In the realm of investor relations, Bennett Freeman doesn't think of himself as a money guy.
"I'm more of a policy person - strategy foreign policy," says Freeman. "I'm very much an advocate at heart."
So it's Freeman's 20-plus years of corporate, diplomatic and consulting experience that he's parlaying into his new role as senior vice president for social research and policy
at Calvert, the nation's largest family of socially responsible mutual funds, which he assumed in April after consulting on global corporate responsibility at Burson-
Marsteller for three years.
"I'm trying to bring to Calvert that personal experience," he says. "I'm an insider in many ways, and I bring an inside view of how many multi-nationals think and act on a
number of issues. From a consultant with big multi-nationals, NGOs, government, and GE, what I find fascinating is the chance to work on very similar issues and many new
ones from a platform of an investor."
One of Freeman's goals is to further Calvert's two main initiatives: Generating good financial return for investors and doing so on the basis of SRI (socially responsible
investing) while aligning those issues with shareholders. "I'm working not only on these evolving set of issues but even more so coming at it from a different vantage point of an
investor," he explains.
Freeman arrives during a time when there has been growing interest from individual and institutional investors in socially responsible investing, which he attributes to the
existence of major public pension funds in SRI management.
It doesn't hurt that Calvert is located in Bethesda, Maryland, right next door to the nation's policymakers. "The fact that we are a half of a dozen subway stops to Washington
gives us a unique vantage point in the SRI world to be a force," he says.
And Freeman knows a thing or two about Washington. He held three positions in the State Department during the Clinton Administration, most notably as Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. He was integral in launching the Voluntary Principles of Security and Human Rights, the first human rights standard
forged by governments, companies and NGOs for the oil, gas and mining sectors.
"That was a major experience for me in working in one context with multi-national businesses, human rights and the government at the same time," he says. "Our [Calvert] view
of the world has been informed by being in Washington and I'm hoping to bring in my background to that regard. It's impossible to be in the corporate responsibility business in
the early 21st century without being in the SRI business at the same time."
Contact: [email protected].