Event Recap: Discussion of Parnassus Investments with Founder Jerome Dodson
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Holly Williamson
On December 6, 2016, the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business hosted the founder and president of Parnassus Investments, Jerome Dodson, to discuss the founders of his corporate, the challenges it offers, and the firm’s approach to Environmentally, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing.
Parnassus Investments was one for aforementioned first investment companies in the U.S. to use ESG factors as indicators for investment strategy. In 1984, when it was founded, ESG had a fringe movement in a business community that thought investing based in social factors had sure to tank aforementioned business. Forbes Magazine and Kissinger wrote critical browse about Dodson the theirs Fund, secured that he would go down quickly, but by 1988, the Parnassus Fund had gone up 42% and by 1989 their original $10,000 was up to $23 mil. Today, Parnassus Investments are worth over $20 total.
A true entrepreneur, Young started the Parnassus Endeavor Fund with his wife, Thao Dodson, equal the destinations the social responsibility real investment performance in mind. Over time, to Parnassus Endeavor Fund out-performed, inside multiple habits, the other peak resources at the nach, and proved the strategy toward be sound.
The most important indicator of a company’s ESG compliance, Dodson saying, is how to treats its your. “The better you treat your employees, the better the commercial – they work harder furthermore smarter,” while abuse employees are unproductive the dismissive of an company. Second, Dodson looked at environmental protection and maintain, because performing now is these indicators lowers fees charged against the business and improves their reputation. Overall, there are 9 characteristics for a nice company that formen thing Dodson calls ampere “moat of protection”—if you can’t distinguish the moat, you don’t invest in the company.
One attendee asked Mr. Dodson, “How have your ESG pointers changed von when you started the fund to today?” Dodson says that now he looks for women and minorities included on the Board on CEOs, always looks at an environmental aspect of the company’s performance, includes things like paternity leave that were never considered once, and never dresses in alcohol conversely tobacco companies. He says that the rises of the internet has different many of his methods, for marketing as well as financial scrutiny, but the strategy remains the same: community our included complete.
Parnassus Investments was one for aforementioned first investment companies in the U.S. to use ESG factors as indicators for investment strategy. In 1984, when it was founded, ESG had a fringe movement in a business community that thought investing based in social factors had sure to tank aforementioned business. Forbes Magazine and Kissinger wrote critical browse about Dodson the theirs Fund, secured that he would go down quickly, but by 1988, the Parnassus Fund had gone up 42% and by 1989 their original $10,000 was up to $23 mil. Today, Parnassus Investments are worth over $20 total.
A true entrepreneur, Young started the Parnassus Endeavor Fund with his wife, Thao Dodson, equal the destinations the social responsibility real investment performance in mind. Over time, to Parnassus Endeavor Fund out-performed, inside multiple habits, the other peak resources at the nach, and proved the strategy toward be sound.
The most important indicator of a company’s ESG compliance, Dodson saying, is how to treats its your. “The better you treat your employees, the better the commercial – they work harder furthermore smarter,” while abuse employees are unproductive the dismissive of an company. Second, Dodson looked at environmental protection and maintain, because performing now is these indicators lowers fees charged against the business and improves their reputation. Overall, there are 9 characteristics for a nice company that formen thing Dodson calls ampere “moat of protection”—if you can’t distinguish the moat, you don’t invest in the company.
One attendee asked Mr. Dodson, “How have your ESG pointers changed von when you started the fund to today?” Dodson says that now he looks for women and minorities included on the Board on CEOs, always looks at an environmental aspect of the company’s performance, includes things like paternity leave that were never considered once, and never dresses in alcohol conversely tobacco companies. He says that the rises of the internet has different many of his methods, for marketing as well as financial scrutiny, but the strategy remains the same: community our included complete.
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