Responsible investment veteran Faith Ward has launched an advisory firm and information archive “to help asset owners navigate a more complex world”.
The announcement comes less than a week after she departed her role as chief responsible investment officer at Brunel Pension Partnership after nearly a decade.
Last year, the UK government ordered the pension pool to close down as part of reforms to the structure of Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) in the country.
“The team and partner funds committed huge amounts of time, energy and ingenuity to make Brunel’s responsible investment programme what it became,” said Ward.
“It deserved a different ending to that chapter.”
She has now set up a solo venture, Faith in RI, which will work with asset owners “to support the integration of responsible investment principles into governance, strategy and decision-making in an increasingly complex operating environment”.
“I am very aware that the pressures facing asset owners have intensified, whether political, financial, regulatory or, increasingly, those arising from the physical environment, even as the tools and frameworks to manage them have become more prevalent and sophisticated,” she said in a statement.
“Things are simply harder.”
Faith in RI will also host a “curated collection of responsible investment, stewardship and climate materials” produced by Brunel between 2017 and 2026.
Initially, the ‘Brunel Archive’ will cover key reports and policies, but in the autumn it will be updated to include case studies, articles and additional resources.
Before joining Brunel, Ward spent 20 years at the Environment Agency, ultimately becoming the chief responsible investment and risk officer for its pension fund.
Awarded an MBE for services to pensions and the environment last year, she also chairs the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, and sits on the board of the UK Transition Finance Council.
She’ll continue as a non-executive director of the investor-backed Transition Pathway Initiative, a member of the International Sustainability Standards Board’s investor advisory group, and a member of the ethics advisory group for the Church of England’s investment bodies.
Appointments
Ward has already been announced as a strategic adviser to LPPI, which has onboarded six new partner funds and 15 former Brunel staff members.
Last week, Ward was also named to the advisory board of venture capital vehicle the Clean Growth Fund, which is targeting £150m to finance net zero innovation in the UK. “Announcements with respect to other roles will follow in due course,” she said.
