2016 Green Business Awards Breakfast
2016-05-19 07:30 - 09:30 (America/New_York) | Newton Marriott Hotel, 2345 Commonwealth Ave., Newton, MA, United States
Join us as the Newton Needham Chamber of Commerce’s annual Green Business Breakfast returns to the outdoor pavilion along the picturesque banks of the Charles River at the Newton Marriott Hotel.
This year’s featured speaker will be Maryrose Sylvester, a GE executive who is part of the team relocating to Boston this year. Sylvester is president and CEO of Current powered by GE, a first-of-its kind energy company that integrates GE’s LED, solar, energy storage and electric vehicle businesses with its industrial strength Predix platform to deliver cost effective, efficient energy solutions.
The breakfast will once again honor area businesses for their innovative advances in reducing energy costs or the creation of green products or services.
“The Green Business Breakfast brings together local businesses, energy and environmental experts and policy makers to discuss the challenges and opportunities related to preserving and protecting our environment,” said Greg Reibman, president of the Newton-Needham Chamber.
Registration and additional details available here at the Chamber’s web site.
Tickets are $45 for Chamber members, $50 for non-Chamber members. Tables for 10 and corporate sponsorships are also available. Please contact Lise Elcock, lqelcock@nnchamber.com or 617-244-1864.

Massachusetts Clean Energy Day
2016-05-19 12:00 - 17:00
Sponsored by the Northeast Clean Energy Council, Massachusetts Clean Energy Day is an annual showcase of the growing vitality of the clean energy industry and the importance of consistent policy support as a means of catalyzing the state’s – and our region’s – economy.
Massachusetts Clean Energy Day takes place at the Massachusetts State House. The speaking program and a clean energy showcase at the Grand Staircase are open to the public. The speaking program includes brief remarks by legislative and executive agency leaders and the presentation of Clean Energy Champion awards. Clean Energy Council members are invited and encouraged to participate in small group meetings with legislators during the afternoon.
I encourage clean energy firms – and service providers to the industry – who are not already members of the NECEC to attend the public portion of the event and talk with members and NECEC leaders about the council and the impact members can have on furthering the clean energy agenda in Massachusetts and the other northeast states. (There are similar events in each of the state houses in the region.)
Registration for Massachusetts Clean Energy Day is available here.

BASIC Event: Divestment and Reinvesting in Massachusetts Companies
2016-09-19 17:30 - 19:30 | Old West Church, 131 Cambridge St., Boston, MA, United States
Over the past five years, Massachusetts has become the national incubator for social ventures, clean technologies, and innovative business solutions to climate change. The Climate Action Business Association has developed a new series of reports, Local Emerging Market Reports (LEMR) to offer a spotlight on further opportunities for leadership in the transition to a carbon free economy. The goal is to support local entrepreneurs, early adopters, investors, and others looking for market solutions to fuel the transition to a carbon free economy.
Join CABA and BASIC as we look at these reports from the perspective of sustainable and clean tech investors. Matt Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management and David Miller, Executive Director of Clean Energy Venture Group will provide their perspective on the report and the future of sustainable investments in Massachusetts’ local economy.
Report authors Michael Green and Kate Galbo from CABA will moderate the conversation and discuss how the reports can be used to fuel local investments.
Register for this event here at Eventbrite.

Venture Exchanges in the US – has the time come?
2016-10-05 12:15 - 14:00 | Ritz-Carlton Boston Common, 10 Avery St., Boston, MA, 02210, United States
A Venture Exchange is a market for equity capital with less strict listing and regulatory rules to serve smaller and startup companies. The idea is that a lighter-regulatory touch would encourage more small, start-up companies to use the public markets to raise capital, in part to replace commercial banks who have reduced lending to these companies, in part in response to regulatory capital requirements.
A venture exchange in the US could make opportunities in new and emerging technologies and business models accessible to a larger pool of sustainable investors. The CFA Institute recently undertook a study and published a white paper on the opportunities and challenges such a venture market would face, as well as what such a market would need to offer investors, issuers, broker dealers and other parties in order for such a market to succeed.
As one of the country’s leading innovation hubs – especially in clean technology – Boston is an appropriate venue to examine venture exchanges. Please join us on Wednesday, October 5th as the Boston Security Analysts Society hosts a luncheon conversation on United States Venture Exchange: Has The Time Come?.
Our speakers will be:

