We have a committed team with depth and breadth of knowledge and experience.
People
Peter Webster has led the EIRIS Foundation since it was founded in 1983. He has focussed on the challenges of providing ESG ratings and research to a wide range of owners and managers, helping investors to make good use of that research and advancing the concept of responsible investment. Peter is a regular speaker on topics ranging from fiduciary duty to individual ESG areas and their global evolution as well as how responsible investment can contribute to a more sustainable and robust financial system. He was treasurer of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association for 20 years until the end of 2011 and from October 2013 to October 2019 was a member of the PRI Advisory Council.
Peter Webster
CEO
Elissandra joined the EIRIS Foundation from the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). She has wide-ranging experience on monitoring and evaluation of development projects, advocacy and stakeholder management. She has worked with a number of European investors with interests in the renewable energy sector as well as a political risk and financial analyst in both the UK and Brazil covering corruption, clean tech and human rights in emerging markets. She has worked on policy analysis and project management for a number of international organisations, including the UN. Elissandra holds an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy, and a degree in Business Administration. She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English.
Elissandra da Costa
Senior CHRB Manager & Campaigns Organiser
Yael recently joined EIRIS Foundation after a 10 year career as a campaigner at WWF UK and Amnesty International Secretariat. Yael has worked on research projects on a wide range of issues from climate change, EU fisheries policies, violence against women and oil drilling in Africa. She gained extensive experience working within coalitions, and working with a diverse range of stakeholders. She has vast experience on stakeholder engagement and on organising large scale public events. She holds a Master’s in Human Rights in Theory and Practice from the University of Essex.
Yael Rosenfeld
Campaigns Organiser
Lisa's career to date has been focussed specifically on sustainable investment and finance. Lisa is currently the Head of Communications and Charity Impact at the EIRIS Foundation. Lisa was previously a Programme Director at the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), supporting the growth of UK market demand for responsible investment and other financial services that advance sustainability through activities such as Good Money Week, the Ethical Investment Association and support for Pension Funds and Charity Investors. Lisa initially developed an interest in sustainable finance while studying Finance and Environmental Economics in South Africa. Lisa is a proud Trustee of The Orchard Project, a charity dedicated to the creation, restoration and celebration of community orchards.
Lisa Stonestreet
Head of Communications & Charity Impact
Rita is the Next Steps Project Manager at the EIRIS Foundation, helping us identify and lead new projects that pioneer the next steps in sustainable finance. She has been working as a project leader and guest lecturer specialising in cross-disciplinary endeavours in international contexts. Rita successfully led the Denmark-based pan-European Otherness Project, engaging with eleven partner organisations and universities, charities, and local governments. During the past eight years she focussed on analysis and modelling of the most intriguing societal and environmental questions. She has participated in knowledge exchange about migration, urban upcycling, communities built on equity, and action research in cross-disciplinary projects via events, workshops, conferences and publications in the UK, Denmark, Sweden, the US, Germany, Greece, Italy and Switzerland.
Rita Sebestyen
Next Steps Project Manager
Jana holds an undergraduate degree in legal studies and a LLM in international human rights law from the University of Essex. She has worked as a legal researcher in asylum law, international family law, and employment law in Germany. As part of research teams at the University of Essex she has worked on issues of business and human rights and corporate accountability, as well as rights holder participation and rights abuses. Since December 2021 she is part of the EIRIS Foundation working on the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark and other projects with a focus on Business and Human Rights.
Jana Hoess
CHRB Project Officer
Sam Chua joined EIRIS Conflict Risk Network from ISS ESG where she worked for more than five years as a member of the Norm-Based Research team. She specialized in writing reports on allegations against companies which breached international human rights and labor rights standards. Sam has experience in qualitative research and report writing, research methodology enhancement, and company engagement. She holds an MA in Mass Communications, an MS in Management, and a degree in the Humanities.
Samantha Chua
Conflict Risk Network Research Analyst & Advocate
Felicitas oversees the research for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark and leads the Social Lobby Map initiative. Prior to joining EIRIS Foundation, she built up the KnowTheChain benchmarks at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, focused on assessing corporate efforts to address forced labour risks across supply chains. Her work included building up a coalition of over 90 global investors to take up the data, engaging with benchmarked companies and their trade associations on how to move the industry forward, and connecting with civil society to reflect their needs in the methodology. Prior to joining the Resource Centre, Felicitas has worked at Principles for Responsible Investment, initially leading its investor collaboration platform, and subsequently its investor engagements on social issues. Felicitas holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science, Philosophy and Economics from Universität Leipzig.
Felicitas Weber
Senior Manager, Human Rights & Business
Jas came to the EIRIS Foundation from ClientEarth, an environmental law charity. It was here that he developed his interest in sustainable finance, seeing the necessity of strategic investment to reach net-zero and achieve other important social goals. Prior to joining the Foundation, Jas had held numerous fundraising roles at a variety of charities, including WaterAid, the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) and the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability (RHN). He holds an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics and a BA (Hons) in Philosophy from the University of York
Jas Singh
Charity & Retail Coordinator
David Bent
Trustee and Chair of the Board
David Bent is passionate about playing his part in a generation that puts the world on a sustainable footing. David has worked at Forum for the Future, an independent non-profit working globally to solve complex sustainability challenges, for the last 13 years, most recently as Director of Sustainable Business. He advised dozens of companies in the UK, USA and India on strategy and innovation so they can be more successful by creating a sustainable future.
