Alexander Hamilton Jack Bogle
Golden , have stuck with their beloved academic institutions for decades , eschewing the call for greater pay elsewhere .
Many of these individuals have taken their cues from those in past generations who went against the flow during their time . John Whitehead , co-senior partner of Goldman Sachs between 1976 and 1984 , determined that Goldman Sachs wouldn ’ t engage in hostile take-overs at the time they took-off , despite heavy demand from clients . Warren Hellman decided to retire from Hellman & Friedman , the private equity firm he co-founded , without “ cashing out ,” to motivate future partners by paying it forward .
Others create new models that simply serve customers better , even if it means lower profits . Bogle revolutionized the asset management industry , slowly at first and then drastically , by introducing index funds and tirelessly advocating on behalf of shifting savings into passive asset management .
Yet others create models to both serve their customers and explicitly create value for society . Frederic Samama , a manager at Amundi , a large French asset manager , became convinced that the forces of commercial finance deployed to serve his bank ’ s clients could be harnessed to address social and economic problems , in conjunction with the bank ’ s client mandate . In the late 2000s , he took it upon himself to convene financiers and
academics to reflect on ways in which long-term capital holders could solve various market failures , including climate change .
In partnership with Patrick Bolton , an economist at Columbia Business School , and Mats Andersson , the then head of Swedish national pension fund AP4 , Samama and his team became pioneers in embedding environmental , social and governance ( ESG ) factors in investments . They developed the first mainstream low carbon equity index , in partnership with MSCI , paving the way for a new market in low carbon or “ decarbonized ” ETFs and funds .
Some migrate beyond the industry to apply their finance skills and networks toward the collective interest . There is a long tradition of Wall Street professionals serving in government going back to Robert Lovett , a partner at Brown Brothers Harriman , who distinguished himself as a public servant under Franklin Delano Roosevelt . One of the first female partners on Wall Street , Michaela Walsh , utilized her finance experience to create Women ’ s World Banking , a pioneer institution providing women access to credit . Most encouragingly , young professionals can make a considerable difference at an early stage in their career : Erin Godard , who , at the age of 28 and with only five years of professional accounting experience at Ernst & Young in Toronto , created an accounting training institute in Rwanda which can generate outsized social returns .
Finally , there are those who are willing to agitate , mostly on behalf of others , often at a personal cost . For these professionals , self-interest and collective interest meld . Nicholas Benes , a long-time US expatriate in Japan trained in finance and law , has selflessly advocated for better corporate governance and has become a critical , albeit unheralded , behind-the-scenes architect of the seminal reforms initiated by the Shinzo Abe administration in 2014 .
David Webb , a former investment banker turned investor and corporate governance activist in Hong Kong , has also had disproportionate impact by the sheer power of his dogged campaigns targeting cronyism , breaches of minority shareholder rights and threats to Hong Kong ’ s democratic process , underpinning his cases with detailed , rigorous analysis made freely available to the public . Natasha Lamb , co-founder of Arjuna Capital , has led a relentless shareholder campaign in the United States pressuring large listed companies to publish their gender pay gaps and abide by contemporary norms of diversity , showing remarkable traction .
The simplest lesson may be learned from the architect of the US financial system , Alexander Hamilton . Of the many virtues that Hamilton exhibited as a public servant , his ability to resist enriching himself is
www . MoAF . org | Winter 2021 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 15