In the fourth quarter of 2018, we continued using shareholder advocacy for positive impact and long-term risk management. We filed several shareholder proposals challenging companies to link executive pay to long-term sustainable performance, promote inclusion, and improve lobbying ethics. We also co-authored an important letter to Amazon, urged world governments to act on climate change, and participated in a pathbreaking working group on investing and racial justice. You can read about all of these initiatives and get a detailed account of our advocacy dialogue with Ecolab in our quarterly Impact Update.
Zevin Asset Management Welcomes New Portfolio Manager
We are pleased to announce that Kevin Callahan has joined Zevin Asset Management as a senior portfolio manager. Kevin will have responsibility for the day-to-day management of client portfolios in addition to performing equity and fixed income research as an active member of our investment committee.
Deficits and Market Churn
As we proceed through the fourth quarter of 2018 we are experiencing one of the most intense periods of equity volatility since this long bull market began in 2009. There are multiple contributing factors at play including geopolitical tensions, expensive stock valuations, rising interest rates, and trade disputes. Regionally, the European Union experiment is starting to crumble with BREXIT scheduled to happen (or maybe not?) on March 29, 2019. The European Central Bank is on the verge of reversing their unprecedented monetary easing policy. Emerging markets are experiencing their worst period of instability since the currency crises of 1997. Chinese growth is decelerating as authorities strive to achieve a consumption-based economy. And in the U.S. economic and political uncertainties abound. As a result, we here at Zevin Asset Management recognize that the outlook for global equity markets has become increasingly risky throughout 2018 and particularly so in the third and fourth quarters of the year.
Q3 2018 Advocacy Update
In the third quarter of 2018, we continued using shareholder advocacy for positive impact and long-term risk management. We resumed our dialogue with Amazon in light of its recent change in wage policy; we wrote to 14 companies encouraging them to disclose energy and water use data; we began advising a local campaign to divest Boston’s retirement funds from private prisons; we saw our impact deepen as Intel, after pushing from Zevin, convinced the Responsible Business Alliance to adopt stricter supply-chain policies around prison labor; and we published our firm's first-ever comprehensive Impact Report. Pat Miguel Tomaino has our quarterly advocacy update.
Impact Report 2018
Zevin Asset Management proudly presents our first comprehensive review of the positive impact we create on behalf of our clients. Watch this video and read our new Impact Report below.
Our socially responsible investing approach creates positive impact in the world. When we help convince companies to develop greenhouse gas targets, that helps address climate change. And when we press big tech firms to strengthen their diversity strategies, each success potentially impacts the lives of thousands of workers.
We’re pleased to review all of this work in our first-ever Impact Report. Read to learn more about how we press companies for change, our approach to voting at shareholder meetings, our portfolio footprint, and the sound business practices that have made us an industry leader and a Certified B Corporation.