Attendees will hear from leading voices across asset management, insurance, and policy as they explore what’s working, what’s not, and what’s needed next. This is a must-attend event for investment professionals seeking to integrate sustainability into their portfolios with more rigor, precision, and foresight.

Keynote Address

We are pleased to welcome Xinxin Wang, CFA of MSCI as our keynote speaker who will set the stage for a thoughtful and engaging start to the conference.

Panel 1 – Ground Truth: Data, Technology, and the Future of Climate Risk Assessment 

The ability to price and manage climate risk depends on the quality and interpretation of the data. This panel will explore the evolving tools and challenges of gathering, analyzing, and applying physical risk data across asset classes. From AI-driven models and satellite imaging to on-the-ground reporting, our panelists will examine where technology excels, where it falls short, and how financial professionals can work around gaps in data quality and availability.

Topics will include the transmission of physical risk through financial markets, second- and third-order economic effects, and what asset managers can learn from the insurance industry. Panelists will also explore the regulatory and political influences on climate data collection and the opportunities for innovation in this space.

Madison Condon | Boston University School of Law

Richard Fontes, CFA | Greenbridge Advisors (moderator)

Kingsley Greenland, CFA | Verisk

Jane Smyth, Ph.D. | Man Group

Panel 2 – Adaptation Policy & Built-Environment Regulation: Where Are We Going?

In prior years, climate adaptation policy and planning for cities like Boston moved toward integrating resilience into urban infrastructure and coastal landscapes in a holistic manner. Despite rising political will, this process remained constrained by fragmented risk data, slow permitting, and limited capital mobilization. While Boston’s approach has continued to evolve, ‘business as usual’ still implies rising climate-related economic damages. While the shift in both priorities and policies under the second Trump administration has increased uncertainty, it has not changed facts on the ground—meaning that states, cities, and private-sector actors must assume a more central role in confronting climate risk. This challenge may also open the door to new opportunities: international experience may highlight scalable, lower-cost solutions and other avenues for public-private cooperation.

 Josh Doppelt | CDP

Jake Hartnett, CFA | The World Bank (moderator)

Delaney Morris-Landry | City of Boston Planning Department

Siqi Zheng | MIT

Panel 3 – Transition and Physical Risks in the Built Environment

Floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other natural calamities due to climate change are becoming more frequent posing risks to physical structures e.g. houses, buildings, data centers, energy/water networks. Concurrently, transitioning to a low carbon economy to avoid financial losses, maintain market position, and meet growing stakeholder (investor, consumer, regulator) demands for climate action brings its own set of policy, technology, market and reputational risks.

How do asset managers across asset classes and insurers respond to these twin challenges? 

To discuss this, please join our panel comprising of built environment practitioners, each of whom brings a unique perspective to this discussion from their vantage point.

Jonson Berman | Suffolk Technologies

Rob Fernandez | Breckinridge Capital Advisors

Nick Hertlein, MD | Stonepeak

Dave Nicholson | Aon

Kamal Suppal, CFA | Emerging Markets Alternatives, LLC (moderator)

**Please note that this event is BYOB (Bring Your Own Reusable Water Bottle)** 

Agenda

11:00AM - 11:30AM      Registration (lunch will not be provided)

11:30AM - 12:15PM      Keynote Address

12:15PM - 1:00PM        Panel 1

1:00PM - 1:15PM          Audience Q&A

1:15PM - 1:35PM          Networking Break

1:35PM - 2:20PM          Panel 2

2:20PM - 2:35PM          Audience Q&A

2:35PM - 2:55PM          Networking Break

2:55PM - 3:40PM          Panel 3

3:40PM - 3:55PM          Audience Q&A

3:55PM - 5:00PM          Networking at High Street Place

Speakers 

Jonson Berman

Speaker info coming soon!

Madison Condon

Madison Condon is an Associate Professor at Boston University School of Law, where she teaches courses on corporate law, environmental law, and climate risk and financial institutions. Her work at the intersection of climate science and financial reporting has been relied upon by a range of governmental authorities, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Professor Condon holds a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Columbia University, a master's in law and diplomacy from Tufts University’s Fletcher School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Josh Doppelt

Josh Doppelt is an Associate Director at CDP, where he manages existing relationships with financial institutions across North America. As a generalist, Josh serves as a primary point of contact for clients seeking to integrate environmental data into strategic and investment decision-making. Prior to joining CDP, he spent 3.5 years at Moody's, overseeing municipal finance relationships across the northeastern region of the United States. Josh holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Rutgers University.

