The People
Behind Novata

Allison is Head of ESG at One Rock Capital Partners. She leads and implements One Rock's ESG initiatives at both the firm and portfolio-company levels. Allison joined One Rock from Nuveen, where she was a member of the Responsible Investing team and led sustainability initiatives for the firm's real assets and private markets groups, including investments across farmland, timberland, agribusiness, energy and infrastructure. She was responsible for setting sustainability strategy and driving implementation of best practices in ESG integration, climate risk management and impact investing within alternative investments. Allison is an active contributor to industry-wide programs designed to promote responsible investing standards and best practices for private equity. *Serving in a personal capacity.

Ben Meng is Executive Vice President, Executive Sponsor of Sustainability, and Chair of Asia Pacific for Franklin Templeton. Ben is responsible for expanding Franklin Templeton’s investment offerings and client reach in the Asia Pacific region, with a particular focus on leading private equity, venture capital and other alternative asset investments. Additionally, Dr. Meng leads Franklin Templeton's China business, including their joint ventures and Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise. He also supports efforts to expand the reach of Franklin Templeton's tailored solutions for the firm’s institutional clients globally. Ben reports to the CEO and is a member of Franklin Templeton's executive committee, a small group of the company's top leaders responsible for shaping the firm's overall strategy. Ben has more than two decades of experience working in the global finance industry across three continents, including extensive experience in Asia Pacific. Previously, Ben was Chief Investment Officer for the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and Deputy Chief Investment Officer at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). Most recently, he served as Director of Eight Sequoias LLC, an independent firm providing consulting services to the financial industry. Ben holds a Master of Financial Engineering degree from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Davis. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Investment Management and frequently teaches at top business schools globally, including the Haas School of Business, where he received the 2014 Cheit Award of Excellence in Teaching. He is the Citi Visiting Chair in International Business at Schwarzman College. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Committee of 100.

Bob is a Visiting Professor of Management Practice at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He is the world's foremost expert on integrated reporting and an expert on how companies and investors can create sustainable strategies. He was previously a tenured Professor and Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School. He is the founding chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and one of the founders of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). He recently joined the board of Mistra Centre for Sustainable Markets (MISUM) in Sweden and is on the Advisory Board of the JANA Impact Capital Fund. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). In 2011, Bob was selected as one of the “Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior,” for his extensive, positive contribution to building trust in business. In 2014 and 2015, he was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics. An award-winning author, Bob’s books include seminal works on integrated reporting, sustainability, and the role of business in society. Bob is a prolific writer for both academic and practitioner audiences, including a column for Forbes.com. His most recent book (co-authored with Michael P. Krzus and Sydney Ribot) is ”The Integrated Reporting Movement: Meaning, Momentum, Motives, and Materiality” (John Wiley & Sons, 2015). Throughout his career as an academic and practitioner, Bob has dedicated himself to turning theory into practice. His current initiative is the “Statement of Significant Audiences and Materiality Campaign,” which was developed in collaboration with the American Bar Association’s “Task Force on Sustainable Development,” the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), and the UN Global Compact. The campaign calls for boards of directors at listed companies, by 2025, to publish an annual statement that demonstrates the extent to which companies are committed to supporting sustainable development in the interest of companies and their shareholders. Bob received an SB in Mathematics and an SB in Humanities and Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (both degrees in 1973) and an AM (1975) and a PhD in Sociology (1979) from Harvard University. He joined the faculty of Harvard Business School that year and received tenure in 1989.

Elizabeth is Chair of the Impact Investing Institute. Her work at the Impact Investing Institute focuses on creating market conditions for big pools of capital, such as pension funds, to mobilize with an intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. The institute is an independent, non-profit organization that brought together two UK initiatives -- the Government’s Taskforce for Growing a Culture of Social Impact Investing and the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing. Elizabeth has extensive experience in the financial services industry, having been CEO of Allianz Global Investors, initially for Europe then globally, from 2005 to 2016. She continued to act as an advisor to the company until the end of 2019. Elizabeth was previously at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (formerly Mercury Asset Management), Coopers & Lybrand and Sun Alliance. She is active in representing the investment industry and developing standards within it. Elizabeth is a non-executive director of BAE Systems plc and Morgan Stanley Inc. She joined the board of Schroders plc in September 2021 as Chair Designate, effective from the AGM currently scheduled for 28 April 2022. She is a director of the Green Finance Institute; serves on the investment committee of the Leverhulme Trust; and is a member of the CFA Future of Finance Advisory Council, AQR Asset Management Institute, the Committee of 200 and the 300 Club. As well as being a trustee of the British Museum, Elizabeth is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is a published author of crime thrillers. She was awarded a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in January 2015 and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in June 2019 for services to the economy and financial services. In 2016, Elizabeth received an honorary doctorate from the London Institute of Banking and Finance (formerly the IFS University College) and in June 2019 she was made an honorary fellow of the London Business School.

