Amra Balic

Amra Balic is the Global Co-Head of BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS). In this role, Amra leads BlackRock’s global stewardship efforts, overseeing engagement and proxy voting activities across the firm’s index equity portfolios. Amra, who joined the firm in 2011, brings extensive experience in investment stewardship, having built the function through her regional responsibilities for both EMEA and APAC within BIS. She continues to play a pivotal role in shaping BlackRock’s stewardship strategy and advancing its mission as a fiduciary. Amra is a member of the BlackRock Global Operating Committee, Stewardship Global Executive Committee, European Operating Committee and the European Investments Committee.

Amra has served on a number of industry bodies and initiatives to enhance governance and sustainable business practices including the UK Investment Association’s Stewardship Committee, the UK Institute of Directors Center for Corporate Governance Advisory Board, the FRC Investor Advisory Board, Eumedion General Board, the UK Investor Forum Board of Directors and the ECGRF Board of Trustees. Amra was also a member of the European Commission (EC) Expert Group on technical aspects of corporate governance processes and the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (UK) Stewardship Advisory Group.

Amra is an active participant in the public corporate governance and stewardship debate and as such regularly speaks on the importance of these issues for company performance and investment decisions. She is an alumna of BlackRock’s Women’s Leadership Forum. In 2019, Amra was named as one of the “100 most influential women in European finance” by Financial News.

Prior to joining BlackRock, Amra spent 14 years working on issues surrounding investors and investment decisions ranging from fixed income analysis, deal origination, investment appraisal and management of research & analytical content. Amra joined BlackRock after 11 years with S&P Global where she was a Director in European Corporate Credit Ratings. Amra started her career in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London in 1997. Amra holds a B.A. (Hons) Economics and MSc Accounting and Finance from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Amra Balic

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Amra Balic

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.