Our Guest Contributors
LAURA BERRY, Executive Director - Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) welcomed Laura Berry as its Executive Director in June of 2007. ICCR is a coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors, representing over $100 billion in invested capital. ICCR members use a variety of strategies to promote responsible corporate policies and practices on a wide range of issues including health, human rights, environmental justice, climate change, militarism, corporate governance and supply chain responsibility. ICCR members bridge the divide between morality and markets by envisioning a civic economy that integrates ethical, environmental and social values. Inspired by faith and committed to action, ICCR members work to build a just and sustainable global community.
Prior to joining ICCR, Laura served The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven for five years; beginning her tenure as Vice President for Development and serving as its Senior Vice President for Philanthropic Services, responsible for a $15 million grantmaking portfolio from The Foundation’s nearly $300 million endowment.
After a 17-year career as a Large Cap Value Portfolio Manager on Wall Street and five years in the specialty chemical industry as a Chemical Engineer, Laura began her professional commitment to the non-profit sector in 2001, as the Director of the New London Development Corporation’s Community Development Initiative.
A native of Detroit, Laura has lived in and around New Haven, Connecticut since 1984. She continues to serve on a number of local Boards; including Connecticut Voices for Children. Her past service includes the Board of the Community Economic Development Fund, the Garde Arts Center and the Statewide Steering Committee for Community Youth Development.
Laura received her Certified Financial Planner designation from Quinnipiac University, holds an M.S. from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. from Michigan Technology University.
ANNA BRADLEY, Consultant for Socially Responsible Investing - Jesuit Conference
Based in Washington, DC, Anna is the Consultant for Socially Responsible Investing for the Jesuit Conference and advises Jesuit provinces and Jesuit-sponsored institutions on matters of corporate social responsibility and shareholder advocacy. She began he career as an investment analyst with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City. Anna currently is on the Governing Board of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and a financial services organization based in Indianapolis. She has an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, M.Div. from Vanderbilt University, and is also a member of Leadership Greater Washington.
CHLOE CICARIELLO, Columbia University
Chloe Ciccariello is a senior at Columbia University in New York City, majoring in Biology and Human Rights. Through her work with Columbia University Amnesty International, she first learned about the emerging field of corporate social responsibility. Since then, she has worked to encourage the Columbia University Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI) to engage with corporations beyond the act of voting on Shareholder resolutions. She has worked to push the committee to engage actively with Chevron, which they have been doing since 2007, presented to the Columbia ACSRI regarding Dow Chemical, and is currently working with the ACSRI to draft proxy voting guidelines. Also, she has helped found a student chapter of REC at Columbia so that this work can continue in the future. "Coming from a school where we have an established ACSRI, I have seen firsthand a need for continued student involvement and initiative when it comes to promoting SRI on campus. Having an SRI committee is definitely the first step in the process of becoming a responsible investor, but it also should not be the last."
DANIEL P. NIELSEN, Director of SRI - Christian Brothers Investment Services
Daniel Nielsen joined CBIS as Director of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) in 2008. Dan is responsible for the direction and management of all elements of the socially responsible investing program. Mr. Nielsen has a broad range of experience in the socially responsible investing field, most recently serving as the Manager of Socially Responsible Investing at the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church. Prior to joining the General Board, Nielsen was the Executive Director of the Global Philanthropy Partnership, a non-profit organization whose principle goal was the promotion and expansion of philanthropy targeting international development issues. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Center for Economic Progress and on the steering committees of the International Working Group and the Sustainable Investment Research Analyst Network (SIRAN), both working groups of the Social Investment Forum. Mr. Nielsen holds a BA from the University of Maryland and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
MAURA RENDES, Seattle University; Responsible Endowments Coalition
Maura Rendes is the Northwest Student Organizer for the Responsible Endowments Coalition. She works with students to provide them with the tools and knowledge needed in order to ensure that their university’s endowments are invested both socially and environmentally responsibly and understand how to utilize investments for social and environmental change. She founded the Committee on Responsible Investment at Seattle University and started a revolving loan fund on her campus for sustainability projects. Maura is organizing a Northwest Sustainability Summit called Collaborating for Sustainability: Empowering Students for a New Generation taking place in Seattle on April 4th. She has participated in and spoken at Powershift 2009, Clinton Global Initiative University 2009 and the REC National Conference 2008. Maura is a sophomore Public Affairs major, Spanish and Environmental Studies minor at Seattle University.
CHARITY RYERSON, Loyola University Chicago Alumna and Social Activist
Charity Ryerson, an alumna of Loyola University Chicago, was one of the founders of Loyola University's Students for Socially Responsible Investing; she was a catalyst in the formation of Loyola's Shareholder Advocacy Committee (SAC), and served on SAC as a student representative in 2006 and 2007. She worked for an international labor rights nonprofit from 2006-2009, supporting worker organizing on plantations and in factories in Latin America. In 2003, Charity served 6 months in a federal prison for non-violent civil disobedience at the School of the Americas. She serves on the board of STITCH, an organization supporting women workers in the Central American textile sector, and represents School of the Americas Watch on the Ethics Commission, a precursor to a Truth Commission in Colombia. Charity recently moved to Washington, DC, with her husband and two cats, where she is working on the case against Chiquita Brands for funding paramilitary organizations in Colombia.
PAUL SCHADEWALD, Associate Director of the Civic Engagement Center - Macalester College
Paul Schadewald is the Associate Director of the Civic Engagement Center at Macalester College. He earned his Ph.D. in history from Indiana University and has worked for nine years at Macalester College. The Civic Engagement Center, part of the Institute for Global Citizenship, focuses on five areas: Academic Civic Engagement, Student Leadership Programs, Urban Education, College Access, and Institutional Citizenship. Macalester College has created a partnership with University Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution to foster community development, community-based research, and institutional responsibility. Paul Schadewald served on the committee that developed the partnership and has continued to develop the partnership through faculty training and academic civic engagement.
MORGAN SIMON, Executive Director - Responsible Endowments Coalition
In 2002, as an undergraduate at Swarthmore College, Morgan led the filing of the first student-led shareholder resolution since the apartheid era, successfully convincing Lockheed Martin to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy and give domestic partner benefits. She has also led similarly successful efforts at FedEx, Dover and Masco. Her work has been followed by FoxNews, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other media, and she has led trainings on responsible investing for students across the country.
Morgan has extensive experience in international and community development. She was the co-founder of Girls Action Initiative, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in Philadelphia that provided mentorship for middle-school girls. Working with the United Nations Development Project in Honduras, and local organizations in Mexico and Sierra Leone, she has contributed to HIV/AIDS and environmental research and outreach. She has also worked in corporate reform from two very different angles: at Women's Initiative for Self Employment, helping low-income women start small businesses, and also as part of ForestEthics' Corporate Action Program, which works to improve the environmental policies of large corporations.