Steve has practised corporate and securities law throughout his career at major law firms in New York and Toronto, took a working sabbatical in 1998 as a principal at private equity firm Royal Bank Equity Partners and since 1999 has been a partner at Fasken, a 900 lawyer international law firm. Steve co-founded Fasken’s ESG & Sustainability group and spends substantial time advising on ESG matters.
Steve also is the Chair, ESG at Middlefield, a Canadian investment manager.
From 2011 to 2018 Steve was the Executive Director of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG), whose members are institutional investors across Canada which collectively manage over $5 trillion of assets. As Executive Director of CCGG, Steve created and debated public policy positions in relation to ESG issues and led over 85 ESG engagement meetings between CCGG and directors of public companies across Canada. The Directors’ E&S Guidebook was the final publication issued by CCGG during Steve’s tenure.
Steve has spoken and written widely and has been interviewed by television, radio and newspaper reporters on numerous ESG topics. The press have called Steve’s writing “insightful” and “prescient” and have referred to Steve as “a leading governance expert”, “a leading practitioner in the Canadian fund industry” and one of “Canada’s top M&A attorneys”. Global Proxy Watch named Steve one of the “10 people around the world who have had the most impact on corporate governance” in 2016.
Steve is a director of the RIA and a director and past President of the Harvard Business School Club of Toronto and was the inaugural Co-Chair of the Global Network of Investor Associations. He also is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Global Stewardship Committee (and prior thereto the Shareholder Rights Committee) of the International Corporate Governance Network.
Steve is a member of the New York and Ontario bars. He has law degrees from University of Toronto and New York University, an M.B.A. from Harvard University, the Responsible Investment Professional Certification from the RIA and the certificate in Sustainable Capitalism & ESG from UC Berkeley Law.
Cboe Canada, the new business name of the NEO Exchange, is Canada’s Tier 1 stock exchange for the purpose-driven Innovation Economy, providing a best-in-class listing experience for issuers that are shaping the economies of tomorrow, and a marketplace for investors that want to do well and do good.
Fully operational since 2015, Cboe Canada lists investment products and companies seeking an internationally recognized stock exchange that enables investor trust, quality liquidity, and broad awareness including unfettered access to market data. Cboe Canada is home to over 260 unique listings, including some of the most innovative Canadian and international growth companies, ETFs from Canada’s largest ETF issuers, and Canadian Depositary ReceiptsTM (CDRs). Cboe Canada consistently facilitates close to 20% of all volume traded in Canadian ETFs and close to 15% of all volume traded in Canadian-listed companies.
Cboe Canada is part of the Cboe Global Markets network, leveraging deep international expertise, industry-leading market intelligence and technology, and unparalleled service to deliver what stakeholders and the world need now, and for the future.
Listing on Cboe
With markets in Canada, the US, the UK, Europe, and Australia, Cboe is building the world’s first global listing experience for innovative and purpose-driven companies and ETFs. As the Exchange for the World Stage, Cboe facilitates access to global capital and secondary liquidity, with a seamless path for companies and asset managers to list across our marketplaces.
Cboe-Listed companies are committed to innovation with purpose, providing investors with access to investment ideas addressing some of the world’s biggest challenges. Welcome to the new way to invest: Purpose-Driven. Global. Innovative. Connected.
The Co-operators is a leading Canadian, diversified, integrated, multi-line insurance and financial services co-operative with over $41 billion in assets under administration. Our company operates in four core areas: Property and Casualty & insurance, Life insurance, institutional asset management and brokerage operations.
Through our group of companies, we operate in four core areas: Property and Casualty & insurance, Life insurance, institutional asset management and brokerage operations. Addenda Capital, The Co-operators investment management company, promotes a sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient society through its investment decisions and stewardship activities. Currently, 93 percent of The Co-operators invested assets are guided by The Co-operators Sustainable Investing Policy. This policy applies across all major asset classes, where eligible, but does not apply to certain assets such as short-term investments, policy loans or derivatives. Our vision to be a catalyst for a sustainable society is reflected in all aspects of our operations including our community investment programs, which support people in need and help build community resiliency. We support and fund the development of community-oriented co-operatives and social enterprises, and we work hard to contribute to communities across Canada.
Hugessen Consulting helps Boards make the right decisions on executive compensation and its governance, within an environment of heightened complexity and scrutiny. We enable boards to make independent decisions to: Align pay with corporate strategy and business plans; review compensation policies, pay levels, and plan design; evaluate CEO pay and performance and goal-setting; and conduct independent assessments of corporate performance.
Coro Strandberg is a thought leader and advisor on embedding sustainability into the marketplace. She specializes in corporate sustainability, sustainability governance, social finance, banking and insurance and socially responsible investment. She has 25-years experience in this work from her days as director and Chair of Vancity Credit Union, which created the first SRI fund in Canada shortly before Coro joined the Board. She was a founding trustee of Ethical Funds Inc., Canada’s most comprehensive family of socially responsible mutual funds.
