2020 Assembly of Investment Chairs Speakers

Dr Ben Caldecott, Director, Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme, University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment

Dr Ben Caldecott is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He is the inaugural holder of the Lombard Odier Associate Professorship and Senior Research Fellowship of Sustainable Finance at the University of Oxford, the first ever endowed professorship of sustainable finance. He is a Supernumerary Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford, and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. Ben is also the COP26 Strategy Advisor for Finance based out of the UK Cabinet Office.

He has conceived and initiated a number of initiatives related to sustainable finance. Ben founded and co-chairs the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment (GRASFI), an alliance of global research universities promoting rigorous and impactful academic research on sustainable finance. He established and leads the Sustainable Finance Theme at The Alan Turing Institute and initiated the Spatial Finance Initiative, which aims to mainstream geospatial capabilities enabled by space technology and data science into financial decision-making globally. He co-founded the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI), which is examining the legal basis for directors and trustees to consider, manage, and report on climate change-related risk, and the circumstances in which they may be liable for failing to do so.

Matt Whineray, Chief Executive Officer, NZ Super Fund

Matt was appointed Chief Executive Officer 1 July 2018.
Matt joined the Guardians in May 2008 as General Manager, Private Markets. In 2014 Matt became Chief Investment Officer overseeing the Investments Group, responsible for the Fund’s portfolio construction and investment activity in listed and unlisted markets, both directly and through investment managers. Matt’s achievements in this role included the development of the Fund’s climate change investment strategy, risk allocation process and risk budget framework, along with the strengthening of the Guardians’ New Zealand and international direct investment capabilities.
Before joining the Guardians, Matt was at Credit Suisse (Hong Kong) where he was Head of Financial Sponsor Coverage for non-Japan Asia. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director at First NZ Capital in New Zealand and a Vice President at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. Matt began his career as a Barrister and Solicitor with Russell McVeagh in Auckland.
Matt is a member of Focusing Capital on the Long Term, a Director of Netball New Zealand and Co-Chair of the Aotearoa Circle’s Sustainable Finance Forum. Matt has previously served as a member of the World Economic Forum General Agenda Council on the Future of Investing, and as Chair of the InZone Education Foundation.

Emma Heard, Chief Executive Officer, Investor Group on Climate Change

Emma Herd has been Chief Executive Officer at the Investor Group on Climate Change since August 2015. Emma has worked in climate change, sustainability, public policy and finance for almost twenty years.
Prior to IGCC, Emma spent 15 years at Westpac Banking Corporation where she worked at the vanguard of climate change and finance. She held a range of roles across carbon finance and emissions trading, ESG Risk assessment, public policy and advocacy, sustainability strategy development and corporate affairs across Westpac Institutional Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation. She started her career working in Parliamentary Committees (Senate and House of Representatives) in Parliament House, Canberra.
Emma is a Non-Executive Director of the Carbon Market Institute and a member of the Queensland Climate Change Advisory Council. Emma is a member of the Steering Committee of the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative and the New Zealand Sustainable Finance Forum. She holds a Bachelor of Asian Studies (Thai) Hons.

John Berry, Chief Executive Officer & Director, Pathfinder Assest Management Limited

John Berry is the co-founder and CEO at Pathfinder. He has over 20 years' experience in law firms and investment banks. He is also a board member of Men's Health Trust and Punakaiki Fund Limited.

Rebecca Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Mint Asset Management

Rebecca founded Mint in 2006.  She has a strong pedigree in funds management, with a career spanning 34 years', both in New Zealand and offshore. Her previous executive positions include Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Johnson Fry, a London-based funds management firm, acquired by Legg Mason, where she went on to hold the position of Group Chief Executive Officer.  On moving to New Zealand she became Chief Investment Officer for ING (NZ) Limited. Rebecca has been a Director and Chair of the AFRC of KiwiRail Holding Limited and an Associate member and AFRC Chair on the Board of the Financial Markets Authority from 2011-2016. She has also held several non-executive directorships for investment and property trusts, including Pathfinder Development Companies and LMI European Utilities Investment Trust Plc.
Rebecca is a member of the Institute of Directors of both New Zealand and London, as well as a member of the Securities and Investment Institute of London. She has completed examinations for the UK Institute of Investment Management and Research and the London Stock Exchange.
As CEO, Rebecca is responsible for the management of Mint, working closely with the executive team and Board to achieve the vision that drove her to establish the firm and continues to drive it forward.

