Geeta Aiyer, President & Founder of Boston Common Asset Management to be honored on Dec. 2, 2022, at TiE Boston’s Annual Gala
TiE Boston, the region’s largest organization supporting the Massachusetts entrepreneurial ecosystem and connecting entrepreneurs, executives, and venture capitalists, today announced Boston Common Asset Management President & Founder Geeta Aiyer will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
This prestigious award celebrates a person who has pushed the boundaries of what is possible. Ms. Aiyer has significantly contributed towards driving market efficiencies and improving corporate behavior through a gender and ESG lens. In 2003, she founded Boston Common Asset Management, an independent, women-led and majority women- and employee-owned ESG-Integrated global equity manager with $4.3 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2022.
“This year, we are pleased to honor sustainable investing entrepreneur and Boston Common Asset Management Founder Geeta Aiyer with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Geeta is best known for building sustainability into the Capital Markets,” said TiE Boston President Yash Shah. “Besides her incredible contributions over the years, Geeta has been a huge supporter of TiE Boston and the New England entrepreneurial community.”
“As a long-time resident of Boston and founder of three companies, I have long admired the leadership role of TiE Boston in building the entrepreneurial ecosystem in our community,” said Ms. Aiyer. “It is a very special privilege to be honored with their Lifetime Achievement award this year.”
Mr. Shah said that the mission of TiE Boston is to foster entrepreneurship and the organization is excited to honor Ms. Aiyer. “We do this by running structured programs as well as organizing many networking events that allow for emerging entrepreneurs to connect with established entrepreneurs, corporate executives and industry experts who can provide invaluable mentoring and funding critical to support their journey. TiE Boston’s Annual Gala is one such event where we celebrate outstanding achievements and report on our performance for the year,” added Mr. Shah.
Ms. Aiyer combines over 30 years of experience in finance with a passion for environmental and social justice. Under her leadership, Boston Common has built a strong investment record and meaningfully improved the policies and practices of portfolio companies through impactful, proactive shareowner engagement. Ms. Aiyer was an early innovator in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and remains an influential leader today.
Upon learning that Ms. Aiyer would be recognized at this year’s TiE Boston Annual Gala, Boston Common CEO, Ally McDonald commented, “I can think of no one else more deserving of this honor than Geeta. Working alongside her over the past three years has been one of the highlights of my career. She has built a tremendous organization in Boston Common and a singular legacy for herself.”
Among other awards, Ms. Aiyer was honored by Investment News as an Innovator and recognized at the CERES conference for Building Sustainability into the Capital Markets. For her diversity advocacy, she was named as one of Boston Business Journal’s Power 50 Movement Makers in 2021. In 2022, she received an honorary degree from Regis College (Weston, MA) and GreenBiz named her as one of 25 “badass women shaping climate action”. Before founding Boston Common, Ms. Aiyer was President of Walden Asset Management and worked at US Trust Company (Boston) and Cambridge Associates.
She serves on the Board and Investment Committee of the National Resources Defense Council, Inc. and is also on the board of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). She is co-founder and board chair of DAWN Worldwide, an NGO addressing gender-based violence. Previously, she served on the boards of the Sierra Club Foundation and YW Boston. From 2015-2017, she was on the Board of UN PRI, becoming the first US asset manager elected to serve.