Geeta B. Aiyer, president and founder of Boston Common Asset Management LLC, was awarded the Joan Bavaria Award for Building Sustainability into the Capital Markets.
The award, presented last month at a Ceres conference in San Francisco, honors Ms. Aiyer's pioneering work of 27 years expanding sustainable and responsible investments in the global market.
“When I started in SRI over 25 years ago, it was a very niche industry, and I've been excited to see it grow to attract institutional and mainstream investors, while staying true to its values,” Ms. Aiyer said in her acceptance speech, according to a statement from Boston Common, which has $1.9 billion in assets under management. “Here in the U.S., SRI assets now account for over $6.5 trillion — nearly 18% of all investment assets. But the industry's challenges have grown, too. From tackling climate change to protecting human rights in global supply chains, the need for the SRI industry to make an impact has never been greater.”
The award honors the memory of Joan Bavaria, a pioneer of social investing who founded Ceres — a coalition of institutional investors promoting sustainable investing — and Trillium Asset Management LLC, both of Boston and both of which sponsor the award. The award has been given annually since the first one in 2008.
