012, Martin Heinrich is a United States Senator for New Mexico. Heinrich serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources, Appropriations, Intelligence, and Joint Economic Committees.

With a background in engineering, Heinrich brings a unique perspective to the Senate, where he is focused on creating the jobs of the future and confronting the climate crisis. He is a strong advocate for working families, a staunch ally of Indian Country, and a champion for New Mexico’s public lands and growing clean energy economy.

In 2015, Heinrich helped negotiate the long-term extension of renewable energy tax credits that support New Mexico’s growing clean energy industries.

Prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate, Heinrich served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Before he was elected to Congress, Heinrich served four years as an Albuquerque City Councilor and was elected as City Council President.

Read article: Republican Efforts to Limit ESG Investing are Anti-Capitalist

Edgar Hernández is the Assistant Director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Department of Strategic Initiatives. The focus of his work is to interact with public and private sector pension funds and trustees on investment, corporate governance and retirement security issues. He is the co-lead on the SEIU’s Diversity and Dollars initiative that promotes opportunities for Diverse asset managers. In addition, he also works on investor engagement with publicly traded companies on the investment risks related to the Immigration policies facing our nation. Edgar serves as a Deputy Trustee for the SEIU Master Trust pension fund that has $3 Billion in assets under management. He received his BA in Political Science and Latin American Studies and a Master in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Read article: Companies Taking a Closer Look at How Racial Inequity Affects Their Workers, Customers and Shareholders

Tim Hirschel-Burns is a Legal Fellow with Oxfam America. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School. Tim's work has been published in Foreign Policy, Just Security, and African Arguments, and his analysis has been featured in the BBC and the New York Times. He has also authored a piece on tax avoidance in the extractive sector in the Yale Journal of International Law.

Read article: Big Oil Tax Dodging Transparency and Standards

Becca Johnson joined Ceres as an Associate with the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets in February 2022. In her role, she supports the Accelerator team in areas of communication, sustainable retirement investing, events and special projects. Prior to working at Ceres, Becca was a freelance web designer and digital marketer for small businesses and nonprofits in the health and wellness industry. 

Read article: What the SEC's Mandatory Climate Disclosure Proposal Means for Investors and Market Protection

Diana Kearney is Senior Legal and Shareholder Advocacy Advisor at Oxfam America, where she leads the organization’s legal and shareholder proposal activism. Her work centers around corporate accountability, with a particular focus on human rights due diligence, vaccine access, and land rights. She holds a JD from NYU Law, a MSc in International Development from Lund University, and a BA from Boston University. 

Read article: Big Oil Tax Dodging Transparency and Standards

John Keenan is a Corporate Governance Analyst for Capital Strategies for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which is the largest union in the AFL-CIO representing state and local government, health care and child care workers. John serves on the board of the Council of Institutional Investors, where he previously co-chaired the its Shareholder Advocacy Committee. Before joining AFSCME, he was a proxy voting analyst at Institutional Shareholder Services and also a paralegal in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of Brown University. 

Read article: War on ESG Highlights the Need for Lobbying Disclosure

Uriah leads FTLT's policy and legislative efforts, working with Treasurers and other financial officers across the country to help ensure public funds are invested sustainably and to expand economic opportunities for all Americans.

Prior to joining FTLT, Uriah served as the lead policy advisor for Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella, as executive staff at a community development financial institution, and as the director of state policy for a national policy and research organization.

He is a graduate of Wright State University and has a Masters of Public Policy from Princeton University.

Read article: ESG Date Helps Assess Value Potential Returns and Manage Investment Risk

Oliva Knight leads As You Sow’s Racial Justice Initiative. She earned a Masters with Distinction in Environment, Development and Policy from the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK where her research focused on African American participation in mainstream environmental movements in the United States, investigations into the PIC, examinations of racialized landscapes in California's transit and urban policies, and post-colonial West African environmental policies and impacts. At Pitzer College, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Analysis and African Studies. Olivia previously worked for a Bay Area non-profit organization that provides health care to children with Autism and has always been passionate about assuring quality health care for communities of color. 

Read article: Shareholders and Local Communities Join to Demand Racial and Environmental Justice

Sanford Lewis is an environmental attorney with 35 years of experience in environmental law and policy. His clients include institutional investors, social investment firms and nonprofit organizations. His practice is focused on shareholder proposals, shareholder rights and improving corporate environmental and social disclosure requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Lewis is the Director and General Counsel of the Shareholder Rights Group http://ShareholderRightsGroup.com and was co-author of “Fooling Investors and Fooling Themselves: How Aggressive Corporate Accounting and Asset Management Tactics Can Lead to Environmental Accounting Fraud.” He is also a documentary filmmaker. Mr. Lewis has a BS in Environmental Studies and Urban Communications from Cook College, Rutgers University, and a JD from the University of Michigan Law School.

