EPISODE S1E10: INTERVIEW OF Martina Macpherson, Head of ESG Strategy and GLobal Management committee Member, ODDO BHF Asset management

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Written By esg and coffee
 

Martina Macpherson, Head of ESG Strategy and Global Management Committee Member, ODDO BHF Asset Management is our next guest in conversation with Graham Sinclair on ESG and Coffee Podcast.

PHOTOCREDIT: ESG and Coffee Podcast, 2021.


OUR GUEST in S1E10: Martina Macpherson, Head of ESG Strategy and Global Management Committee Member, ODDO BHF Asset Management.

I am pleased to welcome to the ESG and Coffee Podcast my next investor guest, Martina Macpherson for a long form interview in our series, “The Originals”.  Her bio reads “@MN_Macpherson: “Board member and senior expert in ESG and sustainable investing - for #integrated financial and social outcomes. All views are my own.” and on LinkedIn “Martina Macpherson, FICRS, has a long-term track record in sustainable investing. She has been recognised as a strategic influencer (Commetric ESG Influencer Index, 2020, 2021; Modern Slavery Influencer Index, 2018) for her ESG strategy, product and research work in industry and academia. Martina is Head of ESG Strategy at ODDO BHF AM & PE, and President of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets. In 2014, she founded SI Partners Ltd., an ESG investment content, research and analytics firm. Prior to that, she has held a range of senior global research, risk mgt., business and product development roles at Moody's ESG Solutions, S&P Global Inc., MSCI ESG Research and Lloyds Banking Group - Insight Investment. Earlier in her career, she worked for F&C Asset Management and Deutsche Bank. She is a visiting fellow at Henley Business School and a guest lecturer at University of Zurich. She is an advisory board member at ROSIF, the Sustainable Investment Forum for Eastern Europe and at the European Law Institute (ELI). She co-chairs ICMA's AMIC SFDR working group and World Benchmarking Alliance's Just Transition coalition.”


We first met: I first met Martina in the mid-2000s, probably when I was leading the Principles for Responsible Investment emerging markets project from the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative in Geneva, Switzerland. I have always noted at least two attributes of Martina: firstly, her collaborative approach working across silos and logos in whatever initiative she was working in, and secondly, a curiosity and energy to move the ball forward, pressing at the edges of what needs to happen next.


HIGHPOINTS:

  1. The Bigger Picture. Martina’s broad scope of work is well-captured in our conversation. Martina speaks of the world as we know it is undergoing multiple complex transitions and we are facing a broad range of macro-developments that are shaping the sustainable investment and finance landscape. The fact that Martina chose the EU’s “Sustainable Finance Action Plan” as her 100Moments in ESG and Investing” is a signal both of her appreciation for the legal and regulatory frameworks that underpin all investment, but also for the work in Europe across legal jurisdictions that will have significant influence on that regions economy, and so the world’s. The shift from “voluntary Codes and disclosure of ESG information towards mandatory, legal frameworks and reporting” that Martina has described elsewhere is ongoing. Progress will be uneven. It is also the most significant shift from where the markets may finally start to price in all factors - including ESG factors - into prices, trading and transactions. Her insights into the EU Commission developments is most helpful. Her firm describes “Sustainable investment” is “Long-term value development thanks to the integration of environmental, social and governance criteria and ethical norms.” The interview covers some of this, but there were more layers and edges we did not have time for.

  2. Intellectual adventurer. Martina would like to describe herself to her children as an “ecowarrior”(!), perhaps in a small way like her living hero, Sir David Attenborough. As I said in the interview, I hope Netflix comes calling for that project. Martina steps up. She clearly is attuned to the opportunities for AI/ NLP to crunch through the vast amounts of data that is very expense for humans to complete and perhaps with more fidelity to whatever search parameters are selected. Technology is a large part of investment, and therefore of ESG. How much more will emerge? Martina can now say her paper is a top ranking (by downloads in category) on SSRN, “Artificial Intelligence and FinTech Technologies for ESG Data and Analysis, 5 Pages Posted: 25 Feb 2021”. It does help that it’s short, yes?! With her co-authors she argues that “Latest AI- and Fintech-led developments and innovation-centred collaboration efforts between regulators, standards setters, assurance, and innovation providers can provide a meaningful approach for ESG data complexity management.”

  3. Finding the edges of where to move next. Martina has energy and curiosity to expand the practice of ESG and sustainable investment. I expected she would be at Moody’s for a long time given their global reach and systemically important role of indexes and ratings, but her move to ODDO has the hallmarks of any important space: how to shift the direction of small and medium size businesses. It is a perfect fit for this self-described “universalist”. ODDO BHF describes itself in its value proposition as a “an independent Franco-German financial services group, with a history stretching back over 170 years. It was created from the alliance of a French family-owned business built up by five generations of stockbrokers and a German bank specialising in Mittelstand companies.” While much of investmentland focuses on the mega cap companies and/or the meme stocks, here is an active manager with about US$70bn AuM finding ways to upgrade how their analysts and portfolio managers make decisions. The alignment of her career with her passions is instructive, as is the employee ownership of the shop - something of a feature in our Season 1 “The Originals” guests. At ODDO BHF “the Group has a specific ownership structure as 65% of its capital is held by the Oddo family and 25 % by employees.” Like the Generation Investment Management HBS case study I’m teaching in my new Harvard Extension School course “Making The Sustainable Investing Case”, the buy-in of the talent is a differentiator, perhaps never more so than this “Great Resignation” season we’re living though in the COVID-19 pandemic.

  4. Upgrading the team, motivating colleagues and opening doors to talent. One of the most compelling aspects of the interview is when Martina is speaking about colleagues in the industry of long standing, of newly minted* “ESG experts” and the degree of competence-washing, and the urgency in shifting old mindsets of investment-as-usual. Martina’s work on education and training is evident both in the outline for 2022 and beyond for ODDO BHF Asset Management that she shared in confidence with me, and her commitment to the industry reflected in her work as President of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets. Follow the #NSFMNextGen, and consider applying to join the network. “The Network for Sustainable Financial Markets (#NSFMNextGen) is a non-for-profit, community interest company, headquartered in the UK, with a global reach and focus on young professionals and students across sustainable finance, banking and insurance.” Martina’s inclusive approach is a hallmark of many colleagues I have learned from and worked with in the field the past two decades. It also may not have escaped your attention that at least the gender diversity balance is much better than other corners of investmentland.


Stay after the close for our BONUS TAPE where we talk briefly about the need for collaboration and aligning of academia and NGOs, being present at the decision making tables, and how to get humans like Martina in the investment committees of her alma maters in Scotland and Germany, as well as the business of investment and where performance fees play a role.


If you enjoy the podcast, please post a 5 star review wherever you enjoyed it. If not please DM me @esgarchitect. Let us know on Twitter @ESGandCoffee what compelling investment humans we should interview, and to stay posted on upcoming episodes. 


Thank you for listening.

GS

@esgarchitect. Host of @ESGandCoffee podcast.. esgandcoffee[at]gmail.com


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DISCLAIMER: No part of this series constitutes an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities mentioned or discussed. Do your own investment research and make up your own mind. Buy advice from professional providers covering financial, tax, legal, accounting, and/ or other advisors before making any investment decisions. ESG and Coffee Podcast, its host and guests are not your guru, fiduciary, advisor, life coach, or soothsayer. They are superb conversation, however.

 
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