ICI Global Conference on Sustainable Investing: The APAC Journey

Speaker Bios

ASHLEY ALDER

Ashley Alder is the chief executive officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong. He was first appointed in October 2011. In May 2016, Ashley was elected as chair of the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), and was reelected for a further two-year term in June 2020.

Ashley was previously chair of the IOSCO Asia-Pacific Regional Committee and vice chair of the IOSCO board. Ashley has represented IOSCO as a member of the Financial Stability Board Steering Committee and plenary since his election as IOSCO board chair.

Ashley started his career as a lawyer in London in 1984. He moved to Hong Kong in 1989 with the international law firm Herbert Smith, practicing corporate and business law. He was executive director of corporate finance at the SFC from 2001 to 2004, before returning to Herbert Smith, where he became head of the firm’s Asia region.

TOMOKO AMAYA

Tomoko Amaya has been the vice minister for international affairs at Japan’s Financial Services Agency (JFSA) since July 2021. Before her current position, she served as vice commissioner for international affairs (2019–2021). She is a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) representing the agency and serves as cochair of the Supervisory Cooperation Group (SCG) of BCBS.

Amaya joined the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in 1986 and has broad experience in financial supervision and international financial regulations over her career at FSA and MOF. Her career at FSA includes deputy secretary-general of Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) (2017–2019), secretary-general of Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board (CPAAOB) (2015–2017), director for market and risk (2008–2010), and director for international insurance services (2002–2006). From 2013 to 2015, Amaya served as senior executive director at Deposit Insurance Corporation. She was also visiting professor at Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo from 2011 to 2013.

Amaya earned BA in law at the University of Tokyo. She also finished the mid-career associate program, IR/PS at the University of California, San Diego.

CAROL W. GEREMIA

Carol W. Geremia is president of MFS Investment Management® (MFS®) and head of global distribution. She leads the firm’s worldwide client‐facing teams as well as product and marketing strategy. As a member of the firm’s Management Committee, she helps drive MFS’s long‐term corporate strategy. In these roles, Carol oversees the management of the company’s global institutional and retail businesses, which span US and non‐US markets. Her responsibilities include oversight of all teams managing relationships with large corporate and public retirement plans, sovereign wealth plans, global intermediaries, insurance companies, retirement platforms, and other advisory practices that distribute the firm’s investment products.

Carol joined MFS in 1984 and served as co‐head of global distribution from 2011 through 2017. She has served as president of the firm’s institutional business since 2004. Before that, she was president of MFS retirement services, which serviced US plan sponsors and their participants. There, she spent 20 years devoting her expertise in fiduciary responsibility and stewardship to the retirement industry. Since joining MFS, Carol has held roles focused primarily on fiduciary responsibility, stewardship, and sustainability, and she has actively engaged with clients at all levels to ensure that the firm builds products and services aligned with their needs.

Carol is a member of the City Year Seven Generations Board. She also serves as a member of the MFS Charitable Oversight Committee and as an Advisory Council member for Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Inc.

JUN MA

Dr. Jun Ma is the founder and president of Institute of Finance and Sustainability (based in Beijing). He is also the chairman of Green Finance Committee of China Society for Finance and Banking, cochair of G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group, and cochair of the Steering Committee of the Green Investment Principles for the Belt & Road.

Between 2018 and 2020, Ma was the director of Center for Finance and Development at Tsinghua University. Between 2014 and 2017, he served as the chief economist at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Research Bureau and a member of the central bank’s Macro-Prudential Committee. Before joining the PBOC, he worked for 13 years at Deutsche Bank, where he was managing director/chief economist/investment strategist for Greater China. From 1992 to 2000, he worked as a senior economist and economist at the World Bank and the IMF. From 1988 to 1990, he was a research fellow at the Development Research Center of China’s State Council.

Ma published numerous books and articles on monetary policy, financial markets, and green/sustainable finance. He led the drafting of China’s green finance guidelines in 2015–2016 and facilitated the global consensus on scaling up green finance under the G20 framework from 2016 to 2018. Over the past decade, he has provided advice to policymakers in many areas, including monetary and macroprudential policies, RMB internationalization, green finance, and the Belt & Road initiative.

JENNIFER L. C. WU

Jennifer L. C. Wu is the global head of sustainable investing at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, where she is responsible for leading firmwide strategic efforts in building a global sustainable investing platform across ESG research and thought leadership, client solutions and engagement, investment stewardship and ESG integration, and development of innovative strategies.

Before joining J.P. Morgan, Jennifer was responsible for leading the global effort of creating innovative investment solutions and analytics at BlackRock’s sustainable investing team, after serving as BlackRock’s head of corporate strategy and development for Asia-Pacific. Before that, Jennifer worked for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the energy sector of the central and west Asia department and was responsible for project finance across power infrastructures and country-level energy sector reforms. Before ADB, she served as managing director in the strategic development group of CLSA Limited, where she was responsible for acquisitions and strategic partnerships in Asia-Pacific and Europe. Jennifer started her career in venture capital and private equity focusing on technology and renewable energy as a research analyst and subsequently a portfolio manager.

EDDIE YUE

Eddie Yue has been chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) since October 1, 2019. He began his career as an administrative officer in the Hong Kong government in 1986. He joined the HKMA upon its establishment in 1993 and was promoted to division head a year later. He was appointed executive director in 2001 and subsequently deputy chief executive in 2007 before taking up his current position.

Eddie has participated in numerous areas of the HKMA’s work. During his tenure as deputy chief executive, he steered major policies and initiatives relating to reserves management, research, external affairs, and market development. Eddie was also actively involved in tackling major financial crises and played an instrumental role in enhancing the Linked Exchange Rate System.

Eddie was educated at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Harvard Business School.

ERIC J. PAN

Eric J. Pan is the president and chief executive officer of the Investment Company Institute. He took office as the 10th chief executive in ICI’s history on November 9, 2020. Eric was previously a managing director of Rock Creek Global Advisors LLC, an international economic policy advisory firm in Washington, DC, and a senior research fellow at the Center for Law and Economic Studies at Columbia Law School in New York.

Eric served as the director of the Office of International Affairs at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2015 to 2019 and head of international regulatory policy at the US Securities and Exchange Commission from 2011 to 2015. He represented both market regulators in international standard-setting bodies, including the International Organization of Securities Commissions and Financial Stability Board, and in regulatory dialogues with European and Asian counterparts.

Before entering government service, Eric was the director of the Heyman Center on Corporate Governance and a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, where he wrote extensively about financial regulation and corporate law. He also practiced corporate and international law with Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. Eric is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Edinburgh, and the Harvard Law School. Eric is a member of the American Law Institute and an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School.

ALEXA LAM

Alexa Lam is chief executive of Asia-Pacific for ICI Global. She previously was professor of legal practices at the University of Hong Kong. Alexa was a longtime official at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), where she most recently served as deputy CEO and executive director for investment products, international, and China. She actively promoted financial cooperation between Hong Kong and China on capital market opening, new reform policies, and cross-border market innovations, including the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) and Mutual Recognition of Funds programs. Alexa has 20 years of experience in corporate and commercial law practice in Hong Kong, Chicago, and New York, and holds law degrees from the University of Hong Kong (UHK) and the London School of Economics.