by Stephanie Cohn Rupp, CEO

It’s with great pleasure that I share with you reflections on 2021 from my perspective as CEO as well as Veris Wealth Partners’ vision and priorities for 2022.

2021 in Review: A Year of Growth

I am excited to report that 2021 was a year of significant growth for our firm. Veris exceeded $2B in Assets under Management (AUM) by October. Many new clients joined us in 2021, which resulted in 15% organic annual growth rate for the year.

Last year was also a year of growth for our team. We were extremely pleased to welcome Roraj Pradhananga, our Senior Research Analyst who leads investment manager due diligence, thematic research and evaluation of impact metrics, as a Partner in the firm in December of 2021. Veris also recruited fabulous new colleagues in 2021: Sandra Guerrero joined us as an Advisor in San Francisco; Tracey Lynch became part of our client service team in Portsmouth; Susan Daly took the role of Executive Assistant to the CEO; and Mihir Mehan joined the Veris team as a Research Analyst in NYC after completing his Berkeley Haas MBA. With resumes featuring firms such as JP Morgan and BlackRock, these talented individuals bring deep experience in the worlds of finance and investment across the globe – from the U.S. and Mexico to South and East Asia. However, by joining Veris, our new colleagues were looking for closer values alignment. Each has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our mission in addition to impressive skill sets, track records and professionalism.

DEI

On the research side, Veris developed a novel, thorough and longitudinal approach to due diligence focused on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion under the leadership of our CIO, Michael Lent. We are applying this framework to all our managers – and to ourselves – to ensure that we increasingly have more diverse managers on our investment platform. We are systematically monitoring the EDI commitment and progress of our current managers and as part of our commitment to equity and inclusion will give precedence to managers who are more diverse. We have 30% minimum requirements of racial and gender diversity at the ownership and staff level of our managers. For those managers who are not yet sufficiently diverse, we request a commitment and a DEI action plan.

We also have implemented changes to our recruiting approach by using best practices in the industry. For example, all resume names and addresses are deleted so that hiring managers cannot unconsciously exert gender, ethnic or other biases in their selection process. We also have undergone thorough DEI training on the nature of privilege and racial inequality – which is an ongoing journey for each of us and for the firm as a whole.

Policy & Shareholder Engagement

In 2021, we offered our clients 560 shareholder engagement options and our clients chose to sign 101 of these letters to corporate boards. The initiatives ranged from diversity data disclosure, consumer packaging, executive pay, and pesticides – to name a few. We are working with our partner As You Sow to implement a Shareholder Engagement Tracker which will help us see real time updates on shareholder initiatives.

Veris was also a signatory to many important initiatives in 2021, including an investor Policy Letter to President Biden to advance sustainable investment expertise at the Department of Labor and the SEC. Our engagement ranges from sending letters to Congress and the White House to advocating for positive change at the state-level on issues such as energy efficiency  and the need for parental leave benefits. Veris also participated in a Dept. of Labor comment period to share how fiduciaries consider ESG Funds for retirement planning in partnership with US SIF.

We will continue to strive to help our clients become more active asset owners to express their values through the corporate shareholder engagement process and we will, as a company, expand our policy advocacy initiatives in 2022. We believe these levers will advance our clients’ mission.

Our Focus in 2022

We started 2022 with an exciting new Partner, Rosemont Investment Group, which joined Veris as a minority passive investor. Rosemont brings an incredible depth of expertise to the firm and will help us think through our next challenges as we further modernize our systems and client service and scale. Our goal is not to grow at all costs – we remain squarely focused on our clients and mission. We hope to set a new precedent by demonstrating that even in an ocean of consolidation and acquisitions companies can remain independent while remaining 100% focused on ESG and impact investing.

This year, Veris will be focused on three main priorities: to advance our leadership role through innovation in impact investing, improve client service and operational efficiencies, and invest in human capital and DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). We will be hiring many more “Verisians” to meet our high client demand and we will keep you updated on our new client impact report and updated offering.

Lastly, as COVID cases are declining, we hope to be able to safely meet again in person soon – as our team has missed interacting with our clients, colleagues, and our friends in the industry. Together we form a true community of change-makers and we look forward to being able to celebrate our causes and our work together again.

Yours in Impact,

Stephanie Cohn Rupp, CEO

Veris Wealth Partners