Episode 87: Annabel Gillard - On the Ethics of Business and the Business of Ethics

Annabel Gillard is an International Advisory Council Member at the Institute of Business Ethics.  She previously had a long career in asset management where she ran institutional business development businesses for large asset managers and held various board and committee roles in the CFA UK organization. She is currently pursuing a post-graduate degree in the twin disciplines of Philosophy and AI. 

Our conversation touches multiple times on the importance of lifelong learning and the systems thinking approach that can bring together seemingly orthogonal topics and enable richer learning.  First, though, we return to Annabel's investment career and her insights on what it takes to build asset management businesses that are sustainable.  We examine the positives and negatives of the culture of some financial environments and ask the question as to whether Chief Ethics Officer should be elevated as a C-Suite role within financial services firms.  We ask whether ethics training is like training a muscle needing a case study approach and frequent reminders and how this can be integrated into firm structures.

We then move to AI, one of Annabel's current topics and its areas of fit as well as lack of fit.  This is also an area where an ethical overlay will increasingly be applied. 

This series was made possible by the kind support of MainStreet Partners, a London-based independent and dedicated sustainable investment advisor that provides ESG multi-asset and multi-manager portfolios and a range of holistic portfolio analytics tools including sustainability ratings and bespoke sustainability intelligence. It was also supported by Carbonado Partners, an industry expert in capital raising for all asset classes, that endeavors to provide thoughtful solutions that address emerging managers’ perspectives and challenges.