World Bank’s Heike Reichelt Recognized for Leadership in Sustainable Investing
San Francisco // April 27, 2017 – Heike Reichelt, the head of investor relations and new products at The World Bank, has been awarded the prestigious Joan Bavaria Award for Building Sustainability into the Capital Markets. The announcement was made today at the Ceres Conference 2017 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
The award is given annually by the sustainability nonprofit organization Ceres and the Boston-based investment firm Trillium Asset Management to honor inspiring global leaders working to move capital markets toward a system that balances economic prosperity with social and environmental issues.
“It is such an honor to receive this award and be associated with Joan Bavaria, the visionary founder of Ceres and Trillium Asset Management,” said Reichelt. “I am very encouraged that we are seeing so much more interest from investors who are considering not only the financial performance but also the purpose and impact of their investment. It has been a great pleasure to be part of the sustainable investment community and I look forward to a continued partnership.”
The groups selected Reichelt for her leadership in managing relationships with bond investors and rating agencies, and developing new debt products for investors, including products for climate change mitigation and adaptation like World Bank Green Bonds, and other products that raise awareness for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With over 20 years of experience in finance, Reichelt and her team have developed some of the world’s first Green Bonds that meet rigorous financial, social and environmental standards.
“Heike Reichelt has been a leader in advocating for groundbreaking work in the Green Bond movement,” said Ceres CEO and President Mindy Lubber. “Her vision and commitment to making the World Bank an open and accessible leader in this space is transforming the fixed income sector and millions of lives around the world.”
The World Bank borrows around $60 billion annually in the international capital markets through hundreds of transactions in various currencies and structures. Reichelt plays a key role in the World Bank’s outreach to the sustainable and impact investing community in Europe and the U.S. She also works with other issuers and market participants to encourage the growth of sustainable international capital markets focused on making a long-term positive social and environmental impact.
“Heike has been a catalyst of innovation, performing path-breaking work in the development of the green bond movement,” said Trillium Asset Management Managing Partner Cheryl Smith. “Heike’s contributions to the use of fixed income markets to finance both substantial and ongoing reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in measures of environmental quality while furthering the World Bank’s goals for creating shared prosperity and economic development, have mobilized billions of investment dollars to fund the transition to a lower carbon world economy.”
The Joan Bavaria award was established in 2008 in memory of Joan Bavaria, a pioneer of social investing who founded Ceres and Trillium Asset Management. In recognition of the award’s 10-year anniversary, Ceres also released this video tribute to honor the late pioneer and past winners.
Past winners include: Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); Geeta Aiyer, Founder and President of Boston Common Asset Management; Sister Patricia Daly, OP, executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment; Tessa Tennant, President and co-founder of The Ice Organisation; and William Foote, founder and CEO of Root Capital.
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About Trillium Asset Management
Founded in 1982, Trillium Asset Management is an investment management firm with over $2 billion in assets under management. Trillium integrates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into the investment process as a way to seek to identify companies better positioned to deliver strong, long-term performance. Trillium has a long history of managing equity and fixed income portfolios for individuals, foundations, endowments, religious organizations, and other non-profits. For more information, visit www.trilliuminvest.com.
About Ceres
Ceres is a sustainability nonprofit organization leading the most influential investors and companies to build leadership and drive solutions throughout the economy. For more information, visit www.ceres.org or follow on Twitter @CeresNews.
Disclosure: This information is not a recommendation to buy or sell the security mentioned. It should not be assumed that investments in such security has been or will be profitable. The security mentioned was selected to illustrate the views expressed and does not represent all of the securities purchased, sold or recommended.
