Karen Shackleton is the founder and head of Pensions for Purpose, a collaborative initiative to promote understanding of impact investment for institutional investors. This is in addition to a portfolio career which includes roles as investment adviser to four local authority pension funds, as well as Chair and Non-Executive Director roles. She has spent most of her career in investment, including time as a fund manager, client relationship manager and chief executive of an Investment Advisory Firm. She is a frequent speaker on the institutional investor circuit and a passionate advocate for knowledge and action in impact investment.

A fast-paced discussion of a career driven by ambition and dedication, which is now evident in the Pensions for Purpose created by Karen which is creating tremendous impact among the pension fund community.

Thomas Knowles is Managing Partner of Gratitude Railroad. Gratitude Railroad is a community driven impact investing firm championing innovative businesses that generate compelling financial returns and enduring impact. 

Lindsey Bass is Head of Marketing and in charge of Fundraising at ImpactA Global, a position she has held since late 2023. She is a passionate advocate for more diversity in the investment industry as well as emerging managers. She has been active on the Asset Owner Diversity Charter as an Advisory Board Member, and in the Diversity Project – investment industry, where she has co-led the Mental Health Workstream as well as other responsibilities. She has also been an early and consistent supporter of Fiftyfaces – for which we are hugely grateful.

George Graham is Director and Head of Fund at South Yorkshire Pensions Authority. He has spent a long career in public service, culminating in the last 8 years at SYPA, and prior to that he spent his career in various finance roles at Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Chorley, Lancashire and LPP. He is Governor and Vice Chair of Barnsley College as well as Independent Chair of the Local Pension Board at Lincolnshire County Council

James Fletcher is the founder of Ethos Investment Management, based in Salt Lake City. He has over 19 years of investing in Emerging Market and was previously Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the $1billion EM Small and Mid-cap fund at APG Asset Management. 

Karey Barker  is Founder and Managing Director of Cross Creek, a late-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She has over 25 years of broad public and private investment experience and holds a number of Board roles, including ARUP Laboratories. 

Anastasia Guha is a sustainable investing expert at Redington with over 17 years of experience.  She advises on sustainable investing strategy and beliefs, best practices for integrating ESG factors into investment projects, engagement and ESG reporting and measurement. 

Julie Koeninger is Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager in Agriculture at Manulife Investment Management, where she serves as the senior agricultural portfolio manager for the Hancock Timberland and Farmland Fund and leads business development for Manulife Investment Management global agriculture strategy.  She has over 30 years of experience in agriculture investing, having worked in a series of roles at other institutions prior to joining Manulife and led the first ever securitization of US Agricultural mortgages. 

“An investment in education gives the best returns” Benjamin Franklin

Tony Miller is managing director of Excolere Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on the education space.  He holds a number of board roles including Apollo Education group, ACT, Criteria Corp and Go Guardian.  He was co-founder of the Vistria Group, a Chicago based private equity firm and prior to that was Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer in the US Department of Education