Data & Sustainability
Summit

Curtis Ravenel

Senior Advisor, COP26 Private Finance and TCFD | Former Head of Sustainable Business & Finance, Bloomberg

Curtis Ravenel is a Senior Advisor to Fmr Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney, COP26 Finance Advisor and UN Special Envoy for Climate Finance, as a founding member of the Secretariat for the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and is a Distinguished Fellow in Sustainable Finance at ClimateWorks Foundation.

Curtis founded the Sustainable Business & Finance Group at Bloomberg LP and served as its Global Head from 2007-2019. Under his leadership, Bloomberg integrated sustainability considerations into the firm’s operations globally and developed strategies to leverage Bloomberg’s Enterprise Products to evaluate sustainability-related risks and opportunities for its user base of finance professionals and other influential decision-makers.

Prior to his role as Global Head of Sustainable Business & Finance, Curtis served as Financial Controller for Asia, managing accounting, tax, treasury and audit services for 23 legal entities with combined annual revenues exceeding $1billion USD. This was preceded by leadership roles in the Capital Planning and Financial Analysis Groups.

Earlier in his career, Curtis co-managed a small real estate development group, founded a microbrewery and worked with the Recycling Advisory Council in Washington, D.C. conducting Full Cost Accounting and Life Cycle Analysis work.

He was awarded a David Rockefeller Fellowship with the Partnership for New York City in 2011, appointed by the Obama Administration to serve on the US chapter of the G8 Advisory Board on Impact Investing in 2013 and received the Columbia Business School Exemplary Leadership Award in 2016. In 2018-2019, he served as the only non-European appointee to the European Commission’s Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance.  Curtis holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in History from Davidson College.

Mamadou-Abou Sarr

President and Chief Executive Officer – V-Square Quantitative Management

Mamadou is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of V-Square Quantitative Management, a Valor Equity Partners subsidiary. Mamadou founded V-Square Quantitative Management in 2020 after an accomplished career in asset management whilst working for global financial services company across the U.S., Europe, Middle East, and Africa. His investment firm specializes in financial engineering, development and management of quantitative portfolios and processing of sustainability big data.

Industry leader in the field of sustainable investing and financial innovation, Mamadou’s previous role was global head of product development and sustainable investing at Northern Trust Asset Management in Chicago, where he was responsible for driving innovation and product development across asset classes. Mamadou spearheaded, developed, and led one largest sustainable investing platform in the industry. 

Previously, Mamadou worked for HSBC Global Asset Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Amundi Alternative Investments and Citi in trading, product specialist and business development roles in London, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Dakar. 

Mamadou received his bachelor's in economics from the Université Jean Monnet and holds a master's in International project management from the European School of Management (ESCP), Paris. He has published many articles and papers in professional and academic journals including Pensions & Investments, European Pensions, Environmental finance and the Journal of Portfolio Management. 

Mamadou has also spoken at more than 150 conferences in North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Australia and is a guest lecturer on sustainability at the University of Chicago, Wharton University and Imperial College of London.

In 2014 he was named in the Financial News “Top 40 under 40 Rising Stars in Asset Management” in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. In 2017, Mamadou was named a "40 under 40" by Crain's Chicago Business. In 2017 he was also recognized in Top 50 Individuals who contribute the most to sustainable & responsible investment industry in the world (IRRI). He is a fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago since 2019.

Nikita Singhal

Director, Co-Head of Sustainable Investment and ESG, Lazard Asset Management LLC (New York)

Nikita Singhal is the Co-Head of Sustainable Investment & ESG at Lazard Asset Management. Nikita oversees the firm’s ESG integration strategy. She works closely with analysts and portfolio managers to enhance their investment processes and on launching new strategies. She co-chairs the firm’s ESG Steering Group and sits on the firm’s Proxy Voting Committee. She also leads client engagement and thought leadership on ESG topics. Previously, Nikita worked on the Sustainability Leaders Fund at ClearBridge Investments, covering renewable energy and other high sustainability companies while also helping execute on the firm’s overall ESG strategy. Prior to that, she was a Director at the Heron Foundation where she was focused on deploying and managing their $300mm endowment across asset classes. She has also worked at IFC’s (World Bank Group) infrastructure private equity group and started her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Nikita holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a board member of CECP’s Strategic Investor Initiative and Bloomberg’s ESG Advisory group. She is also an emeritus board member of the Human Impacts Institute, a non-profit organization aimed at using arts and culture to inspire environmental action for social good.

