Values-based investors are in a unique position to redeem capital and wealth.
Eventide’s Co-Chief Investment Officer, Dolores Bamford, CFA, is proving that investors do not have to decide between what is profitable and what is right. Instead, she has been an integral part of Eventide, building a model to deliver superior returns while also making a positive impact on the world.
Listen to Dolores’s personal story as she guides listeners through her journey of developing a passion for finance.
Transcript:
I was interested in finance because it reminded me of family dinners and my parents talking about finance and business at the dinner table. My father is my mentor, so he really brought the human aspect of business and management to light. He really lived this service orientation about business, that business’s role is to serve others.
As I continued to gain more experience as an analyst and a portfolio manager, I became more sensitive to how negative business practices and ethics were having a negative effect on shareholder value because it was having a negative effect on certain stakeholders that the two were connected. I would become more sensitive to this and eventually start a US responsible and global responsible equity practice at Goldman Sachs and develop portfolios that are focused on companies that have strong ethics and strong values. Going back to seminary really enabled me to really dive deeper into specific topics where I really wanted to advance my investment philosophy. It really was very confirming to what I had already learned and what I had already experienced, which was that a company that is running a human-centered or an employee-honoring culture is adding value to society and is creating value for their shareholders.
I believe that Eventide is the culmination of my career and my life journey, pursuing virtuous investing and the culmination of my 25-year experience in investment management and as an analyst analyzing companies and recognizing the importance of values and ethics and evaluating companies and in my education as well, my business school education, as well as my theological education. It’s just the absolute perfect fit. As I grew to love finance and to learn about companies, I felt like I was at the dinner table again, talking to my dad and that love for business continues to shine through. Like I’m still talking to my dad 20, 30 years ago.