November 2020

Croatan Institute Senior Fellow Bill Harrington leads a discussion on new frontiers in bondholder engagement with a diverse group of leading financial activists and engaged fixed-income investors. He is joined by Ryan Bowers of Frontline Solutions and Activest, which engages with muni bondholders on campaigns to advance fiscal, racial, and criminal justice reform; Rachel J. Robasciotti of Adasina Social Capital, which is partnering with Activest to develop a new muni bond investment strategy focused on racial justice; and Benjamin Bailey of Praxis Mutual Funds, which engages with issuers and underwriters on green bonds and other debt securities to benefit the climate and communities from a faith-based perspective. An outspoken critic of credit rating companies, Harrington frames this Croatan Conversation with his insights on new advocacy opportunities for investors to push the companies to upgrade credit rating methodologies to holistically integrate environmental, social and governance credit exposures, both for individual bond issuers and for national-level systems.