Clients hire Coro for advice on sustainable and impact investment strategies and social finance and social insurance business models. Community Foundations of Canada, for example, hired Coro to help them launch their responsible investment education and engagement program for community foundations. She authored much of the original Canadian research on impact investing, socially responsible investment, and sustainability governance which she posts on her website along with her other social finance publications.
Coro was a member of Canada’s National Advisory Board to the Social Impact Investment Taskforce established by the G8. Currently she is an advisory panel member to the Office of the Auditor General’s Sustainable Development Commissioner and on the board of BC Lotteries Corporation.
Coro was recognized as the top CSR consultant by Canada’s Clean50 in 2015 for her impact.
Catherine has over 20 years of experience in the investment funds industry and as VP, Product Management, ESG Funds at RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM), leads the execution of product-related initiatives. She works closely with various teams at RBC GAM to drive the adoption of responsible investment within the Individual Investor business through education and communication.
In 2009, Catherine joined RBC GAM as a Portfolio Specialist and during her nine-year tenure in the Investment Products Advisory Group covered fixed income, quantitative and ESG strategies. Prior to that she spent seven years at Phillips, Hager & North in their direct-to-investor business.
Catherine has a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music and Bachelor of Music from the University of Ottawa. She holds the Canadian Investment Manager (CIM) designation as well as the Responsible Investment Professional Certification (RIPC).
Dr. Hebb researches and teaches in the field of Responsible Investment, Impact Investment and Impact Measurement. She is an academic specialist in these areas and provides advice, expertise, and consulting services. She works with Ceres in Canada. She serves on a number of boards and investment committees. She regularly undertakes commissioned research for her clients. Dr Hebb is a frequent keynote speaker and the author of several books on responsible investment. Please feel free to contact me should you require any of these services.
Hallwood Sustainability is a boutique independent consultancy that partners with Canadian and global organizations across sectors and stages of maturity to bring clarity, confidence, and momentum to their sustainability journeys. Whether you’re advancing disclosure, activating a new strategy, or building internal capacity, we’ll meet you where you are— and help you lead with purpose, and deliver with impact.
KBI Global Investors is a specialist equity boutique, managing assets on behalf of institutional investors in Canada, USA, UK, Europe and Asia.
Our suite of Global Equity Strategies demonstrate high levels of Quality, better Valuation and strong Governance and ESG credentials. Our objective is to improve the consistency of return for our clients and reduce their exposure to risk. Our investment team manages:
*Global Developed Equity Strategy
*Global Emerging Market Equity Strategy
*Global ACWI Equity Strategy
Our suite of natural resource strategies are underpinned by long-term trends around the world’s changing demographic profile, the scarcity of l natural resources, and the sustained pressure for lower carbon economies. Our investment team manages:
*Global Water Strategy
*Global Clean Energy Strategy
*Global Agribusiness Strategy
*Global Resource Solutions (listed natural resources) Strategy
*Global Sustainable Infrastructure (listed infrastructure) Strategy
With responsible investing integrated across our entire suite of strategies, the firm is also a signatory to the PRI since 2007, as well as participating in several other responsible investment industry organisations and initiatives. Internally we have robust ESG controls, policies and processes in place that govern our activities.
Janne Duncan is a senior partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, part of the global firm Norton Rose Fulbright with 4000 lawyers across Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Janne has more than 25 years of experience as a business lawyer advising public and private enterprises and their boards on often sensitive mandates. In addition to her more traditional securities law practice involving transactions, corporate finance, IPOs and commercial agreements, she helps clients design new business models that navigate complex legal and regulatory environments, and proactively mitigate risk by implementing governance strategies and best practices in the areas of take-over bid defenses, executive compensation, corporate social responsibility, business ethics and anti-corruption, human rights, supply chain management, stakeholder engagement and public disclosure. Supported by the firm’s global platform, she has worked extensively for financial institutions and for mining and agri- business companies operating in Canada and globally.
Janne is on the firm’s pro bono committee and serves as legal advisor to many leading not-for- profit Canadian arts and human rights organizations including PEN Canada (where she served on the board member for 6 years), Institute for Canadian Citizenship, Necessary Angel Theatre Company (board member) and Art Canada Institute. Janne is very involved in women’s initiatives in the mining space, including the 30% Club Canada where she chairs the steering committee responsible for the extractive sector, and Women in Mining Toronto Branch. She speaks and teaches widely in the areas of mining, governance, executive compensation, corporate social responsibility and disclosure best practices, and co-leads the Women in Line for Leadership board-readiness program for women in the extractive sector co-sponsored by Norton Rose Fulbright Canada and KPMG.