AXA IM Rosenberg Equities Reinforces Commitment to Growing Female Talent Pipeline in Asset Management

March 8, 2018 — AXA Investment Managers’ (AXA IM) announced today that it is partnering with Girls Who Invest (‘GWI’), a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in portfolio management and executive leadership in the asset management industry.  The engagement with Girls Who Invest was initiated and will be led by its quantitative investment team, Rosenberg Equities (‘Rosenberg’).

GWI provides university-aged women with on-the-job training in asset management to help them succeed and grow. Students undertake a 4-week intensive training at two leading U.S. universities (University of Pennsylvania and University of Notre Dame) before being matched with top firms for a six-week internship with interview training, job placements and professional support.

Through this partnership, Rosenberg Equities will help GWI inspire and empower the next generation of young women to successfully become tomorrow’s leading investors by providing talented women access to a hands-on educational program and the support of a robust community of investment experts. As part of this partnership, Rosenberg Equities will be hosting two GWI interns this summer who will be focusing on two timely and relevant industry themes – Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) research and data visualization, which will help further Rosenberg’s commitment to ESG integration and bring the firm’s innovative investment approach to life.

The ESG-focused intern will work with the research and modeling team, mentored by Kathryn McDonald, Rosenberg’s Head of Sustainable Investing; while the data visualization intern will be part of Rosenberg’s dedicated initiatives team that focuses on making the quant firm’s approach more accessible to investors, leading to greater transparency and understanding while also providing visually dynamic perspectives on the markets.

Additionally, Rosenberg Equities is developing a series of podcasts on key trends such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence as part of its efforts to provide young, talented women in asset management with skills and expertise relevant to themes most top of mind for investors today.

Heidi Ridley, CEO of Rosenberg Equities at AXA IM, said: “We are excited to support Girls Who Invest’s important mission of attracting the next generation of female talent to our industry. While nearly 50% of Rosenberg’s senior leadership team is comprised of women, we strive for a culture that promotes a mosaic of gender, skill set, background, country and culture. We are proud of the diverse footprint we have been able to achieve at AXA IM Rosenberg Equities and are committed to being a voice for diversity in our industry and across the globe. Kathleen Houssels, our Global CIO, and I are pleased to join forces with Girls Who Invest to help create more tangible opportunities for women in asset management, and hope that will also translate into greater diversity within quantitative investment teams in particular.”

In addition to Rosenberg’s partnership with GWI, AXA IM continues to take the role as a responsible and inclusive employer seriously through strategic global internal and external programs and partnerships.

In 2017, AXA IM signed the Women in Finance charter, which includes a public pledge to achieve 40% female representation within AXA IM’s global senior executive population by 2020. This is a testament to the firm’s belief that companies with higher levels of gender balance and inclusive cultures make better decisions and perform better financially.

Further, AXA IM has launched products that promote diversity and inclusion outside of the firm. In 2017, AXA IM launched the AXA Mix’In Perspectives strategy with the support of AXA IM’s parent company AXA Group, also a strong advocate for greater diversity. The aim of the strategy was twofold – to support and invest alongside companies that have ‘best in class’ diversity practices, and to show that diversity has a positive economic impact linked to long term corporate performance.

Andrea Rossi, CEO of AXA Investment Managers, added: “As a global asset manager, AXA IM has clients across the world and employees based in 21 countries, belonging to nearly 70 different nationalities. Embracing this rich diversity means we can cultivate a greater range of ideas, innovate, gain deeper insight into our customers and adopt a well-rounded view of business issues and risks. As a large asset manager, we are convinced that it is our responsibility to continue to foster a diverse working environment and culture, especially to help correct the gender imbalance that exists in the asset management industry. Initiatives like Girls Who Invest that are working to tangibly effect change are very encouraging, and we would actively welcome similar initiatives like this being introduced in Europe and other key markets.”