Plenary Speakers

Geeta Aiyer

Geeta Aiyer is President and Founder of Boston Common Asset Management, an independent, employee-owned investment manager specializing in sustainable and responsible equity and balanced strategies. As a portfolio manager, she combines her commitment to sustainability with her training and experience in investment theory and finance. She has worked with investments for 25 years, and was formerly President of the Walden Asset Management Division of the United States Trust Company of Boston (USTC). Previously, Ms. Aiyer was at Cambridge Associates. In India, she worked in public administration and rural development. She founded two prior companies, Walden Capital Management (1994) and East India Spice (1987). Geeta Aiyer serves on the boards of Worldwatch Institute and the New England Foundation for the Arts. Back To Top

Doug Arent PhD

Doug Arent is Executive Director of the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He specializes in strategic planning and financial analysis competencies; clean energy technologies and energy and water issues; and international and governmental policies. In addition to his NREL responsibilities, Dr. Arent is Senior Visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and an author and expert reviewer for the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy, a member of the US Government Review Panel for the IPCC Reports on Climate Change and was recently appointed as a Coordinating Lead Author for the 5th Assessment Report.  In addition, he serves on the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change, and on the Executive Council of the U.S. Association of Energy Economists. Back To Top

Maude Barlow

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, an executive member of the San Francisco-based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council.  In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly.  Ms. Barlow is the recipient of eight honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including Sweden's 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the "Alternative Nobel"), the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, and the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award.  She is also the bestselling author or co-author of 16 books, including the international best seller Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water. Back To Top

David Brancaccio

David Brancaccio specializes in telling stories important to our democracy and our economy through the eyes of the people who live in the cross-hairs of crucial issues.  His accessible yet authoritative approach to investigative reporting and in-depth interviewing earned his work the highest honors in broadcast journalism, including the Peabody, the Columbia-duPont, the Emmy, and the Walter Cronkite awards. As host and senior editor of public television's NOW on PBS broadcast, Mr. Brancaccio brought his engaging, probing style to beats that included business and finance, social investment, the environment, national security, and human rights. He also served for ten years as the host of public radio's daily business program, Marketplace. He is author of the book Squandering Aimlessly, which took him on a nationwide odyssey to speak to Americans about money and values. Back To Top

Amy Domini CFA

Amy Domini, Founder and CEO of Domini Social Investments, is widely recognized as the leading voice for socially responsible investing. In 2005, Time magazine named her to the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people, and in 2009 Time listed her as one of 25 "Responsibility Pioneers" who are changing the world.  Also in 2005, President Clinton honored her at the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative helping protect children and the environment. In 2006, she was awarded a Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa degree from Northeastern University College of Law. In 2007, she was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa  by the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.  Ms. Domini is the author of Socially Responsible Investing: Making a Difference and Making Money, among other books.

Riane Eisler PhD

Riane Eisler is a social scientist, attorney and author of The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics, and the internationally  acclaimed bestseller, The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future, as well as numerous other books and articles.  She is president of the Center for Partnership Studies, a fellow of the World Business Academy, and a Councilor of the World Future Council.  Dr. Eisler consults for business and governments, and has been a leader in the movements for peace, environmental sustainability, economic equity, and human rights.  Riane Eisler is one of  20 great thinkers, including Adam Smith, Hegel, Marx, and Toynbee, selected for inclusion in Macrohistory and Macrohistorians in recognition of the lasting importance of her work as a cultural historian and evolutionary theorist.  Back To Top

Christopher Flavin

Christopher Flavin is President of the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based international research organization focused on energy, resource and environmental issues. He is a leading voice on the potential for new energy technologies and strategies to replace fossil fuels. He serves on numerous boards including the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, the Climate Institute, the American Council on Renewable Energy, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Mr. Flavin regularly provides strategy advice to government officials and business and NGO leaders around the globe. Mr. Flavin is co-author of three books on energy, and a regular co-author of the annual State of the World Report. He has written for a range of periodicals, including The New York Times, Technology Review, The Harvard International Review, and TIME Magazine, and speaks frequently to business, university, and policy audiences. Back To Top

Hazel Henderson

Hazel Henderson is a futurist, evolutionary economist and author of nine books including the Axiom and Nautilus award-winning book Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy.  The founder of Ethical Markets Media, LLC, and creator of its TV series, her editorials are syndicated by InterPress Service, with articles appearing in journals such as Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor and many international publications. With Calvert Group, she developed the widely used alternative to the Gross National Product (GNP), the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators.  She also created the Green Transition Scoreboard, tracking private investment worldwide in green technologies.  Henderson has been a university lecturer, and holds several honorary degrees. She shared the 1996 Global Citizen Award with Nobel Peace Prize Winner A. Perez Esquivel, and is a Fellow to Britain's Royal Society for the Arts.

Chris Hoenig

Christopher Hoenig is the President and CEO of The State of the USA, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping Americans assess national progress with quality measures and data on the most important issues facing the nation.  His work as Managing Director of Strategic Issues for the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) ultimately led to the creation of The State of the USA.  Mr. Hoenig's career is dedicated to producing fundamental innovations in how we understand and improve our collective problem-solving capabilities. He has worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Co., and as Vice President of Strategy at IBM. His work as Chairman of the Key National Indicators Initiative under the auspices of the National Academies helped lead to the recent historic establishment of the first ever Key National Indicator System for the United States.

