“ESG: Passing Fad or the Future of Investing?”

Lily Bowles, FSA serves on Swell’s portfolio management team, focusing on its ESG research, portfolio construction process, and impact investment offerings.  Previously, Lily was the sustainability officer at online financial firm Aspiration, where she developed the Aspiration Impact Measurement (AIM) bank account feature that allows customers to track the environmental and social impact of their spending. While in this role, she also served as the liaison to UBS’ portfolio management team sub-advising Aspiration’s sustainable mutual fund (REDWX).  Prior to that, she was the global operations manager of Village Capital, a venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage entrepreneurs solving global social and environmental problems. She also has experience working at the Aspen Institute, B Lab, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. She holds an MSc in International Development from the London School of Economics and a BA in Political & Social Thought from the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar. Lily holds her Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Credential from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and is the founder and co-chair of the Los Angeles chapter of Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy (WISE-LA).

Erin Saade leads BlackRock’s ETF (iShares) Sustainable, Thematic and Commodity product marketing efforts globally. Ms. Saade has over 10 years of ETF experience having started her career trading international ETFs on the New York and American Stock Exchanges. In 2007 she joined Barclays Global Investors, now BlackRock, covering market makers and Hedge Fund clients within the iShares Capital Markets team. Most recently, Ms. Saade led strategic initiatives across BlackRock’s iShares business as a member of the Investment Strategy team and Institutional Marketing team. Ms. Saade holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Francisco Martinez has over 13 years of experience helping high-net-worth individuals, families, foundations, and non-profit organizations strategically structure their giving, investments, and maximize their impact. His previous roles have included strategy, operations, relationship management, business development, compliance, and fiscal sponsorship at philanthropic consulting firms. Prior to Bank of the West, he served as Lead of Operations at Amplifier Strategies, Associate Director of Managed Organizations at Arabella Advisors, and as Philanthropic Advisor at Tides Foundation. Francisco has a dual Bachelor degree in economics and East Asian studies from Harvard University. He is fluent in Spanish and Japanese, as well as English. As Manager of Impact Solutions and Director of Philanthropic Advising, Francisco is responsible for helping design, implementing, and maintaining the operational framework for a variety of philanthropic and socially purpose-driven investing offerings, collectively referred to as Impact Solutions. Francisco also partners with staff across our divisions and footprint to design customized strategies and identify innovative vehicles that bring clients’  philanthropic and responsible investing vision to life. Francisco holds FINRA Series 7 and Series 63 licenses.