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The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards 2022: #RedefiningPower - Vanessa Allen, Vice-President, ESG Research & Engagement , TD Asset Management, Canada
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"I see women as catalysts for change, having demonstrated that as we climb ranks our diversity of perspective lends well when finding necessary, innovative solutions. That value is increasingly recognized and strengthens the world's understanding of what is possible." - Vanessa Allen, Vice-President, ESG Research & Engagement, TD Asset Management
Vanessa Allen, Vice President, ESG Research & Engagement, started her career in 2007 and joined TD Asset Management Inc. (TDAM) in 2016. She serves as an ESG specialist, supporting ESG analysis internally, conducting company engagements and developing ESG thought leadership.
Prior to joining the Investment Team, she worked on the Investment Risk Team, developing tools to quantify and attribute the ESG risks associated with TDAM investments, and worked to build awareness around the evolving ESG landscape. Prior to 2016, she spent several years conducting public policy research in the U.S. analyzing various government entities’ financial decisions, extending from public infrastructure investment, public-private partnerships, and the funding of pension liabilities.
Vanessa holds a B.A. in Political Science and French from the University of Notre Dame, an MPA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MBA from McGill University.
Q: What is the importance of women's leadership in today's society plagued by the triple crises of COVID, Climate, and Conflict, and their deadly consequences?
I see women as catalysts for change, having demonstrated that as we climb ranks our diversity of perspective lends well when finding necessary, innovative solutions. That value is increasingly recognized and strengthens the world's understanding of what is possible.
Q: What role do you believe women in leadership positions have to play in helping companies and brands transition towards sustainability and circularity, and why is this important?
Women leaders serve an important role in developing corporate cultures that are conducive to attracting, developing and retaining diverse talent. Women leaders are attentive in a different way, often noticing talent that may have otherwise gone unseen and helping to spur ideas that may have been muted. Creating healthy places to work and be heard will be crucial as companies compete for the talent necessary for a successful transition.
Q: What can be done to improve women’s participation in corporate and leadership positions? How do we achieve this?
Recognizing and accommodating the realities of talent in all its forms is key, and this is especially true for women and the multifaceted responsibilities they hold. Employers need to take deliberate action – including developing policies, practices and accountability – to elevate female colleagues. This is important to those women as well as to corporate value creation. Each of us – women, allies, management – can all speak up to make this happen, particularly those that have the professional collateral to influence. There's no shortage of skilled women available to take the lead.
Q: What does this award mean to you and what significance does it hold to you personally and/or professionally, and your company?
I'm quite honored to be recognized in this space and take pride in the reality that women are a critical force for change and for a more sustainable future. This award reflects some of the progress made already, with each of the awardees having taken on the daunting opportunity of sustainability, and I look forward to seeing what more we accomplish together.
The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards 2022
The SustainabilityX® Magazine proudly announced the release of The SustainabilityX® Magazine’s inaugural Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ 2022 on Oct 4th, 2022, an inaugural annual list celebrating the powerful work of women in sustainability leadership around the world.
The non-profit digital magazine’s Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ high-level, invite-only program graciously sponsored by the award-winning Canadian construction and engineering firm Belnor Engineering Inc., recognizes achievements of the world’s powerful, groundbreaking female sustainability leaders who’re bridging the gender gap by breaking barriers, shattering traditional stereotypes, and taking the world of sustainability by storm. This campaign is in line with the magazine’s third pillar of sustainability upon which SustainabilityX® is based: social inclusion, which involves marginalized populations and vulnerable communities such as women, persons with disabilities, unemployed youth, LGBTQ+, the elderly, and BIPOC minorities.
“As both a female and one of Canada’s Top 30 Under 30 In Sustainability Leadership myself, I know how important this is,” says Supriya Verma, founder of The SustainabilityX® Magazine. “The number of women in positions of leadership – from business to politics – are relatively few. With society plagued by the triple crises of COVID, climate, conflict, and their deadly consequences, how can the world advance and achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals without having women in decision-making positions at major organizations, political parties, and academic institutions?”
In The SustainabilityX® Magazine’s quest to ‘redefine power’, this is the first international power-list bringing together women around the world involved in sustainability celebrating the power of their work – not their position. This list brings together a diverse group of accomplished women across business, entertainment, academia, law, politics, and beyond ranging from some of the world's leading companies, to independent unsung heroes with one thing in common: using their power with purpose –the power to create change and influence lives to make the world a better place. After all, that's what sustainability is all about. The meaning, or ‘the power’ of one’s work matters, not one’s position in a corporate hierarchy, particularly during this crucial era.
View the full list: The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards 2022
About The SustainabilityX® Magazine
The SustainabilityX® Magazine is an award-winning, digital, female-founded, and female-led non-profit initiative bringing the environment and economy together for a sustainable future through dialogue. Founded on May 8, 2016 and inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by Canada’s Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability Leadership awardee, Supriya Verma, the digital media initiative focuses on approaching the world’s most pressing challenges with a holistic, integrated, systems-based perspective as opposed to the traditional and ineffective siloed approach with a single lens on interdisciplinary topics like climate and energy. This initiative ultimately seeks to explore how to effectively bring the environment and economy together through intellectual, insightful dialogue and thought-provoking discussion amongst individuals across sectors taking an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to untangling the intricate web of sustainability.
The SustainabilityX® Magazine is based upon the four pillars of sustainability: Environmental Stewardship which emphasizes improved environmental health, Economic Prosperity which emphasizes economic growth without the element of capitalism, Social Inclusion which emphasizes EDI for BIPOC and LGBTQ communities and marginalized, vulnerable populations, and Just Governance which emphasizes the equal rule of law via responsible political leadership to create fair systems for all. Identifying the diverse factors involved in sustainability, how they interact and how the disciplines are interconnected will help accelerate local, national, and international sustainability goals – in simpler words, aligning with The SustainabilityX® Magazine’s mission of bringing the environment and economy together for a sustainable future through dialogue for a sustainable future. Whether you have a background in science, engineering, business, law, politics, media and entertainment, or beyond, your voice matters.
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The SustainabilityX® Magazine is a proud member of the Sustainable Journalism Partnership, serves as a cause-based media partner for various events such as Circular City Week New York, and officially delivers remarks at international conferences such as UNESCO’s annual World Press Freedom Day Conference. SustainabilityX® is a brand of the non-profit social business SPSX Group.
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