Financial services is one of the most important sectors in our economy. This is an industry that touches everyone—whether it is saving for retirement, getting a housing loan, financing a new business, or using a credit card—and with that comes the potential to exacerbate or remediate inequalities. And, we probably all know that still so little investment goes to women-owned businesses relative to their male counterparts. And, what about the fact that women are more likely to live in poverty after retirement in part because of the gendered nature of savings and investment? In this episode, we are going to hear from Kelly Baldoni, Stephanie Kelly, Sylvia Kwan and Myan Marcen-Gaudaur about how a gender lens, an Indigenous lens, and more broadly an equity lens on financial services, can create new business ideas, identify new opportunities for improved returns, and achieve a more inclusive economy. Featured guests: Kelly Baldoni is Head of Global Women’s Strategies at Impax Asset Management LLC, the North American division of Impax Asset Management Group and investment adviser to Pax World Funds. She oversees national sales and marketing initiatives for the firm’s gender lens strategies and is a product specialist for the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Leadership Fund. Stephanie Kelley is an Assistant Professor at the Sobey School of Business at Sant Mary’s University in Halifax and was previously on the faculty at the Western University’s Ivey Business School. Her research focuses on the ethics of analytics and AI in organizations, including in bank lending. Sylvia Kwan is the Chief Investment Officer at Ellevest, a technology-enabled financial services company built by women, for women. In this role, she is responsible for creating the investment solutions, strategies, portfolios, and proprietary algorithms that drive Ellevest’s investment recommendations across both automated digital and customized private wealth advisory services. She guides the firm’s investment philosophy and leads the development and due diligence of Ellevest’s impact and gender forward investments. Myan Marcen-Gaudaur is Director of Social Impact at Scotiabank where she leads strategic investment initiatives related to Economic Resilience, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Reconciliation. In her previous work at CIBC, Myan's mandate supported the socio-economic empowerment of Indigenous Peoples through the development of equitable policies, processes, products, services and educational tools. She has had a 15 year+ career in film, sponsorship and marketing before shifting her professional focus toward corporate ESG and Social Impact. Moderator: Jackie VanderBrug is Head of Sustainability Strategy at Putnam Investments where she leads a host of key ESG-focused business functions. She came to Putnam from Bank of America, where she most recently served as Head of Sustainable and Impact Investment Strategy in the Chief Investment Office for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank since 2018. She is also author of the book Gender Lens Investing: Uncovering Opportunities for Growth, Returns, and Impact. Resources: Gender Lens Investing: Uncovering Opportunities for Growth, Returns, and Impact by Joseph Quinlan & Jackie VanderBrug Read our case study on Ellevest Check out GATE’s other resources on gender capitalism Gender Analytics: Possibilities conference Gender Analytics is a way to analyze your products, services, processes and policies with a gender lens to uncover hidden opportunities for innovation and improved effectiveness by considering gender, race, Indigeneity, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other identities. Learn more here: www.genderanalytics.org Want to hear more from the Institute for Gender and the Economy? Check out our signature podcast series, Busted, which busts prominent myths about gender and the economy! Credits: Produced by: Sarah Kaplan, Lechin Lu and Carmina Ravanera Edited by: Ian Gormely