Lead author Matt Orsagh, Director of Capital Markets Policy at the CFA Institute
Stanley Keller, Of Counsel at Locke Lord, with extensive experience in corporate and securities law and a participant in the working group for the study
Robert Peterman, Director, Global Business Development – Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, and TSX Private Markets

Registration and full bios for our speakers are available here at the BSAS web site. Copies of the white paper will be available at the event.

Using SASB Standards in Valuation: A Hands-On Workshop
2016-11-16 16:00 - 18:00 | Sheraton Boston, 39 Dalton St., Boston, MA, 02199, United States
The BSAS and SASB are very pleased to offer Using SASB Standards in Valuation: A Hands-On Workshop from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Wednesday, November 16th, the afternoon before our 4th annual full-day BSAS Sustainable Investing seminar on November 17th. Both events will take place at the Boston Sheraton hotel. You can register for both at the BSAS web site, and also get a discount on the workshop.
Please join Michael Kinstlick, Head of Standards Setting at SASB, for this hands-on workshop that will give attendees:

A deeper understanding of the uses of the SASB metrics
A comfort level incorporating SASB metrics into traditional DCF valuation models
The preparation necessary to consider deeper analytic approaches with the data as it becomes available

We hope to see you at both events!

Registration and Session Information

As Head of Standards Setting at SASB, Michael Kinstlick oversees research, analytics, consultation, and codification and maintenance of the SASB standards. Michael’s career spans functions and industries. He has worked predominantly in Finance, including almost a decade at quantitative equities firm AXA Rosenberg with roles in both core research and helping manage billions-of-dollars in Long/Short strategies. He has most recently served as the founding CEO of Coppersea Distilling, a field-to-glass farm distillery in NY’s Hudson Valley. He graduated cum laude in Economics and Philosophy from Columbia before graduate school at Northwestern (MS, Industrial Engineering) and UC Berkeley (MBA, Haas School of Business).

2016 BSAS Sustainable Investing seminar
2016-11-17 08:00 - 18:00
The 4th annual BSAS Sustainable Investing Seminar will take place on November 17th at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. We are pleased to again have an outstanding lineup of speakers and panelists joining us.

Additional seminar information and registration is here at the BSAS web site.
A PDF version of the agenda (without session notes)

7:30am – Registration Opens
7:45am – Continental Breakfast
8:45am – Welcome and Introductions

Michael Greis, CFA, Principal, Riverbend Advisors and Chair of the Seminar Committee

9:00am – Keynote Address

John Streur, President & CEO, Calvert Investments

9:45am – Products and Platforms

Anna Snider, CAIA, Head of Due Diligence, CIO Office, Merrill Lynch

10:30am – Break
11:00am – The Promise and Peril of Fund Ratings

Anna Snider, CAIA, Head of Due Diligence, CIO Office, Merrill Lynch – Moderator
Noel Friedman, CFA, Business Manager, ESG Research Products, MSCI
Jon Hale, CFA, Head of Sustainability Research, Morningstar, Inc.
Sarah Smith, Director of Institutional Relations at Sustainalytics

11:45am – A Fresh Perspective on Engagement

George Serafeim, Jakurski Family Associate Professor at Harvard Business School
Sr. Patricia Daly, OP, Executive Director, Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment
Moderated by Cheryl Smith, CFA, Managing Partner, Trillium Asset Management

1:15pm – Lunch
2:00pm – The Quants are Coming….The Quants are Here

Gareth Davies, Head of Responsible Investment, Columbia Threadneedle – Moderator
Andreas Feiner, Founding Partner and Head of ESG Research & Advisory, Arabesque Asset Management
Quyuen Tran, Equity Portfolio Specialist, Wellington Management
Laurent De Greef, Director, Global Head of Consultant Relations, Acadian Asset Management

