Advisory Board | Germany Forum
Hans-Peter Dohr
Managing Partner,
Institutional Capital Associates
Dr. Sascha Lafeld
Head of Carbon Offset & Green Energy Services
ClimatePartner
Sarah Gordon
Chief Executive
Impact Investing Institute
Sarah leads the Institute’s team and works closely with the Board, the Advisory Council and external stakeholders to deliver the Institute’s strategy. She is also in charge of the Institute’s policy and advocacy work around green+ sovereign bonds, impact reporting and social investment.
Before Sarah was appointed CEO of the Impact Investing Institute in July 2019, she was Business Editor at the Financial Times, where she worked for 18 years. Prior to working at the Financial Times, Sarah worked in emerging markets fund management for Citigroup’s asset management business and at Foreign & Colonial, where her role included reviewing political and economic events, and producing analysis of the global economy. She started her career working for the UN Conference for Trade and Development’s debt management programme in Geneva.
Sarah is a non-executive director of Social Finance, a Companion at the Chartered Management Institute and a Visiting Professor at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College London. She was also formerly a trustee of CSV, one of the UK’s largest volunteering charities. Sarah is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Susanne Hasenhüttl
Head of Sustainability Certification
ÖGUT
Susanne Hasenhüttl started at ÖGUT (Austrian Society for Environment and Technology) as scientific project manager in the field of „Ecological Economics“. Subsequently she built up the thematic area „Sustainable Financial Markets and Green Investment“ at ÖGUT and has been leading projects in this area ever since. Since 2004 she has been head of Sustainability Audit for severance payment funds and pension funds. Furthermore, Susanne Hasenhüttl offers further education for financial advisors on the topic of sustainable investments.
Susanne Hasenhüttl is a member of various advisory boards and juries, e.g. the ASRA jury for the best sustainability reports or the GREEN BRANDS jury. She was also a committee member of the FNG label for sustainable mutual funds. Since March 2018, Susanne Hasenhüttl has been a member of the management board of the crowdinvesting platform Crowd4Climate – a platform financing climate mitigation and adaption projects worldwide.
Rolf D. Häßler
Managing Director Institut für
Nachhaltige Kapitalanlagen
Victor van Hoorn
Executive Director
Eurosif
Victor is and attorney-at-law admitted to the New York and Amsterdam bar. He holds theFrench and Dutch citizenship.
Dina Lorentz
Specialist ESG & Sustainable Finance,
Dentons Europe LLP
After many years in investment banking and corporate finance with a focus on company and financial institutions’ valuation as well as risk analysis, Dina Lorentz has become a specialist for Sustainable/ ESG Finance and Impact Investing. She started her professional path in sustainable finance in Lima, Peru where she worked for a major European Impact Investment Fund. Her current position with Dentons Europe LLP, the worldwide largest law firm, primarily focuses on ESG & Sustainable Finance.
Next to her role at Dentons she acts as a Management Board Member at the Federal Initiative Impact Investing Germany (Bundesinitiative Impact Investing) as well as for Oikocredit North Germany (OI International is a worldwide cooperative and social investor, providing funding to the microfinance sector, fair trade organizations, cooperatives and small to medium enterprises).
Furthermore, Dina is a part-time lecturer and Co-Author at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, specifically as regards the FS-UNEP Centre´s e-Campus course “Certified Expert in Sustainable Finance (CESFi)” as well as the “Certified Expert in ESG & Impact Investing (CEII)”. She is also a Co-Author of “Managing the Impact of Sustainable Finance – a Manuscript for banks and other financial institutions”.
Johannes Puhr
Managing Director and Board Member
Fair-Finance Asset Management
Dr. Andreas Rickert
CEO and Founder, PHINEO
Director of the former program ‘civil society’ at the Bertelsmann Foundation. Andreas also
worked as Senior Governance Specialist at the World Bank in Washington D.C. Prior to this
he was Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, Inc. globally working on public
sector and healthcare projects in Bahrain, The Netherlands, UK and Switzerland. He
studied Biology and completed his Ph.D. on genetics in Germany and the United States.
Andreas serves on various boards such as the expert group of the European Commission
on social entrepreneurship (GECES) and is member of the German Council for Sustainable
Development. His large network comprises top level decision makers in the private, public
and third sectors. He has specific expertise in public private partnerships, corporate social
responsibility (CSR), sustainability, impact investing, social business and philanthropy. At
PHINEO he is responsible for the organization’s overall strategy, strategic partnerships as
well as external representation.
