Q2 2019 Impact Update

In the second quarter of 2019, we continued using shareholder advocacy for positive impact and long-term risk management. This work included challenging companies with shareholder proposals on executive compensation, sustainability, and diversity/inclusion; tangling with Walmart on labor standards and shareholder rights; and calling out the practices of donor advised funds that let philanthropic dollars flow to racist and anti-LGBTQ hate groups.

You can read about all of these initiatives and more in our Q2 Impact Update. Contact our Director of Socially Responsible Investing Pat Miguel Tomaino (pat@zevin.com) with any questions, comments, or suggestions.

Q1 2019 Impact Update

In the first quarter of 2019, we continued using shareholder advocacy for positive impact and long-term risk management. Among other work, our proposal on lobbying ethics performed very well at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting; we continued a dialogue on responsible lending and customer protection with the Indian banking giant HDFC; we testified at the Boston City Council in support of divesting public funds from companies that profit from mass incarceration; and we joined with other investors pressing large banks to stop financing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

You can read about all of these initiatives and get a detailed account of our advocacy dialogue with The TJX Companies (parent of T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s) in our Q1 Impact Update. Contact our Director of Socially Responsible Investing Pat Miguel Tomaino (pat@zevin.com) with any questions, comments, or suggestions.

5G Rising

At this point, you have likely heard the term “5G” thrown around in sim­i­lar fash­ion to AI (arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence), autonomous dri­ving, and IoT (inter­net of things). The evo­lu­tion of fifth-​generation (hence, 5G) cellular/​mobile net­works will pro­vide a host of oppor­tu­ni­ties for busi­nesses, con­sumers, pub­lic enti­ties, and investors alike in the years ahead as the new mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tion super­high­way will facil­i­tate the faster trans­mis­sion of increas­ingly large data vol­umes. While increased data flow brings with it incre­men­tal cyber­se­cu­rity and per­sonal infor­ma­tion shar­ing chal­lenges, if man­aged respon­si­bly the ben­e­fits of 5G stand to out­weigh the risks.