Melissa McDonald

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd is a securities litigation firm acting for institutional investors, ranked first by ISS SCAS for the total value of investor recoveries in seven of the last ten years, with $8.4 billion recovered for investors over the five years to 2025. As Senior Advisor, Melissa advises asset owners and investment managers on fiduciary enforcement and on how legal accountability fits within a complete stewardship framework: what recourse investors have when governance fails, and how recovery options are assessed across jurisdictions. These are the themes of the research she writes for RGRD’s institutional investor audience.

She brings over 35 years in investment management. At MSCI she was Managing Director and Global Head of ESG and Climate Indices. At HSBC she was Global Head of Responsible Investment across all asset classes and held responsibility for the global equity business. At AXA Investment Managers she was Global Head of Responsible Investment.

Melissa has held board directorships at HSBC Global Asset Management (UK) Ltd, HSBC ETF Plc and HSBC Pollination Climate Asset Management Ltd, as well as the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF). She also led the asset manager working group of the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Fund initiative.

Melissa McDonald

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Melissa McDonald

Will Farrell

Federated Hermes
Assistant Manager, EOS
London

Will co-leads the climate change theme at EOS, the stewardship arm of Federated Hermes Limited, where his coverage includes companies in Europe and Australia, primarily financial services, energy, chemicals, and materials. Prior to joining EOS, Will worked in the energy and infrastructure investment banking team at Macquarie Capital, where he specialised in renewable energy. Before that, Will held a number of roles across the UK climate policy space, including as a parliamentary researcher for Rt. Hon. Chris Skidmore MP on climate and energy issues, and as a climate and economic policy analyst at a diplomatic institute. He was appointed as a voluntary adviser to Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26, on preparations for COP26 after co-founding a Westminster climate policy group in 2019, which engaged MPs and Members of the House of Lords to advocate for more ambition on climate action in public policy. Will has a Bachelor’s degree (1st Class Honours) in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.