Michael Lent, VERIS WEALTH PARTNERS - Speaker at the 2013 IFG Wealth Management Forum held in Phoenix, AZ, April 22-23, delivered his presentation entitled SUSTAINABLE INVESTING STRATEGIES: WHY INVESTOR INTEREST CONTINUES

1. Sustainable Investing Strag
Why Investor Interest Con
Presented by:Presented by:
Michael Lent, Chief Investment Officer, Veris
April 22, 2013
ategies:g
ntinues to Grow
Wealth Partners, LLC

2. Firm Overview
Veris Wealth Partners, LLC is a sustaina
dedicated to aligning families’ and founda
and missions. Veris believes that superior
positive impact are complementary parts
• Founded in July of 2007Founded in July of 2007
• Best for the World Certified B Corp 2
• Independent, employee-owned, SEC
• Offices in NYC, San Francisco, and P
• Veris’ Partners have been providing
We believe that Sustainable Investing is a
performance-driven investing that aligns y
most important innovation to investing in op g
able wealth management firm
ations’ financial goals with their values
r investment performance and
of a holistic investment strategy.
2013
C-registered RIA
Portsmouth, NH
Impact Investing to clients since 1992
a smarter way to invest, and that
your wealth with your worldview is the
our lifetime.

3. “We see sustainability, both soy,
powerful path to innovation, an
strategies.”g
ocial and environmental, as a,
nd crucial to our growth
- Mark Parker, CEO, Nike, ,

4. ABCs of Sustainable Inve
• Ethical Investing
• Socially Responsible Investing (“SRI”
E i t l S i l d G• Environmental, Social, and Governan
• Sustainable Investing
• Impact InvestingImpact Investing
• Mission Related Investing (“MRI”) : Fo
estingg
)
C it i (“ESG”)ce Criteria (“ESG”)
oundation

5. Sustainability: What Does
Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs o
social economic and environmental needs of
y
social, economic, and environmental needs of
Sustainabilit
issues must
• Corporat
• Climate C
Global Tr• Global Tr
• Natural R
• Health &
• Human C
• Pandemi
• Poverty/Dy
• Water &
• Human C
• Demogra• Demogra
s It Mean?
of the present without compromising the
f the futuref the future.
ty Issues: When investing in companies, these
be a factor in fundamental equity analysis:q y y
te Governance
Change
ransition: Abundance to Scarcityransition: Abundance to Scarcity
Resource Preservation
Wellbeing
Capital, Empowerment & Creativity
cs: HIV/AIDS
Development Needsp
Energy
Capital
aphy/Urbanizationaphy/Urbanization

6. Developments in Sustainap
• Family Alignment – Values / Financi
• Expanded Investment Options Acros
• Quality Managers & Funds Entering
• Performance & Risk Mitigation
• Financial Advisors & Investment Con
able Investingg
al Objectives
ss Asset Classes
Field
nsultants With Expertisep

7. US SIF Trends Report 20p
$3.74 Trillion: U.S. Sustainable & Respon
12
nsible Assets in 2012
• 1 in 9 dollars is invested• 1 in 9 dollars is invested
using a sustainable
investing approach
O f th f t t• One of the fastest
growing segments of
investing

8. US SIF Trends Report 20p
“In cumulative terms the SRI Universe ha
while the broader universe of assets undewhile the broader universe of assets unde
States, according to estimates from Thom
from $7 Trillion in 1995 to $33 3 Trillion infrom $7 Trillion in 1995 to $33.3 Trillion in
12
as increased 486% from 1995 to 2012,
er professional management in the Uniteder professional management in the United
mson Reuters Nelson, has grown 376%
n 2012 ”n 2012.
- US SIF 2012 Trends Report

9. THE OPPORTUNITY IN AALTERNATIVES

10. Sustainable Investing Acrg ross All Asset Classes

11. Strong Investment Perforg
250
KLD 400 Cumulative Rtn
200
S&P 500 Cumulative Rtn
150
50
100
0
50
mance
Risk and
Return
(6/1992-
MSCI
KLD
400
S&P
500
3/2013)
400
20-year
Annualized
Return
8.70 8.53
Standard
Deviation
17.29 16.92
Alpha 0.09 --p a 0 09
R-Squared 98.05 100
Information
Ratio
0.7 --
Tracking
Error
2.43 --
Source: Zephyr Analysis, MSCI
and Standard & Poor’s.and Standard & Poor s.

12. Academic Research on P
Over 300 studies conducted on performa
incorporate “Environmental, Social and Gp ,
portfolio construction
• Vast majority show no negative impa
resultsresults
• Some studies show companies with
(CSR) or ESG scores have a lower
k t b d d ti b dmarket-based and accounting-based
Research Reviews:
• Fulton Mark et al “Sustainable Inv• Fulton, Mark, et al., Sustainable Inv
and Performance,” Deutsche Bank C
• Gladman, Kimberly, “Ten Things to
P f ” G M t iPerformance,” Governance Metrics
• Statman, Meir, “Socially Responsibl
Consulting, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 17-37,
Performance
ance of indices and funds that
Governance” (ESG) factors in equity( ) q y
act on performance: neutral or mixed
high “Corporate Social Responsibility”
cost of capital and are correlated with
d t fd outperformance.
vesting: Establishing Long Term Valuevesting: Establishing Long Term Value
Climate Change Advisors, June 2012.
Know about Responsible Investment &
I t ti l I M h 2011International, Inc., March 2011.
e Investments,” Journal of Investment
Summer 2007.