Frank Sibert
Head of Sustainable Business,
BNP Paribas S. A. Germany
Since September 2016, as Head of Sustainable Business Germany and part of the management team for Corporate Banking Europe of BNP Paribas in Germany, Frank’s role encompasses the business & franchise development for Sustainable & Renewable Finance Solutions of BNPP Group towards the German and Multinational Client base.
As part of the current position, Frank is actively promoting the transfer of the business conduct towards a sustainable production and consumption across the full value chain. Frank is an active contributor to the local market initiative “Accelerating Sustainable Finance” as well as Member of the Steering Council of the “Green & Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany”, an initiative of the Land Hesse and the leading financial institutions at the Finance
Market Frankfurt. Since June 2019, he is also a member of the Advisory Board for Sustainable Finance of the Federal Government of Germany and is involved in the working group „Financial Market Stabilisation and Risk Management“.
Frank Sibert works in the banking industry for 30 years, with a strong focus on Coverage and Structured Debt Finance in Europe, the US and Russia. Frank joined BNPP Group in its Swiss unit in Geneva in 2005. Since then he held a number of Senior Management positions in for BNP Paribas Group in Russia and Germany. He holds a graduate degree in business studies (Diplom-Betriebswirt, equivalent to BA) and he is graduated from the DVFA, Frankfurt (Certified Credit Analyst). Beside this, Frank is a Member of the youth originations American Field Service, promoting intercultural youth exchanges to promote peace and global citizen recognition.
Prof. Dr. Dirk Söhnholz
CEO, Soehnholz ESG
Prof. Dr. Dirk Soehnholz (1963) is the founder and CEO of Soehnholz ESG GmbH, book author, honorary professor of asset management at Leipzig University and a blogger on Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) and Robo-Advisor topics (www.prof-soehnholz.com). Previously he worked for The Boston Consulting Group, Feri Alternative Asset, Feri Institutional Advisors and Veritas Investment.
Related Websites:
www.soehnholzesg.com
www.prof-soehnholz.com
Dr. Martin Vogelsang
Coordinator
Bundesinitiative Impact Investing e.V.
Martin is the Coordinator of the Bundesinitiative Impact Investing e.V. (Federal Initiative Impact Investing), the German platform for impact investing. The overall goal is to help to develop the German impact Investing market and thus open the impact investing space for the public.
Based on this approach, additional capital can be unlocked to overcome social and ecological challenges for the purpose of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. In order to achieve this, the Bundesinitiative is raising the awareness of the societal impact investment capital can have.
Before that he was the DACH Country Representative of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA). Martin also spent several years in India. In 2010 he launched a social enterprise-incubator based out of Bangalore (India) focussing on seed investments and capacity building. Martin has a PhD in Business Ethics, Department of Economics from Katholische Universität Eichstätt in Germany.
Volker Weber
Chairman of the Board
Forum Nachhaltige
Geldanlagen e.V.
Advisory Board und Sprecher
Advisory Board
Amara Goeree
As the founder of Blue Phoenix, Amara supports clients with rich ESG value chain experience. She has spent the majority of her career leading the Dow Jones Sustainability Index rating process at RobecoSAM (now SAM, part of S&P Global). More recently, she fulfilled the role of Head Corporate Sustainability and Responsible Investment at Julius Baer. She also has created an ESG rating methodology for private market investments, has academic research experience, and worked in corporate sustainability in a listed real estate company. Between those roles, she has prepared the corporate reporting to rating agencies and investors, she has been the rating agency, the investor and the translator between all the stakeholders. Covering the full ESG data value chain. Blue Phoenix’s mission is to facilitate better investment decision-making. Investors are guided through the sustainable finance maze: selecting the right ESG data provider, integrating ESG into the investment process, and more. Rating agencies and investors looking to build customized ratings are supported in the creation and optimization of their ESG data collection and evaluation process. For companies, a range of investor reporting services is available. Helping the company understand what the expectation of the investor, or the rating agency as a middleman, is and translating that into investment relevant ESG reporting.