Rob Fernandez

Rob is director, sustainable research. In his role, Rob leads Breckinridge’s ongoing sustainable investing and engagement efforts, and performs sustainable research analysis. He holds a B.S. from Boston College, an MBA from the Boston University School of Management and a Master of Liberal Arts in Sustainability from the Harvard University Extension School. He is a CFA® charterholder and is an FSA Credential holder.

Richard Fontes, CFA

Richard A. Fontes is a freelance consultant advising financial services firms and ESG data and service providers on product management and innovation. In this role, Rich helps conceptualize and implement ESG data and framework integrations into the various technology platforms and services offered to financial services firms. Rich also assists with the formulation and launch of new business lines and products made possible by the onset of the transition finance ecosystem such as carbon markets solutions, impact investing solutions, and transition finance-oriented financial instruments. Rich’s practice also focuses on helping corporations grapple with the integration of sustainability considerations into their overarching corporate strategy and governance structures.

Rich believes that financial services firms and financial markets play a pivotal role in addressing the climate crisis as well as the pressing environmental and social justice concerns of the modern era. He seeks to develop innovative products and services that empower investors to mitigate ESG risks and identify and capture ESG opportunities.

Rich has held various analytical, consulting product, and project management-oriented roles in his 15-year career in the financial services industry, which includes time at State Street, State Street Global Advisors, Wellington Management and Fidelity Investments. Rich is also an avid supporter of the ESG academic community, having served as a researcher on various ESG initiatives at Boston University. Rich is also a frequent guest lecturer on ESG topics at various academic institutions and he mentors several young ESG professionals.

Rich is a CFA Charterholder and Chair of CFA Boston’s Sustainable Investment Taskforce.

Rich holds a MBA from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University and a BSBA from Merrimack College.

Kingsley Greenland, CFA

 Kingsley is the currently Head of Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Development at Verisk. He previously led the Mortgage Risk Analytics practice, and has subject matter expertise in natural catastrophe modeling, insurance, climate risk, and banking. 

Jake Hartnett

 Jake Hartnett, CFA, is Founding Principal of Taiga Strategic Advisors, a consultancy advising governments and investors on industrial strategy and policy with a focus on critical minerals and the energy transition. Previously, he served as a Consultant to the World Bank's Finance, Competitiveness & Investment and Environment Global Departments, where he led value-chain development strategy and lending program design across mining, forestry, and agriculture.

A Boston native, Jake has broad international experience in emerging-market private equity in Eastern European and Asian markets, as well as in economic advisory for national and subnational governments on enhancing industrial competitiveness through public investment and investment climate reform.

He holds an M.A. in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS and a B.A. in English from Hamilton College. He is a CFA Charterholder and has completed the CFA Certificate in Climate Risk, Valuation and Investing. 

Nick Hertlein

Nick is a Managing Director with Stonepeak. Prior to joining Stonepeak, Nick was a member of the Global Industrials group at Credit Suisse, where he focused on the business services sector. Nick received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, Finance, and Business Economics from the University of Cincinnati.

Delaney Morris-Landry

Delaney Bianca Morris-Landry (she/her) works at the intersection of climate and culture. With over 10 years experience in the cultural arts field and in the climate and urban planning realm she has cultivated a diverse set of skills and a network that spans across the globe. Currently she works as a Senior Climate & Coastal Resilience Infrastructure Delivery Project Manager at the City of Boston’s Planning Department. In this role she advances the Climate Ready Boston initiative from planning to implementation by completing the design, permitting, and construction of coastal resilience solutions for future sea level rise and storm surge events in the City of Boston.

 Delaney has worked with a range of organizations including the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT); Rockaways Initiative for Sustainability & Equity (RISE); The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS NYC); the City of Everett, and the City of Tacoma, Washington; Fundacíon Tlaloc in Mexico; and countless other organizations across the globe. She has been a featured speaker at many conferences including a NATO hosted Resilience conference, the Sandy +10 Conference in NYC hosted by Columbia University, and most recently the NYWEA 96th Annual Technical Conference. She will be a future panelist representing the City of Boston at the 2026 National Adaptation Forum. She has appeared on live television several times speaking about her work and has been quoted in a vast number of press pieces throughout the years.

 She holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Systems and an MS in Urban Placemaking & Management from Pratt Institute. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Live & Performing Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago, a certificate in Emergency Management & Disaster Recovery from UC-Irvine, and she is a certified WEDG Associate. Her work has also been nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards. 

