BOARD AND COMMITTEES

Hilary is a partner at KPMG UK, leading the ESG reporting practice. She advises companies on the implementation of voluntary and mandatory sustainability reporting. In that role she is responsible for building KPMG’s brand and voice in the market for sustainability reporting and shaping the direction of the firm’s vision for the future of reporting, with an emphasis on meeting investors’ information needs.  

Hilary is the Chair of the CFA UK Board. She has volunteered with CFA UK since 2013, having served on the Professionalism Steering Committee and Financial Reporting and Analysis Committee. She has also been involved in the value of the investment profession work, focusing on capital allocation. Hilary was appointed as treasurer from 2021, before being elected Chair in 2023. 

Hilary previously was PwC’s head of global investor engagement, managing the firm’s relationships with the investment community. Before that, she worked at the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), where she led their investor engagement programme and the fair value measurement project. She has a background in business and asset valuation. 

Sylvia is Chief Operating Officer at Kimura Capital LLP and Chief Investment Officer at Dhow Advisory Ltd. FZCO.

Sylvia has over 30 years of investment industry experience on the buy-side, in equities and sustainable investing. She spent 25 years managing a wide range of funds, including pensions, life funds, endowments, unit trusts and hedge funds at firms such as Baring Asset Management, Hermes Investment Management, Ennismore Fund Management and Equitile Investments. Sylvia has also enjoyed C-Suite roles at Alternative Investments boutiques and been responsible for the design and implementation of ESG integrated investment processes in a wide range of asset classes including Private Markets and Trade Finance. Sylvia is recipient of the 2022 CFA Inspirational Leader Award for Education and is a regular contributor to several investment industry stakeholder consultations and publications on regulatory standards and disclosures in Sustainability, ESG and Impact Investing. In addition to serving as a CFA Society of the UK Board Director, Sylvia Chairs the Society’s Examinations and Education Committee, and is a member of the Sustainability Committee. As inaugural Chair of the CFA UK Certificate in ESG Investing Panel, Sylvia was instrumental in leading practitioners in the design, development and launch of the Certificate in ESG Investing. This qualification is now under the auspices of the CFA Institute’s ESG Advisory Panel, of which Sylvia is a member. Sylvia also serves as a member of the PRI Global Policy Reference Group and is a member of the Alternative Investment Management Association’s Global Responsible Investment Committee, where she contributed to the AIMA ESG Handbook 2023. 

Mark has over 20 years’ experience in the investment banking, asset management and real estate industries having worked in London, New York, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Mark is currently the Finance Director of Sustainable Development Capital ("SDCL").  SDCL is a multinational asset manager that specialises in environmental infrastructure, energy efficiency and decarbonisation. Prior to joining SDCL, Mark was a member of the executive team responsible for the finance and operations at Atlantic Leaf Properties which was owned by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. He started his career in financial services at PwC before spending time at Credit Suisse in New York.  He has extensive experience in asset management, corporate finance and capital raising and specialises in multinational corporate structures and tax.

Mark is also a Board member of the Quintin Hogg Trust, a charity supporting the advance of education of students at the University of Westminster and is a qualified chartered accountant as well as being a CFA charter holder and has a Business Science (Business Finance Honours) degree from the University of Cape Town.

Elena is the Head of ESG Client Experience at BlueBay Asset Management, focusing on effectively articulating the firm’s ESG proposition with investors and working with investment teams to communicate their ESG integration and engagement efforts. Elena is a co-chair of RBC BlueBay’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Forum and a member of the Corporate Responsibility Committee and the Charity Forum.  

She joined BlueBay in 2016 and has previously held roles at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Candriam Investors Group. Elena’s academic qualifications include Masters degrees in Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance and Banking, Finance and Risk Management. Elena is a CFA charterholder, a CAIA charterholder, a CIPM designation holder and has obtained the IMC Certificate and the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing. 

Katerina is a partner at J Stern & Co, an independent private investment office. Her role encompasses wide ranging responsibilities that include managing client assets and leading the firm’s ESG strategy. Prior to joining J Stern & Co she was a Senior Global Equities Fund Manager at Allianz Global Investors. Katerina has two decades of professional experience within the industry, with an international career that has spanned the UK, Germany as well as the US.  

Katerina has volunteered for the society since 2012 and is a founding member of the CFA UK’s Diversity & Inclusion Network. She is a CFA Charterholder and holds an MSc in International Securities, Investment and Banking from the ICMA Centre at the University of Reading and a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Bath.