Cynthia McHale is a Senior Director at Ceres, a Boston-based nonprofit that works with the most influential investors and companies to tackle the world’s biggest sustainability challenges, including climate change. She has over 20 years of experience working with leading companies, investors, and nonprofits to build financial, environmental and community leadership. Cynthia oversees Ceres’ investor engagement initiatives that strengthen the voice of shareholders seeking to press companies to address the full range of climate and sustainability challenges. Cynthia works with shareholders, colleagues, and other stakeholders to design and implement active ownership practices including investor-corporate dialogues, shareholder proposals, and governance campaigns. Over the past 5 years, she led the development and implementation of the Climate Action 100+ initiative—a global campaign to move the largest carbon-emitting companies across all major sectors to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Today, more than 615 investors with over $65 trillion in assets collectively under management are engaging companies on improving governance, curbing emissions and strengthening climate-related financial disclosures.

Cynthia launched her sustainability career at Ceres working with insurance companies, regulators and policy makers to set new standards and expectations that promote a more proactive insurance industry response to myriad climate risks and move companies and communities towards greater resiliency