John Goldstein

Managing Director, Head of Sustainable Finance Group, Goldman Sachs

John is head of the Sustainable Finance Group (SFG), which is responsible for working across

Goldman Sachs to deepen the firm's knowledge and grow its capabilities in relation to inclusive growth and climate transition. He serves as chair of the Sustainable Finance Group Steering Group.

John joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management as a managing director in 2015 through the acquisition of Imprint Capital, which he co-founded in 2007, to help expand the firm's Environmental, Social and Governance and impact investing capabilities.

Previously, John served as senior managing director of Medley Global Advisors. During that time, he co-founded and served as the executive director of the Medley Institute. Prior to that, John was a management consultant at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). John has served as an advisor or board member to a diverse set of organizations in the impact space including groups such as the US National Advisory Board of the G8 Social Impact Investing Task Force, the Global Impact Investing Network’s ImpactBase initiative, the Global Social Venture Competition, McKinsey’s working group on Social Impact Bonds, Global Giving, the Sustainable Food Lab, the UN Capital Development Fund, the International Interfaith Investment Group and a range of other organizations.

John graduated from Yale University with honors. He was awarded the Richter Fellowship and the Townsend Prize.

Linda Giuliano

Former Head of Responsible Investment, AllianceBernstein

Linda Giuliano focuses on creating positive change for the long-term sustainability of companies, employees and our planet.   She has over three decades of experience in investment management at AllianceBernstein (AB), a global asset manager with over $550 billion AUM. Ms. Giuliano was selected to lead AB’s Responsible Investment (RI) initiative where she partnered with investment, business development, marketing and others to create and implement the firm’s RI strategy.   Those efforts resulted in the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis in all actively managed equity and fixed income strategies, shaped a platform of portfolios with purpose, and advanced the firm’s stewardship activities.   Ms. Giuliano is responsible for initiating a collaboration between AB and Columbia University’s Earth Science Institute to create a first of its kind climate risk and opportunity training program for investment professionals.   She regularly speaks at industry events on ESG and stewardship.   

Ms. Giuliano serves as a trustee of Sherman College of Chiropractic, where she is chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Nominating Committee.   She is on the Advisory Council and the Executive Committee of the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. Ms. Giuliano holds a BA in economics from the University of Michigan and a MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University.

Evan Harvey

Global Head of Sustainability, Nasdaq

Evan Harvey is the Global Head of Sustainability for Nasdaq. He manages internal, external, and commercial ESG efforts for the exchange, with a special focus on sustainability performance measurement and reporting. Evan also serves on the Network USA Board of the UN Global Compact and the GRI Global Sustainability Standards Board, and previously chaired the WFE Sustainability Working Group and the Impact2030 Metrics Council. He is the author of the Nasdaq ESG Reporting Guide (Revised 2019) and his work has been published in Forbes and Capital Finance International. Evan holds a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Texas, and is based in Washington DC.

Naomi English

Executive Director & Head of ESG Solutions, MSCI ESG Research

Naomi English is Executive Director, Head of ESG Solutions at MSCI ESG Research. In this role, Naomi is responsible for developing ESG Solutions to enable investors to integrate ESG throughout their varied investment processes, across teams and asset classes. Her team is responsible for new and existing product development including ESG Ratings, Climate Change Solutions, Sustainable Impact Solutions and Controversies & Global Norms Solutions.

