Benjamin Kelly

Director of ESG and Impact, Columbia Threadneedle Investments

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Benjamin Kelly is a Senior Portfolio Impact and ESG Analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. Ben leads on thematic research and idea generation for the impact strategies within fixed income, which includes social bond analysis from an impact and ESG perspective. In addition, Ben leads the firm’s insight generation in behavioural science and provides insights to the investment teams regarding biases in investment decision making. 

Previously, Ben was a senior thematic analyst within the Responsible Investment team covering green mobility and infrastructure. Within this role he led the sustainability research and asset improvement for the Threadneedle European Sustainable Infrastructure strategy.

Prior to joining the company, Ben worked in BlackRock’s Investment Institute where he combined macroeconomic research across equity, fixed income and real asset teams with expertise in behavioural finance and investment decision making. In this context, he worked with fundamental and quantitative alpha generation teams focusing on their investment processes and how these can be modified to combat behavioural biases.

Ben is a visiting lecturer in behavioural science at the University of St. Andrews, London School of Economics and Warwick Business School.

He holds a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry, an M.Litt in Management, Economics and International Relations and a PhD in Behavioural Economics, all from the University of St Andrews.
Company start date:     2017
Industry start date:        2007