Simpson brings 35 years of international investment and academic expertise to lead Franklin Templeton’s global stewardship, sustainability and ESG strategy

Franklin Templeton today announced the appointment of Anne Simpson as Global Head of Sustainability, a newly created position responsible for driving Franklin Templeton’s overall strategic direction for stewardship, sustainability and business strategy. environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing globally. Simpson joins the company from the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), where she served as Chief Investment Officer for Board Governance and Sustainability, leading the development and execution of CalPERS&CloseCurlyQuote ; Award-winning sustainable investing strategy in a US$500 billion global portfolio1 with 80% of assets managed internally. She will report to President and CEO Jenny Johnson and join the company on February 22, 2022, based in California.

“A hire of this significance demonstrates our commitment to being a global leader in stewardship and sustainability, which recognizes that our choices as responsible investors have a profound effect on the world and its future,” Johnson said. “We are confident that Anne’s expertise and leadership will take our company-wide efforts in sustainable investing to the next level. While the strength of our organization lies in the breadth and autonomy of our specialist investment managers, we also recognize that an organization of our size can have a major impact by working collectively on sustainability issues.We are delighted to have Anne leading our efforts in this area of crucially important.”

Simpson commented, “I am thrilled to join Franklin Templeton, a world-renowned investment firm with a 75-year track record shaped by strong values, innovation and a long-term belief. I look forward to being part of its next phase of growth and evolution in sustainable investing. 2021 has been a year in which the asset management industry has taken on board the challenges of sustainability and the opportunities they present in global markets. There is new momentum in finance, driven by policymakers in key European markets, net zero commitments from COP 26 and widespread investor recognition’ role in advancing progress in sustainable investing, including in important areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion, to drive shared prosperity.”

Simpson added: “I’m truly inspired by Jenny’s vision as a third-generation Franklin Templeton householder who brings personal commitment to the stewardship and sustainability agenda. I’m excited to begin to work closely with Jenny, her management team and the firm’s accomplished specialist investment managers, to implement the firm’s sustainable investing priorities.”

Simpson brings extensive international expertise to this new role at Franklin Templeton. At CalPERS, she served as a member of its Investment Management Committee, which determines asset and liability management, capital allocation, risk management and operations across global public equities, fixed income, private equities, private credit, real assets and infrastructure. Additionally, she was the inaugural chair of Climate Action 100+ and its Asia Advisory Group, a $60 trillion global investor alliance that CalPERS convened and co-founded. Simpson also led investment office CalPERS’ diversity, equity and inclusion business initiative, including the creation of 3D (Diverse Director DataSource).

Prior to joining CalPERS, Simpson was a Senior Fellow and Lecturer at the Yale School of Management, Head of the Global Corporate Governance Forum at the World Bank, Executive Director of the International Corporate Governance Network, and Co-CEO of Pensions and Investment Research Consultants. (PIRC) Ltd.

In 2019, she was named by Time Magazine as one of 15 women leading the global fight against climate change and in 2020 one of 100 most influential women in American finance by Barron’s (Dow Jones). For 11 consecutive years, from 2010-21, Anne was listed by the National Association of Corporate Directors as one of the 100 most influential people of the year on the board.

Simpson also brings experience in international regulation and policy. She has served on the Investor Advisory Committee of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the Investor Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and the International Financial Reporting Standards Advisory Council. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Official Forum of Monetary Financial Institutions, a member of the Board of Directors of Ceres, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Simpson has published several books in the field, including “The Financial Ecosystem: The Role of Finance in Achieving Sustainability” with Satyajit Bose and Dong Guo of Columbia University (Palgrave MacMillan) and “Fair Shares: The Future of Shareholder Power and Accountability” with Jonathan Charkham (Oxford University Press).

She graduated from Oxford University in the UK, where she studied politics, philosophy and economics, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and was a Slater Fellow at Wellesley College, Massachusetts.

Simpson was recently appointed as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford by the Chancellor and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley Haas Business School as a Lecturer in Sustainable and Impact Finance.

Franklin Templeton’s Commitment to Sustainability

As an active manager, Franklin Templeton prides itself on offering a wide range of sustainable solutions and believes its scale allows it to invest in essential technology that will help each of its boutique managers evaluate investments with an ESG lens. Franklin Templeton is committed to advancing ESG and sustainable investing goals while ensuring those investments are productive, profitable and impactful.

Franklin Templeton has identified climate change as a key strategic priority for the company and has made commitments to the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAMI). Further information on Franklin Templeton’s ESG approach is available at https://www.franklinresources.com/resources/about-us/citizenship.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in more than 165 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better results through expertise in investment management, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the firm brings extensive capabilities in equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternative solutions. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based firm has 75 years of investment experience and over $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2021. For more information, please visit franklinresources.com.

1. CalPERS AUM – https://www.calpers.ca.gov/page/investments

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