The RIA is pleased to announce the winners and finalists of the 2021 RIA Leadership Awards, which recognize the outstanding contributions of RIA members in advancing responsible investment (RI) in Canada.
Our sincere congratulations to the Winners, whose submissions exemplified leading-edge RI projects, practices and activities. Finalists, who received the second-highest scores in their category, are commended for demonstrating excellence in RI with their competitive submissions. We thank all organizations and individuals who made submissions, as they showcased the great breadth of work that has been done and considerable momentum in the industry going forward.
Market Education (Institutional Investors & Financial Institutions)
Winner: BMO Global Asset Management
Project: MyESG Campaign: Aligning Beliefs and Investments
Finalist: Desjardins
Project: The RI Certification Program
Integration (Institutional Investors)
Winner: British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)
Project: BCI’s ESG Risk and Opportunities Framework
Finalist: Inspirit Foundation
Project: 100% Impact Portfolio
Stewardship (Institutional Investors)
Winner: BMO Global Asset Management
Project: Diversity and inclusion (D&I) engagement in Canada: moving beyond gender
Finalist: British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)
Project: BCI’s Leading Stewardship in Board Governance and Climate-related Disclosure Practices
Service Leadership (Service Providers)
Winner: SHARE (Shareholder Association for Research & Education) and Atkinson Foundation
Project: Valuing Decent Work (Collaborative Submission)
Finalist: MSCI
Project: Advancing Climate Investing in Canada
Individual Leadership (Financial Advisors and Professionals)
Winner: Dr. Edward T. Jackson
Project: Assessing Ecosystem Building: The Evaluation of the Convergence Blended Finance Platform
Finalist: Tony Pringle
Project: Supporting ESG Leadership Among Canadian Alternative Investors
The RIA is very grateful to the Panel of Judges for their diligence, time and commitment to judging the submissions in an unbiased manner.
Process
The RIA Leadership Awards were launched in 2020 to recognize the leadership and excellence of RIA members in advancing responsible investment in Canada.
For the 2021 RIA Leadership Awards, there were five categories:
- Market Education: Driving awareness and demand for responsible investments
> Open to Organizational Members – Institutional Investors & Financial Institutions - Integration: Developing RI capacity of investment professionals
> Open to Organizational Members – Institutional Investors - Stewardship: Advancing Practices and Policies to Support RI
> Open to Organizational Members – Institutional Investors - Service Leadership: Advancing Market Practices to Support RI
> Open to Organizational Members – Service Providers - Individual Leadership: Implementing practices to drive awareness and demand for RI
> Open to Individual Members – Financial Advisors and Professionals
We received a total of 27 submissions for the 2021 RIA Leadership Awards during the submission period of February 12th to April 14th, 2021. A detailed breakdown is shown below:
- RIA Leadership Award for Market Education – 5 submissions from organizations
- RIA Leadership Award for Integration – 9 submissions from organizations
- RIA Leadership Award for Stewardship – 4 submissions from organizations
- RIA Service Leadership Award – 5 submissions from organizations
- RIA Individual Leadership Award – 4 submissions from individuals
Submissions consisted of a project description, long-form answers to questions in the categories and sub-themes below, and supplementary materials.
Category: Originality
- Sub-themes: Ambition, Innovation, Uniqueness
Category: Design & Delivery
- Organizational Sub-themes: Design, Methodology, Accessibility, Comprehensibility, Success
- Individual Sub-themes: Design, Methodology, Success
Category: Influence
- Sub-themes: Mainstream, Impact, Momentum
Submissions were assessed by a panel of eleven judges, who scored the submissions independently, with no communication amongst them. Submissions were scored on a scale from 1-5 for each sub-theme listed above, with 5 being the highest score. Judges submitted their scorecards to RIA staff, and staff calculated the average scores for each submission. The maximum possible score was 15. The Winners were those with the highest average score, and the Finalists had the second highest score.
Judges are subject to a conflict of interest policy. Two Judges were recused from assessing certain categories in which their firm/colleague had made a submission. Three other Judges were recused from certain categories due to ongoing business relationships with submitting organizations/individuals. RIA staff had zero influence on the scoring outcomes.
All organizations and individuals who entered a submission for the Awards will receive a copy of their final scorecard, along with the scores of the Winner and Finalist in their category, and the range of scores given for all the submissions in their category.
You can find out more information about the Winner and Finalist Submissions on the Awards webpage.
