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Carole Bernard is an index and markets specialist with 20+ years’ experience bridging investment teams and distribution across multi-asset, ESG, ETFs, and structured products. At Bloomberg she helped launch Paris-Aligned and other ESG index solutions, advising global institutional allocators and banks on index licensing, data, and product strategy. MSc-trained, Carole focuses on product construction—where regulation, market plumbing, and real-economy financing meet—translating policy signals into portfolio and index design, and into capital-markets tools that unlock scalable decarbonisation.

Anita Bhatia (CFA) is a distinguished global leader in gender equality, resource mobilization, and strategic partnerships. Since August 2019, she has served as Assistant Secretary‑General and Deputy Executive Director at UN Women, overseeing resource management, UN coordination, sustainability, and high-impact stakeholder alliances.

Professional Journey

• UN Women (2019–present): Directs institutional strategy, spearheading fundraising and partnership activities with governments, foundations, and private sector entities to advance women’s empowerment and sustainable financing .
• World Bank Group / IFC: Over a multi-decade career, held several key roles:
  • Director of Global Partnerships (IFC), where she shaped pioneering public-private partnerships in fragile states, financial inclusion, and support for women led enterprises .
  • Director of Development Partner Relations (World Bank), aligning development priorities with global funding.
  • Head of Latin America Advisory Operations (IFC), enhancing regional impact from Lima and La Paz .
  • Led internal transformation initiatives as Global Head of Knowledge Management, Change Management, and Business Process Improvement.
• Entrepreneurial & Advisory Roles: Founded The Impact Commons, a platform for sustainable-development innovation. In 2024, she joined the Fasanara Capital Advisory Board to drive ESG and SME finance, with a particular focus on gender-lens investing.

Education & Credentials

• J.D., Georgetown University
• M.A. in Political Science, Yale University
• B.A. in History, University of Calcutta
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation

Global Impact & Thought Leadership

• Over 30 years in international development across Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and beyond .
• A prominent voice on gender equity, sustainable finance, and innovation, featured in World Bank Live and various international forums .
• Active commentator on social and political platforms, including insights on gender dynamics in Europe and global leadership .
  
  

Mark is Sector Lead – Cities and Government at Aviva Capital Partners, where he drives investment in regeneration, housing, and sustainable infrastructure.

With a background in public and private sector leadership, Mark has held senior roles at the UK Infrastructure Bank, Liverpool City Council, and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. He has 20 years of experience in unlocking long-term value through place-based investment strategies.

Recent highlights include aspirational housing in under-invested neighbourhoods and investment partnerships to unlock development in Norwich. 

Charlie is an Associate Director at the Green Finance Institute and leads its programmes on nature-related risk and resilience.

This includes heading up UK market engagement for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the development of Nature-Positive Transition Pathways (NPPs) for the UK economy with WWF-UK, and work on structuring regional private sector co-investments for nature-based solutions across the UK.

Neha Dutt is the Policy Lead for Greening Finance at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). In her role, she works to ensure that corporates, FIs and financial regulators incorporate nature-related risks and opportunities into business and investment risk management and decisions. Prior to joining Defra, Neha led country, sovereign and FI risk management for SSA at Barclays and then for LatAm and EEMEA at Deutsche Bank, for over 7 years.

Étienne Espagne is a senior climate economist at the World Bank EFI chief economist office and an associate researcher at CERDI.

His research focuses on building theories, models and methodologies to assess the macro-financial aspects of low-carbon policies as well as climate and nature impacts, especially in the context of developing and emerging economies. He co-leads two major programs at the World Bank on analytical tool development and capacity development for finance ministries.

Prior to this, as a senior economist at AFD (Agence Française de Développement), the bilateral development bank for the French government, he developed and contributed to a research program on the modelization and evaluation of climate damages, adaptation and mitigation strategies in developing and emerging economies.

He holds a PhD in environmental economics from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and is also a graduate from the French École des Mines de Paris and the Paris School of Economics. He has published several papers in academic journals in the field of climate change and energy economics, and regularly teaches at Paris 1 University, EHESS, Ecole Polytechnique and ENSTA Paristech.

He has previously worked at France Stratégie, CEPII and CIRED.

Robert Gilhooly is the Senior Emerging Markets Economist within Global Macro Research, responsible for research and monitoring of major emerging market economies. Robert joined the company in 2019 from the Bank of England where he worked as a Senior Economist covering Asia. With a primary focus on China macroeconomics, Robert also monitored financial stability across the country, as well as reporting on the global outlook to the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. Prior to this, he held an economist role at the Office for National Statistics for six years, where he worked on national accounts and big data analytics. Robert graduated with an MSc in economics from London University, Birkbeck college.

Dan Grandage is Chief Sustainable Investment Officer at , where he leads the company’s sustainable investment strategy and the Sustainable Investment team.  His role is pivotal in driving the company’s commitment to integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles into its investment processes.

Dan represents Aberdeen on the FTSE Russell Sustainability Committee, the TISA Responsible Investing Committee, and is involved in a number of Investment Association sustainable finance working groups. Dan joined the company in 2013 from WSP Group, where he spent over 15 years as an environmental and energy consultant.

Amy is an impact measurement and management expert with over a decade’s experience in the UK and internationally.

