ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) metrics have transformed the way many companies assess their impact. In this discussion, Amelia Miazad (Business and Society Institute, Berkeley Law) and Bill Kennedy (Fidelity) explain how ESG can help you combine purpose and profitability.

Amelia Miazad, Director, Business and Society Institute at Berkeley Law

Amelia Miazad is an expert in sustainable capitalism and founded and leads the Business in Society Institute at Berkeley Law. The Institute’s mission is to define and advance a legal and policy agenda that encourages companies to account for stakeholders and the environment. Amelia teaches several courses at the intersection of stakeholder capitalism and corporate governance including: Introduction to Sustainable Capitalism & ESG, Business in Society Seminar, Corporations in Crisis, Social Enterprise Law, and Business and Human Rights. In addition to her in-residence teaching at Berkeley Law, Amelia has designed and teaches several executive education courses for C-Suite executives and board members around the world. Amelia’s recent publications explore stakeholder governance and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) as a process for overseeing risk and a powerful tool for transforming corporate culture. Amelia’s curriculum and scholarship rely heavily on input from experts who are implementing environmental and social considerations into their business and investment practices. She regularly presents to audiences of corporate executives in the US, South America, and Europe.

Bill Kennedy, Portfolio Manager, Fidelity Investments

Bill Kennedy is a Portfolio Manager at Fidelity Investments, where he has been employed since 1994. He currently manages the International Discovery Fund (since 2004) and co-manages the Worldwide fund (since 2006). In 2020 he launched an international Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) fund which is in the pilot stage. He co-manages this product. His assets under management total about US$12.5 billion. Bill is based in London where he has lived for the last 14 years. Prior to his current responsibilities Bill managed several of Fidelity’s Asia-Pacific funds and was based in Tokyo, Japan. He also lived in Hong Kong where he was an analyst for Fidelity covering emerging markets and was Director of Research where he led Asia’s largest ‘buy-side’ research team. Prior to joining Fidelity Bill was a private equity analyst with Prudential in Newark, Hong Kong and Singapore, where he looked at small companies in the emerging markets of Asia with a focus on Southeast Asia. Bill is an Adjunct Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Notre Dame where he teaches a class entitled Investing in Emerging Markets. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1990 with a degree in economics and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Bill is also the Chair of the Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters Advisory Council, a Director of Notre Dame in England, and runs his own impact investment fund in his spare time.