3:00pm – Performance – Fixed Income Topics

Andreas G. F. Hoepner, PhD, Senior Academic Fellow, PRI and Associate Professor of Finance,
ICMA Centre, Henley Business School
Pernille Jessen, Head of Credit, Unipension Denmark

3:45pm – Break

4:15pm – Long Term Investing and Systemic Impacts – the Investor and Corporate perspectives

Steve Lydenberg, CFA, Partner, Strategic Vision, Domini Social Investments; Founder & CEO, The Investment Integration Project
Tim Youmans, Research Director, CECP’s Strategic Investor Initiative

5:00pm – Focusing Capital on the Long Term

Sarah Williamson, CFA, CEO, Focusing Capital on the Long Term

5:45 – 7:00 – Networking Reception

Moving the Market: the Inaugural SASB Symposium
2016-12-01 08:00 - 18:30 | Park Central Hotel, 870 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY, 10019, United States
SASB’s Inaugural Symposium on December 1st in New York City is the first convening to explore the unique intersection between sustainability, finance, accounting, and law. An outstanding group of speakers and panelists will explore practical questions about the materiality of sustainability information and its relevance to the capital markets. Attendees will come away with a robust high-level view and a deeper understanding of how sustainability factors drive value and how to use sustainability information to inform corporate strategies or investment decisions.
Register here.
Symposium Agenda
8-8:30
Breakfast and Networking
8:30-9
Opening Remarks from Jean Rogers, SASB CEO
9:00-10:00
Meeting the Needs of Today’s Investor:
Why the SEC is Looking at Disclosure Effectiveness
Keith Higgins, Director of the Division of Corporate Finance, SEC
Alan Beller, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb
John White, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Mary Schapiro, Former Chair, SEC (Moderator)

10:00-10:15
Break & Networking
10:15-10:45
Q&A: Re-writing the Book on Valuation
Tim Koller, Partner, McKinsey
Jonathan Bailey, Associate Partner, McKinsey (Moderator)

10:45-11:45
The Next Wave of ESG Integration: Lessons from Institutional Investors
Ted Eliopoulos, CIO, CalPERS
Chris Ailman, CIO, CalSTRS
Kristi Mitchem, President & CEO, Wells Fargo Asset Management
Michelle Edkins, Managing Director, BlackRock
Janine Guillot, Director of Capital Markets Policy & Outreach, SASB (Moderator)

12:00 – 1:00
Lunch
12:15-12:30
Lunchtime speaker: The Future of SASB Standard Setting
Michael Kinstlick, Chief of the Standards Setting Organization, SASB
1:00 – 1:50
The Analyst Point of View on ESG
Bobby Lamy, Head of Practice Analysis, CFA Institute
Dan Hanson, Partner, Jarislowsky Fraser
Tom Lyons, Sr. Analyst Montgomery Fixed Income, Wells Capital Management
Jennifer Bender, Managing Director, Director of Research, SSGA
Bruno Bertocci, MD, UBS (Moderator)

2:00-2:50
The Corporate Perspective: Sustainability and Risk Management
Steven Walker, General Counsel, NACD
Tom Quaadman, SVP, US Chamber Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness
Elisse Walter, Former Chair, SEC (Moderator)

2:50-3:10
Coffee & Networking
3:10-4:00
The Future of the Profession: Emerging Questions for Accountants
Jeanette Franzel, Board Member, PCAOB
Jeff Thomson, CEO, IMA
Cindy Fornelli, CEO, the Center for Audit Quality (Moderator)

4-4:15
The End of Accounting
Baruch Lev, Professor, NYU Stern

4:15–5:00
Keynote Speaker: To Be Announced
5:00–6:30
Closing Reception

Responsible Investor Digital: Canada 2020
2020-09-15 - 2020-09-16
Long-term fiduciary investors acting on the sustainable finance opportunity
Live and free to air: 15th – 16th SeptemberThe RI Digital: Canada 2020 conference will examine the potential for Canadian investors to accelerate the energy transition, enhance corporate governance standards, and create a more prosperous future for all Canadians through the coronavirus recovery and beyond.
