Press Release

Social Investment Forum Announces New Board Members

CONTACT:

Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com

The Social Investment Forum (SIF) has added five new board members. SIF is the national nonprofit membership association for the socially responsible investment (SRI) industry. New SIF board members will serve from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2011.

The Social Investment Forum (SIF) has added five new board members. SIF is the national nonprofit membership association for the socially responsible investment (SRI) industry. New SIF board members will serve from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2011.

The new Social Investment Forum board members are:  Sarah Cleveland, senior consultant and financial services manager at Rogerscasey, Inc.; Amy O’Brien, director of social investing, TIAA-CREF; David Sand, president and chief investment officer, Access Capital Strategies; David Wood, director, Institute for Responsible Investment; and Betsy Zeidman, director, Center for Emerging Domestic Markets, and research fellow, Milken Institute. 

Social Investment Forum Board Chair Cheryl Smith said, “We could not be happier with the five new SIF board members, who represent a remarkably wide range of sectors and professional expertise.  SIF also wants to thank George Gay of First Affirmative Financial Network and Alisa Gravitz of Co-op America, our board members who will be stepping down at the end of this year.”   

Sarah Cleveland, who was elected to hold the “institutional/individual investor” board seat, has worked in the financial services industry since 1994 and is currently a senior consultant with Rogerscasey, Inc., an investment solutions firm providing resources to institutional investors globally. Cleveland also is the practice leader for Sustainable & Responsible Investing and has led the teams responsible for the United Nations and Global Reporting Initiative projects related to integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in the investment process. Prior to moving to the Northwest, Sarah was a Fulbright lecturer of economics in Fiji.  

Amy Muska O’Brien, who was elected to fill the “client-oriented” board seat, works on a wide range of social and community investing initiatives across TIAA-CREF, a national financial services organization. Her responsibilities include overseeing the social screening of such funds as the CREF Social Choice Account, acting as liaison to stakeholders in connection with the company’s social- and community-focused investments, and providing leadership to the company on emerging social responsibility issues. O’Brien has more than 10 years of social investment experience with a strong focus on environmental issues. Before joining TIAA-CREF in 2005, she was the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at the United Church of Christ. O’Brien has served on the SIF board since 2005.

David Sand, who was elected to fill the “community-oriented” board opening, is currently chief investment officer of Access Capital Strategies, a division of Voyageur Asset Management, the manager of the Community Investment Fund. David also was co-founder and managing director of Commonwealth Capital Partners, Inc., as well as Commonwealth Capital Strategies, Inc., a consulting and investment banking firm that specialized in housing, enterprise development, job training and the environment that participated in a $100 million affordable housing program in Pennsylvania. While vice president at Shearson Lehman Brothers, New York, Sand helped build a successful pioneering partnership in SRI management. Sand has more than 25 years of experience as a portfolio manager and investment advisor with a focus on investments in underserved communities. He has served on the SIF board since 2006.

David Wood, who was elected to fill the “research/educational” board seat, is director of the Institute for Responsible Investment (IRI), a project of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, where he conducts research on responsible investment and its applications. The IRI concentrates on emerging issues for social investors, such as fixed income investment, mergers and acquisitions, corporate disclosure, real estate investment, and offshore SME investment. Last year the IRI published the “Handbook for Responsible Investment across Asset Classes."  Prior to his work at Boston College, Wood taught the history of ethics, ethical and economic thought, and human rights theory at Boston University.   

Betsy Zeidman, who is filling an appointed seat on the board, is director of the Center for Emerging Domestic Markets (CEDM) and research fellow at the Milken Institute, where she looks for innovative solutions to the capital gaps facing ethnic and low-income entrepreneurs and communities. Zeidman addresses such issues as mission-related investing, corporate governance, environmental finance and development finance. She has authored numerous reports and op-ed articles, and speaks frequently at industry conferences and to the media.   

"The Social Investment Forum is fortunate to have three new and two returning board members to work with us in the expanding SRI field," said SIF Chief Executive Officer Lisa Woll. "Interest in socially responsible investing continues to grow, especially since the global financial crisis has brought many core SRI issues -- like transparency and good governance -- to the forefront of the policy debate."

ABOUT SOCIAL INVESTMENT FORUM

The Social Investment Forum (http://www.socialinvest.org) is the national nonprofit membership association for the social investment industry. It is dedicated to advancing the concept, practice, and growth of socially responsible investing. The Forum's 500 members include financial planners, banks, mutual fund companies, research companies, foundations, and community investing institutions. 

Editor’s Note:  High-resolution, color head shots of each of the five new Social Investment Forum board members are available upon request for publication. 

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