Laura Heuston
Founding Director, SustainabilityWorks
Laura Heuston is a sustainable financial consultant and a Founding Director of SustainabilityWorks, a multi-disciplinary sustainability consulting firm. Laura is passionate about highlighting the key role that the financial sector must play in mobilising finance to tackle climate change and other global sustainability challenges. She has in-depth knowledge of the global and Irish sustainable finance policy and market landscape. She speaks, writes and advises on a broad range of sustainable finance topics, including responsible investment, sustainable banking, energy efficiency finance and renewable energy finance. She also devises and develops ideas around using finance as a tool to drive citizen engagement on climate action in Ireland. A Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, she has over 20 years experience across practice and industry with KPMG and Airtricity, a renewable energy group. Her niche expertise over that period was working with companies in the renewable energy and energy efficiency finance sectors on transaction structuring, including international M&A and structured finance transactions.
Emma Jane Joyce
Senior Investment Manager, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF)
Emma Jane Joyce, Head of Responsible Investment, is a Senior Investment Manager with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) where she leads on the design and implementation of the Fund’s unique Sustainability and Responsible Investment Strategy across the whole Fund, Global and Irish Portfolios, multiple investment structures and asset types and across the life-cycle of investments. She represents the NTMA on number of sustainability platforms including SIF Ireland and the CDP Ireland Network (past Chair). Emma Jane has extensive investment experience and has held a variety of investment roles within the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), including responsibility for a number of International Equity Portfolios as part of the National Pension Reserve Fund’s (NPRF) Investment Management Programme. She also led the development of the ISIF Business Plan and Investment Strategy as part of the transition from NPRF assets to ISIF. Emma Jane joined the NTMA from Mercer Investment Consulting. She is a graduate of both Trinity College Dublin (BA Mod Genetics) and the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business (MSc in Management).
Keith Mangan
Managing Director, BlackRock
Keith Mangan is a Managing Director with BlackRock within the BlackRock Renewable Power Group. Keith joined BlackRock in 2011 and is a founding member of BlackRock Renewable Power and BlackRock Infrastructure teams. Keith is a Portfolio Manager on the European BlackRock Renewable Power investment team, he is responsible for sourcing, executing and managing renewable infrastructure assets across the EMEA region. Keith has over 20 years of experience in the energy markets and in his current role has invested in more than 30 wind and solar assets in a range of markets. Prior to joining BlackRock, Keith worked for NTR plc, an Irish based, private, global infrastructure developer, operator and business owner as Group Head of Risk Management. Keith began his career at Goldman Sachs where he worked for 12 years, and was Head of Energy Derivative Sales for EMEA based in London in his final role at Goldman Sachs. Keith earned a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University College Cork in Ireland.
Ciara McGuinness
Country Manager, Soros Quantum SSI
Ciara McGuinness (FCCA) has over 18 years’ experience in the Financial Services Industry, with a particular focus in Alternatives Assets specialising in Finance, Operations and Investor Due Diligence. Ciara joined Soros Fund Management’s Quantum Fund in 2012, establishing and managing the firm’s activities in Ireland. As Country Manager she was responsible in overseeing the operational services of the affiliated entities within Soros’s Quantum group of funds in addition to leading the Global Operational Due Diligence program as part of the firm’s external manager selection of Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Real Estate. Prior to Soros, Ciara has held various positions in BNY Mellon and Claret Capital. Ciara holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (Accounting). She has served on various boards within the UK and Ireland and has been recently elected Co-Vice Chair of 100 Women in Finance in Dublin.