13. Academic Research on P
Outperformance found in firms with b
• El Ghoul Sadok et al “Does corpo• El Ghoul, Sadok, et al., Does corpo
of capital?“ Journal of Banking & Fin
2406, September 2011. (2011 winne
“ fi d h fi i h b CSR“…we find that firms with better CSR
In particular, our findings suggest t
responsible employee relations, e
t t i t ib t b t ti lstrategies contributes substantial
Performance
etter CSR scores
orate social responsibility affect the costorate social responsibility affect the cost
nance, Volume 35, Issue 9, p. 2388-
er of the Moskowitz Prize)
R hibi h i fi iR scores exhibit cheaper equity financing.
that investment in improving
nvironmental policies, and product
l t d i fi ’ t f it ”ly to reducing firms’ cost of equity.”

14. Academic Research on P
Outperformance found in high sustain
• Eccles Robert et al “The Impact o• Eccles, Robert, et al., The Impact o
Corporate Behavior and Performanc
November 2011.
“U i h d l f 180“Using a matched sample of 180 com
voluntarily adopted environmental and
termed as High Sustainability compan
h t i ti f t h d lcharacteristics from a matched sampl
these policies – termed as Low Susta
evidence that firms in the High Sus
significantly outperform their counsignificantly outperform their coun
group.”
Performance
nability companies
of Corporate Culture of Sustainability onof Corporate Culture of Sustainability on
ce,” HBS Working Paper Series 12-035,
i fi d h i hmpanies, we find that corporations that
d social policies many years ago –
nies – exhibit fundamentally different
l f fi th t d t d l t fle of firms that adopted almost none of
ainability companies…Overall, we find
stainability group are able to
nterparts in the Low Sustainabilitynterparts in the Low Sustainability

15. Veris Portfolio Constructio
Financial
G l &
Develop F
+Impact I
Goals &
Objectives
Impact I
Policy Sta
C T I
Define TargetA
ConductScan of Investments
Create TargetIm
SelectFinalists, Complete
ConductScan of Investments
Monitor and Evaluate Financ
Ongo
on Process
Articulate
Mi i /
Financial
nvesting
Mission /
Values
nvesting
atement
Th
AssetAllocation
sAddressing ImpactThemes
mpact Themes
Due Diligence & Analysis
sAddressing ImpactThemes
cial and Impact Performance
oing

16. Resources
US SIF The For m for S stainable a• US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable a
http://ussif.org/
• FSInsight http://fsinsight.org/
• Bloomberg Sustainability http://www.
• Global Impact Investing Network (GII
• Global Impact Investing Rating Syste
• ImpactBase: a project of GIIN http://w
• ImpactAssets 50 http://www impactas• ImpactAssets 50 http://www.impactas
• CARS http://www.carsratingsystem.n
and Responsible In estmentand Responsible Investment
bloomberg.com/sustainability/
IN) http://thegiin.org
em (GIIRS) http://giirs.org
www.impactbase.org/
ssets org/impactassets 50ssets.org/impactassets-50
net

17. Biography
Michael Lent, Partner & Chief Investment O
Michael is a founding principal and the CIO of Veris
g p y
g p p
delivering financial planning and investment consult
foundations. Michael has been recognized by the C
value community investing and is regularly cited by
matters pertaining to sustainable investing. Prior to Vp g g
Progressive Asset Management, the first national fu
responsible investing.
Earlier in his career, while working on economic dev, g
realized that, for his work to achieve its full impact, h
access to new financial resources. So he began to f
who also recognized the important link between cap
their resources to achieve personal financial goals wtheir resources to achieve personal financial goals w
them.
Michael is the Treasurer and a Trustee of the Edwa
the Board of Directors of US SIF, The Forum for Suthe Board of Directors of US SIF, The Forum for Su
a member of the Investment Management Consulta
Management Analyst (CIMA®). Michael graduated f
with a B.A. in Biology. He lives with his wife in Brook
Officer
Wealth Partners,LLC. For 19 years, he’s been, y ,
ting services to families, family offices, and
alvert Foundation for his advocacy of blended-
major media outlets such as AP and Reuters on
Veris, he co-founded the New York office of,
ull-service broker/dealer to focus on socially
velopment issues in Central America, Michaelp ,
he and his colleagues would need sustained
focus his efforts on outreach, educating others
pital and social change. He now helps others use
while having a positive impact on the world aroundwhile having a positive impact on the world around
rd W. Hazen Foundation, and serves as Chair of
stainable and Responsible Investment. He is alsostainable and Responsible Investment. He is also
ants Association (IMCA) and a Certified Investment
from the University of California at Santa Cruz
klyn, NY.

18. Important Consumer Disc
This presentation contains general information that
guarantee of future results. There is no guarantee t
presentation will come to pass Investing in the stoc
p
presentation will come to pass. Investing in the stoc
suitable for all investors. Information presented her
be considered as a solicitation to buy or sell any sec
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business in the State of California. Veris and its rep
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19. Thank You
For more information:
Michael Lent
www.veriswp.com
mlent@veriswp.com
(212) 349-4172