Richard Hilder, Chief Financial Officer, Precinct Properties

Richard was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2017, prior to this he held the role of General Manager of Finance. He is responsible for investor relations, financial planning and analysis, the execution of capital management initiatives and treasury management alongside leadership of the finance and analyst teams. He has been instrumental in developing and implementing Precinct’s longterm strategy. Richard is also the Chair of Precinct's Sustainability Committee which encompasses ESG topics material to Precinct.

Pip Best, Climate Change, Sustainability and EHS Services Leader, Emst Young

Pip has worked with both the public and private sector in understanding the impacts of climate change and other sustainability issues such as emissions trading, green bonds, sustainable finance, impact, as well as outcomes measurement.  She has assisted in the development of sustainable financial products across the Asia Pacific region, and has worked in New Zealand, Australia and the UK within capital markets and sustainability roles.

Dr Helen Roberts, Deputy-Director CEFGroup, Otago Business School

Helen is the deputy-director of the Climate and Energy Finance Group (CEFGroup) and the Acting Head for the Department of Accountancy and Finance. Her research interests include: the relationship between CEO compensation, firm performance and governance; Energy Finance and the impact of climate change on firm value; the value of board diversity; the role of gender diversity in firm governance; gender pay gap and equity.

Sam Stubbs, Founder and Managing Director, Simplicity (NZ) Limited

Sam Stubbs was most recently the CEO of Tower Investments, a KiwiSaver default provider. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director of Hanover Group, and spent 10 years working for Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong. He has previously worked for Natwest Markets, Fay, Richwhite and IBM New Zealand. He has been a Board Member of the Financial Services Council, and a member of the Government Taskforce on Financial Services.

Chris Douglas, Principal, MyFiduciary

Chris Douglas serves the Investment Committees for a range of entities including Westpac New Zealand, PIA Group, Milestone Group and Saturn Advice. He has over 18 years investment experience working in Auckland, London, Sydney and Chicago. His previous role was Director and Manager of Research for the Asia-Pacific region at Morningstar (Sydney). Prior to this role Chris working in Chicago, and lead a team of 50 analysts across seven countries who collected Morningstar's managed investment data. Chris also working at AllianceBernstein and F&C Assest Management in London.

Dennis Turton, Chief Executive, Trust Waikato

Dennis' significant senior management experience puts him in good stead, as Trust Waikato's Chief Executive, to provide vision, direction and support to the Trust. He also plays an important part in the philantropic sector at a local and national level, representing the Trust's views on sector issues and dialogue, and uploading the interests of the communities it serves.

Katie Beith, Senior Investment Strategist, NZ Super Fund

Katie is a Senior Investment Strategist in the RI team for the NZ Superannuation Fund. She is involved primarily in leading its engagement programme, working with external managers, driving positive impact investment and developing the exclusion list. She also provides support and expertise for the Fund’s Climate Change Investment Strategy. Currently Katie is one of the lead investors of a global collaborative engagement that is calling for the social media companies to strengthen controls to prevent the livestreaming and dissemination of objectionable content such as that of the Christchurch terror attacks. Katie is currently serving on the External Reporting Board’s Stakeholder Advisory Panel (XRAP) and National Advisory Board for New Zealand’s Impact Investing Network.

Mark Tume, Chair, Ngāi Tahu Holdings

Mark is chair of Ngāi Tahu Holdings, Te Ati Awa Iwi Holdings, Infratil, and a director of RetireAustralia. He has held a number of governance roles in Australia and New Zealand across infrastructure and investment sectors. His professional experience has been in banking and funds management.