On the 16th November QuotedData hosted the first of three ESG focused webinars. This Environmental webinar began with opening remarks from Natalie Kenway of ESG Clarity and Julia Dreblow of SRI Services. We would like to thank all our speakers and our attendees for joining us.
- Opening Remarks – Natalie Kenway (ESG Clarity) and Julia Dreblow (SRI Services)
- NextEnergy Solar Fund – Ross Grier
- Ecofin Global Utilities & Infrastructure Trust – Jean-Hugues de Lamaze
- Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust – Tom Williams
Natalie Kenway (ESGClarity) – Opening Remarks
Natalie Kenway has been a journalist covering the retail asset management industry for 15 years. She spent much of this time at Incisive Media where she worked her through the ranks to acting editor, but also spent time at Fund Strategy and Research in Finance. She joined Last Word Media as editor of ESG Clarity in February 2020 and was promoted to global head of ESG insight in January 2021. She has a particular passion for supporting greater diversity within the investment and savings sector. For more information, click here.
Julia Dreblow (SRI Services)
Julia is a passionate advocate of the need for the financial services community to play its part in addressing climate change and other major environmental and social challenges. She has been working to expand sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) since long before it was fashionable – having first become involved in the early 1990s.
She has run her own business, SRI Services, since 2010. Its focus is Fund EcoMarket, the ‘whole of SRI market’ fund information database tool – with related support. The website and linked app are designed to help financial services professional change the way people invest. SRI Services also helps others build sustainability into their propositions through data provision and consultancy. For more information, click here.
Ross Grier (NextEnergy Solar Fund)
Since joining the NEC Group in 2013 and now as Managing Director of NEC UK, Ross has led the M&A team to deploy over £700 million of assets, delivering 755 MWp of transactions across 91 assets for NextEnergy Solar Fund in very compressed timescales. He has developed a significant pipeline of solar PV assets and has led the team into constructing the first utility scale contracted solar assets in the UK at scale. Further to this, Ross created and stewarded NEC’s biodiversity programme and its delivery of market leading ESG successes within NESF; this remains a passion and ongoing focus.
Ross is also a member of the Investment Committee of the Fund. He began his career more than 10 years ago working as an analyst at ExxonMobil and then across the business spectrum from small and medium-sized and start-up businesses to FTSE 250 and government organisations. For more information, click here.
Jean-Hugues de Lamaze (Ecofin Global Utilities & Infrastructure Trust)
Jean-Hugues is Managing Director, Senior PM, Head of Ecofin UK, now part of the Tortoise group. The US firm acquired Ecofin in November 2018. Jean-Hugues was previously a managing Partner at Ecofin, the leading utilities, infrastructure and energy transition investment specialist. He was also a Board Member of Direct Energie, France’s 3rd largest energy operator (Total group) from 2012 to 2019. He co-founded UV Capital LLP as Managing Partner. He was previously at Goldman Sachs as Head of European Utilities research.
Jean-Hugues has over 30 years of experience of international equity markets, specifically in the utilities and infrastructure sectors, from equity research & strategy to investment management. He is Foreign Trade Advisor to the French Government. For more information, click here.
Tom Williams (Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust)
Tom joined Downing as Partner in the Energy & Infrastructure team in July 2018. He heads up the team and has 20 years’ experience as Principal and Director across the private equity and private debt infrastructure sectors. He trained as a solicitor before moving into private equity, where he carried out successful transactions totalling in excess of £13 billion in the energy, utilities, transportation, accommodation and defence sectors. Tom holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Royal College of Law and both a master’s and bachelor’s degree in law from Cambridge University. For more information, click here.