Natural Capital Committee

This Committee focuses on the governance of natural capital, and best practices in the management of risks and opportunities related to climate change, biodiversity and other environmental issues.

ICGN Policy Committee Procedures

Lauren Compere
Boston Common Asset Management

Committee Co-Chair

Lauren Compere is a Managing Director and the Director of Shareowner Engagement at Boston Common Asset Management, a majority-employee-owned and woman-led investment management firm specializing in U.S. and international responsible investing. Ms. Compere heads Boston Common’s shareholder engagement program. She has worked in the responsible investment industry for almost 30 years and has 18 years of experience in global responsible investing. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences in the US, Europe, and Asia and a guest contributor to the Huffington Post and Medium.

Ms. Compere sits on the Governing Board of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and previously served as Treasurer. She also sits on the board of the Access to Nutrition Foundation (Netherlands). In addition she serves on the Steering Committee for the Investor Alliance for Human Rights (an ICCR project), the Business Ethics and Systemic Risk Committee for the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and was previously a board-alternate for the Global Network Initiative. Ms. Compere was Co-Chair of the Emerging Markets Disclosure Project (EMDP) and co-lead for the EMDP Korean team (2009-2012).

Since 2014 Ms. Compere has led a multi-year global investor engagement “Banking on a Low Carbon Future” which has benchmarked the performance of 60 banks on climate risk, strategy, and funding climate adaption and mitigation through the creation of new metrics, reports, and active engagement. Lastly she sits on the Strategy and Design Team of the Climate Safe Lending Network.

Rupert Krefting
M&G Investments

Committee Co-Chair

Rupert Krefting is Head of Corporate Finance and Stewardship. Rupert qualified as a chartered accountant then worked in investment banking for more than two decades, before joining M&G over 5 years ago in 2016. Rupert leads our climate engagement programme and externally represents M&G with the following associations :

Member of the Investment Association’s Stewardship Committee and Chairs the Corporate Reporting and Audit Group.
Institutional Investors for Global Climate change (IIGCC) – sits on the Corporate. Programme Advisory Group and Net Zero Stewardship Group.
Climate Action 100+ - co-lead on BASF and Rio Tinto.
Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA).
International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)- chairs the Natural Capital Committee.

Bruno Bastit

S&P Global Ratings

Bruno is the Global Corporate Governance Lead and Senior Sustainable Finance Specialist at S&P Global Ratings, based in Madrid. Bruno has 16 years’ experience in ESG and responsible investing. Before his current role, he was the founder and MD of Quetzal Strategy, a global consultancy advising emerging markets companies on ESG risks, and investors on sustainable investing strategies. He was a director and Head of Latin America at Morrow Sodali where he advised Boards and C-suites on corporate governance.

He previously worked as a senior sustainable investing analyst at Hermes Investment Management in London, where he was the Head of Stewardship for Latin America, and in ESG research with Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. He served as an ESG advisor to the Emerging Markets Investors Alliance and currently sits on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Independent Appointments Committee.

He graduated from Durham University in Middle Eastern Studies, has a Masters in International Political Economy from Warwick University, a Certificate in Investor Relations from the UK IR Society, the CFA’s Certificate in ESG Investing, GARP’s Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate, and SASB’s FSA Credential I.

Tatsuya Imade
Japan Shareholder Services

Tatsuya Imade is a Special Adviser of Japan Shareholder Services, ltd. (“JSS”) where he developed and oversaw Research and Advisory business helping hundreds of Japanese listed companies on Investor /Shareholder Communications and Corporate Governance as a Managing Executive Officer. JSS, founded in 2005 as a Joint Venture between Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Computershare, is a uniquely positioned professional service firm specializing in communication between Issuers and Global Investors with its knowledge and experiences in Capital Markets, Asset Management, and ESG (with emphasis on Corporate Governance). At present, JSS is wholly owned by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking. JSS aims to be the best communication bridge between Japanese Companies and Responsible Investors

Prior to joining JSS as a founding member, Tatsuya was a Chief Consultant of Global Capital Markets/Corporate Governance at UFJ Institute where he built Research and Advisory business on institutional shareholder relations while undertaking various research projects on capital markets and corporate governance, including Alternative Investments, Asian Bond Initiative, and Corporate Governance in Asia. In 1990’s, he was engaged in International Investment Banking business in New York City at Yamaichi Securities until he returned to Tokyo in 1998.