Gonzalo is a business entrepreneur and social change-maker at the forefront of environmental innovation in Chile. In 2019, Gonzalo was nominated by the Chilean presidency and the United Nations as the high-level climate champion for COP25, to mobilize climate action among non-state actors around the world, as well as advise the presidency of the conference. During his tenure in that position, he designed and co-led three global campaigns: Race to Zero, Race to Resilience and Global Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). Previously, Gonzalo co-founded and led TriCiclos, one of the most recognized circular economy and recycling companies in Latin America. TriCiclos was the first company certified as a B Corp outside North America. Gonzalo co-founded Sistema B and is a board member of B Lab Global. Gonzalo is also a board member of the Global Foodbanking Network. From 2020 to 2022, he served as a member of the Chilean National Committees on Water, Climate Action, Green Hydrogen, Electromobility and Circular Economy. Gonzalo is chair of the board at TriCiclos and is co-leader of Manuia, a strategic consulting firm founded in 2021 by TriCiclos that is dedicated to helping companies incorporate ESG criteria into their strategy and execution for the generation of triple impact. Gonzalo was previously an Ashoka Fellow (2011), Siemens Foundation Fellow (2012), Schwab Fellow (2014), Endeavor Entrepreneur (2014), World Economic Forum Social Entrepreneur (2015), Chile's Environmental Person of the Year (2012), Chile's Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2013), BMW Foundation Global Responsible Leader of the Year (2016), Chile's CEO Leader on Sustainability (2016), Chile´s Entrepreneur of the Year (2019), Chile's Sustainable Person of the Year (2019), and winner of Chile's Innovation Award (2019).

John McArthur is Senior fellow and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution. He co-founded and co-chairs the “17 Rooms” initiative as a new approach to catalyzing action for the Sustainable Development Goals. John is also a senior adviser on sustainable development to the United Nations Foundation; a board governor for the International Development Research Centre; a member of the UNICEF Advisory Group; and a member of the Deputy Minister Steering Committee at Policy Horizons Canada. John was previously CEO of Millennium Promise Alliance, the international nongovernmental organization. Prior to that he was manager and deputy director of the U.N. Millennium Project, Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s independent advisory body mandated to recommend an action plan for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. John has also been a senior fellow with the Hong Kong-based Fung Global Institute, a faculty member at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and policy director at the University’s Earth Institute. Earlier in his career, he was a research fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University, where he supported the World Health Organization’s Commission on Macroeconomics and Health and co-authored the Global Competitiveness Report. John co-chaired the International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice and later co-founded the global network of Masters in Development Practice programs across five continents. He is a former chair of Global Agenda Councils with the World Economic Forum and was also a member of the Forum’s Advisory Board on Sustainability and Competitiveness. In 2009, he was recognized as a Young Global Leader. In 2016, he was an adviser to the Business and Sustainable Development Commission. In 2021, he was listed as one of Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential Academics in Government. He has served as a member of the Global Nutrition Report's Independent Expert Group and of Grand Challenges Canada’s Scientific Advisory Board. He recently co-edited the books “Breakthrough: The Promise of Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development” (Brookings Press, 2022), “Leave No One Behind: Time for Specifics on the Sustainable Development Goals” (Brookings Press, 2019), and “From Summits to Solutions: Innovations in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals” (Brookings Press, 2018). John grew up in Vancouver and is a Canadian citizen. He completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) at the University of British Columbia; a Master’s in Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; and an M.Phil. and D.Phil. (Ph.D.) in economics at Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar.