Read article: 2023 Update on SEC Shareholder Proposal Rules and Guidelines

Luan Jenifer, Chief Executive Officer and President, joined Miller/Howard Investments in 2002. Previously, Luan held several key leadership positions at the firm including Chief Operating Officer and Head of ESG. In her longtime work as Head of ESG, Luan was instrumental in expanding the scope and impact our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) program, which began over three decades ago. Luan is chair of the Executive Committee, and serves on Miller/Howard’s Board of Directors, Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, and Compensation Committee. As an avid supporter of local community organizations, Luan created the firm’s volunteer time off program. Luan holds a BS from Marist College.

Read article: Methane Emissions Significantly Underestimated Direct Measurement Needed

Conrad MacKerron has more than a decade of experience managing corporate dialogues and shareholder advocacy initiatives on cutting-edge social and environmental issues. As Senior Vice President of As You Sow, Conrad engages global consumer and electronics companies on their waste policies. Conrad founded the As You Sow shareholder advocacy program in 1997. He specializes in engagements on resource efficiency, recycling and producer responsibility.

He is former senior social researcher at Piper Jaffray Philanthropic & Social Investment Consulting, and Social Research Director at Progressive Asset Management (both social investment firms). He also served as Senior Analyst, Energy and Environment, at the Investor Responsibility Research Center (now part of RiskMetrics Group). Formerly a journalist, he was Washington Bureau Chief for Chemical Week and a writer for BNA's Environment Reporter. He currently blogs for GreenBiz.  

He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism and Public Affairs from The American University.

Read article: Petrochemical Companies Unsustainable Production Policies Drive Plastic Pollution Crisis

Renaye Manley brings strategy, innovation and advocacy to the world of finance and pension funds infusing a lens of racial and gender equity.  She currently serves as Deputy Director of the Service Employees International Union, Strategic Initiatives department.  In this position, she works with pension trustees, union leaders, elected officials and investment professionals around the engagement of multi-billion-dollar union and public pensions funds, including corporate governance and shareholder work. She leads SEIU’s “Diversity & Dollars” work, which has led to the adoption of the “Rooney Rule” at seventeen companies, including Facebook and Amazon.  She previously served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s advisory board on Small Business, Agriculture and Labor.  She serves as co-chair of the advocacy committee of the Council of Institutional Investors which convenes the largest groups of investors and asset owners in the United States and also serves on the board of the 30% Percent Coalition which works on gender and racial equity issues in the world of corporate boards. Prior to her job at SEIU, Renaye worked for Interfaith Worker Justice, a community /labor collaboration, coordinating work with national unions and denominations on issues of workplace justice. She has a background as field organizer, working for years at the AFL-CIO where she focused on field campaigns engaged in political and worker organizing. She is a graduate of Indiana University and has a MBA from Western Governors University.  Renaye is married to Richard is mom to Cameron, Cayla, Calvin and Kizzy and a host of adorable grandkids. She also operates Renaye Manley, Mobile Notary, a small business started earlier this year.

Read article: Companies Taking a Closer Look at How Racial Inequity Affects Their Workers, Customers and Shareholders

As Waste Program Coordinator, Kelly works with companies to improve their circular economy operations, including limiting natural resource extraction and supporting robust repair, reuse, and recycling programs. Kelly specializes in sustainable consumer goods packaging, plastic pollution prevention, nurdles, and electronic waste.

Kelly is the author of As You Sow’s 2021 Corporate Plastic Pollution Scorecard and leads research efforts on As You Sow's other periodic publications evaluating corporate progress towards a circular economy, including Waste & Opportunity 2020: Searching for Corporate Leadership. Additionally, Kelly manages As You Sow’s Plastic Solutions Investor Alliance, an international coalition of nearly 50 institutional investors with more than $2 trillion in combined assets, working to engage publicly traded consumer goods companies on the threats posed by plastic pollution and waste.

Prior to joining As You Sow, Kelly was a legislative analyst and advocate working to pass circular economy policies for the state of California. Kelly received her BA from University of California Davis, where she studied global and environmental health.

Read article: Closing the Loop on Plastic Pollution

Diana is a research assistant with As You Sow's Say On Climate Initiative, which focuses on cutting corporate green house gas emissions and evaluating companies' environmental progress through a climate scorecard.