Related Websites
Blue Phoenix
Marc Gerards
Marc Gerards is a Senior Investment Manager in the Real Assets team with EB – Sustainable Investment Management GmbH (EB-SIM). He is responsible for the execution of renewable energy equity and debt investments as part of EB-SIM’s asset management and advisory mandates. Marc possesses 15 years+ of experience in the financial industry, in particular regarding infrastructure and renewable energy projects. He was a founding partner of a leading corporate finance firm advising clients for over 10 years on equity transactions and debt financing with focus on German and European energy infrastructure. He started his career in the utility M&A team of an international Investment bank. Marc is a University of Cologne graduate and guest lecturer in business administration.
Dr. Andreas Nilsson
Andreas Nilsson is the Managing Partner of Sonanz, a private equity fund-of-funds manager. Sonanz has a thematic focus on sectors that are essential for the future of society: Renewable Energy, Sustainable Food & Agriculture, Affordable Healthcare and Financial Services. Prior to founding Sonanz, Dr. Nilsson worked as a private equity investor at EQT Partners and UBS. He has also acted as advisor to the first private equity firm in Bangladesh and the first social investment fund in Sweden. Dr. Nilsson holds a PhD and a MSc in Finance from the Stockholm School of Economics and spent two years as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Business School.
Christine Scharinger
Christine Scharinger, is a pioneer in the field of e-mobility and has been known as an expert in Austria for 10 years. She was active in the financial services sector for 30 years and financed the first alternative powered vehicles in Austria. Her commitment in this area was aimed at establishing e-vehicles in Austria’s vehicle fleets. She also has extensive knowledge in the field of renewable energies, having been responsible for the operation of 60 wind turbines and 6 photovoltaic power plants. Today she develops smart mobility solutions in the form of a marketplace for the DACH region in the KIR-Group GmbH. Together with the Swiss energy group Alpiq, she supports large companies on their way to energy self-sufficiency. She also supports the Graz-based high-tech company Easelink GmbH in the market launch of its innovative fully automated, wireless and conductive charging solution, Matrix Charging®.
Related Website
LinkedIn
Christoph Klein
Christoph M. Klein, CFA, CEFA is managing partner and portfolio manager at ESG Portfolio Management GmbH. Previously, he served as a partner at nordIX AG and as portfolio strategist, head ESG credit, managing director at Deutsche Asset Management. Before rejoining Deutsche Asset Management in 2007, he served as partner and head of fixed-income credit at TriPoint Asset Management. Mr. Klein also worked as a multi-strategy Portfolio Manager for credit hedge funds at CPM Advisors and as an analyst and portfolio manager for corporate and convertible bonds at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management. He has served as a visiting scholar at Salomon Center for the Study of Financial Institutions at New York University. Mr. Klein began his career as a private banking investment strategy analyst at Deutsche Bank. He served as a member of the UN PRI Fixed Income Working Group and is a member of the DVFA Sustainable Investing Commission. He received his diploma in business administration from the University of Trier.
Related Websites
ESG Portfolio Management
LinkedIn
Cyril Gouiffès – Speakers
Prior to joining EIF, Cyril gained unique field experience working with microfinance institutions in Northern Africa and the Middle East. Cyril studied at Institut d’Études Politiques de Toulouse where he received a Masters in Development Economics with a focus on poverty alleviation and local development. At EIF, Cyril’s entire career has been dedicated to impact related activities in the area of social entrepreneurship and microfinance. In this context, he was responsible for the implementation of the JASMINE programme, an EU initiative aimed at boosting the institutional capacity of microfinance institutions in Europe and in the set-up of the EPPA programme, one of EIF’s early direct investment pilots in microfinance. Cyril moved from microfinance to impact investing in 2012 and raised the first impact dedicated fund-of-funds at EIF (Social Impact Accelerator) now fully invested with 19 funds in portfolio and EUR 220m committed. Since October 2019, he is heading the team in charge of social impact investing with the venture capital department of EIF.
Related Website
LinkedIn
David Creighton
David has accumulated over 35 years’ experience in international capital markets in a career that has taken him around the globe. Returning to his native Montreal in 1999, he co-founded Cordiant, a leading emerging and frontier market asset manager with a focus on private credit. He was previously a Vice-Chairman of Cordiant and has overseen more than 200 investments in 55+ emerging countries. David is a member of the Government of Canada’s Infrastructure Advisory Board. He is also a chairman of Convergence, an initiative launched by the Canadian government and the World Economic Forum to blend public and private capital for investment in the emerging markets. He is a Senior Advisor and Chair of the Private Credit Council for EMPEA and Chairman of the Investment Committee for the BCS Foundation. He is a former director of the US Institute. David is an honours graduate from the University of Guelph (Agriculture) and a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D.). He guest lectures at McGill University and at The Wharton School and is the Commodore of the Chester Yacht Club.
