Sustainable Investments

Moderator

Andrew Siwo 

Director of Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions 

Andrew Siwo is the Director of Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions at the New York State Common Retirement Fund. He is charged with providing leadership and oversight of sustainable investment efforts across the Fund’s $272 billion portfolio. Previously, Siwo was an Investment Director and Head of Mission-Related Investments at Crewcial Partners, an investment consultancy to over 150 leading foundations and endowments.

Prior to joining Crewcial Partners, Siwo was a manager at the Global Impact Investing Networking (GIIN). Prior to joining the GIIN, Siwo spent five years in the investment banking division at JP Morgan—most recently in the Global Special Opportunities Group, a $3 billion proprietary portfolio of principal investments in private equity, debt, mezzanine, infrastructure, and real estate. He also held roles on the Rates Desk and executed fixed income financing transactions as well as the Securitized Products Group where he valued collateralized mortgage obligations.

Before JP Morgan, Siwo was a member of the Corporate Finance and Real Estate Strategy Group at Victoria’s Secret.. He began his career at E*Trade Financial where he managed a team of investment representatives serving active traders and high net-worth investors.

Siwo completed an MPA in Finance and Fiscal Policy at Cornell University and holds a BA in Accounting from Morehouse College. He has held FINRA Series 7, 63, and 24 licenses. He teaches an ESG course at The Wagner Graduate of Public Service at NYU where he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service. Siwo also serves on the Board of New York Professional Advisors to Community Entrepreneurs (NYPACE).

Panelists

Runa Alam

Co-founder & CEO

Runa Alam is the co-founder and CEO of Development Partners International (“DPI”). DPI is a leading private equity firm investing throughout Africa, and manages over $3 billion in three funds, African Development Partners I (“ADP I”), ADP II and ADP III. ADP I and ADP II are Cambridge benchmarked top quartile Africa funds. The ADP funds have won numerous awards and been commended both for delivering top returns to investors while delivering top levels of ES&G and impact work. DPI is a gender balanced firm and seeks to focus its impact work on three buckets: Gender Balance, Climate Change, and Job Creation and Enhancement. ADP III also been chosen as the first “2X Challenge Gender Balance Showcase fund” by the OECD country development institutions.

Runa has decades of private equity, emerging market management and investment banking
experience. She has invested in Africa for 24 years. She serves on the Boards of many African
companies. She has contributed to the development of private equity in Africa as a former Chair of AVCA (the African Private Equity Association), Chair of the AVCA Sustainability Committee, and a Vice Chair and Africa Council Member of EMPEA (the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association). Ms. Alam is also on the board of CARE, and on a Future Challenge Committee of the World Economic Forum on “Investing with the UN SDGs.”
Ms. Alam has contributed to efforts in education and development through her written and pro bono work. She sat on the advisory committees at Princeton and Yale Universities and was formerly an Advisory Council member of MIDA (Mobilizing Institutional Investors to Develop Africa’s Infrastructure), NASP-USAID Investment Partnership, and USAID’s Private Sector Partners Committee.

Ms. Alam started her career on Wall Street working for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. She is a development economist and is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. She is a Harry S. Truman Congressional Scholar.

Michaela Edwards 

Partner

Michaela Edwards is a Partner and member of the Investment Team. She serves on the investment committee for all Capricorn strategies and has responsibility for co-leading the investment management of individual client portfolios as well as the Sustainable Investors Fund. She joined the firm in 2019.

EXPERIENCE

Prior to Capricorn, Michaela spent nine years as a Senior Portfolio Manager with Norges Bank Investment Management, the sovereign wealth fund of Norway. Before joining Norges, Michaela worked as a research analyst for Russell Investments in London and New York. She started her career on the trading desk of DNB in Oslo.

EDUCATION

Michaela is a graduate of Oslo University College and Cass Business School in London and a CFA charterholder.

Sofia Martos

Partner, ESG & Impact

Sofia is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and member of the Firm’s ESG & Impact Practice Group, which advises some of the world’s most sophisticated and dynamic private equity firms, corporations, and project sponsors and lenders on complex and evolving legal issues relating to ESG and climate-related regulatory requirements, investor demands, strategic opportunities, and voluntary reporting frameworks and coalitions.

Sofia’s practice focuses largely on social and governance issues. She leads Kirkland’s DEI strategic services, advising clients on emerging legal developments, risk assessments, and risk mitigation strategies related to DEI. She also counsels clients on ESG and DEI disclosures in sustainability reports, proxy statements and annual reports, which includes advising on regulatory requirements, international disclosure trends, and industry best practices. Her experience advising on governance matters includes assessments of ESG programs and disclosures, board and management governance counseling through presentations and trainings, and shareholder activism defense. She helps clients to identify opportunities to tailor their ESG programs to their particular goals while mitigating legal and reputational risks, including developing strategies for integrating ESG into larger business and governance practices.

Sofia builds upon her experience in U.S. securities law to advise public and private companies on recent and emerging ESG regulatory developments, such as proposed and anticipated U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules related to climate risk and human capital, including workforce diversity and corporate board diversity.

Prior to focusing on ESG full time, Sofia spent over a decade working on cross-border capital markets matters across Latin America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Japan while based in New York, London, and Tokyo. She uses this international lens to stay abreast of global regulatory developments and trends related to ESG. Sofia has represented companies across a range of industries, including technology and energy companies, as well as financial institutions.

Sayiddah McCree

Senior Impact Investments Officer

Before MacArthur, Sayiddah worked at J.P. Morgan and the Ford Foundation advancing impact and financial returns through investments in private equity funds. Sayiddah has worked at Harvard Business School as a Senior Researcher and at Related Companies as a real estate investor. She started her career as a building façade consultant, advising real asset owners, and managing construction projects in New York City and Chicago. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a board member of the International Contemporary Ensemble.

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