Sister Patricia Daly, a Visionary Leader Dedicated to Environmental Justice, Wins the Joan Bavaria Award
BOSTON, April 30, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Long-time shareholder advocate and executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, Sister Patricia Daly, OP has been awarded the sixth-annual Joan Bavaria Award for Building Sustainability into the Capital Markets. The announcement was made today at the annual Ceres Conference, which is running April 30- May 1 at The Westin Waterfront Hotel in Boston, MA.
A pioneer of socially responsible investing, for more than 35 years Daly has helped move companies such as General Electric, ExxonMobil and Ford to improve their sustainability practices and change the way they address environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks. As the executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, she leads an alliance of Roman Catholic institutional investors, who utilize their power as shareholders to hold corporations accountable to social and environmental concerns. Daly is also the corporate responsibility representative for the Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, NJ and consults for the American Baptist Churches in their Socially Responsible Investment Program.
“She’s been a visionary leader in identifying issues of social and environmental concern,” says Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman, Bill Ford, who has worked with Sister Daly on Ford's sustainability journey.
“Daly is a beacon, inspiring other shareholder advocates with her leadership and vision to continue pressing companies like Ford and GE to adopt sustainable business practices and disclose their plans to address climate risk, ”said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR).
Daly’s work with GE led them to clean up the Hudson River, removing PCPs from the New York waterway and to disclose lobbying and media costs related to PCP exposure. As founder of Campaign ExxonMobil, she mobilized shareholders to support proxy resolutions asking the company to respond to climate change.
“Through her unflagging efforts and her stewardship of the Tri-State Coalition of Responsible Investors, Sr. Pat Daly has been an influential environmental leader. One who built bridges across difference with compassion and commitment,” says Laura Berry, Executive Director, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. “I am grateful for her example and her many contributions to our field.”
Sister Daly has negotiated with companies on issues beyond sustainability including human rights, tobacco and equality. Her commitment to educating companies on their impacts and working with them to devise and implement innovative strategies has effected positive systemic change. After years of dedicated lobbying, Sister Daly and ICCR reached a victory when many of the U.S’s largest automakers agreed to press their suppliers from around the world to improve working conditions. Daly’s perseverance and faith in her cause have been an inspiration to those working in a field where change rarely happens over night.
“Sister Pat Daly has spent a lifetime in service to others and a career working to reshape how business and investors understand and respond to climate change”, said Matthew W. Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management. “Like Joan Bavaria, who this award is named for, Sister Pat builds and strengthens coalitions of stakeholders; knowing that together we can accomplish exponentially more that we can on our own.”
The Bavaria Award is presented by Ceres and Trillium Asset Management each year to honor an inspiring leader working to move capital markets toward a system that balances economic prosperity with social and environmental concerns. The award honors the memory of Joan Bavaria, a pioneer of social investing who founded Ceres and Trillium Asset Management. Past recipients include Phil Angelides, President of Riverview Capital Investments, Tessa Tennant, President and co-founder of The Ice Organisation, and William Foote, founder and CEO of Root Capital.
About Ceres
Ceres is an advocate for sustainability leadership. Ceres mobilizes a powerful coalition of investors, companies and public interest groups to accelerate and expand the adoption of sustainable business practices and solutions to build a healthy global economy. Ceres directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a network of over 100 institutional investors with collective assets totaling more than $12 trillion. Ceres also directs Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), an advocacy coalition of nearly 30 businesses committed to working with policy makers to pass meaningful energy and climate legislation. For more information, visit www.ceres.org or follow on Twitter @CeresNews.
About Trillium Asset Management
Trillium is the oldest investment advisor exclusively focused on sustainable and responsible investing. Trillium manages over $1.5 billion in assets for clients including individuals, foundations, endowments, religious institutions, and other non-profits. To learn more about Trillium, please visit www.trilliuminvest.com.
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