Leaders also reaffirm commitment to strategically grow the Network
Chief Executive Officers of the Investor Leadership Network (ILN) concluded their first meeting of the CEO Council on Diversity recently, hosted by Natixis Investment Managers, and are pleased to announce a commitment to continue to support and increase diversity at their organizations and in the broader financial industry, with an initial emphasis on advancing gender diversity. The meeting coincided with the conclusion of the G7 summit hosted in France, where gender equality was a central theme for discussions.
ILN members will improve representation of women in key roles and continue to take other concrete actions internationally
As institutional investors managing over $6 trillion in assets around the world, ILN CEOs have committed to work together to accelerate progress on gender diversity issues in the spheres where ILN investors can exert a collective influence.
As part of that commitment, ILN members will aim to:
- increase the presence of women in key areas of their organizations. Specifically, all ILN organizations have committed to working toward increasing the number of women in investment and senior leadership roles;
- establish appropriate metrics, for a majority of members through third party certification, to guide, assess, and benchmark progress as well as inform strategic direction, hiring and advancement strategies for women;
- support the CFA Institute Young Women in Investment Program, which is designed to foster diversity and inclusion within the investment management profession. The partnership will support existing women’s programs in Mumbai and Bangalore, and will seek to expand programs to other regions with a goal of more than 400 program participants by 2021; and
- advocate for greater diversity and inclusion with public and private portfolio companies, external managers and the broader investment industry.
The collective focus of global investors on attracting and advancing women in the industry offers the potential to drive higher performance, promote fairness and lead to more sustainable decisions in leadership teams.
The participants agreed to convene a second CEO Council on Diversity meeting to coincide with the G7 meetings in 2020.
ILN reaffirms its strategic commitments
In addition to progressing the ‘Diversity in Investment Initiative’, the group also reviewed the advancements made by the ILN, one year after its foundation during the 2018 G7 Summit in Canada. Significant milestones and concrete actions include:
- 13 Fellows from emerging and frontier economies completed a six-week academic training program at York University, which was followed by a week-long executive training program hosted by ILN members. This is the result of the ILN’s ‘Sustainable Infrastructure Fellowship Program’ launched in cooperation with the Schulich School of Business and the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation;
- A report sharing the perspectives and lessons learned from among ILN members on the implementation of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ recommendations will be released in the fall of 2019. This report is the product of the ILN ‘Climate Change’ initiative and is intended to assist asset owners and fund managers in shaping their climate change strategies and disclosures.
In light of the positive and direct impact of its initiatives and of the level of mobilization from all member investors, ILN CEOs agreed to strategically grow the ILN platform. To that end, the ILN will invite additional like-minded investors to join the platform.