Linda is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and chair of the Leadership Initiative. Linda is regarded as one of the world’s top experts on leadership. She was named by Thinkers50 as one of the top ten management thinkers in the world in 2013 and 2021 and received the Thinkers50 Innovation Award in 2015. Linda is the author or co-author of several award-winning articles and books including “Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation,” “Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives of Becoming a Great Leader” and “Becoming a Manager: How New Managers Master the Challenges of Leadership.” Linda’s TED talk on how to manage for collective creativity has more than 2.6 million views. Linda’s research and consulting focuses on leadership development, leading innovation, leading digital transformation, and implementing global strategies. In 2014, she co-founded Paradox Strategies, a consulting firm that advises organizations and boards on leadership, innovation, and diversity and inclusion. Linda is a member of the board of directors of Relay Therapeutics and is on the board of trustees of the ArtCenter College of Design and of Brigham Health. She is also a member of the Team8 Fintech Strategic Committee and serves on the advisory boards of several organizations, including the American Repertory Theater, the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), Eight Inc., the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. She sits on the board of the Global Citizens Initiative, Inc. and is a Special Representative to the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College. Hill is a former member of the board of directors at Harvard Business Publishing, State Street Corporation, The Bridgespan Group, and the Eaton Corporation. She is also a former member of the board of trustees of The Rockefeller Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund USA. Linda completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Harvard Business School and earned a Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences at the University of Chicago. She has a B.A., summa cum laude, in psychology from Bryn Mawr College.

Margot is Senior Program Officer of Mission Investments at the Ford Foundation. Margot focuses on building and strengthening the infrastructure of the impact investment market — with an eye to shaping the broader capital markets. She has spent two decades working at the intersection of philanthropy, capital markets, and social and environmental justice. Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, Margot served as founder and CEO of MyStrongHome, a benefit corporation delivering resilience finance services to homeowners across the Southeast and Gulf Coast of the US. Before that, she helped design and lead the impact investing initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation. She co-authored the book The Power of Impact Investing with former Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin. While at Rockefeller, she also focused on job creation and issues of economic security for low-wage workers. Margot began her career in international microfinance and has worked with several community development finance institutions in the U.S. She serves on the boards of the Workers Lab, Brooklyn Cooperative Credit Union, and the Woodcock Foundation, and as an adviser to the National Domestic Workers Alliance as well as the National Energy Improvement Fund. She received a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and holds an undergraduate degree from Stanford University.

Peter Dunbar Peter is Head of Private Equity at Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). He has 22 years of experience in the asset management industry. Prior to joining PRI, Peter was a Senior Manager in the private markets team of Capital Group for more than a decade. Peter is a member of the steering committee at Initiative Climat International (iCI), an investor-led private equity climate initiative. He holds a BSc in Human and Physical Geography from Reading University in the UK and is a CFA charterholder. *serving in a personal capacity

Phil is Chair of the Board at Novata. Over a 25-year career at Wellington Management Company, Phil held a number of leadership positions, including Managing Partner, Head of EMEA, Director of Investment Research and Portfolio Manager. In 2020, he was appointed to the Investment Committee of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (MassPRIM), which serves as a professional investment service for public employees. He also serves on the national board of the Posse Foundation.

Mona Sutphen is Partner and head of Investment Strategies at The Vistria Group. Prior to joining Vistria, Ms. Sutphen was a Partner at Macro Advisory Partners, where she led the firm’s US practice advising the firm’s global corporate and capital markets clients and earlier was Managing Director at UBS AG focused on political risk evaluation impacting capital markets. From 2009-2011, she served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy for President Obama, where she advanced the policy and regulatory agenda on a range of domestic and international issues. Early in her career, Ms. Sutphen was a career diplomat, serving on the staff of the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration and the U.S. Mission to the UN, as well as posts in Asia and Europe. Ms. Sutphen serves on the Boards of Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), Unitek Learning, and is a Trustee for Putnam Mutual Funds. She also advises a number of ventures focused on fintech and clean energy technologies. Ms. Sutphen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Boards of the International Rescue Committee and Human Rights First. She also is Trustee of Mount Holyoke College and serves on the advisory boards of the Warner Music Social Justice Fund and the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Previously, she served on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and was an adjunct professor at the Princeton School of Public & International Affairs. Ms. Sutphen is co-author of The Next American Century, and Executive Producer of two documentary films Battleground (PBS 2020) and Emmy-nominated Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union (HBO 2021). Ms. Sutphen received a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and an MSc from the London School of Economics.

