Michelle Edkins

Michelle Edkins is a Managing Director in BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship team of over 65 specialists covering the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Asia-Pacific.  The team engages companies and others in the investment stewardship ecosystem to promote the governance and business practices aligned with long-term value creation by the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.  Michelle is responsible globally for investment stewardship policy, institutional relations, and communications. She also serves on the firm’s Global Operating and External Affairs Operating Committees. She is an alumna of BlackRock’s Women’s Leadership Forum, Enterprise Leadership Program and Human Capital Committee.

Ms. Edkins is an active participant in the public corporate governance debate and regularly speaks and writes on the importance of good stewardship for company performance. She currently serves on a number of industry initiatives to enhance governance and sustainable business practices. She is Chair of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a former Chair of the International Corporate Governance Network and an Aspen Institute First Movers’ Fellow. She is also a member of the Investor Advisory Group of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which is developing a global baseline of sustainability reporting standards.

Ms. Edkins’ service with the firm dates back to 2009. Prior to joining BlackRock, she was Managing Director at Governance for Owners, an independent partnership offering products that support responsible long-term share ownership. She started her corporate governance career in the UK in 1997 at Hermes Pensions Management, where she spent eight years, initially as the head of the corporate governance team and thereafter as Director of Institutional Relations. An economist by training, Michelle has also worked for New Zealand’s Reserve Bank and the British High Commission in Wellington.

Ms. Edkins earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in economics from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 1991.