Prior to joining TGE, Amy worked for Homes England, the UK government’s arms-length body sponsored by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. There, she led performance improvement initiatives across its development, investments, affordable housing and Help to Buy portfolios including the agency’s refresh of its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to support its new strategy. She also developed performance reports and deep dive assessments for senior agency and government stakeholders.

Previously, she worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat, managing organisation-level performance reporting to the Board of Commonwealth High Commissioners and providing technical assistance to member government representatives to support the establishment of monitoring systems for newly developed policies and programmes.

Amy also worked as a Performance Advisor for the international NGO Christian Aid, where she established and managed community-led monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks for large and complex / multi-country climate resilience, governance and health programmes.

Amy is passionate about supporting clients to collect, understand and use quality evidence to maximise their positive social and environmental impact and the achievement of priority outcomes for communities through their decisions.

Amy has a degree in Modern Languages (Spanish and Portuguese) from Oxford University, and a Masters in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London).

Lauren Juliff is Storebrand Asset Management’s climate and sustainability product lead. Lauren has written widely on the use of climate data in portfolio construction, regulation and reporting and, in particular, how that topic impacts institutional pension funds in the UK. Lauren also leads SAM’s UK institutional business and has over 20 years’ experience of working with institutional clients and consultants, with a particular focus on the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Lauren has an MSc in Climate Change and a BSc (hons) in Mathematics. In 2021 Lauren wrote an award-winning dissertation on the management of climate related investment risks in the LGPS and was recently shortlisted for Professional Pensions Sustainability and ESG woman of the year. 

Valeria Piani is Head of Stewardship at Phoenix Group. She joined the firm in 2021 to lead the in-house stewardship team and collaborate with Phoenix’s Asset Management partners to influence ESG performance by investee companies.

She has over 17 years of experience in the industry and has held several senior positions at different firms. She joined UBS Asset Management in 2017 as Strategic Engagement Lead, responsible for the manager’s climate change engagement programme, stewardship reporting and integration research in the industrial sector.

Before this, Valeria worked for nine years at the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) where she managed a team of 11 members responsible for coordinating investor collaborative engagement activities with companies on a range of ESG issues. At the PRI, she supported over 30 investor coalitions involving more than 200 asset owners and investment managers. Topics included, among others, director nomination, gender diversity, emissions reduction and human rights. Her recent publications include reports on engaging on climate change and the added value of stewardship more broadly.

Her research on the effectiveness of shareholders’ collaborative engagement activities with companies on ESG issues has been published by the Business & Society Journal and Emerald Group Publishing and was selected by the editors as an Outstanding Author Contribution in the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence.

In addition to being a non-executive director of the Investor Forum Board, Valeria is also the Chair of the CA100+ Global Steering Committee and a member of the IIGCC Advisory Group of Corporate Programme, the PRI Advisory Committee of Advance and the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance Engagement Track.

Rosalind is a Life and GI Actuary with nearly 25 years of professional experience and is currently an EMEA Actuary for the Corporate Actuarial Team in Zurich Insurance. Her broader working background is diverse and covers IFRS 17, Strategic Initiatives, Business Planning, Capital Management, Modelling, and With-profits. Rosalind is a member of the IFoA’s Sustainability Board and the IAALS Board Deputy Chair.

As well as being the Sustainable Investment Conference 2024 Chair and this year's Co-Chair, she has also chaired the 2022 Life Conference Committee, and presented and chaired sessions at previous IFoA and IAA Conferences and events, written feature articles in The Actuary magazine, and authored various IFoA blogs.

CEO & Co-Founder, Tumelo

is CEO and co-founder of Tumelo, a UK-based fintech innovator transforming the way investors engage with the companies they own. Under Georgia’s leadership, Tumelo has pioneered platforms that enable pension members and retail investors to see which companies they’re invested in and express their views on key shareholder votes — bringing transparency, stewardship, and democracy to the heart of investing.

With a background in natural sciences from Cambridge University, Georgia has worked in sustainable finance, equity analysis, and venture capital. She is a passionate advocate for using technology to empower investors and drive positive environmental and social impact through better corporate engagement.

Will is a climate and disaster risk actuary at the Government Actuary’s Department, specialising in supporting public sector organisations navigate climate-related risks.

Will has wider public sector actuarial experience working across public sector pensions and government-backed insurance-type arrangements.

Will is also on the IFoA Sustainability Early Careers Board and a committee member of the Civil Service Climate and Environment Network.

Sandy is the Past-Chair of the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Sustainability Board and is a member of the International Actuarial Association’s Climate Change and Sustainability Committee. He is the lead author of a series of collaborative research reports which bring together science and risk, seeking to improve policymaker level risk management. The latest report, ‘Planetary Solvency – finding our balance with nature’, explores how actuarial techniques can help society manage climate change and other risks.

This builds on the findings from ‘Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail’, which highlighted concerns around carbon budgets being unrealistic and ‘The Emperor’s New Climate Scenarios’ – which highlighted the limitations of commonly used climate scenarios. 

Sandy’s personal mission is to help reconnect finance and the economy to nature and the biosphere to deliver a future worth living in.

He works with investors and advises a number of regulatory and policymaker groups on these topics.