Naomi has worked at MSCI since 2008. Until recently, she was based in London as Head of ESG Products for EMEA & APAC.  Prior to her Product roles, Naomi was Global Head of ESG Consultants & Client Service, advising institutional investors on integrating ESG into their investment process. While in London Naomi led MSCI’s EMEA Women’s Leadership Forum.

Naomi holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Science (MSc) in Development Management from the London School of Economics, with a focus on Economic Development in Africa. Naomi is an avid runner and triathlete and has completed more than 20 races around the world, including seven Ironman races and one ultramarathon.

Chris Adams

Cofounder, Greening Digital

Chris Adams is the co-founder of Greening.digital, and has spent the last 15 years working in climate focused tech startups on carbon calculation, supply chain risk and transport, as well as working with private and public sector organisations to use open data to meet their sustainability goals.

In previous roles he’s worked as user researcher, product manager, developer, sysadmin and UX-er. Now he helps organisations understand and reduce their carbon emissions.

He is an organiser of ClimateAction.tech, a community for technology professionals taking climate action, and a director of the Green Web Foundation, calling for a green internet.

Siobhan Clearly

Director of Capital Markets Engagement, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

Siobhan Cleary recently joined the Global Reporting Initiative as its Director of Capital Markets Engagement. Prior to joining GRI, Siobhan was Head of Research at the World Federation of Exchanges where she led the WFE’s work in sustainability, SMEs and emerging markets.  In this role, she was responsible (amongst other activities) for overseeing the development of the WFE’s Sustainability Principles and research on the role of stock exchanges in promoting sustainable development, in collaboration with UNCTAD. She was formerly the Director of Strategy and Public Policy for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange where she was led the development of corporate and business strategy and engaged with national and international regulators on issues of financial policy. She currently serves as a non-executive Director on the Board of the JSE. 

Siobhan has an LLB and an MBA from the University of Cape Town, an MA in International Relations and Economics from the Johns Hopkins University SAIS and is currently completing an MSc in Climate Change from King’s College, London. She is a Yale World Fellow of 2011.

Philip Brittan

CEO, Crux Informatics

Philip Brittan is the founder and CEO of Crux Informatics, Inc., helping companies simplify their data delivery.  He has over 30 years experience as a technology and business leader, primarily in FinTech. In addition to founding four start-ups, he served as CTO and Global Head of Platform for Thomson Reuters’ Financial & Risk division, headed up Google Finance, and ran Bloomberg’s foreign exchange business. Philip grew up on a ranch in Montana, holds a degree in Computer Science from Harvard, and loves making music and spending time outdoors.

David Cox

Global Digital Advisor, Microsoft Digital

David Cox is a Global Digital Advisor with Microsoft Digital. His work is focused on digital transformation from a business perspective. He works with major corporations and financial institutions around the world to help them reimagine their business through technology enabling individuals and institutions to achieve more.

He currently leads Sustainability for Microsoft Digital.

A ten year Microsoft veteran he has worked in consulting across multiple industries including financial services, media, healthcare and retailing.

A graduate of Oxford University, he lives in Greenwich, CT with his wife Penny and his dog Darcy.

Natalie Hollier

North America Head of CleanTech & Sustainability Solutions, ThoughtWorks

Natalie Hollier is currently a Product Principal and North America Head of Cleantech & Sustainability Solutions at ThoughtWorks, a global software consulting firm. She works with clients including startups, NGOs and Fortune 500’s to build digital products, platforms and services towards a clean and circular economy. 

Natalie has worked in the tech industry for over 10 years and has held past roles including Global Head of Product Innovation at ThoughtWorks, VP of User Experience and acting head of Product at Validately (acquired by UserZoom), and software engineer for IPTV at Ericsson. Natalie also serves as a board advisor for Rutgers University Design Thinking program and spent 6 years as the NYC Regional Ambassador for Technovation Challenge, the world’s largest mobile app competition to empower girls to use technology to solve a problem in their local community and become future entrepreneurs and leaders. 

She holds a BA/BSc in Computer Science from the The University of Melbourne, Australia and an MBA in Strategy and Sustainability from NYU Stern School of Business and lives in New York with her husband and son.

