Episode 272: Jennifer Devine of Wiltshire: Sustainable Investing, Stakeholder Engagement and Lessons in Chemistry

Jennifer Devine is Head of Wiltshire Pension Fund, and a thought leader in the field of sustainable investing. I was thrilled to welcome her to the podcast in order to capture some of the vision that she implements at Wiltshire and translates for its members in easy to understand and relatable posts on social media and their home page that highlight concrete examples of impact investments.

This podcast starts with chemistry  - which was Jennifer’s initial focus at university, then followed by a pivot into accounting and ultimately public pensions.  Although her use of her science background has been limited since graduation we do draw a little on the themes of connections – which Wiltshire seeks to create for its beneficiaries – as well as catalysts – and we think about the drivers behind the fund’s very intentional and well telegraphed sustainable investing policy.

We dig in a little into the nuts and bolts of this strategy – examining the underlying funds – including sustainable equities, climate tech and venture and impact investing including renewable infrastructure and affordable housing.  We speak about the powerful communications policy that is employed and why Wiltshire prioritizes this – which is about creating connection with its beneficiaries – encouraging them to relate to their pension and engage with it in the most meaningful way possible. The preponderance of women among the beneficiaries underscores the importance of seeing the value of diversity and inclusion expressed as much as possible and this is another objective of the sustainable policy that the fund pursues.

This podcast is a lively snapshot of a fund and a leader that has met their moment.

This episode is supported by PIMCO, a global leader in active fixed income with deep expertise across public and private markets. PIMCO invests their clients’ capital in income and credit opportunities that span the liquidity spectrum, leveraging their decades of experience navigating complex debt markets. Their flexible capital base and deep relationships with issuers have helped them become one of the world’s largest providers of traditional and alternative investment solutions and a valued financing partner. Visit pimco.com to learn more.

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