Valerie Smith – Chief Sustainability Officer, Citi

 

Val Smith is Managing Director and Citi’s Chief Sustainability Officer. She joined Citi in 2004 and oversees Citi’s global sustainability initiatives, including leading the bank’s Sustainable Progress Strategy and $100 Billion Environmental Finance Goal. Val also serves as an advisor and spokesperson on sustainable finance, climate risk, stakeholder engagement, ESG integration and sustainability trends towards a low carbon economy. Prior to joining Citi, Val spent a decade working in the environmental sector, including the National Audubon Society, Brainerd Foundation, and the Houston Advanced Research Center. She began her career with the U.S. Peace Corps, where she served for two years in Honduras. She serves on the boards of the UN Global Compact US Network and the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, and is a member of the Aspen Institute Leaders Forum. Val earned her MBA from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and her BA from the University of Virginia. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.

 

 

Cecilia Chapiro is the investment advisor for the UNICEF Innovation Fund where she sources investments across developing and emerging economies, targeting early-stage start-ups with open source technology solutions. At UNICEF, Cecilia also manages the blockchain portfolio of investments where she works with tech entrepreneurs as they grow their ventures.

 

Before UNICEF, she founded Yunus & Youth (Y&Y), a social business endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus to accelerate social ventures globally. Through Y&Y, Cecilia has supported the growth of hundreds of social businesses in 44 countries. Cecilia’s work experience comes from the for-profit sector (Johnson & Johnson), the non-profit sector (Junior Achievement, Ashoka, AIESEC), and the international field (Organization of American States, Grameen).

Liz Luckett has an extensive background in technology, data and financial services. Before joining TSEF in 2014, Ms. Luckett created and oversaw Impact Investing at the Pershing Square Foundation where she led mission-aligned investments for the $400M foundation. Prior to that, Ms. Luckett served as Senior Vice President at Citigroup where she built research products and partnerships based on credit card data and led the marketing and product development of all of Citi’s business cards. Before Citi, Ms. Luckett was an entrepreneur, co-founding Fulcrum Analytics (formerly, Cyber Dialogue), a predictive data modeling, market research and software firm. Ms. Luckett began her career with the Gartner Group as a technology analyst focused on data security and leading the practice on industry standards, then joined the Executive Team where she worked on M&A for the company.

 

Martin Torres – MD & Head of Renewables Business, BlackRock