Tasha Matharu is Chief Corporate Counsel & Corporate Secretary at S&P Global. Tasha advises and supports the S&P Global Board of Directors, on corporate governance and disclosure matters, among other issues. Her team is responsible for advising on U.S. and International corporate legal matters, including M&A and venture investments, IP, ESG, privacy, compensation, corporate governance and disclosure, international subsidiary management, and vendor/procurement. Prior to joining S&P Global, Tasha was a senior associate at the law firm of Shearman & Sterling LLP in London and New York, where she worked in the corporate, compensation, and governance practice groups. She is based in New York.

Erik is Vice Chairman of Hamilton Lane. Erik leads all the firm’s strategic and technology initiatives. He also serves on the firm’s investment committees, as well as the firm’s board of directors. Hamilton Lane is a founding partner of Novata. Erik serves as a strategic advisor to Tifin, a platform that conceives, creates, and operates fintech companies in the areas of wealth management, investments, and personal finance. Hamilton Lane is a strategic investor in Tifin. Erik is a frequently quoted expert on the private equity industry, both in the print and broadcast media, and is a regular lecturer at the Wharton Business School (University of Pennsylvania). Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 1999, Erik was a corporate investment banker in the Mergers & Acquisitions department of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. He began his career as a municipal financial consultant with Public Financial Management (PFM). At PFM, Erik specialized in asset securitization, sport stadium financings and strategic consulting. Erik is a trustee of the University of Virginia’s College Foundation, a board member of University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and serves on the board of the Philadelphia 76’ers Youth Foundation.

Pavani Thagirisa is Associate General Counsel and Head of Legal for S&P Global’s Sustainable1 business. Pavani is responsible for overseeing legal support of S&P Global’s Environmental, Social and Governance business and for partnering across the full S&P Global enterprise to identify and mitigate legal, regulatory, operational, commercial and business risk. Since early 2009, she has held several management and non-management roles at S&P Global with increasing responsibility, ranging from commercial deal negotiation, strategic partnership management, and helping set legal and operational strategies for the legal department. From late 2017 to Spring 2019, Pavani was Chair of the General Counsel’s Advisory Council where she assisted Steve Kemps, S&P Global’s General Counsel, and his Advisory Council in addressing cross-divisional and cross-functional opportunities and challenges across the Global Legal and Corporate Security Department. In addition to her usual responsibilities, Pavani is an active advocate for various diversity, inclusion and mentorship efforts across the company. Pavani spent a number of years on the board of SPECTRUM (S&P Global’s LGBTQ Employee Resource Group), and recently participated in the Year Up program (https://www.yearup.org/) as a manager of an apprentice. Pavani has a B.A. in Anthropology from Wellesley College and a Juris Doctorate from Brooklyn Law School. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Joan M. Azrack in the Eastern District of New York.

Chris is a Director of the Reimagining Capitalism team at Omidyar Network. Chris leads the firm’s strategy and portfolio of work focused on how corporations and capital markets can contribute to a more inclusive capitalism. He also oversees the organization’s impact investing field-building portfolio. Chris serves in advisory and/or governance roles for the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), Blue Haven Initiative, the Catalytic Capital Consortium, Social Finance US, and the Tipping Point Fund on Impact Investing. Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Chris was director of global partnerships at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he oversaw the Global Development Alliance, the agency’s flagship model for building partnerships with the private sector, as well as agency-wide initiatives focused on strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems in developing countries, investing in social entrepreneurs, and scaling access to off-grid energy. He also was a partner at Accenture and director of global programs for Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), the firm’s not-for-profit international development consulting practice, where he oversaw ADP’s global portfolio of work with more than 50 NGOs and donor agencies. Chris has a Master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a B.A. in economics and international studies from Miami University, where he was a Truman Scholar.

Alex is CEO and co-founder at Novata. Prior to Novata, Alex held roles including Chief Financial Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he created its social impact fund, Global Chief Investment Officer of UBS, and Chief Executive Officer of GAM Holding, a publicly listed alternatives asset manager. Alex co-founded Jackson Hole Economics and is a board member of Franklin Templeton. He is based in New York.