Stories
Stories
Holding Business to Account

Photo courtesy Geeta Aiyer
In the early 1990s, company leaders for Albertsons, a rapidly expanding supermarket chain, flew to Boston to meet with Geeta Aiyer (MBA 1985),a young analyst and portfolio manager at the United States Trust Company of Boston, to discuss an issue Aiyer thought was important to their bottom line: gender equity. “I suddenly realized the power, the reach we had as shareholders,” Aiyer recalls with some amazement.
After that experience, “the idea of being a passive investor, along for the ride, no longer appealed to me,” Aiyer says. Shareholders were owners, she realized, and they had a say in how a company ran and the ability to influence everything from labor practices to environmental policies. It would be years before the model Aiyer envisioned would be christened “impact investing,” but she launched Walden Capital Management in 1994 to pursue the dual goals of financial return and social change on behalf her clients. Following Walden’s acquisition, she founded Boston Common Asset Management, in 2003.
By the fall of 2020, Boston Common had $3 billion under management and a mission to be, as Aiyer explains, “responsible investors who pursue financial returns but who also use the unique access and voice we have as investors to engage management and redirect corporate efforts toward long-term sustainability.” The firm has been active in encouraging companies to be leaders on issues from climate change to human rights and environmental solutions, among many others.
“These kinds of changes are positive for the company's fundamentals—for its profitability, its long-term success, its consumer and employee loyalty, the brand equity it has built. And if you take a slightly longer-term view, you see that,” she observes. “We’re in the business of asking our companies for more accountability and transparency, and really empowering their ability to act for the long term.”
Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift nowPost a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 01 Jan 2003
- Harvard Business Review Classics
One More Time
By: Frederick Herzberg -
- 01 Mar 2007
- Alumni Stories
The Plight of the Global Poor
Re: Gustavo Herrero (MBA 1976); By: Garry Emmons -
- 01 Jan 2011
- Alumni Stories
Seth Klarman, MBA 1982
Re: Seth Klarman (MBA 1982); Seth Klarman (MBA 1982) -
- 23 Aug 2017
- HBS Alumni News
Developing Leaders Behind Bars
Re: Chris Michel (MBA 1998); By: Robert Bochnak
Stories Featuring Geeta Aiyer
-
- 01 Dec 2012
- Alumni Stories
From Where We Stand
Re: Roslyn Payne (MBA 1970); Courtney Leimkuhler (MBA 2007); Myra Hart (MBA 1981); Muriel Maignan (MBA 1997); Susannah Swihart (MBA 1980); Debby Farrington (MBA 1976); Lisa Carnoy (MBA 1994); Laura Liswood (MBA 1976); Sue Schooner (MBA 1983); Barbara Franklin (MBA 1964); Ilene Lang (MBA 1973); Robin Smith (MBA 1963); Cathy Benko (MBA 1989); Mamongae Mahlare (MBA 2004); Kiyomi Saito (MBA 1981); Naina Kidwai (MBA 1982); Flavia Almeida (MBA 1994); Amrita Sen (MBA 1999); Dani Soares (MBA 1997); Cynthia Vance (MBA 1985); Anne Bonaparte (MBA 1988)