Amplified: European legislation puts shareholder responsibilities under the spotlight

Dr Hans-Christoph Hirt is an executive director and board member at Hermes EOS and as head of the organisation leads a multi-national team ensuring the sustainable success of the business. In this role, he is responsible for and oversees the global engagement programme and the quality of the service Hermes EOS provides to its clients around the world. Hans also leads some high-profile stewardship activities, including priority engagements with major companies in Germany and the UK, as well as interactions with key regulators and organisations. Prior to joining Hermes EOS, Hans worked with international law firm Ashurst. He is the author of numerous publications on corporate governance and law, responsible investment and stewardship. He is a member of the Corporate Governance Advisory Council of the Council of Institutional Investors and the Advisory Board of CECP’s Strategic Investor Initiative. Hans is a UK-qualified lawyer, holds degrees in Business Administration from universities in Germany and the UK, the ACCA qualification and a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). He continues to be involved in academia as a Corporate Governance Fellow at the LSE’s Financial Markets Group and a Teaching Fellow at University College London. Hans speaks French, German and Mandarin.

Andy Jones focuses on extractives and the UK, US and Spanish markets where he engages with company boards, investor groups, industry associations and policy-makers on material environmental, social and governance issues. Prior to joining Hermes EOS, Andy spent 10 years as a consultant on sustainable business and finance at PwC, in London and Madrid. In this role he worked closely with over 50 companies, across sectors and 15 countries, on risk and opportunity. Andy was the lead author for the City of London’s position paper on globalising green finance, the BVCA’s responsible investment training, ASCRI’s responsible investment guide, the CDP annual reports on the Global 500, FTSE All-Share and IBEX35 and other publications, including integrated reporting in the IBEX35. He has also worked in strategy and risk consulting and banking, and holds a degree in physics.

Saker is Chief Executive of Hermes. He was appointed CEO in November 2011 having joined the firm in June 2009 as CIO.  Prior to joining Hermes, Saker was Global Head of Equities at Fortis Investments, having initially been appointed to the firm as CIO Global Equities in 2005. Before this he was CIO of Global Equities and Head of Marketing for SGAM UK. This role followed SGAM’s acquisition of Trust Company of the West (TCW), where Saker was a Managing Director, running global and international strategies, as well as managing TCW’s London office. He started his career at Mercury Asset Management in 1987.

Saker is the founder of the 300 Club, a group of leading CIOs and investment professionals who seek to challenge investment orthodoxy. He was an inaugural member of the CFA Institute’s Future of Finance Advisory Council from 2013 until 2019. He is a member of the IIRC Council, and the FCA-PRA Climate Financial Risk Forum, as well as the United Nations Environmental Programme Financial Initiative steering Committee. He sits on the Banking Standards Board, which was created as a result of a Parliamentary enquiry to restore trust in the UK banking industry. Saker also sits on UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing.

In 2015, Saker was named CEO of the Year at the Global Investor Investment Excellence Awards and in 2018, he was named CEO of the Year at the Financial News Asset Management Europe Awards. Saker has a BA and PhD in Medieval History from King's College, University of London.