Morningstar - Q1 2020 - 71

"It has been really rewarding to combine the
knowledge from running an RIA and broker/dealer
with my passion for values-aligned investing
to bring pragmatic guidance to financial services,"
Dreizler says.
Recent federal rollbacks of environmental
regulations have been disappointing, she says, but
it has created an opportunity for forwardlooking business leaders to create change. "I'd
give some credit to the political climate of the last
few years for the increasing demand from
consumers for investments that align with their
values," she says. "People want ways to
express those values in areas of their life where
they have some control."
Yet according to a survey by Nuveen, only one
third of advisors in 2018 said they initiated
conversations about sustainable investing with
clients, although that's almost double 2017's
number. "As financial professionals, it's our job to
educate investors when it comes to sustainable
investing," Dreizler says. "And right now,
that's not really happening in proportion to the
interest from investors."
Dreizler also promotes her work indirectly through
speaking engagements. She served on an ESG
investing panel at the 2019 Morningstar Investment
Conference. She also sees conferences as another
way to build awareness of #MeToo issues.
In general, she says, conferences need a code of
conduct (which Morningstar has) and should bring
the topic to the main stage at prime time, so
attendees won't avoid it.

Sonya Dreizler consultant, speaker, and author,
Solutions With Sonya.
How she caught our eye: She's an ESG consultant
who put the spotlight on the treatment of women
in the financial-services industry.
Career path: Studied English literature and Spanish
and Latin American studies at UCLA. Started
her career in financial services in 2004 at Protected
Investors of America, rising through the ranks
to CEO by 2015. Left after a merger and started
Solutions With Sonya, where she consults with the

financial-services industry on impact investing and
ESG. She also is author of the Do Better series
and speaks on topics ranging from impact investing
to advancing racial diversity in the workplace.
Personal: Lives and works in San Francisco.
Married, with two boys, ages 9 and 4. Serves as the
board chair of Center for Urban Education About
Sustainable Agriculture and volunteers with
Friends of the Urban Forest and Jewish Vocational
Services. For fitness, she likes to lift weights and
perform high-intensity interval training.

Men need to help the cause, given their dominance
in the field, she says: "My ask is for men to
use their privilege to amplify the voices of women
and keep these candid conversations going."
One positive development is that backlash to
Dreizler's Do Better series never materialized, aside
from a few trolls. The title to Part 10 of the
series proclaims, "I'm Not Done." It's an apt end
for the beginning of the next chapter. It's
time for the industry to "do better" and come
up with solutions. K
Charles Keenan is a freelance financial journalist.

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