Genus Capital Management announces new Chief Sustainability Officer

Canadian wealth management firm Genus Capital Management has named Stephanie Tsui as its new Chief Sustainability Officer.

She succeeds Mike Thiessen, who served as CSO since 2021 after joining the firm as Head of Sustainable Investments in 2017. Thiessen is set to leave Genus “to pursue other impactful contributions in the Canadian Impact sphere”, the company said.

Tsui will transition into the CSO role from her previous position as Head of Foundations and Non-Profits at Genus, which she has held for the past eight years.

"My work with foundations and non-profits has instilled in me a deep appreciation for the power of values-driven investment strategies. I am committed to leveraging my experience and the trust our clients place in us to further integrate sustainability into everything we do at Genus," she said about her appointment.

Before Genus, Tsui held a variety of director roles at Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.

Genus Capital Management biodiversity screening

Vancouver-based Genus is a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and a certified B Corp. Earlier this year, the firm, which offers fossil-free investments to clients, introduced a new investment screen focused on biodiversity.

The methodology uses MSCI data to screen out underperforming companies in terms of raw materials sourcing, water stress, and biodiversity and eliminates them from Genus Capital Management’s portfolio, with the goal of “enhancing natural capital conservation and potentially improving long-term portfolio performance”.

"By excluding companies with low biodiversity performance from our clients' portfolios, we aim to contribute to the preservation of our natural capital while providing investors with opportunities for both ethical and financially sound investments,” said Thiessen at the time.

Biodiversity policies for investment seen as essential

Investors have been urged to adopt biodiversity protection policies ahead of the COP16 UN biodiversity summit taking place in Cali, Colombia this month. 

For example, ShareAction and the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) are recommending that investment firms identify assets and sites located in or near protected areas and set “ambitious targets” to ensure such assets are only engaged in activities aligned with these areas’ designation.

“We need to see investors use the huge power they wield to reduce their nature-related risks and impacts, especially on internationally-recognised areas of importance for biodiversity conservation. This would also be beneficial for investors, as the regulatory shifts required to deliver the ambitions of the Global Biodiversity Framework result in more stringent biodiversity protections and the expansion of protected areas, which could lead to stranded assets, reputational damage and other financial consequences,” said Alexandra Pinzon, Head of Biodiversity at responsible investment charity ShareAction.