Michael Jantzi

Michael Jantzi is the CEO of Sustainalytics, operating in North America as Jantzi-Sustainalytics, and the founder of Jantzi Research Inc.  He has played a crucial role in the development of the responsible investment market through the creation of essential environmental, social and governance (ESG) research services.  He mentors social entrepreneurs through the Ashoka Support Network, is an advisor to the Research Network for Business Sustainability, and a member of the grant review panel at the Rotman School of Management.  Mr. Jantzi writes frequently for publications throughout the globe,  and co-authored The 50 Best Ethical Stocks for Canadians: High Value Investing.  In  June, 2010, he was presented the inaugural SRI Lifetime Achievement Award by the Social Investment Organization for his contribution to the development of the sector and creation of innovative research practices and products. Back To Top

Joe Keefe JD

Joe Keefe is President & Chief Executive Officer of Pax World Management LLC, and of Pax World Funds.  Pax World launched the nation's first socially responsible mutual fund in 1971, and currently manages approximately $2.3 billion in assets.  Prior to joining Pax World, Mr. Keefe was President of NewCircle Communications, a strategic consulting and communications firm whose clients included many of the leading firms in the socially responsible investing industry.  He also served as Senior Adviser for Strategic Social Policy at Calvert Group, and previously was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Citizens Advisers, investment advisor to Citizens Funds.  Mr. Keefe has spoken and written extensively about Sustainable Investing, and was named by Ethisphere Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics" for 2007 and again for 2008. Back To Top

Mel Miller

Mel Miller is Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Heartland Financial USA, Inc. His primary responsibilities include the investment portfolios, asset/liability management, and funding issues of Heartland member banks. Mr. Miller heads the economic research and forecasting functions for all of Heartland Financial. He also participates in establishing the strategic asset allocation for Wealth Management clients. He initiated the establishment of social responsibility investment services shortly after joining Dubuque Bank &Trust (DB&T) in 1984. Prior to joining DB&T, an individually chartered member bank of Heartland's, Mr. Miller taught at the college level in the areas of investments and portfolio management, and was chair of the department of Accounting and Business at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. Back To Top

Simran Sethi

Simran Sethi is an Emmy award-winning journalist and associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, where she currently teaches courses on sustainability and environmental communications and diversity in media. She is the contributing author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy, the founding host/writer of Sundance Channel's environmental programming The Green, and the creator of the Sundance online series The Good Fight, highlighting global environmental justice efforts and grassroots activism.  Ms. Sethi has been a featured guest on National Public Radio, is the host of the PBS documentary, A School in the Woods, and blogs about sustainability for The Huffington Post.  She has received numerous awards, including the 2010 American College Personnel Association Champion of Sustainability award for leadership on sustainability within academe. Back To Top

Bill Shireman

Bill Shireman is the President and CEO of the Future 500, a nonprofit organization dedicated to forging relationships between corporations and NGOs to advance the "triple bottom line."

In 1996, he joined with Mitsubishi Electric America CEO Tachi Kiuchi and other Fortune 500 chief executives to form the Future 500.  Future 500 drives profitable alliances between companies and their stakeholders - even one-time adversaries - to meet the challenges of climate, water, recycling, and factory labor.  Mr. Shireman is the author of many articles and books on business, environment, and the future. His writings have appeared in USA Today, Technology Review, Business Week, and the Los Angeles Times, among others.  He is co-author (with Tachi Kiuchi) of What We Learned in the Rainforest: Business Lessons from Nature. 

Tim Smith

Tim Smith serves as Senior Vice President of Walden Asset Management's Environment, Social and Governance Group.  He oversees shareholder advocacy, public policy, assists in client services and acts as the spokesperson for Walden on social issues.  Prior to joining Walden in 2000, Mr. Smith served as Executive Director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) for 24 years.  In 2007, he was named one of top 100 most influential people in Business Ethics by Ethisphere Institute.  In 2010, he received the Bavaria Impact Award for four decades of leadership in shareholder advocacy which "helped move the capital markets towards a system that balances financial property with social and environmental well being."  Also in 2010, Tim Smith was listed as one of the top 100 most influential figures in finance by Treasury and Risk Magazine. Back To Top

Laurie Spengler JD

Laurie J. Spengler is President and CEO of ShoreBank International Ltd., a company that delivers a broad range of services to financial institutions and their funders globally within core sectors of small business finance, microfinance and housing finance.  Having founded and managed a business solutions and legal services firm in Central Europe for 15 years, Ms. Spengler brings an entrepreneurial perspective and an understanding of the challenges and opportunities of working in transitional economies.  Ms. Spengler has over 20 years of experience as a strategy and transaction services professional.  Over the past decade, she has developed a particular focus on access to capital for double and triple-bottom line organizations as well as individual entrepreneurs and small businesses.  She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.