Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 51.92
Liaison Jonathan Lantz-Trissel
Submission Date July 26, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Eastern Mennonite University
PA-8: Committee on Investor Responsibility

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 2.00 Daryl Bert
Vice President of Finance
Business Affairs
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a formally established and active committee on investor responsibility (CIR) that makes recommendations to fund decision-makers on socially and environmentally responsible investment opportunities across asset classes?:
Yes

The charter or mission statement of the CIR or other body which reflects social and environmental concerns or a brief description of how the CIR is tasked to address social and environmental concerns:

Mennonite Education Agency Investment Fund LLC: Provides a perpetual source of support (within the parameters of socially responsible investing) to the endowed and scholarship programs of Mennonite Church USA institutions.


Does the CIR include staff representation?:
Yes

Does the CIR include faculty representation?:
No

Does the CIR include student representation?:
No

Members of the CIR, including affiliations and role (e.g. student, faculty, staff, alumni):

Mennonite Education Agency Investment Committee Members:
Phil Rich, Chair & Alum
Jim Histand, retired VP of Finance
Barry Bartel, Alum
John Liechty, Alum
Bart Miller, Alum
JB Miller, Alum
Katie Villegas, Mennonite Church Constituent
Aaron Ziulkowski, Mennonite Church Constituent
Linwood Rush, Mennonite Church Constituent


Examples of CIR actions during the previous three years:

Oct 17-18, 2014 – in reference to hiring a new private equity manager. Action #1: That the MEA Investment Committee commits to a $3 million investment in DBL Partners Venture Capital Fund III (Background: DBL Investors (Double Bottom Line) is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco that invests in areas of impact, healthcare, information technology, sustainable products/services and cleantech investing. The firm focuses on opportunities where it believes the financial performance and social impact are connected, and that each factor reinforces the other in accelerating the growth and success of a business. )

· May 15, 2015 – Action #1: To adopt amendments to the MEA Investment Fund Statement of Investment Objectives and Policies in the red-lined version with adjustments as discussed. (The investment policy statement was amended to include additional information on stewardship investing. See Appendix D on the 4th attachment)

· September 19, 2016 – in reference to hiring another new private equity manager. Action #1: That the MEA Investment Committee invests $2 milliong in SJF Ventures IV (Background: SJF is an equity firm that incorporates mission impact in investment strategy. Its industry focus is asset recovery and resue (e.g. recycling computers). SJF has Mercer’s (MEA Investment Fund’s consultant) highest ESG rating of one.

· February 24-25, 2017 – Action #4: That the MEA Investment Committee recommends the appointment of Aaron Ziulkowski to the MEA board of directors for approval to serve on the committee. (Background: The committee recognized the special skills and knowledge that Aaron would brin to the committee considering his position at Walden Asset Management as Senior ESG analyst.

· February 24-25, 2017 – Action #3: That the MEA Investment Committee joins the Intentional Endowment Network. (Background IEN is a dynamic, peer-learning network which advances the conversation around strategies for endowments to align investment portfolios with institutional missions, values and sustainability goals in ways that protect and enhance financial performance.

· May 12, 2017 – Action #2: That Fiera Capital be hired as an international EAFE manager. (Back ground: Fiera Capital looks for high quality, sustainable growth products. Its philosophy is based on the belief that one can achieve sustainable returns and low volatility results by investing in a concentrated, yet diversified, portfolio of what it believes to be remarkably high quality companies. Its portfolio is almost pure ESG.

· In 2016 the MEA Investment Committee also created the attached MEA Climate Change Paper (3rd attachment).


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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