New York, Aug. 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CFANY & Climate Week NYC Converge with Inimitable Climate and ESG Asset Owner Summit Event

CFA Society New York event boasts all-star speaker lineup, coincides with launch of joint-report on ESG integration in the Americas

NEW YORK, AUG. 21, 2018 – Through the Asset Owner Series™, now more than ever, CFA Society New York (CFANY) is shaping the conversation of the investment management industry.

The series’ most imminent program, Climate and ESG Asset Owner Summit , will occur September 24 at CFANY’s headquarters in Time Square, and as part of Climate Week NYC , now celebrating its 10 th year running.

“Some of the leading decision makers of firms who oversee over $5 trillion of invested capital will speak candidly, in one day, in the same place, under Chatham House Rules,” said CFANY CEO Daniel Dagen, CFA.”

The full-day conference is dedicated to the rise and status of sustainable investing among asset owners. It will be led and informed by asset-owner representatives spanning five continents.

The focus? Environmental, social and governance (ESG) trends and developments across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. A star-studded slate of speakers is poised to offer diverse regional perspectives, unique challenges and opportunities worth considering, and valuable respective outlooks.

“More and more asset owners and institutional investors are integrating ESG factors into their investing decisions,” said Paul Smith, CFA, President and CEO, CFA Institute. “Investment management decision-makers around the globe can clearly see the impact of their investment decisions on the most pressing issues of our time, such as climate change. The Climate Change and ESG Asset Owner summit will explore these issues in great depth with an impressive roster of the world’s most influential asset owners.”

“This peer-to-peer discussion, during climate week, provides asset owners and select managers, space to simultaneously improve service to their constituents, while consciously considering how those decisions best benefit society,” Dagen said.

In total, the latest Asset Owner Series™ event promises over 30 of the investment world’s leading asset owners and foremost authorities on climate and ESG initiatives, spread across a multitude panels, special addresses and keynotes.

Asset Owner Series™ (“AOS”) was founded and spearheaded by CFA Institute Inaugural Global Outstanding Young Leader Thomas Brigandi and traces its roots back to late-2015.

"Based on our understanding, this Summit will be one of the largest one-day gatherings of asset-owner speaker representatives, by assets under management, in history,” Brigandi said.

Since its relatively humble beginnings, Asset Owner Series™ has gone global and, arguably, evolved into CFANY’s seminal offering. Its emergence has foreseeably coincided with a rapid ascent in both membership growth and global recognition for the local society at which it was conceived.

According to Brigandi, the impressive list of organizations participating at the event on September 15 th is a testament to the burgeoning reach and influence of the AOS brand and platform:

“The Summit will feature leading asset owner speakers from organizations such as Japan's GPIF, PGGM, CalPERS, CalSTRS, CPPIB, CDPQ, South Africa's PIC, APG, United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, Nippon Life, TIAA and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, among others.”

Fittingly, Climate and ESG Asset Owner Summit —the latest addition to the serialized AOS conference lineup—stands to represent the 70 th CFANY event organized by Brigandi and is poised to bring the total of number of attendees at his events to upwards of 13,000 and counting.

Ahead of this event, CFANY, CFA Institute and 23 other CFA societies across the world teamed up with Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to conduct a comprehensive 2017 global ESG integration study, covering equities, bonds and sovereign debt. 

“The PRI is delighted to partner with CFA Society New York and CFA Institute on this ground-breaking ESG asset owner summit to announce the release of the PRI/CFA Americas report,” said PRI CEO.  The study results are expected to be published in the form of four separate reports, each covering ESG trends in the Americas, Europe and APAC, and supplemented by a fourth report consisting of case studies.

To learn more: https://www.cfany.org/event/climate-and-esg-a...er-summit/

## Speakers Paul Smith, CFA; Chris Fowle; M. Nicolas J. Firzli; Justin Sloggett; Matt Orsagh, CFA, CIPM; Hubert Danso; Fiona Reynolds; Hilen Gabriela Meirovich; Hiroshi Ozeki; James Logush, CFA; Anna Pot; Chris Limbach; Bill Scott; Ed Hulina; Brian Rice; Matthew J. Diserio; Divya Mankikar; Amy O’Brien; Dr. Daniel Matjila; Uche Orji; Richard Byarugaba; Ibrahima Kane; Aldo Tembe; Hiro Mizuno; Jessica Fries; Adam Phillips; Will Goodhart; Jérôme Lussier; Andrew Russell

Masters of Ceremony Thomas Brigandi; Henry Shilling; Daniel Fridson

Organizers Thomas Brigandi; Deepika Sharma, CFA; Robert Discolo, CFA, CAIA; Chris Cutler, CFA; Henry Shilling; Dennis A. Johnson, CFA

About CFA Society New York Since 1937, CFANY has sought to raise the standards of the investment industry through global insight, a dynamic community of local investment management professionals, and thought leadership. CFANY’s mission is to raise the bar in investment management wherever possible and help establish the course for where the investment industry is headed.

CFANY is a leading voice within a network of CFA Societies in 150 countries, representing over 145,000 CFA Institute members worldwide. CFANY works in conjunction with CFA Institute to develop the industry’s future professionals and to raise the standards of professionalism in the investment management industry.

With close to 11,000 members, CFA Society New York is the largest CFA Institute member society in the world.

About CFA Institute CFA Institute is the global association of investment professionals that sets the standard for professional excellence and credentials. The organization is a champion for ethical behavior in investment markets and a respected source of knowledge in the global financial community. The end goal: to create an environment where investors’ interests come first, markets function at their best, and economies grow. CFA Institute has over 145,000 members in 159 countries and territories, including 139,000 CFA charterholders, and 147 member societies.

JimiBeth Myers jmyers@cfany.org