Gabriele Columbro

Executive Director, Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS)

Gabriele is an open source executive and technologist at heart. He spent over 15 years building developer ecosystems to deliver value through open source across Europe and the US. He thrives on driving innovation both contributing to open source communities and joining commercial open source ventures, whether it’s for an early stage tech startup, a Fortune 500 firm or a non profit foundation. Previously Director of Product Management at Alfresco, as Executive Director Gabriele grew the Fintech Open Source Foundation FINOS from the ground up, with the vision of creating a trusted arena for the global financial services industry to innovate faster, leveraging open source as a model of collaboration. Gabriele holds a Master in Computer Engineering, is a Committer for the Apache Software Foundation and advises open source startups. He’s a passionate soccer fan, reggae music connoisseur and special needs dad and advocate wannabe.

Basil Williams

CEO, Welton Investment Partners

Mr. Williams serves as Welton’s CEO and is based out of the firm’s New York office. He possesses deep general management experience as a 30+ year industry leader in investment management. He is a proven investor in alternative strategies having traded a broad suite of relative value strategies during his 20 years at Concordia Advisors. Moreover, he possesses C-suite experience having built and led hedge fund businesses at Concordia and Mariner Investment Group. Prior to joining Welton, Mr. Williams was the Head of Portfolio Management at PAAMCO, one of the largest alternative allocators and emerging manager investors. He has been a regular speaker at industry conferences, and authored articles on topics ranging from monetary policy, risk management, technology and hedge fund management. Mr. Williams’ not-for-profit service includes President of the Board of Elisabeth Morrow School, Finance Committee Member of the Dwight Englewood School, and Trustee of the Portsmouth Abbey School. He earned an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business, and a BA in Applied Mathematics (Summa Cum Laude) from Brown University. Joined in 2019. 

Yovanka Bylander

Head of ESG Strategy and Client Success, Americas, ISS

Yovanka Bylander is the Head of ESG Strategy and Client Success, Americas. In that capacity, Yovanka oversees strategic initiatives relevant to North American markets, and heads a team of specialists who help investors successfully integrate ESG into their investment processes. Yovanka joined ISS in 2011 and has since served in various roles including Head of Asset Owner Strategy, Head of ISS ESG's Governance QualityScore product, and Head of ISS’ Securities Class Action Services business. Before joining ISS, Yovanka was Acting CEO of Hawkstone Capital LLC, a $200 million European long/short fund. Prior to Hawkstone, she was an award-winning equity analyst, covering Latin American and European bank stocks at Fox-Pitt, Kelton and Morgan Stanley. She started her career as a credit rating analyst at Thomson BankWatch (today part of Fitch Ratings). Outside of her work at ISS, Yovanka is also on the board of the Citizens Committee for New York City, help New Yorkers—especially those in low-income areas—come together and improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods.

Todd Arthur Bridges, PH.D.

Global Head of Sustainable Investing & ESG Research, Arabesque Group

Over the last 15+ years I have led innovative and successful teams in sustainable finance, investment management, economics, and technology. My experience in industry, startups, academia, and think-tanks have allowed me to acquire a diverse set of leadership skills (led cross-functional teams, built strategic partnerships, advised executive leadership) and analytical capabilities (ESG research, scoring models, quantitative + qualitative research methods). My formal training and postdocs were completed at top-tier research universities in the United States and Western Europe. I have published research articles in leading academic journals and presented findings to central banks, sovereign wealth funds, state pension funds, corporate pension funds, endowments, foundations, and global conferences. 

Julia Asri Meigh

VP, ESG Research, Neudata

Julia is Vice President of ESG & Macro Research at Neudata, an alternative data intelligence company. Ms. Meigh is part of a team that is responsible for discovering and researching alternative datasets for a wide range of asset managers to use in their investing strategies.

