Building and Upskilling the Next Generation of ESG Talent

Christine Yu is Head of Innovation at HK-based Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFi), a platform at the intersection of innovation, education and impact investing in Asia. She leads SFi’s education platform, New Impact Society.
Christine’s global career spans over 20 years across impact finance, venture building and the international capital markets. Prior to Christine’s venture building experience, the majority of Christine’s career was in the institutional debt capital markets at HSBC in both Hong Kong and New York. During her tenure at HSBC, she navigated through the rise of the Asian debt markets, including the first private sector green bond in Asia Pacific, which prompted her move into impact investing.
Passionate about investing, financial inclusion, financial literacy and the gender lens space, Christine is Co-Founder of Sophia, a financial education platform which helps companies empower their female customers and employees to tackle the gender investing gap and build wealth. She also co-founded a non-profit organization called Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$ (www.gjwhf.org) focused on helping women prioritise their financial futures through community.
She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I want to continue doing the powerful work needed in mobilizing capital for good towards impact investments in Asia Pacific: whether that is empowering a new generation of impact investors or helping build out the sustainable finance talent value chain.

Leonie leads Ogier Sustainable Investment Consulting business working with asset managers, asset owners and corporates to develop sustainability investment strategies across public and private markets in APAC, Europe, and North America.

She is a co-founder and prior Partner of Sustainable Finance Initiative in Hong Kong, working to mobilise private investor capital for positive impact. Prior to this Leonie was Head of Impact Innovation and Investment at the Zoological Society of London where she developed the Rhino Impact Bond (also known as the Wildlife Conservation Bond) concept and secured feasibility funding from UN, GEF and private donors to test the concept. RIB was the first financial vehicle of its kind focused on directing impact capital to help save species on the edge of extinction. Leonie was a Manager at Deloitte UK in Sustainability Services and prior Analyst at Citi Ireland. Leonie has fourteen years’ experience, combining sustainability and finance.

Serena is currently working as Executive Director in the Sustainable Finance team within the Institutional Banking Group of DBS Hong Kong.

Prior to DBS, Serena was the Head of ESG Funding Asia for Home Credit, an international consumer finance provider that focuses on responsible lending to people with little or no credit history.

Serena also has over 15 years of experience with Goldman Sachs treasury and market operations in Singapore and Hong Kong, with focus on liquidity management and payment transaction surveillance across the APAC region.

Ms. Mak is also serving as Board Governor & Honorary Secretary at Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong) with a focus on Green and Sustainable Finance development in Asia.

Ms. Serena Mak holds both MSc Investment Management and BBA (Hons) from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Peter Stein is CEO and Managing Director of the Private Wealth Management Association, an industry association whose mission is to foster the growth and development of the private wealth management industry in Hong Kong.

Prior to joining PWMA in December 2016, Peter worked for UBS AG, where he served as Head of Regulatory Advisory & Relations, Asia Pacific and before that as Head of Group Governmental Affairs for Asia Pacific. Until 2011, Peter was a senior editor and reporter in Hong Kong with The Wall Street Journal, where he worked for more than 20 years, including as the Journal’s Hong Kong Bureau Chief and as Managing Editor of the Journal’s Asian edition. Born in New York City, he graduated with a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I hope to see
– the incorporation of sustainable investment options made mandatory for all MPF accounts
– sustainable investment targets set for the management of Hong Kong’s financial reserves

I plan to have investments incorporating ESG principles comprise at least 25% of my personal investments.

EurIng. Henry K. H. Wang is an international executive, author & speaker with extensive high level business experience globally. He is President of Gate International & was a former director of both Shell China and SABIC in Riyadh. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts FRSA & Fellow of Institute of Chemical Engineering. He is a board member of London University SOAS Advisory Board. He has been invited to join the G20/B20 Global Taskforces & Action Councils plus the IASE Advisory Committee.

He has published over 100 papers and speeches plus 6 books globally. His negotiation paper was selected as one of Top Five UK Management Papers of the Year. He has been invited to speak at international conferences, leading universities and business schools globally. He is also undertaking charity work on leadership and sustainability globally.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Actively contribute to ESG improvements globally by participating in the G20/B20 ESG in Business Action Council.
Support ESG improvements in Asia & Hong Kong by participating in the IASE Advisory Committee plus giving keynote speeches & lectures .

Actively contribute to Climate and Sustainability improvements globally by participating in the G20/B20 International Energy, Climate Sustainability and Resource Taskforce under the leadership of the G20 Presidency of India.