Boston-based Putnam Investments has hired Katherine Collins as head of sustainable investing.
Collins joins Putnam from Honeybee Capital, an ESG-focused research firm, where she served as CEO. Prior to Honeybee, she served as a portfolio manager and director of equity research at Fidelity. She also authored “The Nature of Investing,” a book that establishes a framework for aligning investment practice with natural systems science.
Collins will be responsible for overseeing Putnam’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment approach, which the company says will include institutional and retail mutual fund strategies. She will also drive the firm’s ESG thought leadership.
The hire occurs at a time when Putnam is expanding its sustainable investment capabilities to meet consumer and industry demand for strategies oriented around or informed by ESG information, according to the company.
“Investing through the lens of environmental, social and governance is redefining what asset management can accomplish. It is a concept that is becoming increasingly synonymous with good long-term investing and is serving to help identify opportunities,” said Robert L. Reynolds, Putnam’s president and CEO, in a released statement. “Katherine’s proven leadership and expertise will ensure we continue to move to the forefront of this rapidly growing field.”
Collins will lead a newly formed sustainable investing team that will include Stephanie Henderson, a fundamental analyst who joins Putnam from Fidelity Investments, and Alexander Rickson, a quantitative analyst who has been with Putnam for 15 years.