Dave Nicholson

Dave Nicholson is an Executive Managing Director with Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions team. In his role as Global Client Leader, Dave is responsible for driving innovation to meet the evolving needs of Aon Re’s clients globally. The Client Segment model is designed to blend Aon’s global capabilities with local expertise and relationships to ensure our clients have the clarity and confidence to profitably grow their business.

Dave also serves as account executive for some of Aon’s global clients. In that capacity he is responsible for advising on reinsurance, capital management and growth strategies. He leads teams that deliver solutions supported by both traditional reinsurance and alternative capital.

Dave facilitates governance of Aon’s Reinsurance business through his participation on the Reinsurance Growth Committee and the Reinsurance Global Risk Committee (ReGRC).

Dave is based in Boston and began his career at Aon in 2007. When not advising clients, Dave enjoys spending time with his wife Laura, their three children and their dog.

Dave received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Middlebury College. He also completed the Tuck Business Bridge Program, an intensive total-immersion program taught by MBA faculty from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Jane Smyth, Ph.D.

Jane is a Climate Scientist on the Responsible Investment research team at Man Group and works on a range of problems related to climate risk, adaptation, and decarbonization.Prior to joining Man Group in 2023, Jane was an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying the response of precipitation extremes to warming. Previously, she completed a Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University, with a certificate in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Jane received a bachelor’s degree in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University. 

Kamal Suppal, CFA

FSA Credential Holder, Chief Investment Auditor, Emerging Markets Alternatives, Boston.

Kamal Suppal is Chief Investment Auditor at Emerging Markets Alternatives, a Boston-based firm that has, since 2017, provided independent due diligence (aka investment audit /second-party assessment) of institutional-quality emerging managers enabling them to fast-track capital raising from Asia, Middle-East and other global institutional investors. Previously, an alternatives research consultant at NEPC and a portfolio manager at Bank of America Private Bank, Kamal has extensive experience in alternatives product development (including sustainable investments) and go-to-market strategy. A CFA Charter holder, Kamal has earned the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) credential from IFRS as well as a certificate in UN SDG Impact Measurement & Management from Duke University.

Xinxin Wang, CFA

Xinxin Wang is an Executive Director at MSCI Research and leads the geospatial and physical risks applied research. She has served on the MSCI Executive Diversity Council, cofounded the firm’s Asian Support Network and headed the Boston office. Xinxin’s prior experiences include Credit Suisse, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and Fannie Mae. Xinxin holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and graduated from Harvard Business School’s General Management Program. She is a CFA® charterholder and GARP-certified FRM®. 

Siqi Zheng

Siqi Zheng is the STL Champion Professor of Urban and Real Estate Sustainability at MIT, where she serves as Faculty Director of the MIT Center for Real Estate and Director of the MIT Sustainable Urbanization Lab. Her research sits at the intersection of urban economics, environmental policy, and real estate markets, with a particular focus on how climate risk — including flood exposure, sea-level rise, and extreme weather — is reflected in asset prices, insurance markets, and investment decisions.

Prof. Zheng's work on climate and real estate spans both the physical and financial dimensions of resilience: from measuring how coastal flood risk is capitalized into property values and insurance costs, to assessing the policy and market mechanisms to incentivize effective resilience investments in real estate markets. Her research has been supported by Fannie Mae, the World Bank, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and other leading institutions, and has appeared in top peer-reviewed journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Human Behaviour, and Journal of Urban Economics, Real Estate Economics.

She is currently the President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association and serves as the Editor of the Journal of Regional Science. 

When and Where

Date and Time: Thursday, April 16, 2026 from 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Location: 100 High Street, 9th Floor, Boston, MA 02110

Pricing

In-Person Registration

Member Registration | $50.00

Candidate Member Registration | $40.00

Student Member Registration | $40.00

Non-Member Registration | $60.00

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsoring the 2025–2026 Sustainable Investing Half-Day Conferences offers your firm a strategic opportunity to connect with professionals shaping the future of sustainable finance—those focused on climate risk, transition finance, impact investing, and integrating sustainability at scale. Sponsorship positions your firm as a trusted leader committed to ethical stewardship, innovation, and long-term value creation, while aligning your brand with an institution dedicated to integrity, lifelong learning, and global best practices. It affirms your dedication to driving positive societal and environmental outcomes and enhances visibility among values-driven peers, reinforcing your firm’s role in advancing sustainable investing.

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