Three Pioneers of Gender Lens Investing Recognized for Decades of Work and Collaboration

US SIF and Trillium Asset Management, LLC (Trillium) are excited to announce that Joy Anderson, Suzanne Biegel (posthumously), and Jackie VanderBrug are winners of the 2024 Joan Bavaria Award in recognition of their influential work in developing the field of Gender Lens Investing.

Gender lens investing utilizes a holistic approach towards integrating gender equity into financial systems. It informs frameworks for how investments are analyzed, prioritized, and executed, focusing on surfacing opportunities, decreasing risk, and dismantling gender disparities.

The Award continues the legacy of the late Joan Bavaria, who is often referred to as the "Founding Mother" of Socially Responsible Investing. Ms. Bavaria’s pioneering work helped catalyze positive change in the capital markets.

The Joan Bavaria Award presentation was held in Chicago, IL during US SIF’s Forum 2024. The Award Committee included Mindy Lubber, CEO and President of Ceres, Maria Lettini, CEO of US SIF, and Matthew Patsky, CEO of Trillium. Each of the judges lead organizations that were founded or co-founded by Ms. Bavaria, who died in 2008 following a long battle with ovarian cancer.

“Jackie, Joy, and Suzanne, both together and individually, have – for decades – been advocating for more sustainable, inclusive economic environments,” said Matthew Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management. “Joan Bavaria was a smart, passionate advocate of equality and understood the value of collaboration. Each of these women share those traits.”

“Women are a driving force within the US economy contributing $7 trillion to US GDP each year. Yet they remain underrepresented in many areas of industry and government,” added Maria Lettini, CEO of US SIF. “Suzanne, Jackie, and Joy’s work highlights the vital role of finance in driving societal progress to sustainability and equity, and towards stronger economies.”

“The field of Socially Responsible Investing is still young and growing exponentially. This year, talented, committed people from around the world were nominated for the Joan Bavaria Award,” concluded Mindy Lubber, CEO and President of Ceres. “In 2024, the time is right to recognize these women for their collaborative and vital work to expand gender equity and empowerment.”

About the Winners of the 2024 Joan Bavaria Award

Gender lens investing emerged as a defined field in the 2000s and 2010s and was promoted by group of investors and field builders - including Joy Anderson of Criterion Institute, Suzanne Biegel of Women Effect, and later GenderSmart, and Jackie VanderBrug, co-author of the book Gender Lens Investing.

Joy Anderson has spent the last two decades helping investors, social change organizations, and governments think differently about finance. As Founder and President of Criterion Institute, she has shaped the field of gender lens investing, pioneered approaches to integrating gender-based violence data into political risk methodologies and authored numerous influential reports on using finance as a tool for social change.

Suzanne Biegel (Posthumously)

Suzanne Biegel founded the consultancy Catalyst at Large and was the co-founder of the pioneering gender lens field-building initiatives Women Effect and GenderSmart (now 2X Global). During the decades before her death in 2023, she spent her career collaborating with investors, helping them move their capital in a gender-smart way. Her legacy foundation, Heading for Change, is working to catalyze capital at the nexus of climate and gender, with the belief that catalyzing gender-smart capital is key to addressing the climate crisis.

Jackie S. VanderBrug is Head of Sustainability Strategy at Putnam Investments. She is responsible for leading Putnam's ESG-focused business functions, including Stewardship, Engagement, Partnerships, and ESG Strategy and Integration. She is co-author of Gender Lens Investing: Uncovering Opportunities for Growth, Returns, and Impact.

About Trillium Asset Management

Trillium Asset Management, LLC (Trillium) offers investment strategies and services that seek to advance humankind towards a global sustainable economy, a just society, and a better world. For over 40 years, the firm has been at the forefront of ESG thought leadership and draws from decades of experience focused exclusively on responsible investing. Trillium uses a holistic, fully integrated fundamental investment process to uncover compelling long-term investment opportunities. Devoted to aligning stakeholders’ values and objectives, Trillium combines impactful investment solutions with active ownership. The firm delivers equity, fixed income, and alternative investments to institutions, intermediaries, high net worth individuals, and other charitable and non-profit organizations with the goal to provide positive impact, long-term value, and ‘social dividends’™.

About US SIF and the US SIF Foundation

US SIF: The Sustainable Investment Forum is the preeminent voice advancing sustainable investing. Members, who represent $5 trillion in assets under management or advisement, support US SIF’s mission is to rapidly shift investment practices toward sustainability, focusing on long-term investment, the generation of positive social and environmental impacts and supporting the shift toward a more resilient and equitable planet and society. https://www.ussif.org

US SIF is supported in its work by the US SIF Foundation, a 501(C)(3) organization that undertakes educational and research activities to advance the mission of US SIF, including offering trainings for advisors and other financial professionals on the Fundamentals of Sustainable and Impact Investment.

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