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According to the EIRIS report entitled, "A Risky Business?  Managing Core Labor Standards in Company Supply Chains", 45% of the companies studied "have no policy or management systems in place to protect labor standards in their supply chain and fail to report on the issue."  According to EIRIS, investors should be concerned about breaches of labor standards for several reasons:  reputational risk, time spent by management addressing issues raised by NGOs, poor product quality, and legislation that could limit access to markets. 1.10

Monday, October 27, 2008 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Room: Macdonald A–D

Speaker(s)
Melissa Brown Founder, former Executive Director, Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA)
Matt Christensen Executive Director, European Social Investment Forum (EuroSIF)
Eugene Ellmen Executive Director, Social Investment Organization
Lisa Woll CEO, Social Investment Forum
Karl Yang Executive Director, Founder, Korea Sustainability Investing Forum

Description
From its inception, socially responsible investing has sought to impact societies and companies across the globe. Recent developments and initiatives, such as the United Nation's Principles for Responsible Investing, and improved environmental, social and governance (ESG) research on companies in the developing world, have helped foster greater collaboration and information-sharing among practitioners from around the globe. SIF leaders from Asia, Europe and North America will share their views on the trends affecting our industry, regional differences of how SRI is conducted, and what we can learn from one another.

Speaker Biographies
Melissa Brown is the Executive Director of the Association of Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA). A not-for-profit membership association focused on environmental, social, and governance issues shaping investment and financial market development in Asia, ASrIA membership includes a cross-section of global and Asia-based fund managers, financial institutions, companies, and non-profit organizations. Prior to joining ASrIA in 2003, Ms. Brown was a Managing Director and Deputy Head of Asian Equity Research at Citigroup/Smith Barney. She has 15 years of experience in equity research in Asia. During that period she covered the Asian power sector and markets ranging from South Korea to India. In addition to her work at ASrIA, she is part of UNEP FI's Asia Pacific Outreach Group and is a member of both the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong's Listing Committee and the Securities and Futures Commission's Public Shareholders Group. She has a BA in Economics from Williams College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Matt Christensen is Executive Director of Eurosif which addresses sustainability issues through financial markets on behalf of its Member Affiliates in western Europe. Recent activities of Eurosif include its EU SRI Market Study, Venture Capital and Sustainability Report, and successful submissions to the EU asking for improved transparency on environmental/social/governance issues by companies and funds. Eurosif members include leading financial service institutions that together represent assets totaling over 600 billion euros. Mr. Christensen is also a member of the European Commission Coordination Committee to explore the evolution of sustainability in the EU. Before taking the lead at Eurosif in 2002, Mr. Christian was a European Director at The Motley Fool, a leading publisher of information on personal finance and investing. Prior to that, he advised FTSE 100 clients as a strategy consultant with Braxton Associates based in London and Paris. He is a Non-Executive Director to various investment funds and holds masters degrees from Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania.

Since 1999, Eugene Ellmen has served as Executive Director of the Social Investment Organization, Canada's national association for socially responsible investment (SRI). He is one of Canada's leading experts on SRI. Author of the critically acclaimed Canadian Ethical Money Guide, he has an extensive background in journalism, and in communications and public affairs with the financial industry, government and in private consulting.

Lisa Woll is CEO of the Social Investment Forum (SIF), the non-profit trade association for the socially responsible investment industry in the U.S. Prior to SIF, Ms. Woll was Executive Director of the International Women's Media Foundation. She has extensive experience in international and domestic social policy, and has worked extensively around the globe on human rights issues, particularly children's human rights. She was the director of the first international study to look at the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and directed the Washington, DC office of Save the Children. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. She is also Board President of Women's Voices for the Earth, and a Senior Fellow with the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) Civic Leadership program. Ms. Woll is the founder of Suited for Change, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization that provides professional clothing and ongoing career education to low-income women who have completed job training programs and are seeking employment. In 2001, she was named a Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine in recognition of her pioneering role with Suited for Change. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Illinois and a master's degree in public policy and women's studies from George Washington University.