Building a Sustainable Future: A Conversation with Fiona Ma
By
Lindsay Patrick and Patti Shugart, Featuring Fiona Ma
Published March 19, 2021
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38 min watch
RBC's Patti Shugart, Head of Global Corporate Banking and Lindsay Patrick, Head of Strategic Initiatives and ESG, discuss ESG policy and programs with Fiona Ma, State Treasurer, The State of California at RBC's inaugural Global ESG Conference, on February 24, 2021.
ESG is a journey, not a destination. The way we do business continues to evolve, and our approach to being more socially conscious needs to evolve with it. Importantly, to make progress, we need to rely on engagement from both public and private sector entities as the ESG imperative develops further.
At RBC’s ESG Conference, Fiona Ma, State Treasurer, The State of California, joined RBC’s Patti Shugart, Head of Global Corporate Banking and Lindsay Patrick, Head of Strategic Initiatives and ESG, to discuss her firsthand experience on the importance of public-private partnerships and ESG policies and programs.
Elected in November of 2018, Fiona Ma is the first woman Certified Public Accountant elected to the position of Treasurer. In her role as State Treasurer, she provides financing for California’s school system, roads, housing, levees, public health facilities, and other crucial infrastructure projects that better the lives of its residents.
California’s economy is the largest in the U.S. and is the 5th largest economy globally. Treasurer Ma is the state’s primary banker. Her office processes more than $2 trillion in transactions within a typical year and provides transparency and oversight for an investment portfolio of more than $100 billion, $34 billion being local government funds.
Lindsay Patrick
Head, Strategic Initiatives and ESG
Lindsay Patrick is Managing Director and Head of Strategic Initiatives and ESG at RBC Capital Markets. She leads the Sustainable Finance Group, and with her team, spearheads the provision of solutions and advice for RBC’s institutional and corporate clients across all areas of sustainable finance that incorporates both environmental and social perspectives. Lindsay is also responsible for the advancement of the RBC Capital Markets’ business strategy, supporting the firm’s overall growth and performance ambitions. Lindsay has two decades experience in investment banking, spanning trading floors across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.
Patti Shugart
Managing Director and Head, Global Corporate Banking
Patti Shugart is Managing Director and Head, Global Corporate Banking and a member of the Operating Committee at RBC Capital Markets. In her role, Ms. Shugart oversees a client-facing team of more than 500 professionals globally who specialize in lending, trading credit and loan portfolio management for our corporate and institutional clients. She also chairs the Loan Portfolio Review Committee and the Commitments Committee which determines the firm’s global lending decisions.
Patti is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion. She sits on the bank-wide RBC Diversity Leadership Council, is a co-founder of RWomen, a global internal forum dedicated to fostering and developing female talent, and she chairs the Women in Capital Markets’ Advisory Council. She is RBC’s Executive Sponsor for the United Way’s Women United group, is a past United Way Cabinet Member, and for the past 3 years has been the Executive Champion for the Toronto RBC Race for the Kids. Patti has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to the industry through the Champion of Change award from Women in Capital Markets in 2016. She was named one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women by Women's Executive Network in 2015 and 2017, and received the Women in Capital Markets Award for Leadership in 2010.
Patti also sits on the Advisory Board for the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. She has an MBA from the University of Toronto (Rotman) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from Queen’s University.
Fiona Ma
State Treasurer, The State of California
Fiona Ma, CPA, is the first woman of color to serve as the State of California's Treasurer. Prior to her service in government, she worked as an accountant at Ernst and Young, and then started her own small business in accounting. As a small business owner, Fiona became involved in advocating for other small business owners, especially minority owned businesses. As the State Treasurer, one of her main responsibilities is to act as the state’s banker. Her office processes more than $2 trillion in payments annually, oversees an investment portfolio of over $100 billion, and sells over $100 billion of bonds a year. In addition, she chairs 16 programs that supports economic and housing developments, financing healthcare and educational facilities, encouraging financial empowerment, public financing, and much more.
Climate ChangeESGGreen BondsInnovationMunicipal FinanceRBC Capital Markets' Global ESG ConferenceState of CaliforniaSustainability
