Frank's page
Friday, December 23, 2005
Progress Report
I have been fairly successful at building a network through LinkedIn. It has helped me get back in touch with former colleagues from Schwab and has helped me cement connections with people that serendipity has thrown my way. As far as the numbers go, I have grown the network to 46 connections. Some of the connections are more immediately relevant to my search, while some may never become active users of the service. You never know what might develop but by all accounts, the more effort I put into communicating what I am looking for, the more likely I am to have "luck" work in my favor.
A promising contact has been with San Francisco author and keynote speaker John Renesch who is currently involved in coordinating speakers and participants for the Economie 06 conference. Thanks to John's connections, there is a possibility I might get involved as an organizer for the U.S. affiliate of a Socially Responsible Investment Professional Designation that is taking root in the U.K. Nothing formal yet but keeping an open mind...
I have also found a connection, through a former Schwab colleague, to Tim Freundlich from the Calvert Social Investment Foundation. Although Tim and I have not yet met in person, I have found a wealth of information on his web site http://www.xigi.net/. I will make a point to get together in person with him in the New Year.
Ironically, as soon as I make progress on my search, my situation in my current position is improving quite a bit. After spending some time discussing my long term interests with my manager, it appears that I will be allowed to focus my time at work supporting aspects of the business closely related to the Investment Management process. I will also have an opportunity to acquire cutting edge business analyst skills in developing workflows, requirements, and data integration related to Compliance testing. I can see myself growing in my current role for an extended time.
Although the projects and career path prospects are much improved, there remains a serious gap in the area of values. I was very disappointed when examining the proxy voting record of my employer (all based on Form N-PX public disclosures from the SEC's EDGAR website) and seeing that they had voted with management against nearly every shareholder resolution seeking to improve environmental, labor or other social practices. Passive complicity and continued association, without raising the issue or trying to work to change these practices, is not an option. It is interesting in light of the fact that the Bank overall has made commitments to supporting the environment. I do not intend to "whistleblow" and embarrass anyone in my line of business because the voting practices, though not agreeable to me are perfectly legal and commonplace. Given the onerous record-keeping now required, many fund companies outsource the actual voting of the proxies to a third-party and have a board Proxy committee that gives the vendor guidance. This board committee may not be familiar with the SRI perspective on social proxies and may also be ignorant of the Bank’s position on the environment. I am incredibly privileged to have an opportunity to influence the voting practices behind over $100 billion in assets. I will meditate on this topic and try to find the most productive and desirable outcome to drive towards.
Stay tuned for a future update on my current project with MS Excel macros to make the SEC EDGAR Form N-PX proxy disclosures more user-friendly. As is, I have a few little tricks that can save people time and effort in getting valuable information out of that heap of data. ¶ 3:15 PM 2 comments links to this post
I have been fairly successful at building a network through LinkedIn. It has helped me get back in touch with former colleagues from Schwab and has helped me cement connections with people that serendipity has thrown my way. As far as the numbers go, I have grown the network to 46 connections. Some of the connections are more immediately relevant to my search, while some may never become active users of the service. You never know what might develop but by all accounts, the more effort I put into communicating what I am looking for, the more likely I am to have "luck" work in my favor.
A promising contact has been with San Francisco author and keynote speaker John Renesch who is currently involved in coordinating speakers and participants for the Economie 06 conference. Thanks to John's connections, there is a possibility I might get involved as an organizer for the U.S. affiliate of a Socially Responsible Investment Professional Designation that is taking root in the U.K. Nothing formal yet but keeping an open mind...
I have also found a connection, through a former Schwab colleague, to Tim Freundlich from the Calvert Social Investment Foundation. Although Tim and I have not yet met in person, I have found a wealth of information on his web site http://www.xigi.net/. I will make a point to get together in person with him in the New Year.
Ironically, as soon as I make progress on my search, my situation in my current position is improving quite a bit. After spending some time discussing my long term interests with my manager, it appears that I will be allowed to focus my time at work supporting aspects of the business closely related to the Investment Management process. I will also have an opportunity to acquire cutting edge business analyst skills in developing workflows, requirements, and data integration related to Compliance testing. I can see myself growing in my current role for an extended time.
Although the projects and career path prospects are much improved, there remains a serious gap in the area of values. I was very disappointed when examining the proxy voting record of my employer (all based on Form N-PX public disclosures from the SEC's EDGAR website) and seeing that they had voted with management against nearly every shareholder resolution seeking to improve environmental, labor or other social practices. Passive complicity and continued association, without raising the issue or trying to work to change these practices, is not an option. It is interesting in light of the fact that the Bank overall has made commitments to supporting the environment. I do not intend to "whistleblow" and embarrass anyone in my line of business because the voting practices, though not agreeable to me are perfectly legal and commonplace. Given the onerous record-keeping now required, many fund companies outsource the actual voting of the proxies to a third-party and have a board Proxy committee that gives the vendor guidance. This board committee may not be familiar with the SRI perspective on social proxies and may also be ignorant of the Bank’s position on the environment. I am incredibly privileged to have an opportunity to influence the voting practices behind over $100 billion in assets. I will meditate on this topic and try to find the most productive and desirable outcome to drive towards.
Stay tuned for a future update on my current project with MS Excel macros to make the SEC EDGAR Form N-PX proxy disclosures more user-friendly. As is, I have a few little tricks that can save people time and effort in getting valuable information out of that heap of data. ¶ 3:15 PM 2 comments links to this post
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Greener Holidays
The Holidays are on us and for better or worse, many of us will be going out and spending money on presents for friends and family. In addition to suggesting that everyone make an effort to offer subscriptions to great magazines like Ode, make donations in the name of your gift recipient's favorite non-profit like Amnesty International. or at least try too take sustainability into account when choosing presents, I'd like to offer one more tip for a greener "season of giving":
For a limited time only, San Francisco is offering residents special living Christmas trees that will be planted as neighborhood streettrees after the holidays. When you buy one of these Christmas trees, you're giving a gift that will last for generations.
How it works:You select from three different tree species. The young tree (7-9 feet tall) is delivered to your home for use during the holidays.After the holidays, the tree is picked up and planted in a San Francisco neighborhood that needs more greenery. The price of $90includes free delivery and pickup. For an additional fee, the tree can be planted in front of your home. Supplies are limited andoffered on a first-come first-served basis, so please sign up early.
Visit: http://sfenvironment.com/greenchristmas/
Bruce DeMartini Thoreau Center Programs
Thoreau Center for SustainabilityPresidio Building 1016San Francisco, CA 94129
bruce@thoreau.org file://www.thoreau.org/ 415-561-7823
The Thoreau Center is a project of the Tides Family of Organizations. ¶ 8:42 PM 0 comments links to this post
For a limited time only, San Francisco is offering residents special living Christmas trees that will be planted as neighborhood streettrees after the holidays. When you buy one of these Christmas trees, you're giving a gift that will last for generations.
How it works:You select from three different tree species. The young tree (7-9 feet tall) is delivered to your home for use during the holidays.After the holidays, the tree is picked up and planted in a San Francisco neighborhood that needs more greenery. The price of $90includes free delivery and pickup. For an additional fee, the tree can be planted in front of your home. Supplies are limited andoffered on a first-come first-served basis, so please sign up early.
Visit: http://sfenvironment.com/greenchristmas/
Bruce DeMartini Thoreau Center Programs
Thoreau Center for SustainabilityPresidio Building 1016San Francisco, CA 94129
bruce@thoreau.org file://www.thoreau.org/ 415-561-7823
The Thoreau Center is a project of the Tides Family of Organizations. ¶ 8:42 PM 0 comments links to this post
