AVPNxMSCI: ESG Megatrends for the Next Decade

As MSCI’s Head of APAC ESG, Chitra is based in Singapore and is responsible for the ESG Research business across the diverse region. Chitra initially spent 15 years in Investment Banking, a number of those being in Project Finance in the Green Energy sector. Following that, she focused on Cleantech Investments in China, followed by a few years in Corporate Development and ESG.

Chitra has lived and worked in 10 countries across APAC as well as Europe. Chitra was on the Board of Collective Responsibility and Green Initiatives for a number of years. Chitra holds an MSc in Environmental Economics from the London School of Economics, which spurred her on to a Sustainability-focussed career path. 

Angeline Chin is the Global Community Impact Asia Pacific Lead for Johnson and Johnson(J&J). In this position, she implements the strategic giving for J&J working with her team across the region to leverage J&J’s strongest assets bringing its expertise in health, community investments, people and its voice to advance the access to healthcare for the most underserved communities.

Prior to this, she was with Credit Suisse for 7 years as the Head of Corporate Citizenship for Asia Pacific. Angeline brings over 23 years of experience from the private sector, not-for-profit organizations and government. She started her career as a regulator with the Securities Commission Malaysia and has been working in the financial services sector throughout her career in Hong Kong and Singapore where in 2018 she made a switch to the health sector joining J&J.

Mikkel Larsen is the Chief Executive Officer of Climate Impact X (CIX), a global exchange and marketplace for high-quality carbon credits, based in Singapore. He led the Sustainability Working Group of the Emerging Stronger Taskforce, a public-private partnership that culminated in the formation of CIX. Mikkel is responsible for developing and executing CIX’s vision to scale the voluntary carbon market through transparency, integrity and quality – with an initial focus on catalysing the market for natural climate solutions.

Prior to his current role, Mikkel was the Group Chief Sustainability Officer and chair of the Sustainability Council at DBS Bank, the leading financial services group in Asia. At DBS, Mikkel was responsible for developing DBS’ overarching sustainability framework, setting key performance indicators and targets in consultation with the relevant stakeholders, and driving sustainability initiatives across the bank.

Mikkel is involved in numerous international and Singaporean sustainability related councils and committees. These include: the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Natural Climate Solutions Alliance (NCS Alliance), World Wildlife Fund Advisory Council (Singapore), United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce, GRI Stakeholder Council, Green Finance Working Group [Workstream Chair] under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Financial Centre Advisory Panel (FCAP), Singapore’s Environment and Resources Standards Committee (ERSC) and the Global Compact Network Singapore (GCNS).

From 2009 to 2012, Mikkel acted as the Chief Financial Officer for Asia Pacific at UBS, covering Investment Banking, Wealth Management and Asset Management. He has also held management positions at Citigroup and KPMG in Europe.

Mikkel is passionate about wildlife, animal rights and nature conservation. He is a frequent speaker on sustainability related topics including green finance and voluntary carbon markets and has authored publications in these fields as well.

Mikkel is an adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), and received his MBA from London Business School, a master’s degree in Sustainability Leadership from Cambridge University, executive education from Harvard University, along with master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Economics from CBS. Mikkel is originally from Denmark, where he also holds his CPA.

Rajeev Peshawaria is the Chief Executive Officer of Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC). He is an out-of-the-box thought leader on leadership, management and corporate governance, with extensive global experience in leadership development and organizational consulting, as well as developing and delivering business strategy.

Prior to joining SAC, Rajeev was the CEO of the Iclif Leadership & Governance Centre based in Malaysia. With diverse experience across various industries including banking, financial services and FMCG, Rajeev has held executive roles including Chief Learning Officer at both Coca-Cola and Morgan Stanley, and senior positions at American Express, HSBC and Goldman Sachs. At Goldman, Rajeev helped found Pine Street – the firm’s acclaimed leadership academy – and headed Pine Street for Europe and Asia. 

Rajeev is the author of Wall Street Journal and Amazon best sellers Open Source Leadership (McGraw Hill 2017), Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders (Simon & Schuster 2011), and co-author of Be the Change (McGraw Hill 2014). A sought after international speaker and a leadership consultant, Rajeev was named one of Top 100 Global Thought Leaders for Trustworthy Business by ‘Trust Across America’ in 2014 and 2017.

Rajeev graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Bombay, India, and holds an MBA from Webster University, Vienna, Austria.