Leaders in ESG/Responsible Investment, Danielle Welsh-Rose – abrdn – Head of Sustainability APAC

Brief overview of your career to date.

I’ve been working in finance sector corporate sustainability, consulting and sustainable investing roles for my entire career – more than 20 years. I started out at a super fund in a greeenfields corporate sustainability role (possibly the first, or definitely one of the first roles of its kind globally). Then whilst at the same firm transitioned into their investment team in a sustainability investing role. I’ve also run my own consulting practice and been the Head of ESG for VFMC before starting at my current firm, abrdn. Over the past 3 years I have supported the business in a greenfields APAC ESG role before progressing into my current hybrid global and APAC role.

Over my career I’ve obtained post-graduate qualifications in environmental studies, finance and the law. Until recently, there were no ESG-specific qualifications available, so I had to cobble together my education as a kind of ‘build-your-own adventure’!

What do you love most about working in the ESG / Responsible Investment industry?

The people, it is always the people! The ESG industry is full of people who really believe in what they do, who are highly collaborative across firms and industries, and who are generally a delight to work with. We are all in it together. I also love working in an industry where my values align with my work – I can definitely bring my whole self to work.

You have worked at several leading organizations. Which position and organization had the most positive impact on your career and why?

Every role and every organization I’ve worked at has had a positive, but different impact on my career. As one of the original ESG professionals, until my current role I’ve had both the good fortune and the pain of generally being the sole ESG or sustainability professional in the organization. While this has presented various challenges, especially in the early years of ESG, it has meant that I’ve been exposed to the whole value chain of ESG, and have really honed my stakeholder management and influencing skills!

I’ve particularly enjoyed my time at abrdn because the timing of when I joined over three years ago is around when ESG really moved into the mainstream. In this role it is never a question of ‘should we be addressing ESG?’, it is a question of ‘how can we do more?’. It is finally a rewarding time to work in ESG!

What would you say are the most important transferable skills that you have developed through your education and your work experience?

Many senior ESG professionals have extremely transferable skills. Our roles tend to be both inward and outward-focused, so in addition to technical skills we tend to have a good grasp of regulation, reputation considerations, peer and industry group activity, research and best practice, and issues around risk. We also tend to have well-developed strategic skills, corporate governance expertise, stakeholder management and influencing, and change management. Personally, my work experience and education has shaped me into a generalist, with particular strengths in strategy, stakeholder management and influence.

During your career have you ever had a mentor? If so, how do you manage this relationship?

I’ve never had an official mentor. I’m a believer in establishing and nurturing a small, informal network of trusted people who have strengths and expertise across a breadth of areas, who you can lean on for advice, guidance or sponsorship as needed. I think it is important for this network to be a combination of colleagues within your own organization, and those sitting outside of it. In a general sense, especially as a woman, it is far more important to have sponsors or champions – those people that will actively advocate for you – than it is to have mentors.

What do you believe are the attributes that make a successful leader?

I think a range of different people from different backgrounds and with different leadership styles can make great leaders. Having said that, I think there are a handful of attributes that are essential to all great leaders – integrity, honesty, authenticity, courage of conviction, carrying a sense of pride in your work, and being able to trust in your people.

What do you see as being the biggest challenges facing ESG professionals going forward?

There are quite a few challenges, so I won’t attempt to capture them all! One of the biggest challenges we face is this global push to categorize a hugely diverse set of investment strategies into a narrowly-defined ‘ESG’ box through the politicization of ESG but also through a general lack of understanding from segments of the market. There are also challenges around the increasing role of regulation, product labeling and data standardization, which all have an important role to play, but in some circumstances present a risk that we be missing the forest for the trees. Humanity is facing existential crisis through multiple sustainability challenges – this presents us with significant investment risk but also significant investment opportunity, and alongside this a real opportunity to create positive change.

If you could give one piece of advice about developing a career within the Responsible Investment / ESG industry, what would it be?

When starting out, spend the time reaching out to industry professionals to build your network, relationships are vital.

For any enquiries on recruitment please contact Simon Gvalda on 0412 122 593 or at simon@kaizenrecruitment.com.au and Gerard Walker on 0412 123 587 or at gerard@kaizenrecruitment.com.au.

Kaizen Recruitment specialises financial services recruitment across funds management, wealth management, superannuation, investment consulting and insurance. We are based in Melbourne and Sydney. For assistance or further information please telephone our office at +61 3 9095 7157 or submit an online form.

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