Julia earned a BA in economics, politics, and sociology from the University of Westminster and an MSc in economy, risk, and society from the London School of Economics. She has over seven years of experience as a research analyst and an account manager in consulting and financial services. Before joining Neudata, her research covered a broad range of topics, including ESG, consumer trends, and the global macroeconomy.

Ms. Meigh also launched Neudata’s diversity and inclusion initiative and runs career development workshops for the company’s junior-level employees and minority groups.

Sonal Dalal

Director of Civil Society & NGO Outreach, SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board)

Sonal Pandya Dalal brings over two decades of experience in building public-private partnerships among leading NGOs, corporations, and thought leaders.

Ms. Dalal joined SASB after having served in leadership positions at Facebook and Conservation International. At Facebook, Ms. Dalal vetted and managed engagement opportunities with NGOs and industry associations in support of the company’s sustainability goals. She also oversaw Facebook’s efforts to launch the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), alongside leading NGOs and corporations. The initiative earned the C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Business Sustainability Leadership in 2017. At Conservation International, she oversaw the Business and Sustainability Council, a forum for corporate leaders taking positive environmental actions in their businesses.

Ms. Dalal holds a B.A. in Biology from Drew University and a M.S. in Conservation Biology and Sustainability Development from the University of Maryland, College Park. She serves on the Board of Trustees for the School for Field Studies.

Jared Westheim

Vice President, Sustainable Finance Group, Goldman Sachs

Jared Westheim is a Vice President in Goldman Sachs’ Sustainable Finance Group, where he advances work across divisions in sustainable data and analytics, corporate decarbonization, climate risk, and climate-related investment. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Jared led client work as Engagement Manager at Oliver Wyman in the Wealth and Asset Management and Digital practices. There, he co-developed transition risk climate scenario analysis methodologies with 16 global banks as part of the UNEP-FI TCFD pilot, managed strategies to develop impact investment institutions on behalf of major US foundations, and advised asset managers and owners on ESG and climate risk management. In his Digital work, Jared led teams to build data and machine learning programs across sectors, including at large US asset managers – ranging from data modeling and management to minute-by-minute forecasting using neural networks.  Prior to that, Jared worked in international development, healthcare, technology and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, India, and the US with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and Technoserve.

Jared received a Master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School where he focused on climate policy & finance--winning a university-wide prize for his work in environmental economics on climate change finance, and working as a Dukakis Fellow on environmental markets in the California Governor’s office. He received his Bachelor’s, summa cum laude with high honors, from Dartmouth College.

Lauren Smart

Global Head ESG Commercial, S&P Global Market Intelligence

Lauren is an expert in sustainable finance and, over the last decade, has advised leading fund managers, pension funds, banks and DFIs globally on how to integrate climate change and natural capital analysis into their investment decision making.

Prior to joining Trucost, Lauren was a Senior Investment Associate in Global Equity Research at Putnam Investments specialising in Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals and Aerospace & Defence. She was also a consultant at DFID (UK Department for International Development), working on the Millennium Development Goals for Girls’ Education.

Lauren holds a BA (Hons) and MA from Cambridge University in Archaeology and Anthropology and an MSc in Anthropology and International Development from the London School of Economics. Lauren is a member of the Decision Maker Panel of the Bank of England and is also a regular speaker and respected commentator on environmental finance issues. 

Mark Etherington

Chief Technology Officer, Crux Informatics

Mark is the Chief Technology Officer of Crux Informatics, overseeing Platform Engineering, Data Engineering, Operations, and Information Technology initiatives. Mark started his career at Logica, a UK software house, and later worked at J.P. Morgan, where he built major systems across the firm as well as headed their distributed computing group globally. Joining Goldman Sachs in the mid 2000’s, Mark led their infrastructure group in EMEA prior to leading the Application Systems Infrastructure group that established virtualization within the firm and led to the development of the Goldman private cloud. Leaving the firm in 2015 to help bring a trading spin-off to market, Mark joined Thomson Reuters through acquisition in 2017. Prior to joining Crux, he was the Global Head of Trading Technology at Refinitiv. Mark lives in New York with his wife Louise, has three children, and loves travel and skiing.