Diana's previous work includes studying wildlife management and conservation techniques in central Kenya and raptor migration and conservation at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, PA. Diana holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from American University.

Read article: New Standards Can Help Companies Avoid Carbon Offset Greenwashing

Marvin J. Owens, Jr. currently serves as Chief Engagement Officer for Impact Shares. In this role, Marvin has engagement responsibility for both fund managers and corporations, as well as cultivating and maintaining relationships with financial intermediaries with the goal of AUM growth. Marvin is also responsible for strategic relationships with our social advocacy partners, and leads the firm in broader Social Impact and advocacy conversations. Prior to joining Impact Shares, Marvin served as Senior Director of Economic Programs for the NAACP. In this role, Mr. Owens was responsible for the NAACP's national Economic Inclusion agenda which includes Asset and Wealth Creation programs with efforts that support financial education, homeownership, minority business development, franchising, workforce development and diversity; Advocacy and Sustainability with efforts around economic justice and social impact investing; and Research with ongoing efforts to track and report economic conditions, as well as recommended public policy changes. Prior to joining the NAACP, Mr. Owens served a consultant, lecturer, and technical assistance provider in the areas of Community and Economic Development, Small Business Development, and Community Organizing. Mr. Owens serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Stonehenge Capital NMTC fund, where he advises, recommends, and monitors fund investments for economic impact. Guest lecturer credits include Oxford University’s Saïd School of Business on the subjects “Responsible Leadership,” and “Economic Development in the Black Church.” Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Mr. Owens served as Vice President for Economic Empowerment at the National Urban League (NUL) where he managed all aspects of NUL’s corporate, foundation, and government relationships with specific focus on affiliate economic development activities, small business development, and finance. Mr. Owens was responsible for implementing business and economic development efforts in more than 20 US cities. Mr. Owens oversaw implementation of the National Urban League’s Empowerment Fund, and was the lead staff in creating NUL’s current model of economic empowerment centers.

Read article: Railroad Workers Lack of Paid Sick Leave Puts Employees Public and Investors at Risk

Michael Passoff is the founder and CEO of Proxy Impact, a shareholder advocacy and proxy voting service for sustainable and responsible investors (SRIs). Michael has over 20 years of experience in corporate social responsibility, shareholder advocacy, and philanthropy. For more than a decade Michael served as the Senior Program Director for the As You Sow Foundation’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program. In 2005 he founded the Proxy Preview to alert foundations, SRIs, pension funds, labor, and faith-based communities to upcoming shareholder resolutions that are relevant to their mission. Michael has led and participated in more than 300 shareholder dialogues and resolutions on environmental, social and governance issues. His shareholder advocacy work led him to be named as one of 2009’s “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics” by Ethisphere Magazine and he also received the Climate Change Business Journal award for a shareholder campaign that prompted greenhouse gas emission reductions and renewable energy development at public utilities.

Read article: Meta Fails to Address Online Child Safety Risks

Thomas works on As You Sow's Say on Climate Initiative and specializes in climate-related shareholder advocacy. Thomas's previous experience includes working as a Shareholder Advocate at Green Century Capital Management, where he led the firm's engagements with some of the world’s largest agribusinesses, consumer goods companies, retailers, and banks on issues related to land-use emissions, deforestation, and conservation. His achievements include majority-supported shareholder proposals focused on climate and deforestation at companies like Costco and Home Depot. Before that, he worked as a field organizer on campaigns to support legislation on climate, environmental justice, and conservation issues. He was the recipient of the inaugural Marie Marx Strohm Memorial Award for his organizing work with Green Corps. His comments on corporate action on climate and deforestation have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Reuters and on CBS News. Thomas holds a B.A. from Harvard in History and Literature and was a postgraduate Harvard Williams-Lodge Scholar at the Sorbonne Nouvelle.

Read article: Companies Claim Transferred Emissions Reduce GHG, But All it does is Move Pollution Elsewhere

Kelly is a climate activist with passion for corporate accountability. As a member of As You Sow’s Energy Team, her work focuses on engaging companies within the banking, insurance, and agriculture industries on their greenhouse gas emissions and reduction targets.

Previously, Kelly worked as an ESG analyst for a private wealth management firm where she helped develop the firm’s first environmental fund.