His perspective is that we need to shift so our global natural and social systems are coping (rather than overwhelmed, as they are now), and also people have access to what they need to choose their own lives. David supports institutions that are acting as a global ‘innovation function’, whether as an advisor, an executive, or a social entrepreneur. He recently finished advising the Cabinet Office on inclusive economy. His current priorities include: researching a pro-sustainability industrial strategy as an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge; and, starting a ‘Gigatonne Lab’ to accelerate a rapid transition to a zero carbon world.
David has a Masters in Physics from Oxford, a Masters in Responsibility and Business Practice from Bath and is a qualified accountant, having spent 4 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He has been a tutor on the Post-Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Aaron Hay
Trustee
Aaron joined the international business of Federated Hermes in 2018, and currently serves as Director of Engagement & Investment Strategy in Sustainable Fixed Income. This includes leading the engagement strategy and working with companies for the SDG Engagement High Yield Credit Fund, and collaborating closely with EOS, Federated Hermes’ stewardship platform serving $1.5tn in client assets-under-advice (AUA). Aaron has a decade of experience advising on corporate sustainability strategy and environmental and social challenges across private, public and NGO sectors. He consulted with Accenture Strategy, working with multinational clients in sustainability strategy, ethical supply chain development, circular economy and environmental valuation projects. Aaron was a senior advisor with Forum for the Future, a UK NGO that partners with businesses to use systems thinking and perspectives in long-term, sustainable business model design. He previously served in sustainability advisory in Canadian technology consulting and government settings. Aaron holds an Honours Business Administration (HBA) degree from the Ivey School of Business at Western University, Canada, and a MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London.
Richard Howitt
Trustee
Richard is a strategic advisor on corporate sustainability, business and human rights. In a distinguished 22-year career as Member of the European Parliament, he was longstanding Rapporteur on Corporate Responsibility and key architect of the EU’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive. Richard represented Europe in developing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in the update of the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprise and the creation and implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. He subsequently served as Chief Executive Officer of the International Integrated Reporting Council, involving many of the world’s leading mainstream and ESG investors and was convenor of the project to align the world’s major financial and sustainability reporting frameworks. Currently, he undertakes advisory work with companies and organisations and is Senior Associate at the public interest law firm, Frank Bold.
Camilla Parke
Trustee
Camilla’s current focus at Big Society Capital is supporting greater participation by individuals and communities in social investment. She also works on engaging corporates in social investment. Before joining Big Society Capital, Camilla participated in the social enterprise leadership programme On Purpose. Prior to this, she worked in the Innovation Lab at Nesta, and spent a number of years as a consultant advising clients on strategy, innovation, scenario planning and foresight.
Nina Roth
Trustee
Nina is a Director in BMO Global Asset Management’s Responsible Investment team. She joined in 2019, oversees social engagement efforts, and leads on ESG analysis and engagement for financials. Before joining BMO Nina worked at Germany’s development agency (GIZ), engaging emerging markets financial institutions and their regulators on sustainable finance. Nina also worked for UBS’s environmental and social risk (ESR) team in Hong Kong, Zurich, and New York, as well as for Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, where she established the bank’s ESR framework. Nina holds a master’s degree in political science
Maryann Selfe
Trustee
Maryann is a financial executive and strategist with over 15 years of international experience in the financial services industry, with varied exposure to responsible investing during this time. Before moving into the financial sector, Maryann started her career with Deloitte and Touche. She is passionate about channelling capital into innovative investment products, business models, and entrepreneurs tackling social and environmental challenges aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other pressing national and global challenges. Maryann holds a B.Sc (First Class Honours) in Applied Accounting from the Oxford Brookes University, Oxford and an MBA from Cardiff University. She is also a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Frances Way
Trustee
Frances Way is Co-Chief Operating Officer at CDP. She joined CDP in 2007 to manage and expand the supply chain program and now oversees the delivery and strategy of all CDP’s programs. This involves working with both investor and company stakeholders on the issues of climate change, water and deforestation. Previously, Frances spent eight years in the finance sector, primarily in Dresdner Kleinwort’s Global Equities Division where she was responsible for communications between the European research and sales teams. Frances has an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London.
Rebecca Kong
Trustee
Rebecca has been with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) since 2019 where she supports the Bank to effectively measure, assess and report on its social, economic and environmental impact. Prior to joining the EBRD, Rebecca spent a year in management consulting working exclusively with social sector and government organisations. She is passionate about directing finance towards innovative investments and businesses that can help create a more equitable and sustainable world. Rebecca holds an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and an Honours B.A in Economics from the University of Waterloo.