Anthony Miller

Coordinator, Sustainable Stock Exchanges, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Anthony Miller is the Coordinator of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative. He sits within the Investment and Enterprise Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and is lead author of the Capital Markets and Sustainability section of UNCTAD’s flagship World Investment Report.

Dr. Miller has managed the Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative since its launch by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2009. In 2011, the initiative was named by Forbes magazine as one of the “world’s best sustainability ideas” and today it counts over 90 stock exchanges around the world as members.

Prior to joining UNCTAD, he worked on corporate sustainability issues at the UN High Commission on Human Rights, the International Labour Organization and a Fortune 500 company.

Michael Rude

Head of Go To Market, Crux Informatics

Michael Rude is the Head of Go To Market at Crux, accountable for all client-facing functions, articulating strategic vision and product roadmap, creating and executing go to market strategy, and achieving revenue targets. Michael was previously the Head of Buy-Side Trading Solutions at Refinitiv, where he was the proposition owner for the REDI trading platform, the Alphadesk portfolio and order management system, and Autex Trade Route. He held Chief Operating and Revenue Officer responsibilities at REDI Global Technologies from when REDI was spun out from Goldman Sachs in July 2013 and until it was acquired by Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) in January 2017.

At Goldman Sachs, Michael held various senior leadership positions in electronic trading in New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong prior to the REDI spinout. Michael attained an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota.

Niall Hurley

Director, Business Development, Eagle Alpha

Niall is a member of the management team and Board member at Eagle Alpha. Eagle Alpha focuses on alternative data solutions for buyers and sellers of data globally. Clients of Eagle Alpha include hedge fund, institutions, private equity and corporates. Prior to working with Eagle Alpha, Niall worked in derivative and equity markets in London on both the sell side (Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank) and buy side at discretionary hedge funds as an analyst and portfolio manager. 

Noel Friedman

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BUSINESS MANAGER, ESG RESEARCH PRODUCTS, MSCI

Noel is the Manager for ESG Ratings at MSCI, Inc., where he manages product and business development as well as the overall strategy for the business.  Noel also manages all ESG products for the Americas. Prior to joining MSCI, Mr. Friedman was the Global Head of Business Development for RiskMetrics ESG Analytics and Managing Director for Research Products at KLD Research & Analytics.

Since joining MSCI via KLD in 1998, Noel Friedman served first as a research analyst and created KLD’s Client Services department, serving as its first manager. Mr. Friedman also co-founded KLD’s Research Products group, initially as a Product Manager.  He led the development of KLD Compliance into the industry standard for managing social restrictions in the separately managed accounts industry, which at the time of KLD’s acquisition, was the second largest and fastest growing research product at KLD.

Noel is currently a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society's (BSAS) Private Wealth Committee and the BSAS Sustainable Investment Conference committee.  Noel was formerly a member of the BSAS Equity committee.

Noel is also a member of the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment Education and Conference Committees.  Noel formerly served as a member and co-chair of the steering committee of the Social Investment Research Analyst Network (SIRAN).

Noel has a B.A. in Political Science from Boston University and has successfully completed the Chartered Financial Analyst program. 

Dr. Heiko Bailer

Head of ESG Quantitative Investments, RepRisk

Dr. Heiko Bailer joined RepRisk in 2019 and is responsible for building RepRisk’s quantitative investment business. As a former hedge fund manager, he is an expert in quantitative trading strategies.

Prior to joining RepRisk, Heiko co-founded the Swiss Fintech SmartStamp AG, as well as traded long/short US equities at GLAM, Goldcorp Land Asset Manager. Subsequent to that, Heiko was CIO at Swiss Trust Advisors AG and Plenum Investments.

Other previous appointments include: Head of Quantitative Solutions and Asset Allocation at Credit Suisse, Deputy CRO at Harcourt Investment Consulting, Director at Delta One Trading ABN AMRO London, and desk rotations at Deutsche Bank Global Markets in New York, Tokyo, and London.