His coauthored books in Japan includes “Companies that carry out dialogues with Shareholders”(2013) , “Intelligible CSR”(2005), Etc. He was an ICGN member from 1998 to 2008 and served its Shareholder Rights Committee from 2005 to 2008 and rejoined ICGN in 2012.

He organized and moderated the following breakout sessions in ICGN Tokyo events: ESG Integration in Japan (2018); Globalizing Japan (2019)

Tatsuya enjoys playing and composing music in his Jazzy-Pop band where he plays guitars.

Jana Jevcakova

Morrow Sodali

Jana is Managing Director, Head of ESG International at Morrow Sodali. Jana advises companies on all aspects of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and disclosures. She is one of Asia Pacific’s leading experts in corporate governance, executive remuneration, sustainability and proxy research, with deep expertise in engaging with Australian and overseas boards of directors and executives. Jana was previously Director of Research, Australia for leading global proxy advisor, CGI Glass Lewis, where she advised many large domestic and institutional investors. Prior to that, Jana was a financial advisor.

She has a Masters of Professional Accounting and Masters of Commerce in Funds Management from the University of NSW, and a Graduate Degree in Finance, Banking & Investments from the Technical University of Slovakia. Jana is a FSA credential holder (SASB) and is GRI certified.

Seiji Kawazoe
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management

Seiji is a senior stewardship Officer at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management with strong global experience based in Tokyo, NYC, London, Luxemburg as a global equities portfolio manager. He has built ESG capabilities at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, and now at its subsidiary AUM of over USD750 billion after the reorganization in October 2018. Currently, Seiji is responsible for stewardship oversight of global institutional investment assets such as public funds, private Pension funds. Also he is actively involved in various global engagement projects, being a steering committee member at CA100+, Committee member of PRI IPDD (The Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation) a member of investor group 30% club Japan.

He was a part-time lecturer at graduate school of Tokyo University and a visiting fellow at Reading University, Henley Business school.

Philipp Kloucek
Universities Superannuation Scheme

Philipp joined the Responsible Investment team at Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) in 2019 to focus on stewardship activities and the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues in the scheme’s public and private market portfolios. Prior to joining USS, he worked as an ESG Consultant for Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and as an ESG analyst for Vigeo Eiris. Philipp sits also on the Investment Committee of the Dutch governance platform Eumedion and the Analyst Committee of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF). He holds an MSc in Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London and the CFA UK Level 4 Diploma in Investment Management (IMC & ESG).

Sawan Kumar
Evenlode

Sawan Kumar joined Evenlode in 2017 and is the Head of Stewardship. He is responsible for providing ongoing analyses of companies from an ESG perspective and managing Evenlode’s voting and engagement activity. He also oversees Evenlode’s philanthropic endeavours, managing the firm’s charity portfolio. The portfolio looks to work with charities that look to address global problems in themes such as the climate, nature, poverty and inequality. His previous roles have been working for Computershare in Adelaide, Australia, as a Governance Analyst at Schroders and a Proxy Voting Analyst at Hermes EOS. Sawan graduated from Flinders University with a Bachelor of Commerce specialising in Finance and is qualified from the Governance Institute of Australia in Governance and Risk Management. He has completed the Climate-related Financial Risk Course from Oxford University.

Marie de Montlaur

CDPQ

Marie de Montlaur is Senior Advisor at CDPQ, specialised in environmental finance and climate, based in Montreal. She has been working in forest management and investment for ten years before joining the Sustainable Investment team at CDPQ. As part of her duties, she supports the integration of ESG considerations in investment decisions, with a focus on risks and opportunities related to climate change and biodiversity. She is also a board member of the French forest owners association.

An engineer by training, Marie holds a specialized master’s degree in the wood industry (Nancy, France), a master’s program in Forest Sciences and Business (Helsinki, Finland) and an ESG analyst diploma from the Société Française des Analystes Financiers (Paris, France).

