The cost of “G”: What is the real cost to companies when implementing increased governance to align with SDGs?

Janine Dow is a senior director with Fitch Ratings’ sustainable finance (SUF) team and performs a global financial institutions analytical liaison function.

She joined SUF in May 2020, having spent many years in Fitch's financial institutions division, covering banks in Latin America, Europe, Turkey and Africa. She joined Fitch in 1992.

Prior to joining Fitch, Janine was involved in corporate finance advisory and brokering services to emerging European countries.

Janine earned a degree in history from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a BA in modern Iberian and Latin American regional studies at Kings College, University of London. She is also fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Alessia Falsarone is a Managing Director in the Global Fixed Income team at PineBridge Investments in New York, a private, global asset manager focused on active, high-conviction investing. As Head of Sustainable Investing, she brings an integrated portfolio management lens to the investigation of the Environmental, Social and Governance practices of global organizations that access developed credit markets. Previously, Ms. Falsarone served as Vice President of Global Investments in the office of the CIO at Citigroup, responsible for portfolio allocation of strategic co-investments as well as international client advisory. Ms. Falsarone was also a quantitative strategist on Citigroup's institutional desk in San Francisco. She started her career as an investment banker with Credit Suisse. Ms. Falsarone is a Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors, a Standards Advisory Group member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and a member of the UN PRI Advisory Committee on Credit Risk. Ms. Falsarone is an alumna of Stanford University, the MIT Sloan School of Business and the Bocconi University School of Economics.

Mitch joined Hermes in February 2010 as Head of Research on the Hermes Credit team before becoming Co-Head of Hermes Credit from 2012 to 2019. In 2019, in addition to his role of Head of Research, he became Head of Sustainable Fixed Income and co-manager of the SDG Engagement High Yield Fund. Prior to this he was Co-Head of Credit Research for the global credit team at Fortis Investments. Other roles at Fortis include portfolio manager of European high yield funds, based in London, and senior credit analyst, based in Paris. Before this he worked as an associate analyst in the leveraged finance group at Moody’s Investors Service in New York. Mitch earned a Master’s degree in International Affairs at Columbia University in New York City and a Bachelor’s degree in History at Pitzer College, one of the Claremont Colleges in California. He is a CFA charterholder; Co-Chair of the Capital Markets Advisory Committee of the IFRS Foundation; founding member of the Executive Committee for the European Leveraged Finance Association; member of the Sovereign Working Group and the Credit Rating Advisory Committee for the PRI; member of the technical Working Group (Communications and Technology) for the US-based Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB); a workstream member of the UK-China Green Finance Task Force; and sits on the Green Finance Advisory of the City of London.