Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) announced today that its responsible investment arm, ISS ESG, has hired ESG investment veteran Bonnie Saynay, appointing her as Global Head of ESG Research. Ms. Saynay will be based in New York and report to ESG business head, Marija Kramer. ISS is a global provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions, market intelligence and fund services, and events as well as editorial content for institutional investors and corporations.

In this new role, Saynay will be responsible for ISS’ ESG data strategy and research across the globe. She will lead teams tasked with evaluating ESG market standards and evolving ESG frameworks in order to augment and continually refresh the methodologies underlying ISS ESG’s industry leading research solutions.

Saynay will also oversee and provide strategic guidance on the procurement and delivery of global ESG data underlying a variety of both existing as well as new ISS ESG research offerings. With an overarching mandate to support clients’ investment decision-making processes, she will also work across teams to deliver bespoke ESG research and other forms of content to aid institutions in their ESG integration and materiality efforts.

Welcoming Ms. Saynay, ESG business head, Marija Kramer said:

“We are collectively delighted to have someone of Bonnie’s caliber joining the business as momentum towards ESG integration accelerates and institutions look to ISS ESG as the gold-standard in sustainability research, ratings, and data. She and the entire global research and data team are deeply committed to delivering unrivalled solutions and services to our clients and I look forward to working with her in furtherance of this core objective.”

Prior to joining ISS, Saynay founded Global ESG Advisors, and served at Invesco in the role of Global Head of Responsible Investment. In her time at Invesco, she built the firm’s grassroots and industry recognized ESG stewardship strategy and platform across the globe. Over a nearly two-decade career at the firm, Saynay advised global asset owners and regulators across Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America on the firm’s ESG platform.

Saynay is a frequent speaker and participant at responsible and sustainable investment forums, including those hosted by the OECD, PRI, and the Investment Company Institute. An advocate of diversity and inclusion, Saynay was chosen to participate in the Cartier Women’s initiative dedicated to encouraging and supporting businesses led by women entrepreneurs. She is an advisory board member for the Dutch-based Rights and Responsibilities of Institutional Investors and the Nature Conservancy’s Houston chapter.

Ms. Saynay said:

“It’s an honor to join ISS ESG, a globally recognized leader in ESG offerings whose clients enjoy access to an unrivalled and highly talented ESG analyst team of nearly 200 spread across global financial centers. Our core mission will be to deliver differentiated bespoke data and research and superior investment information tools leveraging frontier technologies to meet the institutional investor community’s growing focus on sustainability and impact solutions.”