Heiko received his Master of Science from Ludwig Maximilian University, in Munich, and his PhD in Applied Statistics from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA.

Maggie Stafford

Product Manager – Sustainability Data & Research, Morningstar

Maggie Stafford is a Product Manager on Morningstar’s Sustainability team. In this role, she directs Morningstar’s commercial strategy for the sustainable investing data that supports the work of financial advisors, asset managers and digital investment platforms.  Maggie joined the Sustainability team from Morningstar’s Global Sales Operations organization, where she led a cross functional effort to coordinate the global Marketing and Product Management teams. She is a leader in the firm’s WIN Network, which supports women’s careers at Morningstar and in the Chicago community. She holds a BA in International Studies and Spanish from the University of Michigan.

Leon Saunders Calvert

Head of Sustainable Investing Lipper and I&A Insights, Refinitiv

Leon Saunders Calvert runs the Sustainable Finance, Lipper and I&A Insights businesses for Refinitiv. The Sustainable Finance business provides Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) data to the financial community to support optimized capital allocation for long term sustainable outcomes. Lipper is a leading fund benchmarking platform which provides holdings and performance data on mutual funds and ETF’s. I&A Insights is Refinitiv’s thought leadership team focused on creating market insights around proprietary fundamental research, deal trends and fund market dynamics.

Leon is a Board Observer at TAB, an aggregator of crowdfunding and other online financial marketplace data to service financial professionals in this emerging asset class, an Advisory Board member of AidHub, a platform for NGO’s, charities and companies to manage and measure their social impact initiatives, and an Advisory Board member of HighCastle, who use blockchain technology to support the issuance and distribution of securities. Leon also provides pro-bono consultative advice to charities through the Pilotlight business executive program and through UnLtd's social entrepreneurs mentorship program.

He joined Thomson Reuters in 2007 and has held various roles, primarily in commercial management, as the Head of M&A and Capital Raising, EMEA Head of Banking & Research, and in content strategy, as the Global Head of the Deals, League Tables and Private Equity franchises. Before this he ran the research and data teams at Mergermarket, a provider of M&A intelligence to the advisory community, and he started his career as an M&A Analyst at an advisory boutique, Regent Partners. He has a Masters Degree in International Management and a BA Hons in Philosophy and Literature. He has had numerous articles published on film analysis through various film journals. Leon enjoys going to the gym, self defense classes, and running around after his two young children.

Vishal Thiruvedula

Head of Product, RS Metrics

Vishal is the Head of Product at RS Metrics. Prior to joining RS Metrics, he was a Lead Analyst with the Commodities Research team at Refinitiv based in London. He joined Refinitiv in December of 2015 and oversaw both dry bulk and freight analysis. Prior to Refinitiv, he worked at Castleton Commodities International and Barclays. Vishal graduated with a Masters in Energy, Trade, and Finance from Cass Business School, University of London.

Stephen Malinak

Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Truvalue Labs

Dr. Stephen Malinak is Chief Data and Analytics Officer for Truvalue Labs.  Stephen leads Truvalue Labs’ quantitative research team in applying artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to create new financial signals from unstructured data. An industry leader in quantitative analytics, Stephen joined Truvalue Labs from Thomson Reuters, where he spearheaded the company’s quantitative analytics offering, StarMine, and developed over 15 quantitative models.  He has an extensive track record of successful predictive models using widely varying techniques across numerous domains.  

He attended college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his S.B. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Stephen went on to receive his Masters and PhD in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University.

Jason Taylor

Head of Data Science and Strategy, Crux Informatics

Jason Taylor (“JT”) leads the Data Science and Strategy group at Crux, guiding data strategy across the firm including data architecture, curation, insights, tools, and training. 

JT is an uncommon blend of quantitative finance, public speaking, data and programming. The first person to volunteer for 'impossible' projects, Jason holds both his CFA and FRM. When he is not speaking to clients, designing systematic strategies, or programming data products, he can often be found eating his way across NYC.