SIRI Welcomes Bob Massie as Senior Research Scholar and new Co-Director of SIRI's Pathways to Consensus

Robert (Bob) Massie, one of the most respected leaders in the field of sustainability and finance, has joined Columbia SIPA’s Sustainable Investing Research Initiative (SIRI) as a Senior Research Scholar and Co-Director of SIRI’s Pathways to Consensus. 

The SIRI Pathways to Consensus efforts aim to rewire the source code of capitalism. To succeed, it is essential to provide a platform that brings together and fosters dialogue among the key players (from the private and public sectors, policymakers, and academia), explores pathways to consensus and a shared vision, and stimulates the co-creation of a more sustainable world. Moreover, it is important to drive forward scholarship and education in this field to inform practice and educate the future generations of investors, standard setters, policymakers, business leaders, and other world leaders from around the globe. SIRI offers such a platform for dialogue, research, and education to drive progress in the field.

Bob Massie will serve as the steward and co-director of the SIRI Pathways to Consensus efforts under the SIRI leadership of Caroline Flammer. In particular, he will lead important efforts to enhance dialogue among key players in the field of sustainable investing, including the SIRI Pathways to Consensus Decisionmaker Roundtable Discussions, the Columbia University Sustainable Finance Seminars, and the development of case studies.

Bob brings a wealth of experience to this role. He obtained a master’s degree in social and theological ethics from Yale Divinity School in 1982 and a doctorate in corporate strategy from Harvard Business School in 1989. His dissertation focused on how institutional investors integrated moral and political concerns into their investment policies. He is the author of “Loosening the Bonds: The United States and South Africa in the Apartheid Years”, which won the prestigious 1998 Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations. In 1996, he became the first president of Ceres and helped to build it into an influential coalition of investors, corporations, and sustainability organizations. In 1998, he co-founded and chaired the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). He also served on the original International Integrated Reporting Commission (IIRC), chaired by Justice Mervyn King of South Africa. In addition, Massie has played prominent roles in the politics of his home state of Massachusetts, having served as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1994 and as a candidate for governor in 2018. In recent years he has continued to work on mandatory sustainability reporting, the evolution of corporate governance, and the need for fundamental reform in the fields of accounting, finance, and economics. Most recently, he has convened the Materiality Working Group, a monthly discussion group and clearinghouse of US and UK thought leaders who are focusing on charting the evolution of the intersection of sustainability and finance. 

Bob’s leadership will be instrumental in driving forward SIRI’s Pathways to Consensus efforts in fostering dialogue among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers and in rewiring the source code of capitalism. 

Welcome Bob!!