Ramon Pueyo Viñuales

KPMG

Ramon has a background in economics and is a Certified EFFAS Environmental Social and Governance Analyst and a lecturer at the CEESGA Programme. He is an also a lecturer on sustainability and on social psychology and behavioral economics applied to corporate governance and compliance.

He has over twenty-three years’ experience in sustainability. He is the Head of Sustainability and Corporate Governance for KPMG in Spain, where he joined in 2005. Prior to that he was Head of Research for ECODES, an Spanish non profit, and the first Spanish ESG research institution. During that period, he worked for several of the most significant ESG rating agencies and, amongst others, became a member of both the Stakeholder Council of the Global Reporting Initiative and of the Executive Committee of the UN Global Compact in Spain. He also participated in the launch of the first SRI investment fund presented in Spain.

Since joining KPMG, Ramón has participated in hundreds of engagements to assist companies define their approach to sustainability. In particular, Ramón has substantial experience in working with boards of directors of listed companies on corporate governance and ESG issues. This involves, roughly speaking, training, assisting in self-evaluations and also helping boards define their roadmap with regard to ESG.

He is regularly invited as a speaker to sustainability events. He has been a lecturer on microeconomics, is a regular contributor to the media and is the co-author of “Lobos Capitalistas. Historias de Éxito y Locura”, a non-fiction book on behavioural economics published in 2010.

Jo Raven

FAIRR Initiative

Jo leads the Thematic Research and Corporate Innovation team and has oversight of FAIRR’s technical research and engagement efforts. She provides strategic direction to the development of bespoke and collaborative engagements as well as research across themes impacting the food and agriculture sector including biodiversity, AMR, climate and dietary transitions. Jo also works closely with investor members to develop and integrate sustainable food systems as a key priority into stewardship strategies. Prior to this, she was an Assistant-Manager at KPMG UK in their Investment Management and Funds Team, advising investment managers on risk management as well as working cross-functionally with the Sustainability Team on climate change risk for private equity firms. Jo began her career with Alliance Trust as an analyst.

Jo holds a first-class degree in BA (Hons) Geography from the University of Leeds and an MSc in Development Studies at SOAS, for which she was awarded a Distinction. She passed CFA Level 1 and holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

James Upton

Pictet Asset Management

James is a Senior Corporate Governance Specialist in the ESG team at Pictet Asset Management which he joined in August 2021. He is focused on governance engagement and proxy voting. Before joining Pictet, James spent 9 years with BHP, the mining group, as Head of ESG in their Group Governance function. His activities included internal engagement with the Board and Senior Management, secretary to the Board Sustainability Committee and external engagement with a wide range of investors, NGOs and commercial partners. This covered a broad range of Sustainbility topics mirroring the risk exposures of the BHP operational footprint. Prior to this he spent 7 years at the Association of British Insurers engaging with Boards and senior executives at UK listed companies. He was Head of the Institutional Voting and Information Service, before becoming Head of Corporate Governance. Prior to that he worked for listed companies in the publishing and business services sectors.

James is an Affiliate of the Chartered Governance Institute, an Associate of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, and holds a Masters in Latin and Philosophy from the University of St Andrews.

Christoph Wenk
SWIPRA

Christoph Wenk Bernasconi is a Partner at SWIPRA Services AG and Senior Researcher at the Department of Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich. Christoph is a founding member of SWIPRA, a strategic corporate governance consultancy and think tank, and responsible for the scientific approach of its projects and analyses. He is co-author of the SWIPRA Considerations for Corporate Governance and of the SFI Whitepaper on corporate governance. He is conducting empirical research and lectures in the field of corporate governance, sustainability and corporate finance. After the successful completion of his coursework in the PhD program of the Swiss National Bank in Gerzensee, Christoph Wenk wrote his thesis in the field of empirical corporate finance and graduated in spring 2013. His research expertise is in the empirical analysis, in particular on topics of corporate governance and corporate finance as well as corporate valuation.

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Natural Capital Committee