Dr. Anja Hochberg
Dr. Anja Hochberg has been Head of Multi Asset Solutions for Swisscanto Invest by Zürcher Kantonalbank since 1 January 2020. With 25 years of experience along the entire value chain of the investment business, Dr Hochberg is a proven expert in asset management. Prior to joining Swisscanto, she had worked for Credit Suisse in responsible management positions since 2001. As head of the economics department, she was responsible both for traditional economic research and for the analysis and forecasting of all macroeconomically driven asset classes. In 2009 she was appointed Head of Investment Strategy of the Asset Management Division and in 2013 she was appointed „Chief Investment Officer Europe (incl. Switzerland)“. From 2016, she headed the global product department and from 2018 she focused on sustainable and impact products for institutional and private investors.
Related Websites
LinkedIn
Dr. Bernd Spendig
Dr. Bernd Spendig received his PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Hanover in 2002 and also owns a degree in economy. After a short intermezzo as a trader for exotic equity derivatives at HSBC Trinkaus, he has been working for UniCredit Bank AG since 2004, where he heads the structuring department for private and wealth management clients. A focus of his work has been on the product development of sustainable investment products, in particular structured products on equity indices. He is also responsible for the first European ETF that combines smart beta factors with ESG criteria. Dr. Spendig is a member of various national and international working groups that are developing a new target market standard for sustainable products.
Related Websites
hypovereinsbank.de
LinkedIn
Dr. Caroline Herkströter
Dr. Caroline Herkströter is an investment and banking regulatory lawyer based in Frankfurt. Her main focus is on securities, banking regulation as well as the regulation of investment funds. Having a particular focus on ESG related issues, Caroline is recognised as one of the leading experts in Germany with regard to ESG. Caroline advises credit institutions and financial services providers, including investment and universal banks, AIF and UCITS management companies and securities trading companies on all aspects of German, European and international investment, banking, and capital markets law. In particular, she focuses on the cross-border distribution of financial products, and issues related to clearing, settlement and global custody and depositary services. Caroline advises on the establishment and distribution of open- and closed-ended investment funds, particularly securities and real estate funds within Germany. Her experience also includes prime brokerage, securities lending, international securities custody, collateral management, and investment advisor liability. Additionally, Caroline advises on the establishment and acquisition of German credit institutions, joint ventures, the extension of banking licences and global outsourcing projects as well as on the listing of funds on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Caroline joined the Frankfurt office as a partner in 2007. From October 2015 to June 2019, she was head of the legal department at DekaBank and returned to the firm as a partner in August 2019.
Dr. Christin ter Braak-Forstinger
Dr. Christin ter Braak-Forstiner, LL.M. is the co-founder and CEO of Chi Impact Capital in Zurich an independent Impact Fund Advisor advising a Luxembourg based impact fund. Christin is passionate about pro-actively making the shift towards a regenerative and deep impact economy a reality. Christin has a long-standing experience and a 15 year+ track record in the financial services sector, private equity, the impact investing field, sustainable investing, strategic philanthropy advisory and the collaboration with international organizations and public stakeholders. Christin completed her Doctoral Thesis at Harvard Law School (summa cum laude) and her Master Studies at Duke Law School; She has published numerous peer reviewed articles and papers in the field of sustainable investing and impact investing, authored and co-authored several books the latest of which is “Conscious Investing”; Christin is a lecturer at various universities on impact investing; Privately, Christin is the co-founder and president of award winning NGO Braveaurora, active in North Ghana since 2009.
Related Website
chi-impact.com
Dr. Dennis Fritsch
Dr. Dennis Fritsch is Member of the Secretariat and Coordinator of the United Nations’ Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative, part of UNEP FI, focused on bringing banks, insurers and investors together to develop guidance and tools to enable financial institutions to align their activities with a sustainable ocean economy. The initiative is the host of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles; the gold-standard for investing in the ocean economy. Previously, Dennis established the Research department at Responsible Investor, where he led several investor research projects, most recently ‘Investors & the Blue Economy’. He also worked as a consultant and expert jury member for the European Commission’s BlueInvest Fund and BLUE Marine Foundation. After graduating from the University of Tübingen (GER), Dennis worked in research at the University of Cambridge and was awarded a PhD from University College London.
Related Websites
LinkedIn