Aniket Shah
Aniket Shah is a practitioner in the space of sustainable finance, whose career has bridged the public and private sectors
Aniket Shah is Managing Director and Global Head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Research at Jefferies Group LLC. In this role, Aniket leads the integration of ESG and sustainability analysis within the global investment research department and engages with clients on this dynamic area of corporate and financial services.
He is also a Senior Fellow at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, where he leads the organization's efforts on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investment research in the public and private sectors. Aniket was previously the Head of Sustainability and ESG Research- Americas, at UBS.
From 2017-2019, he was the Head of Sustainable Investing at OppenheimerFunds, a leading global asset manager. In this role, Shah was responsible for working with OppenheimerFunds’ portfolio managers and investment product specialists to further integrate sustainable investing practices across all aspects of the firm’s business activities to better serve investors.
From 2014-2017, Aniket Shah served as the Program Leader of the Financing for Sustainable Development Initiative at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). In this role, Aniket advised national governments, global financial institutions (public and private) and non-profit organizations on how to finance the sustainable development agenda. Aniket also played a leading role at the recently formed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Center for Africa, where he will lead the Center’s work on Sustainable Finance in Africa. He was seconded from Investec Asset Management for these positions and currently serves as Senior Advisor, SDG Financing to the UN SDSN.
From 2011-2014, Aniket worked as an investment professional and strategist at Investec Asset Management, an international investment management firm based in South Africa and the United Kingdom. As an investment professional, Aniket was involved the thematic investment process within Investec’s Global Multi-Asset platform. In addition, Aniket was a lead investment analyst for the Emerging Market Multi-Asset product, a fund-of-funds for global emerging market asset allocation. As an investment strategist, Aniket advised the some of the world’s largest institutional investors, from both the public and private sectors, on how to develop long-term portfolio investment strategies with a focus on emerging markets and the Africa opportunity set. He was involved with the Investec Investment Institute, a product-agnostic thought leadership platform, and served on its Leadership Committee.
From 2009-2011, Aniket worked at The Earth Institute at Columbia University where he served as a Program Manager and Special Assistant to the Director. At the Earth Institute, Aniket managed the International Policy Advisory Group (IPAG), a collaborative engagement with the Asian Development Bank advising the G20 on global economic policy. He also served as a lead researcher for various publications on economic and financial development. Prior to this role, Aniket was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs & Co, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions in the Financial Services Group.
Aniket has published books, reports and articles on a variety of topics pertaining to sustainable development and financial markets. He is the lead-author of the report titled Africa and the United States – A Defining Relationship of the 21st Century, a collaborative study between Investec Asset Management and the US Chamber of Commerce. He is the co-editor of Learning from the World: New Ideas to Redevelop America (Palgrave Macmillan). Aniket is a frequent contributor to Institutional Investor’s Global Market Thought Leadership series, where he writes on asset allocation topics for investors globally.
Aniket serves on various boards and as an advisor to leading organizations around the world. He is the International Treasurer of Amnesty International. He previously served as the Chair of the Board of Directions of Amnesty International USA from 2017-2018, as the Treasurer beginning in 2013, and was a board member since 2006. Aniket is also a member of the Young Professional Board of the International Rescue Committee. He is also on the Board of Directors of Shared-Interest and the Deer Iland Corporation. He is a member of the National Council of World Wildlife Fund USA and The Economic Club of New York.
Aniket has a doctorate from Oxford University in Economic Geography, with a focus on sustainable finance at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. His advisor was Professor Gordon Clark. His research is on the role of development banking, at various spatial-scales, for sustainable development.
Aniket is a honors graduate of Yale University, where he collaborated closely with former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and former UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. He was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship and won various academic and leadership awards at Yale.