Kelly holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Read article: Steel Industry Net-Zero Targets Key for Decarbonization

Andrea Ranger is a Green Century shareholder advocate, leveraging the Funds’ and the firm’s clout as a shareholder to drive companies to adopt more environmentally sustainable policies and practices. She currently oversees Green Century’s Insure a Fossil Fuel Free Future campaign which presses the world’s largest insurers to transition away from fossil fuel underwriting in alignment with global climate benchmarks. She also oversees Green Century’s Curbing Climate Change campaign which focuses on getting companies to set rigorous science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

Prior to joining Green Century, Andrea served as an environmental and technical consultant on utility energy efficiency programs and green school projects, coordinated residential solar projects, and taught high school biology. She holds a BAS in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, a BA in Biology from Acadia University and a Masters in Public Policy from Tufts University.

Read article: Insurance Sector Leaders and Laggards Emerging on Climate Risk

Tracey coordinates ICCR’s work on Paris-aligned corporate climate lobbying. With 23 years of corporate engagement experience, Tracey has partnered with investors to encourage robust environmental, human rights, and corporate governance improvements on a global basis. Tracey has previously served as Director of Investor Programs at Ceres; as the Director of US SIF ‘s (The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment’s) Shareholder Action Network; as Director of Catholic Responsible Investing at Christian Brothers Investment Services; and as shareholder engagement lead at Pax World Funds (now Impax) and the Service Employees International Union. Prior to her ESG expertise, she was an environmental journalist

Read article: Corporate Efforts on Climate Must Include Lobbying

Constance Ricketts is an attorney with 11 years of experience in regulatory and administrative law and policy. Constance joined Tulipshare in 2021 as the company’s Head of Shareholder Activism where she leads engagement concerning environmental, social, and governance issues with corporations, NGOs, asset managers, proxy advisory firms, and institutional investors. Prior to Tulipshare, she worked at the Washington, DC office of an international law firm and at the Federal Communications Commission.

Constance has Bachelor of Arts degree in English from University of Maryland, College Park and a Juris Doctor from Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America.

Read article: Ending Child Labor in Cocoa Production

Steven M. Rothstein is the founding Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets. Ceres Accelerator aims to transform the practices and policies that govern capital markets in order to accelerate reduction of the worst financial impacts of the climate crisis and other sustainability threats. Steven has had a successful career starting, managing and growing several non-profit, social change and government organizations. After college he was one of the founding team of Citizens Energy Corporation, the world’s only non-profit oil company. His career also includes running the world renowned, Perkins School for the Blind, as well as Citizen Schools and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Read article: What the SEC's Mandatory Climate Disclosure Proposal Means for Investors and Market Protection

Annie Sanders is Green Century's Director of Shareholder Advocacy, leveraging the Funds’ and the firm’s clout as a shareholder to drive companies to adopt more environmentally sustainable policies and practices. Prior to joining Green Century, she served as Executive Director of Green Corps, where she worked for 16 years advancing campaigns to protect our climate, expand clean energy, promote land conservation and protect wildlife. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Chicago.

Read article: Majority Votes on Deforestation Put Pressure on Industry Laggards

Brian Schatz is Hawai‘i's senior United States Senator.

Since joining the Senate, he has focused his work on helping workers, veterans, and families and has led key legislation on health care, climate change, and technology.

Senator Schatz chairs the Indian Affairs Committee, and serves on the Appropriations Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; the Foreign Relations Committee; and the Select Committee on Ethics. He also serves on the Senate Democratic Caucus's leadership team as Deputy Conference Secretary and Chief Deputy Whip.

Prior to his service in Congress, Senator Schatz was Hawai‘i’s Lieutenant Governor and served for eight years in the Hawai‘i State House of Representatives.

Senator Schatz grew up in Honolulu, and received his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College. He is married to Linda Schatz, an architect. They have a son and a daughter.

Read article: Republican Efforts to Limit ESG Investing are Anti-Capitalist

David manages the Say On Climate Initiative and specializes in assessing environmental, social, governance (ESG) and climate-relate corporate performance. David’s previous experience includes working at HIP (Human Impact + Profit) Investor where he created HIP’s online data portal for sustainability ratings of corporations, bonds, and funds as well as established new frameworks to rate thousands of municipal bond issuers. David has also consulted as a website and marketing strategy expert for Fund Votes, an organization that analyzes proxy voting of large funds and has since been acquired by Morningstar.

David has written and co-authored numerous publications, including Waste and Opportunity 2020: Searching for Corporate Leadership and U.S. Energy Projection Uncertainty. David holds an MBA from the Presidio Graduate School and a B.S. in Applied Physics from UC Santa Cruz.

