Sustainable Investing 1: Wendy Cromwell – The $170 Trillion Opportunity

Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert

Wendy Cromwell is Vice-Chair of Wellington Management and the Director of Sustainable Investment at the firm. She joined Wellington out of business school 25 years ago and has been there ever since.

A year and a half ago, Wendy also became one of two asset managers on the 10 person Board of the UN PRI, or United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment. PRI is the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment, canvassing 2,500 signatories globally across asset owners, asset managers and service providers. Their mission is to understand the investment implications of ESG factors and support the incorporation of those factors globally.

Our conversation discusses Wendy’s path within Wellington, the lingo of sustainable investment, market inefficiencies for an active manager in the space, implementation of sustainable investing across a large asset management firm, growth of interest in sustainable investing, integration of scientific climate research, rapidly rising interest and research in social considerations in companies, and developments on the come with carbon footprint, divestment, and regulation.