Location United Kingdom, Europe Regions Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Gender Female
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Bess Joffe is the Church Commissioners for England’s head of Responsible Investment and leads the team that engages across the Commissioners’ multi-asset investment portfolio. She is a globally recognized ESG leader, with experience in senior roles at both institutional investors and corporates . Joffe joined the Church Commissioners in 2020 from
Lloyds Banking Group, where she was director, Investor Relations – ESG and led engagement with shareholders and other key stakeholders regarding ESG issues. Previously, Joffe led the stewardship team at TIAA (Nuveen), where she led a successful initiative to influence the funds’ top 100 portfolio companies to adopt proxy access bylaws and streamlined proxy voting. Prior to that, Joffe was VP, Investor Relations at Goldman Sachs where she led ESG-focused investor and stakeholder engagement in the aftermath of the financial crisis. She established and led the firm’s director engagement program and launched its Goldman Sachs ESG Report. Joffe also worked for Hermes Equity Ownership Services as head of Americas, where she led several successful major campaigns to advance shareholder rights and improve board accountability. Joffe is a non-executive director of Transition Pathway Initiative Limited, a member of SAP SE’s Sustainability Advisory Panel, and a trustee on the Church Investors Group. She previously received the North American Industry Leadership Award from 100 Women in Finance and a Rising Star Award from Yale School of Management. She is a dual Canadian/British citizen.