Read article: Investors Expect Science Based GHG Targets and Reporting

Jaylen Spann is a Lead Research Associate at Whistle Stop Capital, a consultancy which helps investors assess, and address, social and environmental concerns within their portfolios. Jaylen's work focuses on analyzing how different social and environmental issues are expressed within client portfolios, determining how these issues may impact corporate performance, and working directly with companies to encourage improved practices. Past initiatives include conducting portfolio assessments for advisors and foundations, building impact reports, and benchmarking 1000 companies on their workplace equity data transparency. Her shareholder engagement work with client-held companies has led to changes in corporate data disclosure, improved employment policies and broader access to health

Read article: Increase in EEO-1 Data Reporting Shows Positive Link Between Diversity and Financial Performance

Daniel conducts research and support for As You Sow’s Energy Program, helping engage investors and companies identify and address issues related to climate change. His previous work includes research on coalmine economy transitions in Europe, circular economy, and fossil fuel divestment. Daniel has experience as a sustainability consultant working on projects in Sweden and Kenya. He holds a M.S. from the International Institute of Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University, Sweden in Environmental Management and Policy, and B.A. from the National University of Ireland, Galway in Political Science, Sociology, and Spanish Studies.

Read article: Steel Industry Net-Zero Targets Key for Decarbonization

Dave Wallack is the Founder and Executive Director of For the Long Term (forthelongterm.org), a nonprofit organization which supports state and municipal financial officers in their work to create fairer, more sustainable, and more inclusive markets. He is a Co-Founder and Trustee of Dvara (Dvara.com), an Indian financial services firm focused on increasing access to finance. He earned an MBA from Stanford University and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Florida.

Read article: ESG Date Helps Assess Value Potential Returns and Manage Investment Risk

Melissa Walton is a research associate at As You Sow supporting the Executive Compensation and Say on Climate programs. Melissa spent her early career in environmental and natural science education. More recently, she has completed quantitative plus qualitative research and reports for nonprofit organizations on a variety of sustainability topics. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Emory University, a master’s in environmental management from Duke University, and an MBA from Presidio Graduate School.

Read article: Climate Related CEO Pay Incentives Lack Rigor and Specificity

Rosanna Landis Weaver has been working in the governance and compensation fields since 1992. She began her work in governance with a position in the Corporate Affairs office at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, supervising research on corporate governance and management practices.

She has served as a panel member at a number of conferences including: the Practicing Law Institute’s Corporate Governance Institute; and an Investor Relations Business conference on “Understanding and Responding to Shareholder Activism” and appeared on “Your World with Neil Cavuto.”

She joined the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) in 1999 and served as an expert on labor shareholder activism, writing reports on labor fund activism, executive compensation shareholder proposals and golden parachutes. At Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), she worked on the executive compensation team as a senior analyst until 2010, with a particular focus on change of control regarding single triggers, modified single triggers and excise tax gross-ups. At ISS, Ms. Weaver also participated in policymaking and meetings with corporations and analyzed “say on pay” resolutions. From 2010 to 2012 she was governance initiatives coordinator at Change to Win. Ms. Weaver holds a BA in English from Goshen College and a Masters in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Read article: Climate Related CEO Pay Incentives Lack Rigor and Specificity

Heidi Welsh, the founding executive director of the Sustainable Investments Institute (Si2), has analyzed corporate responsibility issues for more than 30 years.  Starting at the Investor Responsibility Research Center in 1987, she authored annual assessments of shareholder advocacy and also monitored corporate compliance with the MacBride principles for fair employment in Northern Ireland for 16 years.  She later headed sustainability research within a unit of what is now MSCI and consulted on Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.  Welsh is the lead author of three Si2 studies about corporate political activity governance and spending.  She received her B.A. from Carleton College, cum laude, and an M.S. from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.

Read article: The Anti-ESG Shareholder Proponents

Sheldon Whitehouse has earned a reputation in the Senate as a fierce advocate for progressive values and a thoughtful legislator capable of reaching across the aisle to achieve bipartisan solutions.

Senator Whitehouse has been at the center of bipartisan efforts to pass laws overhauling federal education policy, rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, reforming the criminal and juvenile justice systems, protecting Americans from toxic chemicals in everyday products, and addressing ocean plastic waste.

A graduate of Yale University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Sheldon served as Rhode Island’s U.S. Attorney and state attorney general before being elected to the Senate, where he is Chairman of the Budget Committee, and serves on the Finance Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Read article: Republican Efforts to Limit ESG Investing are Anti-Capitalist